AUSSIE WEEKENDER 31

I am not sure if anyone has ever heard of Cairns. I was thinking that Cairns is in New Zealand, because Chris Cairns was from New Zealand! So, you know where I am coming from :D. Krithi’s Thomas Cook exposure made her to put Cairns to the most would-like-to-visit place for her in Australia. She was talking about the Great Barrier Reef when we were coming to Australia itself.

Thus we made Cairns plan for last December, and made the bookings in November first week. The bookings were made in a hurry when we have diagnosed Krithi’s pregnancy. This time my lack of knowledge in biology did the damage. I was thinking it will be tough after 6 months and I was planning to finish off all travelling by first 6 months. As you know, in actual, the first 3 months is the sensitive period. I was in a hurry to finish off her priority places before it becomes impossible for her to travel.

Stupid me! We realised the mistake after 2 weeks, and the travel agents showed their colours when they declared no reimbursements if you cancel. They gave an option to postpone the trip charging some 100$ for that! Money never goes with me L !

Talking about Cairns, the coral reefs are the only visible natural reefs from space. The sites define Great Barrier ref as the World's greatest reef system, stretching more than 2000km along Queensland's north-east coast. As the World's largest and most complex reef system, it has thousands of individual coral reefs and hundreds of continental islands, reef islands and cays, small bare sand cays, and permanent vegetated cays.

So we were sitting tight for the first trimester to be over, and then tried the test our capacity to travel by trying the New Year fireworks. Then we went on to reschedule the trip to February first week, with a small change. We booked a furnished apartment instead of a normal hotel room. The rent was more, but we had reduced the days to be 3 days instead of 4 days, so the impact was little less.

Day1: Our first domestic flight in Australia. It was an amazing experience of technology to do e-check-in at the scan screen at the airport. It displays the available seats from which you can choose too. Cairns. I am first time trying this cheap type of flights which has converted air hostess to sales girls. We all had a list of available food and drinks with their price, and these girls were moving selling them. Cairns, though, in our same time zone won’t go for the daylight savings and so is an hour behind Sydney. So, we took off at 10, had three hours flight and landed in Cairns at 12. We had no processing time for anything while going in or coming out. Took a taxi to the hotel, it was a narrow road from the airport leading to the city centre. It took hardly 15 minutes to reach the hotel. The tropical climate was visible with the greenery, and the types of vegetation- with the narrow roads, it gave me a Goan feeling.

We checked-in by 12:30. The apartment was spacious, and I became very nostalgic when I opened one of the windows in the kitchen, and a coconut tree leaf peeped in as if it was waiting for me to open! We had a home-made lunch with a tropical view of palm trees and hills. We had no plans than just staying back and slowly explore the tours for tomorrow. The hotel itself has got all those leaflets and we chose one of them which came with a free underwater camera. I realised that there is a bit of cheating here also. They have the tour price highlighted on the leaflet and when you try to book it, comes the hidden prices – pickup-from-hotel fee ( I have never ever heard of it ), reef tax( I have no clue why they keep it separate and cheat) etc. ! Actually, I realised later that we were better. There was this hot air balloon flight, which charged some A$275 or so, and in small font was written ‘ excluding the compulsory insurance fee A$25 ! The cruise had a whole day itinerary including the trip to the reef, snorkelling, and trips in a semi-submersible boat and a glass-bottom boat (all are same, just making money putting in all these jargons).
We went for a walk towards the city centre. It was a deserted peaceful place with lot of houses and broad roads. They got hills all around and sea on one side co-existing with some mountains in the middle (forming small small islands). There was a long walk on the sea side- called the Esplanade (this just means a pathway in Dictionary) walk. We could see the day trip cruises bringing back tourists after their day out snorkelling and diving. It was not forming a beach, so they made a park and pathway to walk. The cruise was expecting us to get the swimming costumes, and we went in to an evening market (which opens at 5pm and closes by 9pm! I have never expected I will find such a thing in the whole of Australia). After our shopping, we walked to the artificial lagoon made near to the city centre end of the Esplanade. Sat sometime there, and it got dark by 7:30 itself as there is no daylight saving in Cairns (it is 8:30 in Sydney then).

We walked back home, doing some window shopping at the Opal shops and other souvenir shops. It all looked costly than our Souvenir shops in Sydney!

That ended our first day in Cairns. We were excited about tomorrow, seeing and doing something we are going to do for the first time.

