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Whisked Away to Wilsons Prom – Part 1

October 6, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

On our last week of the mid-semester break, a couple of my friends from Graduate House and I decided to go for a short break to Wilsons Promontory located at the southern most tip of the Australian continent. Famed for its luscious combination of awe-inspiring mountains, luxuriant forests and breathtaking beaches, Wilsons Prom is located in the Gippsland region of Victoria, about 157 km Southeast of Melbourne city. Populated by indigenous wildlife like kangaroos, wallabies, emus, echidnas, wombats, numerous birds as well as venomous snakes, the park is a peaceful sanctuary for all manners of beasts – including the two-legged variety.

My telling of this tale will be spread over a few posts, beginning with our preparations here in Melbourne City.

This is the faithful Hyundai car which took us across hundreds of kilometres. It actually drives better than it looks.

Farewell to Kangaroo Island and South Australia

October 3, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

On our last day on Kangaroo Island, we made a trip to the Island Pure Sheep Dairy located at Gum Creek Road which is off Cygnet River. It was one of the farms which we haven’t explored yet during our three days visit and we thought it would be good to see how a sheep farm compares to a goat farm (which we often visited in Singapore). We also spent some time in the Northcote area having our lunch and strolling around, before departing from the island later on and from Adelaide the day after.

From a distance, the sheep farm and diary looked a little blurry. Was it the whole dreamlike quality of the vacation or a special setting on my camera? Unfortunately no. What happened was that I accidentally put too much water into the camera lens while trying to clean it!

6 Ways to Make it Worth Their Time

September 25, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

Customers should feel as relaxed as spending a day at the beach

While browsing various blogs, websites and news feeds today, I was suddenly hit by a thought. What if we make it more enjoyable for our customers to transact and purchase from us? In other words, improve the quality of their time spent with us.

As many would have heard, time is often more precious than money. You can’t buy a day, an hour or even the second that has slipped by. As the saying goes “Carpe Diem!” or “Seize the Day!” goes, one doesn’t want to waste precious discretionary time doing something utterly boring, meaningless or frustrating. The best way to avoid the ravages of time – at least to your consumer – is to offer an experience that is so compelling and “magical” that they no longer remember that they are spending their precious days of leave spending hard earned cash on you.

The Fragility and Fury of Pompeii

September 22, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

After waiting for the (non-volcanic) dust to settle from my assignments, readings and thesis writing, I took some time off today to visit the exhibition “A Day in Pompeii” that is now showing at the Melbourne Museum till the end of October. I have a personal interest to view this blockbuster exhibition as I have visited the site some 15 years ago in 1994 when I toured Europe as an undergraduate. If you wish, you can actually experience Pompeii online with this wonderful virtual walk through that allows you to see what is available in each gallery. Of course, nothing beats the real thing!

Nestled in what is now close to modern day Naples in Italy, the ancient city of Pompeii lived under the ominous shadow of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. Citizens and residents of that town-city were used to the occasional rumblings of the dormant volcano, and took it quite matter of factly. It became a part and parcel of life, according to famed Roman lawyer and magistrate Pliny the Younger. Nobody could have suspected that a disaster of cataclysmic proportions was about to occur.

The Aura of Anticipation

September 15, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

Courtesy of Hella Bus

Have you wondered why a perceived treat or reward sometimes appear better than they really are? Or experienced the endless wait for a brand new gadget to arrive in the stores, rushing to be the first among your friends to get it? How about the thought of that luscious holiday in Europe, where you can soak in the sights, scents and sounds of culture?

The one thing holding these disparate consumption experiences together is anticipation. An oft-forgotten but oh so powerful emotion which grips everyone of us.

Are Museums All Things to All Men?

September 2, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

Dinosaurs are a surefire hit, but should all museums have them? (taken at Melbourne Museum)

Should museums and galleries always attract the largest and widest crowd possible, attracting/attacking every customer segment? Can they be scholastically superior, operationally efficient, highly entertaining, marketing savvy, and customer oriented at the same time? Are major blockbuster exhibitions the only way to draw a big crowd?

Some of these issues were tackled in this excellent post by Nina Simon (of Museums 2.0 blog) in an interview she conducted with John Falk and Beverly Sheppard, authors of the book “Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions”. Admittedly, I haven’t read the book yet but I am definitely going to check it out.

Sandy Beaches, Windy Cliffs and Artistic Rocks

August 23, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

One of the most amazing things about Kangaroo Island is its vastly varying landscapes and breathtaking environment. From one end of the island to the other (which is at least a two hour drive considering the distance), you can experience the South Australian wilderness in a wide spectrum of rustic surroundings – sandy deserts, craggy cliffs, luxuriant forests, sparkling rivers, to rolling hills and scenic bays. Drives along the winding roads of the island are always pleasant as there are very few cars around, plus the fact that virtually every square kilometre of the island is bursting with gorgeous scenery.

Our first scenic stop was the renowned beach at Vivonne Bay, which was once voted as the best beach in Australia in a survey of 10,000 beaches on the continent and its islands.

An Aromatic Afternoon

August 8, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

As a pristine pastoral paradise, Kangaroo Island boasted of farms offering various primary produces. One of the first places which we checked out during our first afternoon on the island was the Emu Bay Lavender farm, a family owned property located beyond the Kingscote area of the island at its Northernmost tip.

View Larger Map

To give you a sense of orientation, I have included a Google Map above which shows where the place is. From Penneshaw where the ferry landed, it was a breezy drive through the largely empty roads through the farms and wilderness to reach this field of fragrant flowers.

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