AUSSIE WEEKENDER 20

Melbourne and Sydney fought for becoming the capital of Australia and Canberra won! The only eligibility for Canberra becoming the capital of this continent nation is its location. It is the capital of this continent country just because it is located in the middle of Sydney and Melbourne! And it was my mistake that I overlooked this story as a joke!
We had to catch the train at 6:58AM from Central station. That means we have to start another one hour before, and assume that the frequency of local trains are normal. The daylight had already taken over from the streetlights by around 5AM itself! We started by around 5:40, and we were in the central by 6:30. The train had only 4 coaches, and one of them is this cafeteria! Just three coaches for passengers, two for normal and one first class!
The train started by 7, not even these two normal passenger coaches were full or rather one of the coaches was fully empty! Two young couples, one behind and one in front, were making scenes disturbing other passengers. And another Sri Lankan lady with full of bangles was talking non-stop to her fellow passengers, and went to the vacant coach to change in to a sari and was explaining the others about saris and Indian make-ups. She was supposed to be a Bharatanatyam dancer studied dance in some Jaffna University.
The sky was cloudy; still we got some pictures of harvested fields, and horses. It reached Canberra by 11:30, and getting down and coming out, I had the shock of my life! The station resembled a village station, with a single platform and two three lines for shunting!
We came out of the station to see nothing but a village outside! There is a bus every 20 mins to the city centre. We were lucky for that one thing; a bus came to pick us within 5 minutes.
We were to come back to this station to catch the 5 O’ clock train back to Sydney. So all we got was some 5 and half hours to see Canberra and that too, it looks at least an hour will go in this transfer from and to the station.
The bus dropped us in a stop for Parliament house, and it was a deserted place with this parliament building except for a single policeman! We walked to the other side of the building where the entrance is for the Parliament building. We took some pictures and got in, it was free entry and still not very crowded. We joined a guided tour which is done by a staff every 30 minutes. They walked us through the hall where the main functions happen. It was started with only official functions, but late was decided to be allowed for private functions, dinners and parties seeing it is not used very often J. We walked in to the house of representative chamber, but we had to see it from the press/public sitting area. We could walk in to the press part of the senate also and take some pictures. The big seat in the senate is still kept for the Queen or anyone from the British Royal family. If none of them are there, it will remain empty! That is, still the Senate is presided over by the Queen! I And for me, it is the first time that I am standing at a place where a country’s governing body sits! Still the person who was taking us for the tour was telling, I know you still may be feeling bad that you couldn’t go down there and have a feel of it!
We could take a lift and go to the terrace, and get a view of the surroundings. We took the best sides of it including the long path, through the Old parliament house leading to the War memorial at the far end!
Done with the Parliament building, we came out and walked to the old Parliament house ( the white building in Picture).
Our problem was slowly beginning, there is no shop, no restaurant anywhere nearby and the ones in the Parliament house was too expensive and with no veggie option. All we had taken with us was 2 bananas, I never thought I will end up in such a ‘capital’ !
We walked in to the old Parliament house, which was the assembling place till 1988. They took an entry fee of A$2 for the preservation. We were allowed to sit in the very seats where the senators use to sit, and take pictures, and we could see the offices of the ministers and all. Getting out of it, our problem has become acute as we were not finding any vegetarian food! It was again 3, and we also realised that the next bus to the station is at 4:05 and after that we will get one more bus at 5:05 which won’t suffice to catch our train! We couldn’t see anything other than greenery and some isolated protestor’s tents . We could do nothing, but just sit and wait for the next bus. We saw some marriage ceremony happening in one of these gardens around us, but this one was fenced well. I managed to zoom in the piper from my waiting shed . I was still trying to take some snaps, but Krithi was fully exhausted .
It was another adventure when we got the bus. We found a place on the way where there were a couple of restaurants, and we even saw a South Indian restaurant! We got down at that stop, and the driver told us it will take some half an hour to the station by walk. The time was 4:15 and we have 15 mins to get something to eat and start walking! The road was not straight again, and if we loose the way, there is neither signboard nor a person to ask for in the bureaucratic jungle!
Situation worsened when we realised that most of the restaurants are getting ready for dinner, the Indian one was closed, and we will not get anything by 4:30! Then, it is worse than before! We have to now walk with this tiredness and hunger!
We managed to get a vegetable puff sort of thing and started walking briskly. I was looking for a taxi, but I know on this unlucky day, I will not find any!
We got one or two people showing us the way to the railway station. The roads were all having meadows followed by fences covering big bungalows of bureaucrats and diplomats! We reached the station in time.
Krithi tasted the veggie puff stuff and gave me a pathetic look! We could do nothing, but dump it in the nearest bin, it was so tasteless. A coffee and a couple of cookies from the train’s cafeteria, and that was the first food after the banana taken hours ago! We said good-bye to the Capital, with bad memories. Now we know, why Aussie himself hate this place!
Krithi let out a roar of joy seeing Kangaroos jumping away from the train! We are seeing them in the open space first time in Australia. The light was so bad and the train was very fast that I couldn’t photograph them! We had to wait till getting back home by around 10:30 to have a good Supper.