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Day 2 in Melbourne:
Imagine a drive through the cliffs for some 600kms! Imagine huge pieces rocks standing in the middle of the sea some 100 feet from the shore! And that is what you experience in Great Ocean Road!
We checked out of the hotel and waited outside for the pick-up at 7:40. Most of the tours have got a free hotel pick-up if you are staying inside the city. The streets were so empty on a Sunday morning (Picture 1). Our tour started by 8. It was 20 seater minibus, but with more comfortable seat and air-conditioned. We were around 14 people- a German and a few people from Tasmania (the beautiful island territory of Australia on its North). We headed to Geelong where the Great Ocean Road begins. The guide-cum-driver, Craig was telling us about the population of Melbourne, the growth, and ‘preparedness’ for the future growth showing a set of huge flats which has got no takers at all !
We were in Geelong in two hours. We got a walk to the sea shore, and met some elephants in a local circus to Krithi’s excitement (Picture 2)! Then, started the Great Ocean drive, the dream drive through the cliffs, cliffs and cliffs (Picture 3)! Craig was stopping at times for taking photos. He was asking Krithi every time, ‘are you fine’ (We had to give our lunch choice from the menu so that he can call and book them. Then, I had mentioned that Krithi would like to eat something she has brought because of her taste buds’ conditions in this situation). Slowly the other passengers also know it and all were so concerned about her. The German sitting near us was suggesting her to keep the head up and straight and never look down, to avoid vomiting( he had a bag bought from Wimbledon souvenir shop, and so I think he had come here in association with the Australian Open!). I think his tip worked well for us!
Even with the best of miracles, I was sure that Krithi will vomit. Even I was getting uneasy feeling at times. It takes a bend and you can see the next three to four bends! She vomited once; we handled it professionally, and dumped the same in the bus dust bin with no smell or mess! My idea with the freezer bags worked! She got candies, tips, tissues and a lot of care from around. I was getting jealous J !
The bus stopped for its regular petrol filling. He dropped us in a shopping area and went to fill the gas (just using gas for a style, none here uses that term for petrol/diesel). Before this point, the Great Ocean Road was taking a turn away from the sea in to the inland. It was suppose to be inland drive for another 50 kms before it goes back to the cliff-chains again.
We resumed the journey and in another 10-15 mins, he got off the main road and gone in to a muddy road, stopped after a kilometre. Craig had taken us to show Koalas in wild. He gave us some 15 mins, and we could see some Koalas in their usual nap (Picture 4). Wonderfully, one of them was moving too J !
Starting from there, we went another 20minutes, and Craig stopped for a rainforest walk. A 20 min walk through a shady rainforest in the afternoon which is full of bushes and huge Eucalyptus trees, gave us a good appetite for the lunch. Landing at the restaurant by around 2, Krithi again did vomit, for the last time!
It was hot in the afternoon, and we could feel it whenever we come out of the bus. Many of our fellow passengers, who were from Tasmania, were enjoying the heat. They say they never get a hot day back in Tasmania (which is an island located north of the Aussie mainland, and is a part of Australia).
It was just 30 mins drive after the lunch, and we could slowly feel we are nearing the sea. Slowly, we could see one of the rocks at distance and we are at our site of the day, the Twelve Apostles! Craig gave 20 minutes to walk to the view point and come back. But we were planning for a helicopter ride. Craig agreed to come back to pick us after leaving the others at the next view point which will give us an additional 15 minutes.
The place was full of flies; full of flies means at any point of time at least 10-15 flies were sitting of everyone! We walked to the helipad, paid A$180 (90 per head) and waited. They need three people for a flight, and we had one more old man. We both sat in the rear seat and the other gentleman sat near the pilot. It took off giving us a spectacular view of the twelve Apostles (Picture 5), I kept my camera was blinking non-stop. I had put it in the continuous shot mode. It was a breathtaking flight to move over the sea from the land at such a low altitude. Krithi was enjoying her first helicopter flight! It was a 10minutes flight, but those 10minutes were so exciting and memorable!
We, then, ran to the view point through the tunnel under the road. Took some snaps standing at that view point (Picture 6), spend a few minutes there and then back to the point where Craig came and picked us up. The next part was really exciting: we could walk down the steps (around 200 steps) to the beach to see this huge rocks standing in front of us (Picture 7), and enjoy the ice cold water. I would have preferred to spent a romantic evening in that place, with a small tent and a lantern, and just two of us J. The setting Sun leaving its orange light would have made it perfect, but for the clouds L.
We moved to the third spot which is called the London Bridge (Picture 8). The Great Ocean Road extends to another 400kms, but this part is the cream of it. It was around 4:15. We started back to Melbourne. It was another route, which is more of a straight route. Craig was entertaining us non-stop telling us of a hell lot of ship-wreck stories, one of which was about a person who survived 6 ship-wrecks, and his sons died later in different ship-wrecks, but he died on normal death at last! He also got in to explaining about the people who have their faces in the Aussie currency notes – most of them are either journalists, or novelists.
Craig was telling that there is some bush fire and we have chances of getting diverted or blocked. But that didn’t happen. We could see the smoke at distance (Picture 9) some half an hour before Melbourne.
Craig dropped us in front of the Southern Cross station by 7:15. We had become close with others in the tour. One Tasmanian had been calling me Bollywood producer. While saying bye, he said we will meet when you come across to Tasmania for your next film :D.
We realised the real heat when we got out of the bus! It was just like landing in Ranigunda in mid May! We walked in to the station to get another bad news; the trains are all delayed due to the bush fires! They were getting caught up or were running in reduced speed in this extreme heat conditions and bushfire. They were more than 1 hour late. That means I won’t be able to make it to the office on time tomorrow :(.
But for now, this heat was horrible inside the station with asbestos roofing. We came out of the station; Krithi had a place she wished to visit given an hour more in Melbourne, a place near Federation square where there is a huge waterfall-glass-door. We missed it yesterday because we couldn’t find it. We got in to the next tram in that direction, and suddenly found ourselves in trouble. All I had was currency notes and the ticket machines in the trams will only accept coins! I just ignored it and noticed that less than 10% of the people are using those machines (may be they have a day ticket). I think I am trying a ticket-less travel after years :). Krithi was a bit afraid, but anyway we had to go.
We got down, and walked across the places we wanted to see. To avoid the same tension, we took a taxi back to the station. And believe me; it was cheaper than the cost of tram ticket for two!
The weather had changed by now! A strong wind was blowing cooling the air. It was so strong that the dividers were flying. So, ran in to the station before getting hit by something flying in the wind! The train was again delayed. The station was in a place where there were no restaurants around as I mentioned. I had to search a bit to get a place where I got a fresh huge 2’ Vegetarian Pizza (it was large enough for us to eat till end of next day).
The train at last started by 10:30, two and half hours late. We both were tired enough to sleep well. The train continued to go slow with the speed restrictions. I remember seeing the train stopped at around 1am, and some fire engines moving around.
It took one more hour more than the delayed time, to leave us at Strathfield by 10:30(where it should have been 6:40). I took off because it was a very tiring situation now to go to work.
Thus ended our Melbourne Adventures!

