Day 1 in Brisbane:
The sleep was not great. Anish and others got down at Casino at 3:30 without waking us up. Though I was getting up often, I was sleeping when they left.
The seat in front of us was a family with some 5-6 kids. The middle-aged fat mother was keeping herself awake providing sleeping space to her kids, giving them the seat spaces, making some space under the seats and the gaps in between the sets as a results of some seats turned around. They were also going for holidays. As I had written in my South African weekenders, I will think twice before saying that parents in the West don’t love their kids. And anywhere in the World, mothers are special creations!
The Sun was up and running by 5 AM itself! The light disturbed my sleep, the atmosphere was misty and in the mist, the farm houses, the trees and the meadows all looked glamorous. My intention to take the camera and take some shots was badly struggling against my sleep, but eventually won after a struggle of an hour! I started taking pictures (hope you have seen some misty pictures), and it continued till we started entering the urban areas and then slipped to sleep again.
The train reached Brisbane Roma Street Station by 6:30. We had another challenge to spend the day till noon efficiently before we check in to the Hotel (check-in times are 1PM normally).
Got fresh at the station, had a good breakfast with hash browns, pan cakes, and coffee in the food court just above the rail station. The hotel was told to be near to the station. We grabbed a map from the station and walked through the road to go around the station, climbing the hill behind it, to the hotel. The Jacqeranda picture (if you have seen the Brisbane pictures in my link) was taken during that time. A man picking up the flowers early in the morning was a bit surprising for me there. The brick red ‘taxis waiting at the stand’ (Brisbane Taxi stand) was also taken during that time.
The hotel was on the top of a hill, on the other side of the station. Later we found that we have a way through the station to the other side which is very short! There is a ticket machine which issues a free ticket to cross the tunnel to the other side through the station.
We reported at the hotel by around 8 and they normally keep our luggage till we check-in, if we need. That relieved us from roaming around with the bags. We checked some leaflets in the hotel and they booked a half day site seeing trip for us, with the pick-up from the hotel too! The charges are the same if I go to the site seeing company and book or I ask the hotel attendant to book it for me. We waited outside the hotel to be picked up by a small bus by 8:55. We had ample time before the pick-up came, so roamed around to take some pictures( posted as Roma street – Parkland) of the spring beauty from top of the hill keeping the Roma Street station in the background. The pick-up came to the main office and the trip started by 9:30.
Brisbane - the capital of Queensland State, is a small city, built around the Brisbane river. The river takes a U-turn in the middle of the city. The city got its name itself from the river, whose old name was Moreton Bay. Queensland itself was first suggested to name as ‘Victorialand’. Then the Queen Victoria was not keen going with this name as there is already a state in Australia called Victoria( Melbourne as its capital). So they made it Queensland. All streets facing north- south takes the name of Queens of England( Victoria St, Elizabeth Street etc), and the street cutting them – that is the streets from East to West are named after the King’s of England( Albert Street, George Street etc.).
Brisbane is basically a flood prone city. We can see the levels marked up about 4 metres from the ground, which was the level of water during one of the worst floods caused during late 19th centuryJ. They had floods some 10- 20 years ago which also was a destructive. Every year the level rises anyway, during the rains and the low lying areas will go under water. The place is dry and a bit hot too (it was 36 in the next week, when Sydney was still only getting warm), but the rains are also worse.
That was some highlights of what we learnt about the city during the trip. We stopped at a place called ‘Kangaroo point’ for taking some snaps (Brisbane-upon-River etc). That is where you can see the city downtown on the side of the river viewing from a hilltop on the other side.
Now, the Kangaroo point has got names because …there are two stories here. The first is interesting one. The aboriginals in the olden times use to chase Kangaroo’s to a point where they have no other choice than jump and die or face the spear (or whatever). So the brave kangaroos will splash jumping down, and others will get the death from man. Anyway, the aboriginal guy will get his meal. So the name came as ‘Kangaroo point’.