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 19

I was missing one more Diwali in India! I remember Vivek (my project manager in South Africa) was once talking about his missing first Diwali after marriage because of a foreign assignment. He was mentioning this to console me when I was sad missing my first Onam ever missed. I remember clearly that I had decided that I will make sure I don’t do the same! But here I am, missing my thalai-Diwali (that is what we call for the first Diwali after marriage).
I was just thinking of another no-crackers-normal-day Diwali. Then we heard of a Diwali celebrations being held at the Sydney Olympic park every year and the expected crowd is around 22,000!

We were planning to go to this Olympic park from the beginning itself, as one of the fillers. Now it is a chance to see the infrastructure constructed for the Olympics as well as celebrating a Diwali! It is an isolated part for the railway lines. We have to get down at Lidcombe and then take the Olympic park sprint line shuttles, which takes a 10-15 mins to the Olympic park station.

It was a Sunday just before Diwali. The day was hot (I mean it was hot compared to the previous day and this variation makes it worse. So though it may be 28 or 29, you will find it very hot as the previous day it may have been only 20), so we waited till evening. Started around 3, got down at Lidcombe, and crossed over to the Olympic park Sprint line. There was a huge Indian crowd waiting for the train. Though the function has started by 11, it seems most people planned it for the evening due to the heat!

We reached the Olympic park station around 4. It resembled me of the Canary Wharf station in London. One of the most modern stations I have seen in Sydney. I forgot to take the photos thinking I will do it while coming back and by then my memory card was full.

We walked with the crowd to the stadium, waited in a long queue for the entry ticket where people would have stood for getting an entry to see the opening and closing ceremonies during Sydney Olympics! We got to see it was a huge crowd. I won’t see it is an Indian crowd, as most have gone in to this ‘confused’ mode for their dresses, make-ups and all J (like crows fitted with peacock’s attire). There was a stage facing the gallery, and something was happening there. We walked around the ground which was full of stall, mostly food stalls!

We tried some dosai and pav bhaji only to realise that it is all not worth anything! These food stalls were mostly opened by the indian restaurants in Sydney. But I think they were sending the cook-trainees or waiters to cook here, so that their business at the hotel is not going down. Anyway, they know this crowd will eat anything today! We threw half of the dosai as it was still in crude state. Pav bhaji was full of salt! It was again amazing to see all these stalls crowded and people were waiting in a queue.

We could see a lot of Aussies, some with their families, and some Aussies with Indian wives too.
They all seem to be having an Indian feelJ. There were 3-4 policemen (Picture) stuck in between this 22000 people !

It was getting dark by around 6. We moved to the gallery to get a place to see the fireworks and there was a huge Ravan (Picture) ready to burn downJ. Australian Hindu council was organising this function. The stage was facing us, and the programmes had stopped and some speeches were going on. One guy was giving a long speech and was telling all funny things about Hinduism and at last stated that ‘it is the fastest growing religion in the World’! Good that it was Sydney; it would have been different if it were Europe! Aussie is already afraid that he is loosing his identity with all these people flowing in, and now this 22K plus people assembling and making such funny statements…. Gosh! Again, there were a handful of people present from the local administration and even had a message from John Howard (Aussie PM) in the plasma screen. But anyway, the crowd was not listening to it, none even bothered to give a clap for the speeches (anyway, these speeches doesn’t deserve any either). Then, was the last programme on stage which got some attention, the bhangra (Picture ).

The best part of the day started by around 7:30, beginning with the burning of Ravan. It was followed by a memorable firework show lasting for some half an hour. I just started recording the fireworks (picture) in my camera as video clip and ended up in exhausting my memory card!

We were done by 8. Then another problem, all these crowd packing back in to the train! I only realised that most of the people have come in their cars, when I found the train literally empty!was But where was the crowd waiting in Lidcombe while we were coming?! Back home, and edited off my firework clippings to make space before ending the weekend.

Tailpiece: Australia had got three time zones: one is AEST( Eastern Standard time), WAST( West Australian ST ), and CYST( Central Standard Time)one zone in the middle. On Oct 30th, we set one hour ahead for day light saving and there comes the joke. The daylight saving is done by only 3 or 4 states! The rest are still in their normal time! Brisbane which is in our same time zone is now 1 hour behind Sydney! But luckily, Melbourne and Canberra are with us in the same boat. So we call Sydney time now as AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight time). How is that?!