Tailpiece: Aussies got seasons for everything – bush-fire season, fly season, pest season, and so on.

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The train didn’t make up at night as it does in India. It just took its own time stopping in the middle and slowing down at times, to reach Melbourne- Southern Cross station by 8:30 instead of 7. Southern Cross station? I couldn’t find Southern Cross in any of my maps! All said Spencer Street station is where the long distance trains arrive and depart including our Country link timetables. So one more nail added to our crown of issues! I was still in sleep, sort-of got down at a strange station, left my tickets in the train.

The confusion got over when I saw the name board in the station saying Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street). So R K Narayan’s street name changing story works here also :D. Now out of the name confusion, realised my tickets are missing! Ran back to look for them, and it was on the floor in front of our seat itself.

Now, I had to tackle the other problems, first the accommodation. As I mentioned earlier, all railway stations and airports have this automated helpdesk for accommodation. You will have a big screen containing some 10-15 hotel details with some rent details, and a receiver. All hotels will have a 3 digit number. You can pick the receiver dial the three digit code and you are connected to that hotel/ B&B. Started calling the numbers from the helpdesk (these are free calls). The first two places had vacancies only with shared baths. But as always, the third one clicked! It was near the station, some 20 minutes. We chose to take a taxi as we were not able to see many trams and we were tired too.

Booked the room, paid the deposits and rent, left our baggage there. We could check-in only at 1, so as we know we have to roam around till that. We finished our breakfast in the McD nearby. Went through the maps, and proceeded towards the Federation Square, the city centre. Our plan was to take some small trips or visit some areas which may be relaxing. We checked at the station to get a day ticket to use the trams and trains, for 6 dollars per person. It was almost one-third compared to the 15 dollars in Sydney!

The city centre was the junction with Flinders Street Station entrance (Picture) on one side, and SBS building on the other. SBS had a free area around their building for the public to sit and view their big TV screen. SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) is a major Australian Channel which brings us all diverse programs from different parts of the World. It focuses and boasts a multicultural set of programmes. We get so much exposure to documentaries from Africa to America, including the uncensored documentaries of US’s war histories and smuggled Chinese tapes showing their breach of human rights.

The best thing being stuck in between issues is that you will learn to appreciate the small things which you would have never noticed otherwise. You always go with no expectation in such a situation and whatever comes by, positive and unexpected, will be excitingJ.

The city which looks very quiet all this time looked crowded in this part of the city. It was sunny too, contradicting the weathermanJ ! A huge crowd was queuing up to enter a tram. All other trams are running empty and the trams from one stop are full! We got the answer quickly, Australian Open! All were heading towards the Melbourne Olympic park, where the Australian Open is happening!

I had got no clue on where Krithi got the idea to check the ticket rates at the helpdesk in front of SBS building. I would have just thought that tennis is a costly sport. But when we found out that it is only 27$ per person, and that too for a day with multiple entry, it was cheap. It was cheaper than the worst available city tour! We purchased two tickets, and joined the crowd. We got hold of a fan someone was distributing with ‘The Lion King’ logo on it. Then we knew that Melbourne got a good drama theatre environment too!

It was festive atmosphere inside the fully-packed tram – packed like our buses in India. The heat was on, which had triggered sweating, and it was an Indian experience! People were in different costumes to make it evident where they are going to (Picture ).

It was a 20 minute ride to be dropped at the Melbourne Park. A security checking and we are a part of the Aussie Open festival crowd (Picture ).