The problem with this story is, there is a river underneath this pointJ. Actually, if the kangaroos jump down, they will land in the river safely and will swim across comfortably. So I will leave that story as a tourist guide’s story to entertain his audience. The actual story goes like a British surveyor came to survey Brisbane, and he saw Kangaroo from this point and was thrilled with the sight that he named this place ‘Kangaroo point’ (hope you realised that meeting a Kangaroo other than in zoo, is very tough in this part of the continent though we have a lot of warning road signs for Kangaroo. I have to explore places where they are seen in lots.
We, then, passed Gabba cricket stadium( which got its name from the name of the suburb ‘Woolloongabba’. We moved to a century old pub named ‘XXXX’ for a breakfast (second one!), which was included in the trip. That was around 11:00. The trip was over in 2 hours, and what we have to pay for that was $48! He dropped us for the river cruise.
A river cruise with the city on both sides, and still, the houses and apartments were simple and elegant on the banks. We crossed the Storey Bridge, which was Brisbane’s answer to Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. In fact, the architect for this one was the same person who designed the harbour bridge!
We walked back to the hotel from the site seeing company office as the bus picked us up back till that after the river cruise. The heat was on it was making us really tired. We bought a pizza on the way back, for lunch. We were really tired with the sleep in the train, and the irritation of being in yesterday’s costumeJ. Had a good sleep after lunch, and by the time we could get up it was 5 in the evening. Went out for a walk with the map, just walked aimless, through the river side for sometime, then peeped in to a Casino and tried our luck spending 1 $ ( I have not changed at all, eh ?) as Krithi wanted to see how the machine works J.
Walked back home by around 8:30 to have a pizza dinner in the restaurant attached to our Hotel. That ends the first day in Brisbane.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 14
The weather change is really explicit. It is pretty warm and all plants are trying to be as beautiful as they can, looks like they are competing for creating the best flowers!
So this is the best time to plan long trips, I was more anxious to see the Australian countryside in spring. Some research gave me the information of this so-called backpacker ticket provided by Country Link rail, which is only given to foreigners (you have to present your foreign passport). It comes in different durations from 3 weeks to 6 months, and enables us to travel throughout the state of New South Wales (which is actually bigger than the Great BritainJ) plus Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. That is we can do unlimited trips within these limits for the availed period. We decided to take the 6 months ticket as it is 60 bucks more than the 3 months pass! It cost us 386 per person!
Now, all we need to do is to plan a trip, looks at the timetables, tell Country Link of the details and they ill book the tickets for us and we can collect it from the office near our home. The only limitation is we will get only the chair car, and can book for 1st class (which only contains sleeper) paying the difference.
A long weekend was coming our way in the form of ‘Labour Day’. We planned it for Brisbane, and then started the next trouble – accommodation. Web is full of sites which offer accommodation, but all needs credit card. I am still keeping away from credit cards (as most of you know my story in South Africa), they just hang up if I say I am looking for a bank transfer or cheque. Moreover, Australia is becoming notorious for credit card frauds. So that is a problem.
We started checking with many sites, and then, started looked for the trave agents. Some were looking for a big amount as commission. It went on for a couple of days. The old trick I played in Scotland may not work as I am not a bachelor anymore. I can’t just go to a strange place for the first time in a new country, and look for some accommodation after an overnight 14 hour travel J.
We had almost lost the hope, had already booked the train tickets too. Krithi just gave a try at the Country Link counter if there is any hope. There we go…. They had accommodation booking through a travels with no extra cost than what the hotels offer (the commissions may be from the other side) and we got the advantage of getting the hotel near to the railway station on top of a hill!
Then we went for making more plans. Brisbane has two coasts across the North and South: Sunshine coast on the North and Gold coast on the South. Gold coast has more of the theme parks, rides, and some sea world and water world sort of stuffs, more of a commercialised place than a peaceful countryside which I was looking for the spring. Sunshine coast on the other hand, not famous as Gold Coast, and contains good beaches, most of the lonely! Both the places are approx. 1 hour away from Brisbane in the opposite directions. That is all I knew about these places. We made it simple, go by the overnight train and roam around in Brisbane for one day, spend the next day in Sunshine coast and the third day take the day train which will give us a glimpse of how the route looks like J. The last part was a risk as we have to fully depend on the train’s cafeteria.
