Showing posts with label shoalwater bay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoalwater bay. Show all posts

Exercise Wallaby - R&R Day One

The warning sign at the sentry heading towards Sam Hill

You know what? This post is six months overdue!

That is how long I have put off writing the R&R bit of my Exercise Wallaby trip!

Refresh your memories here: 


After almost two weeks, we are finally leaving Sam Hill. This was my second time leaving here and I guess it is for good. 

It would be very unlikely that I will return here for a third time.

Post Exercise Wallaby 2011


Arvo!

(that's Australian slang for "Afternoon!")

Two exhilarating weeks have passed us by and I have returned safe and sound from Down Under!

The weather has been as unforgiving as it has been eleven years ago; scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night!

I'm at least four shades darker now!

Due to classified and security issues, I will not be able to post much information and photos on this blog.

All I can say is, it was definitely a tiring, siong yet memorable trip with my new comrades.

Outfield is no fun at all but sleeping on the three-tonner (with whatever space there is left of) and going to pee together at night in the wilderness without knowing what is in front of you is quite an experience to go through with your friends.

Of course, there are more pleasant activities like watching the Kangaroos from afar and waking up to the calls of the Kookaburras.

It was pleasurable for me to say the least as these sights and sounds are indigenous to the Australia outback and not anywhere else.

A Mission Down Under!


By the time you read this, I am already at the airport waiting for my chartered flight to Rockhampton, Queensland.

I will be there for the annual Exercise Wallaby with the Armed Forces for two weeks.

It was not my first time there, though.

The last time I was there is eleven years ago during my active days with my unit. As a NSF then, it was an eye-opening opportunity for me to be involved in an military exercise of such magnitude!

Although we do have our own local exercises, what we could acomplish in land-scarced Singapore is very limited compared to what the training area in Shoalwater Bay could offer us!

Training was tough definitely, but we were still able to find simple joys amidst the dull and monotonous exercise.

I remembered how we used to play wrestling in the tentage and even disturbing each other in the bathroom which, I will leave the details to your imagination...

At the end of the day, we would chill out at the canteen and recount our day over a beer and a pop-in-the-microwave burger.