I was never a big fan of tennis with the exception of Steffi Graf J. But I never wanted to leave a chance to see Australian Open. We had no plans for the day and till 1 we can’t go to the hotel also. But there was this fact that I can’t recognise between the No.1 and the beginner, it was all the sameJ. The two three names I could make out in the schedule is Martina Hingis, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Leander Paes. But of them, all we had today was a match for Mahesh Bhupathi and one for Leander Paes, both playing doubles.

But they were all for evening. Now, any match was same for us. So, we both saw tennis at the stadium with the crowd for the first time in our life! We peeped in to one or two women’s singles, sat for a couple of game or for a single set and then moved to the next. People were obeying the unwritten rule to not move in between the play. After each game, whoever wants to go out will stand up and slowly move, and once the next game starts, everyone make sure they are sitting. Again, the heat was becoming worse, and we could visibly see the crowd choosing the shadows leaving the sunny areas literally empty (Picture ). We came out of the ground by 12:30 to get a tram back to the city and another tram to our hotel (by this time we knew how the tram system works). We saw one of the electronic temperature board showing 40 degrees! Checked in and just got fresh, as we were as on yesterday night :D.

We had spotted an Italian restaurant near the hotel for lunch, while walking in the morning. We went there by 2:10 and they have closed lunch at 2! It looked stupid, but he was telling that the heat was one factor. We got to the other side to get a tram to a shopping mall two stops away and spotted a Pizza hut!

Back in the hotel, we started looking for a tour for Great Ocean Road. The lady there was telling that most of them come back late, by 8 or 9. We had to catch the train at 7:55PM! Though a couple of them say the tour timings as 8 AM to 7PM, none is ready to commit to us that they can drop us before 7:50. There goes another problem! This was the main part of our trip, so we could not help but take a risk. There was a good part of it. We got a backpacker deal for the trip which was telling 128 dollars pp(per person) in our leaflet. For the backpacker, it comes at 78 dollars pp! I was amazed to see so much difference in rates for the same tour. It was the same package and the next day we could see many paying 128!

We booked the tour, and got a short nap back in the room. Started the evening by 5:30 again and went straight to the Melbourne Park. One the way we calculated and discovered that our Indian doubles matches would be over by 6! The heat was still there, but it was little windier. We were surprised to see the entire crowd retired to the shades, taking rest. We walked to court 6 where Leander was supposed to be playing. We found it deserted! It took time for us to realise the problem, the plays have been stopped due to severe heat(Picture)! So the good news was, both the Indian games are not even started. But the bad news was the play have been stopped so early that the game before Leander’s is also not begun! Now the play will start at 6:30 means they can’t have Leander’s game today (and that means we can’t see it at all).

The play started at 6:30, and we slowly moved around to other courts checking the court where Mahesh Bhupathi’s match was planned. We were lucky there to see that match was just starting! There were some Indian people here and there (Picture). We saw his team loosing the first set and didn’t want to see India loose after all this pain. Just took some snaps (Pictures), and I think I am seeing him first time.
We started by 8, back to the city, it was only starting to get dark. Took some snaps of the Federation square in Twilight(Picture), and tried dinner in an Indian restaurant. Again, it was a flop! Some run away guys putting names like ‘Flora’ and running an Indian restaurant in the heart of the city. It becomes worse when people like us choose to eat Medu vadai at a Sardarji’s restaurant! I took rice and some curry which was safe, but Krithi’s masala dosai and vadai( Medu vadai made with wheat flour)were still in crude form L ! A 20 minutes walk to our room, a long day and eventful day comes to an end for us.

We have overcome some of the threats like accommodation and weather. I will say we survived today, but what tomorrow… ? Weather is again very critical for our trip tomorrow. If Great Ocean Road tour gets washed out by rain, I will say we have spoiled the Melbourne trip. We also have this risk of missing the train as the tour returns just on time. But leaving it all for tomorrow.
Closing off the day thanking God for today and hoping the best for tomorrow….

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I am not sure how many of you have seen calendars having this wonderful picture of a set of huge rocks standing in the middle of a beach, and with projections of a hill range on the shore. It will look as if the hills have split-up from their parents and gone in to the beach! Otherwise, how many of you have seen the film songs where the hero/heroin is shouting standing at the tip of a huge piece of rock with beach underneath it? If you have seen that, you have seen Great Ocean Road some 100kms near Melbourne!

You would have heard of Melbourne for the cricket ground, or Australian Open or at least in one of my weekenders. They call Melbourne the cultural capital of Australia and if you remember my story, this beautiful city on the banks of Yarra River was as good as Sydney to be considered for being the capital of Oz! May be if Melbourne would have been this good, Sydney would have become the capital!

It was a peaceful Wednesday evening. I was sipping a coffee back home, and casually asked Krithi on what can we do this weekend. As usual, she put the ball on my court. I asked, ‘What about Melbourne?’ She was looking at me like ’are you mad?’! It is 880kms away and takes 11 hours to reach by overnight train. A weekend will be enough if all goes well. Again, provided that you have to sit and come on the train whole night and go straight to office.

