Australia - Its Happening !!

Pre-Vacation Excitement :
A week before the scheduled trip began our shopping extravaganza's :P There's no mall we left untouched :P Any hint of a sale coming up and we would squeeze in time ;) We planned it all from the footwear to the clothes and also the bags we would carry :D Two days to go and we were alomost done with our packing too ;) Anu and Prerna would be getting back from home just a day before,infact Prerna on the morning when we were to fly! (Covering 3 countries in 24 hrs!) :)

Journey Begins :
Hiring a cab had never taken so much time! It was 5pm when we reached Changi Airport,Singapore and we had to board the flight at 5 45pm..The luggages went through,but we were still to get a hold on our boarding passes..Reason : One of our visa stampings had an extra digit of passport number :( We had checked on the visa stamping but not matched the digits and scrutinized it! :P Mistake Mistake! So the lady at the counter makes calls to the embassy and agent to find out if we are the specified one's to travel..Clearance given and we get our boarding passes! :)
Seated at our respective seats,anxiously waiting for the flight to take off..All those regulatory seat belt checks,safety precautions and an addition to filling up health forms(Swine Flu Check!) were done and the flight takes off :-) Prerna and me plugged to ipods,Anu dozed off and Joyce tried a lot to sleep but being the gube she is alas! :P The first crisp note of AUD paid for the snack that we munched on ;) After 6 hrs of journey and we heard "Minimum temperature 10 degrees" ;) Whoa :-O We're there - PERTH!!

All forms filled and passports in hand we stand at the immigration counter waiting for our turns..Prerna n Anu at a different counter,Joyce n me at another one..Joyce and me were done and we just go beyond the counter to see if Anu n Pre were done too..An officer comes upto us and says : "CanIhavealookatyourformplease?" (I have'nt missed on the spaces,thats how the Aussies talk wid no pause :P ;) ) Took us a minute to understand what he was asking for ;) We then give him our forms and he starts questioning us like we're mischevious brats and he is the principal! Helluva questioning,scribbled something on the form and said "Thisway" pointing his fingers towards another officer..The man standing there looks at our form,asks us to pick up our baggege and says "Go through customs"..Joyce and me look at each other and go : "What??Why this way man?Anu and Prerna have gone there.." Before we could realize what was happening - A lady (she looked more like a wrestler! ;) ) snatches the form from us,takes us to a desk and starts off :

Wrestler : So how many days in Perth?
Innocent us : 5 days
Wrestler : Just 5 days? Why?
Both of us : Thats the maximum leave we could get
Wrestler : Your tickets..
Me : Here..Thats only mine,her's is a different copy
Joyce : Actually there are 2 more girls with us and they have the other copy
Wrestler : Where are they?
Joyce (Pointing to Prerna and Anu) : Those two Indian girls standing there at that counter..Can I go there and get my ticket?
Wrestler : Nevermind
Wrestler : So what do you do?
Joyce (Loud and clear) : We are Software Engineers
Wrestler : Where do you work?
Joyce : We work at Singapore for UBS
Wrestler : UBS?
Joyce (Loud) : Its a swiz bank!
Me (Interuupting) : We work for UBS through Perot Systems
Wrestler : Show me your Singapore Visa
Joyce (Pissed and Furious) : Here you go!! Thats our EP - Employment Pass
Wrestler : okay..so where are you gonna stay?
Me : At our friends place
Wrestler : Name and Address?
Me : Vinod,he's put up at Yokine!
Wrestler : How is he your friend?
Me : We know him since college days!
Wrestler : Which college?
Joyce : Engineering College
Wrestler (Blunt tone!) : Which college?
Me : College in India
Wrestler : Which college in Inida?
Me (Totally Pissed!) : New Horizon College Of Engineering,Bangalore
Wrestler : Okay,so is he a PR(Permanent Resident) here?
Both of us : No he's studying
Wrestler : Studying what?
Me : MS
Wrestler : MS?
Me : Yes - MS
Wrestler : MS?
Joyce (Almost lost her cool) : Master of Science, He's doing his further studies
Wrestler : Where?
Me : ECU
Wrestler : Okay, here take your stuffs and put your luggage through that scanner
Both of us : Alright!