Day 1:
We had packed up all we want in to two shoulder bags, for 3 days. We started 2 hours early so that we can validate the backpacker tickets at the central station. And there was a clause in the 10 page ticket book saying that if we were travelling in conjunction with a country link service with backpacker ticket, we don’t have to pay for the City Rail trains for going to the station where we have to catch the train. The CityRail guy at the counter was not aware of this. I had a tough time convincing him that we can travel without any other ticket. I had to make my point clear at Parramatta station with City Rail guys, country link people, and the policemen who do the checking in the train. I was clear that I am not going to pay, and at last they agreed.
That took some half an hour, and we reached the Central station by 3:30. We have one more hour to go. The validation got done quickly. We had ample time to have a coffee in ‘Hungry Jacks’
And the Brisbane XPT came to platform No1 by 4. This train would leave us in Brisbane by 6:30 tomorrow morning.
We had another batch of TCSers travelling in the same train, but their destination was Gold coast. Their plan was to get down at Casino at 3:30 in the morning, take the connection bus to reach Gold Coast by around the same time as we reach Brisbane. I was too pessimistic with getting up early in the morning J and so didn’t change my plan. So Anish, Muruganand and Divaker joined us with their wives by 4:15. We were in continuous seats, with a swap we were together and turning around a pair of twin seats (all of them will be turned in the direction of the journey) we were sitting together. Train started by 4:30.
Most of the people turned up with pillows and bed sheets! And, as I had mentioned earlier, most of the Aussie families still have 3+ kids. The Sun was still there and we could take photos. The Hawkesbury River was a good spot to take some photos, only problem being our reflection on the window. Hope I will be able to send across the link of Brisbane photos to all (be patient, it is around 200 pics but as you know I won’t bore you with we standing in the middle).
As the Sun set, we had nothing to do. They started playing cards and we two were just joining them as learners. We had a multi cuisine dinner all trying all dishes each one has got. The lights went off by 10 and we turned the seats back to normal and to sleep, try to sleep J !
So this is the best time to plan long trips, I was more anxious to see the Australian countryside in spring. Some research gave me the information of this so-called backpacker ticket provided by Country Link rail, which is only given to foreigners (you have to present your foreign passport). It comes in different durations from 3 weeks to 6 months, and enables us to travel throughout the state of New South Wales (which is actually bigger than the Great BritainJ) plus Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. That is we can do unlimited trips within these limits for the availed period. We decided to take the 6 months ticket as it is 60 bucks more than the 3 months pass! It cost us 386 per person!
Now, all we need to do is to plan a trip, looks at the timetables, tell Country Link of the details and they ill book the tickets for us and we can collect it from the office near our home. The only limitation is we will get only the chair car, and can book for 1st class (which only contains sleeper) paying the difference.
A long weekend was coming our way in the form of ‘Labour Day’. We planned it for Brisbane, and then started the next trouble – accommodation. Web is full of sites which offer accommodation, but all needs credit card. I am still keeping away from credit cards (as most of you know my story in South Africa), they just hang up if I say I am looking for a bank transfer or cheque. Moreover, Australia is becoming notorious for credit card frauds. So that is a problem.
We started checking with many sites, and then, started looked for the trave agents. Some were looking for a big amount as commission. It went on for a couple of days. The old trick I played in Scotland may not work as I am not a bachelor anymore. I can’t just go to a strange place for the first time in a new country, and look for some accommodation after an overnight 14 hour travel J.
We had almost lost the hope, had already booked the train tickets too. Krithi just gave a try at the Country Link counter if there is any hope. There we go…. They had accommodation booking through a travels with no extra cost than what the hotels offer (the commissions may be from the other side) and we got the advantage of getting the hotel near to the railway station on top of a hill!