Krithi was excited of the place, I had shown her what is Great Ocean Road and she was dreaming of having her first helicopter ride above this natural wonder! But now, because of her present situation, we have to see that she is not suffering sitting the whole night, we are ready to face her vomiting while travelling through Great Ocean Road, which is obviously hilly, and nearly 600kms long!

I was ready for taking care of her provided she is fine with the travel and she was ready! We checked the country link, and booked the ticket. Checked for accommodation and forecasts, both didn’t look that great. But it is all done in an hour time!

Now comes budgeting. We had the big Cairns trip the week after next and I will have to book for my return tickets to India for March. So we were tight on finance. We took all the available booklets on Melbourne, and started budgeting. We had to choose between two tours – a penguin parade (which happens at night, along a coast where small penguins comes out of their dens in bulk and go in to the sea) and our dream Great Ocean road. They both won’t fit in, as the first one’s timing is from 3:30pm to 12 midnight. Again we may have to leave next day early morning at 8 for the Great Ocean road tour, and catch the train at night straightaway and me, end up in office next day morning. So it will become a hectic schedule. We dropped the Penguin parade at last, because of financial and time constraints.

The only part missing now was the accommodation. We need one night stay, which is tough to find in net. Most of them insist on minimum two nights stay during the weekends. By Friday night, I realised that I am not going to find any accommodation in Melbourne in net. That is something we had to risk. But even for the long weekends, I have seen people getting down at the station and trying the accommodation desk and get through with one! So I was sure that we will get something.

We started Friday evening. I was surprised to see that the train was an hour late! May be this is the first time ever I am seeing a train getting late by an hour outside India. It started by 9:30, took another one or two hours to finish off the ticket checking and to switch off the lights. We had tried two neck pillows from a Chinese shop, both were punctured L ! But still, I think we could sleep without much disturbance. Krithi also was not as bad as I thought, may be, we got some leg space between the seats.

All sort of negative things happening to us – no accommodation, negative weather forecasts, and now the train getting late and our sleep arrangement also flopped! But it is too late to rollback !

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Chinese all over the World synonymously means cheap! Even for travel, it was surprising to compare the Chinese company’s rates with the local rates. A normal site seeing trip costs 100 AU$ minimum for a full day trip and 50-60 for a half day trip. It will mostly have hidden prices again like the entry fees and food charges. It is almost same across Australia with a difference of + or – 10%.

There is a Chinese tour company who organises tours for less than half of the same rates! You have to pay 40 AU$ for a full day trip. Again, the conditions apply is there, but they spell it out clearly that these are the extra costs which you may opt for not paying. They even specify that 5$ tip to the driver in the leaflet. Then, why is it not so crowded? Why people still hesitate to take it? The answer lies where the Indians are ahead of Chinese, their English! The basic commentary and jokes provided by the driver during the trip will be in Chinese! He will only use English to inform you or summarise in between! He will talk 15 minutes non-stop in Chinese and it is a 1short sentence in English!!! It reminds me of my old roomie Avi’s English Drama teacher’s story (story at the bottom).

Anyway, I am an Indian (or let us make it I am still that old Venki) and still not comfortable with dollars. I have enough tolerance to listen to Chinese for a day if it saves me some 100 dollars!

They have this flat rate for many one-day trips. Those trips comfortably challenge the public transport itself including trains! For example, if you take a train to Canberra, it costs 25 $ per person one-way if you get hold of the apex ticket which you need to book early. Then it is a problem to go around in Canberra as you have to depend on the funny bus services which will again cost 5-10 $ per person. But the day-trip to Canberra which includes seeing the important places and sights there, will cost only 40 $ altogether!

We saw a different trip to places which we were something totally unknown of – dolphin cruises, and lavender gardens! That also includes a waterfall on the way. We booked the tickets two days ago, and the only worry was to go to Strathfield from where the trip starts. I went to whereis.com.au which tells us how to go given a source and destination. For me, I had to check from Strathfield station to Churchill Avenue, which was actually just outside the station. This funny site gave me a route to get out through the other side of the station and to walk 200 metres before taking a left to cross the bridge and walk back! I also trusted it thinking that there will be some block on this side of the station!

We just managed to reach there by 7:20 and we were the only pick-up from Strathfield (it starts from China Town) and so he started immediately. He warned us first itself that the commentary will be in Chinese and he will tell in English for us (Picture 1).

It was a 15 seater mini-bus. We were the last to get in; only the last seats were free! He got in to the freeway getting out of the suburbs. His short English said he was first heading towards the waterfall. It was around 9:00, when we took an exit to some hilly roads, and reached a forest area. Krithi who was silently sitting, ran out to give me the first unexpected! She started vomiting! I never even in dreams thought of her vomiting. We had travelled through the same hilly routes in a Countrylink bus some months ago, and even in India she was not vomiting during our hilly trips.

Anyway, we were not prepared for that. I still thought it was one time, but when she vomited again in the bus, I knew she is not going to enjoy the trip todayL !