Aussie and me : We mostly struggle to get someone to take our photo. After the digital one has come, we try with the timer or handheld with the LCD screen facing us. That enables us to see how the picture will come. But most of the times, I see someone will come over to us offering help and it always will be an Aussie, not any other tourist!

Tailpiece: Australia had got three time zones: one is AEST( Eastern Standard time), WAST( West Australian ST ), and CYST( Central Standard Time) one zone in the middle. On Oct 30th, we set one hour ahead for day light saving and there comes the joke. The daylight saving is done by only 3 or 4 states! The rest are still in their normal time! Brisbane which is in our same time zone is now 1 hour behind Sydney! But luckily, Melbourne and Canberra are with us in the same boat. So we call Sydney time now as AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight time). How is that?!
Aussie and me : We mostly struggle to get someone to take our photo. After the digital one has come, we try with the timer or handheld with the LCD screen facing us. That enables us to see how the picture will come. But most of the times, I see someone will come over to us offering help and it always will be an Aussie, not any other tourist!

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 18

There is nothing great in seeing a zoo, and it again becomes thought worthy when the entry fee is nearly 1000 rupees per head! Still Taronga zoo is an attraction in Sydney involves a ferry and a ropeway to the zoo gate (Picture) from the Circular quay. It also gives a good view of the Sydney’s duo symbols – Harbour Bridge and opera house- from the Giraffes’ fence!
We took a day-tripper which gives us a 20% discount at the zoo entry (other than the free travel in bus, train and ferry). It has got discounts in almost all attractions if presented for the same day.
It was a sunny day. We took ferry to the city, and changed at the Circular quay for thr ferry to Taronga. Ropeway to the zoo gate and there we go…
The zoo walk started with an exciting peacock opening up her feathers (what do we say for it?) and just walking around us. It was left free in the zoo compound (Picture)! The rest was almost the same, except for a large play area for Chimpanzees and Gorillas (Picture). They also got a lot of toys to play with, inside their play room. The lions, tigers (Picture) gave me a good photograph as I never had to increase my aperture to decrease the field of depth and make the iron bars of the cages vanish; they were all in view through glass. There was a large area saying Asian elephant rainforest, and there was even an elephant temple but there was no elephantJ ! It just reminded me of the old Suppandi joke where the waiter says,’ will you have Mysore in Mysore bonda’!
Meerkats gave me some good photographs (picture). The big version of them has come out very well, though I won’t be able to attach them. They will come to an MB eachJ.
Giraffes and Zebras were the lucky ones to have the Sydney highlights in their background as (picture)I mentioned earlier.
We struggled to find some vegetarian food for lunch, found one of the shops selling pizzas at last! Done with the zoo by 3:30. The ropeway was closed due to strong winds. We had to run down to the ferry to catch the ferry which only comes once in half an hour. Just missed the boat, and so too early for the next one! Looking through the shore, Krithi spotted a lonely area full of white sand. We had no idea whether we will be able to go there. Took a walk through the bushes to reach that part and spend sometime in that ‘Cast Away’ beach (Picture)!
We had to run again to catch the next ferry, took another ferry to Manly beach (which is one of the famous beaches in Sydney next to Bondi) back in the Circular Quay just to have a look at it and come back( to make sure the money spend for the day-tripper got its return ;) ). The journey was pleasant , but windy. The wind became very strong and chilly; we couldn’t enjoy the journey standing on the deck. At the Manly quay, it was getting dark and the sky way beautiful (Picture). We didn’t bother to walk to the beach just stayed there enjoying the sky.
Back to Circular quay, by the next ferry and there was this beautiful cruise ship in standing in the Circular quay, in the middle of the Harbour Bridge and the opera house! There goes another shot from Circular quay station (Picture16).

Cheers
Venki

Tailpiece: There was this talk about Melbourne cup everywhere and it seemed all were waiting for the D-day! It was basically horse racing. The newspaper reported the profiles of each horse each day, the television went on showing talk with the trainer of Horse X and jockey of Horse Y and even in the office cafeteria or breakaway area, it was all Melbourne cup! At last the D-day came and we all got a mail to be invited to the central hall of the office for seeing the Melbourne cup at 3:15 in the plasma screens. I thought it may be some inaugural ceremony or something and may be an event which will go on for a week.
I went there and the race started by 3:15, it was all over in 15 mins! A lot of happy faces, lot of sad ones and all back to work! The Melbourne cup was over!!! The horse which won is winning the third time in a row, and it is history! They were talking about stuffing this Makybe Diva (that is the horse’s name) in the museum when it dies, proudlyJ ! But I will say, It is not yet dead, mate! It is alive! How will you feel someone talking about stuffing you when you are getting an Olympic gold medalJ .Crazy Aussies!