Then we went for making more plans. Brisbane has two coasts across the North and South: Sunshine coast on the North and Gold coast on the South. Gold coast has more of the theme parks, rides, and some sea world and water world sort of stuffs, more of a commercialised place than a peaceful countryside which I was looking for the spring. Sunshine coast on the other hand, not famous as Gold Coast, and contains good beaches, most of the lonely! Both the places are approx. 1 hour away from Brisbane in the opposite directions. That is all I knew about these places. We made it simple, go by the overnight train and roam around in Brisbane for one day, spend the next day in Sunshine coast and the third day take the day train which will give us a glimpse of how the route looks like J. The last part was a risk as we have to fully depend on the train’s cafeteria.
Day 1:
We had packed up all we want in to two shoulder bags, for 3 days. We started 2 hours early so that we can validate the backpacker tickets at the central station. And there was a clause in the 10 page ticket book saying that if we were travelling in conjunction with a country link service with backpacker ticket, we don’t have to pay for the City Rail trains for going to the station where we have to catch the train. The CityRail guy at the counter was not aware of this. I had a tough time convincing him that we can travel without any other ticket. I had to make my point clear at Parramatta station with City Rail guys, country link people, and the policemen who do the checking in the train. I was clear that I am not going to pay, and at last they agreed.
That took some half an hour, and we reached the Central station by 3:30. We have one more hour to go. The validation got done quickly. We had ample time to have a coffee in ‘Hungry Jacks’
And the Brisbane XPT came to platform No1 by 4. This train would leave us in Brisbane by 6:30 tomorrow morning.
We had another batch of TCSers travelling in the same train, but their destination was Gold coast. Their plan was to get down at Casino at 3:30 in the morning, take the connection bus to reach Gold Coast by around the same time as we reach Brisbane. I was too pessimistic with getting up early in the morning J and so didn’t change my plan. So Anish, Muruganand and Divaker joined us with their wives by 4:15. We were in continuous seats, with a swap we were together and turning around a pair of twin seats (all of them will be turned in the direction of the journey) we were sitting together. Train started by 4:30.
Most of the people turned up with pillows and bed sheets! And, as I had mentioned earlier, most of the Aussie families still have 3+ kids. The Sun was still there and we could take photos. The Hawkesbury River was a good spot to take some photos, only problem being our reflection on the window. Hope I will be able to send across the link of Brisbane photos to all (be patient, it is around 200 pics but as you know I won’t bore you with we standing in the middle).
As the Sun set, we had nothing to do. They started playing cards and we two were just joining them as learners. We had a multi cuisine dinner all trying all dishes each one has got. The lights went off by 10 and we turned the seats back to normal and to sleep, try to sleep J !
Friday, October 07, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 13
Continuing with the Blue mountain trip, the whole show there is around a set of three rocks called ‘Three Sisters’. They form a part of the , in the shape ‘∩∩∩’. The funda is, they have formed through millions of years by nature.
We had a lunch of Garlic bread, which was the only stuff available in the Scenic World. We were done, and ready to move to the main view point for Three sisters and the landscape, called ‘Echo point’. We had some 20 minutes for the double-decker expected by 2:45. Just took the time to walk down to have a look at the waterfall viewpoint.
The bus dropped us in Echo point in another 5 minutes. We walked down the viewpoint to get a better view. Then a walk of 2kms to the ‘Three sisters’ through the stone pathway created between the woods.
A steep 900 steps climb would take us to the bottom of the rocks, but we chose to be safe J. Back in to the main street, some shopping in the information centre-cum-shop. As in UK, these information centres facilitate accommodation bookings.
Wait for the bus to the next stop. We had had a good experience of the view, and the other viewpoints were not that interesting as these two places. We got down at Leura village centre and it was 4:30. The driver reminded us that the next bus at 5 will be the last bus. He was also suggesting that if anyone is planning to go back to Sydney, they can board the train from Leura itself.
We just walked through the main street taking some snaps. Back to catch the last double-decker, the sky was getting cloudy and it started raining. By the time we reached Katoomba, it has become a heavy rain.