The journey continues. By 10:30 we reached our next stop, Lavender farm. We walked through this small farm and took some snaps too (pictures). Then had a honey-lavender flavoured tea and to their plant to see the process of manufacturing lavender oil. The lady was telling like our road-side sellers – it will smell all day, it will relieve your tension if put on back-neck, it will relieve headache, it will cure even wounds! Good!

I bought the smallest bottle of lavender oil. We started again around 11:15 AM, our next destination was the Jervis bay for watching dolphins in the sea. We crossed through a castle like bridge on the way, the guide told that this is the oldest in Australia (Picture) ! It was another 90 minutes away and again all hilly routes. We could do nothing but just sit on the back seat and suffer.

By the time we reached Jervis bay by 12:40, Krithi was fully exhausted. If we could find a single railway route on the way, we would have stopped the van and gone back home. We spent our time trying to get fresh during the so-called ‘lunch break’. The cruise started by 1, which was a normal one which we have to pay separately. The ferryboat had an under water camera inside. So you can choose to sit inside and watch the TV taking your drink, or stand in the Sun waiting for the Dolphins! We were very excited to hear English around after hearing so much of Chinese, and ‘Chinglish’! We both were at the deck taking pictures of the Dolphins (Pictures), which went on for the first half an hour. The dolphins came around our boat jumping here and there like they are excited to see us! It travelled along the boat then disappeared. Slowly we left their area, and the boat went on in to the sea.

Krithi again got back to her ‘sickness’ and it is good that most of the ferries have got toilets inside. It was another 2 hours before we came back to the land, by 3:30.

We had done with the trip, and it is straight back to Sydney now covering some 200 kms. It was a sort- of non-stop journey. Krithi was too tired slept for the whole return trip. The return was a straight freeway route and we were back by 6:30. Back home, it was like in-heaven for Krithi. The trip was good by itself, but I am not sure whether we enjoyed it.

Cheers
Venki

Avinandan’s Story: It was their English drama class. It is Macbeth! The whole class is sitting with text book and the teacher will read one sentence and interpret it in simple English and the pupils note down the meaning on the side or available free space in the text. The font becomes smaller and illegible as it progresses, on each page. That is the normal case.
On this particular day, the scene was just after Macbeth has killed the King. The thoughts in his mind is been beautifully elaborated by William Shakespeare. The teacher, on the contrary to the normal habit of interpreting each sentence, is keeping on with the reading. Students look surprised and worried on how difficult it will be to note down the meaning for the whole page together!
Shakespeare finished his description of what went through Macbeth’s mind after killing his King in a page. The teacher finished reading it. Class is silent.
The teacher looks up from the book, looks at the class almost with a wry smile, looks back at the book and then again at the group of eagerly waiting adolescents. Then with a profound assurance in his voice, proclaims to the world - "Macbeth is afraid!"

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 26

Next day to Christmas is Boxing Day in Australia. I have no clue what Boxing day means. All it means for me is it is a public holiday for us. We planned to go to a temple which is heard to be big one in Sydney, but a little far away. It takes two long train journeys and a bus journey to reach there. Being a public holiday, the bus schedule to the temple area from the station was hopeless. They have a bus at 1:30 and 3:30 to the temple, and it will come back at 2:40 and 4:05; and that is the end of the bus services! We only looked at these aspects in the afternoon. Started by 12:50 got two trains well connected, reached Helensburgh station by 2:40. It was a small station surrounded by nothing but greenery. No car, no taxi, no shops, nothing! And we were the only people in the station apart from a guard. We came out of the station and walked in a direction we felt fine. We crossed a small bridge over a stream brimming through rocks. We continued on the road, climbing with it. We started seeing houses built in lavish compounds, resembled of the houses in Kerala once we move out of the city in Cochin and Malabar parts. The heat, the humidity and the sound of the stream made me feel that I am walking somewhere in Kerala.

But we realised that we are on the wrong side as the road was closing down, and we walked back and saw the map at the station which had no details of the temple. Again, there were no pointers at all, around the cut roads near the station. I was in a very helpless situation. We need to wait for another 35 minutes for a bus, but again, we won’t be able to get the bus back. I can’t see any taxis also around which again will be a problem to come back from the temple to the station. I would have blindly decided to take the next train back home, if I were to decide, in this situation. But, Krithi, who never demands for anything was giving a sad look with my suggestion to return.

It is around 4 kms to the temple and the summer Sun was doing its job well. Krithi’s troubles of pregnancy have not yet fully gone. We decided to walk slowly as waiting for the bus is only going to make things worse. We started climbing the road, and we would have almost walked 15 minutes. It was tiring for Krithi, but I also didn’t know what else I can do if she still wants to see the temple. We were so helpless. We were crossing the road here and there for shade. We were crossing at a point and found a red car stopped with an Aussie (named Andrew) looking at us with a smile! He was just being so kind that he stopped seeing us walking, and was asking, ‘I can give a lift if you likeJ’! It was unbelievable!

Aussie can never replace anyone in the World for his friendliness (the nearest I have seen is the Scottish)! We accepted his lift and were in the temple in 5 minutes. He knew the temple and actually his home was on the way to the temple. He drove another 2 kms to drop us to return home. Again, he was showing us the route in case we happen to walk back and explain how long it takes. He also suggested me to mention it to the temple people to have some pointers to show the way from the station!