Aussie and me: We were all going to Brisbane and the other guys were bit more noisy and they have come with snake& ladder and card. Just joined them and we were arguing and laughing and all sort of …! People responded very positively, even passing some funny comments while passing our chairs, saying like ‘ I like this seats, you people are so happy’ or ‘ hey, watch this guy, he is cheating’(pointing at one of us) etc. !

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 17

Sydney’s aquarium is boasted as one of the main attractions in Australia. I have only seen these under water walk through a glass corridor in films.
We had checked the previous weeks while in the city on the feeding times, and they Shark feeding was around 11 AM and the Seal feeding was at 3PM. There is a Great Barrier reef tank( with the species seen specially in Great Barrier reef) feeding in the middle. The ticket is for the day, and once paid we are allowed to go out and come back till it closes for the day. But the charge comes to 30 bucks per head!
We started by around 10, and we were stuck in the train to get down at the Town Hall itself by 11. Just took our time to walk to the Darling harbour where the aquarium is situated. Got the first hit when the batteries went down in my new digital camera just bought two days ago. I was thinking that the AA batteries will last more. Anyway, had a set of new cells in reserve but still it was a shock that I hardly have taken some 10-20 photos on it ! A small queue to get through the entry, it was normal fish tanks to begin with; contain some colourful and rare species. Then we went in to the tunnels for shark and seals. I think I ended up taking some 100 plus pictures and a couple of small movies. Some good ones were the shark, ghost fish(that is the name I put), and Moon jelly fish.( attached as Pic 1,2,3).
We finished the tour in 3 hours. After a pizza lunch in one of the outdoor restaurants in Darling harbour (See picture4), we walked back in to aquarium by 3 for watching the Seal feeding. We reached there by 2:55, and saw that the seals also were impatiently waiting for the feedingJ. They were coming up, looking around to see anyone with the Navy blue T-shirt and going back in to water and started making noisy scenes! It was pretty interesting to see them jumping when two guys turned up. One of them was very hungry that it came to the door and started knocking it (see the picture5). It was joy eating all the fish the guy had and still sadly looking at him ‘are you done?’J!
We came out of the aquarium, buying nothing from their souvenir shop as it looked unreasonably costly! I am strongly positive NOT paying the same amount I gave for a souvenir for Tower of London built even before Australia itself was ever discovered, for a souvenir of an aquarium (built in early 90s)!
It was only 4 and we had some good time to go for a walk. We slowly walked towards the Harbour bridge which seemed very close (in the map ;) ). We walked through the street high above the harbour level and we could see the port area and the cargo. This area looked pretty deserted and old (see the picture6).
Krithi was excited seeing a marriage happening in Darling Harbour. As usual, she was just stuck there seeing their dress. There are cruise boats which can contain a hundred people who can sit around and have a dinner there. While started walking I told her that I will show more marriages on the way, but I never thought it will become a reality!
After walking through the port area, we climbed a hill. We realised only reaching the top that we are on top of the Sydney Observatory Hill! It gives an excellent view of the Harbour bridge on the other side (picture7), and a lot of grooms& brides were flowing in – some with a photographer who brought them there to take some pictures (Picture8), some were just getting married in the church just below (Picture9,10). We saw some 5-6 couples in their marriage dress and then their gang of friends wearing beautiful uniform, it was a happy atmosphere. We walked between them to climb the other side crossing the road leading to H.bridge.
The walk ended in the gates of Botanical garden by around 6! We had walked for 2 hours! Krithi was too tired as these 2 hours was in addition to the walks inside the aquariumL. Though we had chairs to sit for every km, and were walking slowly, it would have been some 4-5 kms. Just sitting there for sometime enjoying the crowd, people were enjoying the climate change. Took a glorious night shot from Circular quay station from where you can see both the bridge and opera house through the glass (see Picture 11).
I had almost finished 200 plus pictures that day fearing the batteries will go down any moment! They still have not done as I changed to rechargeable batteries the very next day.
Please write back how is this new look of weekender to you. I have their huge version( with each one weighing 600KB) with me in case you are interested :D.

N B :- The picture number is the number prefixed with each picture.
Aussie and me :- I was rushing in to a bus which was about to leave and I have to pay 2 dollars. I opened my purse and looked for a 2$ coin. It is thick, but small, so not easy to find in between the 10c, 20c and 50c lot. I had notes in the next rack anyway. The driver cooly told me, ‘ Just relax, mate ! I can wait here and take all your changes if you can’t find a 2$ coin’ !