The main street has most of the shops extending their roof to cover the footpath also. We went in to an Italian restaurant nearest to the bus stop. A big vegetarian pizza followed. We had to pack half of it back home and had to finish it for supper. These pizzas costs a bit sometimes, but they make it from the scratch after you order! So that makes it really tasty.
A long wait for the train back in Katoomba station, it was still raining. On the return journey, the rain vanished after Penrith and back in Parramatta, there was no rain at all !
Tailpiece:- Why is the Blue mountain blue ?
There is wonderful similarity coming up for Blue Mountains with our Nilgiris. Nilgiris also means Blue Mountains ! Then how come they are blue. Why is this similarity in naming, across the continents? What is common there? There comes this Eucalyptus. The theory says, the vapours from these trees float in the air giving the landscape a bluish look ! They refer some gum tree vapour also are responsible for this, I am not sure our Ooty has got them
We had a lunch of Garlic bread, which was the only stuff available in the Scenic World. We were done, and ready to move to the main view point for Three sisters and the landscape, called ‘Echo point’. We had some 20 minutes for the double-decker expected by 2:45. Just took the time to walk down to have a look at the waterfall viewpoint.
The bus dropped us in Echo point in another 5 minutes. We walked down the viewpoint to get a better view. Then a walk of 2kms to the ‘Three sisters’ through the stone pathway created between the woods.
A steep 900 steps climb would take us to the bottom of the rocks, but we chose to be safe J. Back in to the main street, some shopping in the information centre-cum-shop. As in UK, these information centres facilitate accommodation bookings.
Wait for the bus to the next stop. We had had a good experience of the view, and the other viewpoints were not that interesting as these two places. We got down at Leura village centre and it was 4:30. The driver reminded us that the next bus at 5 will be the last bus. He was also suggesting that if anyone is planning to go back to Sydney, they can board the train from Leura itself.
We just walked through the main street taking some snaps. Back to catch the last double-decker, the sky was getting cloudy and it started raining. By the time we reached Katoomba, it has become a heavy rain.
The main street has most of the shops extending their roof to cover the footpath also. We went in to an Italian restaurant nearest to the bus stop. A big vegetarian pizza followed. We had to pack half of it back home and had to finish it for supper. These pizzas costs a bit sometimes, but they make it from the scratch after you order! So that makes it really tasty.
A long wait for the train back in Katoomba station, it was still raining. On the return journey, the rain vanished after Penrith and back in Parramatta, there was no rain at all !
Tailpiece:- Why is the Blue mountain blue ?
There is wonderful similarity coming up for Blue Mountains with our Nilgiris. Nilgiris also means Blue Mountains ! Then how come they are blue. Why is this similarity in naming, across the continents? What is common there? There comes this Eucalyptus. The theory says, the vapours from these trees float in the air giving the landscape a bluish look ! They refer some gum tree vapour also are responsible for this, I am not sure our Ooty has got them
Friday, September 30, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 12
Blue Mountains to Sydney is Mahabalipuram to Chennai – a sure visit place for anyone staying more than 2 days in Sydney. A places surrounded by hills! You take a train from Sydney and it will drop you in Katoomba in less than 2 hours! Hills, cableways and something they say as World’s steepest railway too!
We had this as the first in the plan, but winter was making us keep postponing the trip. As the winter is giving way to spring (ideally, but still the chilly wind is ), this is the best time to be in Blue Mountains.
It was a Saturday, we started by around 9:20. Parramatta, where we live, is on the way to Katoomba from Sydney Central. The CityRail offers a combined ticket which incorporates a return train ticket with a site seeing double-decker for one day. It costs around A$38.
We got a train by around 9:45, it runs every one hour. The trains were more crowded, a clear reflection of the climate change! Crowded, I mean, relatively crowded. We were just finding it tough to get a side seat. Sometime people just spread around their hats, bags etc around them filling all 4 seats for a single person! You really have to stand and give them a stare for the bags to be put in its place!