I just looked at Krithi expecting a normal human response of giving the full credit to God (Saying God has sent him). She was so excited with what happened, but she was thankful to Andrew. While writing our names for pooja, she was asking me whether we can do pooja in Andrew’s nameJ !

Temple was big enough in peaceful greenery. It was as Indian as possible, even with the people. There were only two people (Iyengars, if you understand) with T-shirts and Dhothi. They were selling tickets at the counter and they were doing the poojas too. But with very few people in the temple, it was still peaceful life for them.

I tried to tell them that we had problems in finding way from the station. They took it cool, and asked me back, ‘How did you come?’ I told about the lift, and immediately came the reply, ‘try to get something like that to go back. We don’t think there is any bus today’. They also added, ‘people come here in cars, and they know how to come’ as the reason for having no pointers.
Excellent! So they were indirectly telling us that we are not expecting beggars like you J.

Krithi’s desire to have a masala dosai and we had a choice to try it, the temple canteen. I think all these people run away from India, come here and learn to make dosai! They know only one thing, cook only one side and they don’t learn to make it thin enough that one side cooking will do. So again we had to eat a half-cooked dosai! But I appreciate one fact, that temple was maintained well and neat.

We were optimistic that 4:05 bus will turn up despite the temple authorities says there is no bus todayJ. Our optimism paid off, we got the bus back home. The rest was easy, there was no hassle in getting the connection trains to Central and then to Parramatta. We were back home by 6.
It was a memorable day which I will remember forever! Being so helpless and suddenly getting some unexpected help and that too in another country, it was great! We went to temple and we met God too! But the only doubt is whether we met the God at the temple or on the way!

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 25

Continuing with the NYE day…

17h00: The crowd was focusing the part where we were sitting, and started packing up there. The ‘safe event‘volunteers were looking at us with a worry from the beginning itself and at last they asked us to leave that areas. The Sun was still giving an afternoon shine. We left our bags in the blanket booked on the meadow and went for a walk around for keep away from the Sun. That gave us a glimpse of the crowd, the long queues for drinks and toilets (remember the bucket toilets in South Africa in Soweto. I saw the same here with a petname ‘mobiloo’).

17h30: We went to the other side of the meadow, the best view portion at the top is been fulley occupied by photographers and it is full of tripods. I forgot to take my tripod from India, and I think I will have no big chance of getting good pictures of the fireworks.

The water part was getting filled as well. With a lot of boats, some anchored in the middle from the morning itself (Pictures).

19h30: Back to our blanket. It has become very dirty being on the soil. But all our bags and all are there safe. Crowd had increased and there were people in the place where we were evacuated earlier (anyway, they were chucked out later. So the system was fair).

20h00: Anish and Lakshmi also joined us, with some cheese spinach stuffed roti of turkey. They brought one for me too. We had had brought some rice for Krithi with us. We had the supper and waited… The sky was getting dark…(Picture)


21:00: The first set of fireworks begins- they call it family fireworks. This one was not involving the Harbour Bridge. It is synchronised at two points and will be triggered simultaneously. So for us, the same cracker goes up and blows at the same time behind and in front of us! It lasted around 18 minutes. A heart appeared in the middle of the Harbour Bridge at the end of the show! Suddenly most of the people started moving off. We thought we will have a cool time with not much rush for the grand finale! But later we found that they all went to stand in the queue and fill their glasses! None seems to leave, in our area, at least.

22:00: The heart in the Harbour Bridge is becoming concentric getting one layer after each hour (Picture).

23:00: The females sitting in front of us started changing clothes top-to-bottom to the shock of Krithi and Anish’s wife Lakshmi. Anish was commenting we should video this and take it back to India J. Ironically, the guys were taking their clothes to the shade for changing! What a wonderful World!

23:30: The gang in front completes their dress change and make-ups and with filled up glasses starts taking snaps. They requested us to take their snaps and then they joined us to take snaps( Picture).

24h00: The grant finale begins! Two light beams blink towards the centre of the bridge from either sides, and they collided and the bridge burst out in to fire! It was full light, and the fireworks also started from behind the Opera house and behind us. It was an event for lifetime!

The crowd cheering at the fireworks, as the earlier areas also start sending glitters to the sky. I was in a dream, trying to capture the whole in my 15 minute limit for the movie clips, in my digicam. I was trying to keep them in 30sec- 1min clipping. I tried to take some snaps, but all look good in thumbnail size, all got shakes due to my standing position and no tripod(Pictures).



00:30: It is all over, the crowd is walking back. Most of the drunk fully, but very harmless though they sometimes push among themselves or sometimes just dropping down, and you have to watch out for that.

01:00: We are at St.James station after a long walk. The rail stations were alerting all to be patient as a huge crowd is waiting for trains. They were also trying to tell that the frequencies of the trains are high to make sure all can travel comfortable and fast. We got a train to Central. It was, to our surprise, not packed, though crowded.