We put our baggages through the scanner and its all fine..The lady goes to the checker and crosschecks if its all fine..The guys nods and says : "All good" Joyce and me loook at her and say : "Bloody Shit!! Whats her problem Man!" The lady then comes to us and says - "yup you may go that way".. I look at her and ask : "Can you tell us why we had to go through all this?" Lady Rambo says : "Its a part of Risk Management" Joyce and me walk a few steps and I start off : "What the $^&* man,risk management my foot!" Joyce continues : "Bloody racists,what the hell man?why us?..That dog who spoke to us initailly only made us go through all this shit!!" We were busy cussing and cursing the damn people who made us go through all that and by then Anu and Prerna come out..Look at the scene at their end ;)..This happens after the baggage has been scanned and an officer (who looks Indian) stops Prerna to ask her the following :

Officer to Prerna : Did you fill this form yourself?
Prerna : Yes
Officer : Did you read what you have filled?
Prerna : Yes
Officer : Is this your signature?
Prerna : Yes
Officer : Are there any food items in the bag?
Prerna (Thinking - If I say "No" it will definitely get scanned and I'll get into shit,I'll tell him the truth) : Yes, there are sweets from India
Officer : Why did you not declare it in the form? You should have marked "yes" right?
Prerna : Oh am sorry! (Being a typical software engineer,she copied what others had marked ;) Lolz :D)
Officer : That would be a fine of 220 AUD
Prerna and Anu (she was there all the while witnessing all that was happening ;)) with thoughts - Damn we dint spend a penny yet and he's fining us man..Shit! What do we do now :(
Prerna and Anu (trying to be as sweet as possible :P) : We're really sorry,you could check they are just sweets from India..

The officer clears them off without the fine and did not ask them to throw the food either :)) After the clearance the officer says to Prerna sarcastically "And u r a software enginneer"!! All these updations we give each other while in the Airport Lounge ;) After cursing the lady wrestler and thanking the Indian officer we move towards the taxi stand :) We see hugely built,masculine taxi drivers standing and chatting..All of us were like : "Man they are so hefty" :D Anyways we then hire a cab..Seating as follows : Driver and me in front..Seated at the back(from LtoR) are Prerna Anu and Joyce..
He drives about 500 meters and then asks :

Driver : Where do you want to go?
Me : Wandarrie Avenue, Yokine
Driver : Yokine? (Pronounciation goes : Yokeen ;))
Me : Yes
Driver : Where in Yokine?House Number?
Me : 7/56 Wandarrie Avenue
Driver : Wand what?
Me : Wandarrie Avenue
Driver (Switches on the GPS,and tries for the place) : I don't see it,whats it?
Me : Wandarrie Avenue
Driver : Unable to find it
Me : W A N D A R R I E
Driver : W
Me : A...N...D... (Spelling it our for him!)
Driver : Then?
Me : A
Driver : What??
Me : A
Driver (Staring at me!) : Juss continues to stare at me which was shit damn scary!!
Me : Looked at him from the corner of my eye and thought - How else can I pronounce "A"? (Aaa,Aee..)
Joyce (All pepped up,interrupts from behind) : W for Wellington, A for Apple
Driver : I got WAND!
Joyce and Me try telling him A again,and holy god..We spot letter A on the GPS and just point that to him Driver : Aaah A!!

Then we converse in the language which the driver is not aware off saying : "Yedaaa..Itna bhi samaj nahin saktha..Nimajjiii..Naaven appa helidhu" :D And he finally finds out the route to Wandarrie Avenue using the GPS..What follows next got me on my nerves! If not for his physical structure I would have lost my cool for sure :P ;)

Driver : So where have you come from?
Us : Singapore
Driver : You know English?
All of us (Angrily!) : Yes - Ofcourse
Driver : Oh okay,so here to study?
Me : No we work at Singapore,here on a vacation!
Driver : Thought you came down to study English here
Joyce : Nooo!! We know English,We're Engineers working for a bank!

That got him to shut his mouth!! The remaining of our ride was spent in total silence coz the route that he took was totally deserted..Not a single car on the road nor a single soul seen..Just trees on either side of the road! Don't think we have ever been so silent when together,was the first instance :P ;) He finally got us to the right house and we saw the familiar face of our friend :)) Caught up with him on all that we had missed,enquired about the places we could visit,how to get there..Hogged on some sweets,pulled out all the warm clothing and bedding we had carried..Set up our beds with the heater beside us and dozed off :)