We changed at the Central, again it was not packed and every two minutes there was a train to our direction. We were standing at first, but an Indian family gave some space to us taking their kids sleeping on the seat, to their shoulders. But after two three stations, none was standing too!

02:00: We got down at Parramatta station. We were thinking that we will have a crowd to accompany us till home. But all vanished at the station itself! By the time, we entered our street we were alone. We came back home dirty being in the Sun the whole day! I had put the Sunscreen over the soiled legs to make it worse. We have no choice but take a bath at 2:30am before sleep.
It was one of the longest days for us, but it was worth the show at the end of the day !

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 24

The New Year Eve! I remember this was a day which was nothing for me till the TV came in around 1987. Even during the initial times of TV, the only excitement was Prannay Roy’s special ‘World this Week’. Then, it grew as a big event with all night programs in TV. But still, my New Year had nothing more than TV events! Mostly the next day’s news will have some of the New Year celebrations happening in some part of the World. I am not sure the fireworks were only there in Sydney during those days, some 15 years ago, but it was shown at first always! So I think, I had noticed it and the first thing I know about Sydney is this bridge and the lotus-like building lit in the fireworks. I had no clue of what this lotus-like building was until a few years ago when people in South Africa use to talk about Sydney and Opera house. I got some more clear idea when my junior Binish wrote about being in Sydney, a couple of years ago. So you can see that I will be boasting if I say it was a dream for me to be there for the fireworks! It was far beyond being thought of as a dream, thanks to my ‘geography and general Knowledge’!
But sometimes reality overtakes your dream, and some dreams never become reality! So I am here in Sydney, and now realise that these people also are still enthusiastic about it as much as I am! But as I had been telling you about the crowd and it was a tough day ahead for me.
The forecast: It was supposed to be a Sunny day with the Sun heating to 35 degree in C !
The Plan: As my initial going through the sites said that Macquarie’s Chair is been made a paid spot to see the fireworks, I was looking for Circular quay to enjoy the fireworks, which is the second best spot to watch the same.
The Morning: It was a busy morning for us. Anish in St.Leonard’s had invited us for lunch and was suggesting planning it together for the fireworks. He was here last year and knows the crowd better; this year is his first after marriage.
The packing: We packed with fruits, food for night, some dry fruits and nuts to keep Krithi’s energy level, some basic medicines, some bread and a bed sheet to reserve the place.
We started by around 10. Took a NYE ticket which was a special ticket enabling us to travel across the city unlimited in trains till 1st Jan noon. Whereas a normal return ticket costs 5.40, this one was just 5 $. We had some relaxed time at Anish’s place and after lunch, started by 2pm towards the city’s action spot for the day! My only worry then was that Anish was sure that they will have a public access area in Macquarie’s Chair as well, which I was not sure. I was a bit worried of not being able to get any place anywhere after wasting our time to go till Macquarie’s Chair and finding it inaccessible and then moving to another spot. Anyway, there is always a factor of risk to get the best !
14h30: Got down at Wynyard, and took a taxi to the Domains gate. I am not sure why Anish was insisting on taking a taxi while we could use the free ticket with us to take another train to the station near the Domains. Anyway, it was people everywhere! All walking to get the best possible view they can get, of the fireworks. We crossed the checking point where they check for any bottles or other prohibited items including liquor (!). Don’t guess it, you can’t bring liquor but you can buy it inside ;). Else I am sure I will not have even 10% of this crowd. But there is a condition. If you have to buy liquor, you should have proved your age is more than 18 and got it authorised. That was the first amazing thing we witnessed as we got in to the botanical garden compound: a long queue to get them verified for alcohol. Once they find the identity card authentic, they will be tied with a non-reusable red plastic band on their hands. That enables them to stand in another 'short'er queue to buy drinks (Picture 1). We walked around 10 minutes to reach the tip of the botanical garden, the most wanted part – Macquarie’s chair! It was full in sunlight and shades. There was a climb which has no proper way to sit, was free! We tried to get a spot there, but the volunteers were telling us that we may be told to leave later as these areas are not safe to sit! We just got a shady part there and sort-of settled down (Picture 2). In the meanwhile, Anish managed to acquire a bed-sheet space in the ‘valley’ below us but it was too hot to sit there. We still settled on the hilly part, waiting for the Sun to go down. It was around 3 by that time. Still 9 hours to go…! And the crowd was just pouring in…(Picture 3) I know I am trying to explain an event which is to me like having a lunch with Queen Elizabeth ! So it is taking its time to convert it in to words. Again, as you know, I am not such a picker of words. All I know is a handful of words to do a trial and error to see if it matches my feelings! So I will continue with the NYE next week.
Tailpiece : Hope you would have read of Kerry Packer’s demise. He is told to be the most influential man in Australia! We can remember him as a determined man who just went on to create one day cricket calling the best available cricketers all over the World just for the reason that he( his Channel 9) didn’t get the telecasting rights ! I also join the Aussies and cricket lovers all over the World to pay my tributes to this legend!

Happy New year

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006 !!!!