As the train was moving away from the city, the flats started disappearing. Once it past Penrith, the limit of the city trains, it was fully moving in through woods. Slowly we were surrounded by mountains, and far above the sea level!
The train dropped us in Katoomba by around 11:20. A livelier town or I will call a village as the shops and crowds ended once you walk a 100 metre away from the station. We came out of the station, walked to the office across the street to change the link ticket from CityRail, to get a bus pass along with a map book depicting a lot of walking trails and the route for this hop on-off bus. This hop on off concept is same popular one in Europe! You take a day’s ticket and you can use the bus, which keep on going around in a specific route, thus turning up at the same spot every 1 hour or half an hour. So you can get down anywhere, spend sometime there, and pick the same bus to the next stop!
It was a double-decker running for the London Transport. The label was still on it. Again, inside the bus, the stickers normally seen in the London buses were still there! We got the driver seat in the first floor (I mean, the front seat on the top of the decker, which is a normal seat. That used to be my favourite in my childhood days). We decided to go for a full route first and then decide on which all to be prioritised for getting down and spending time. The bus went on with us, passing some stunning views of mountains, view points, the Scenic World (which has this cableway, and winch across the mountains), golf courses, houses with gardens, and then it was village nearby called Leura. This one looked like a typical English village – a long street full of small shops, selling paintings, flowers, a bar, butchery, a bakery, a pizza shop and so on.
During the next round, we got down at Scenic World, took a combined ticket for all the three trips. Started with the scenic rail which, they say, is the steepest in the World! It was taking us down through a slit between two huge rocks almost vertically! The ride will be for some 30 seconds, but it was amazing. We were actually sitting horizontally and the train was moving not as fast as a ride, it looked wonderful why we were not getting pushed out of the seat! I forgot the tickets leaving it in my seat. We had started walking through the rainforest which they call as scenic walk. Suddenly I realised it and came back. The train has gone up to pick the next set of people. I was amazed to see the tickets lying in the same spot, when the train came back!
We completed the walk, through the forest. We have to walk half a km and then, we will be picked up by a cable car of a capacity about 15 people taking us to the top. The last stretch was another cable car to take us to a point from one hill to another and bring back. It was again having a capacity of 10 plus, but was empty when we went in. That was amazing one. They had made the flooring also with transparent glass which made a flying feeling! A water fall, down below, gave us the feel of the depth. I would say that was the best of all!
I think it is enough for a week. I will continue with it next week.
We had this as the first in the plan, but winter was making us keep postponing the trip. As the winter is giving way to spring (ideally, but still the chilly wind is ), this is the best time to be in Blue Mountains.
It was a Saturday, we started by around 9:20. Parramatta, where we live, is on the way to Katoomba from Sydney Central. The CityRail offers a combined ticket which incorporates a return train ticket with a site seeing double-decker for one day. It costs around A$38.
We got a train by around 9:45, it runs every one hour. The trains were more crowded, a clear reflection of the climate change! Crowded, I mean, relatively crowded. We were just finding it tough to get a side seat. Sometime people just spread around their hats, bags etc around them filling all 4 seats for a single person! You really have to stand and give them a stare for the bags to be put in its place!
As the train was moving away from the city, the flats started disappearing. Once it past Penrith, the limit of the city trains, it was fully moving in through woods. Slowly we were surrounded by mountains, and far above the sea level!
The train dropped us in Katoomba by around 11:20. A livelier town or I will call a village as the shops and crowds ended once you walk a 100 metre away from the station. We came out of the station, walked to the office across the street to change the link ticket from CityRail, to get a bus pass along with a map book depicting a lot of walking trails and the route for this hop on-off bus. This hop on off concept is same popular one in Europe! You take a day’s ticket and you can use the bus, which keep on going around in a specific route, thus turning up at the same spot every 1 hour or half an hour. So you can get down anywhere, spend sometime there, and pick the same bus to the next stop!
It was a double-decker running for the London Transport. The label was still on it. Again, inside the bus, the stickers normally seen in the London buses were still there! We got the driver seat in the first floor (I mean, the front seat on the top of the decker, which is a normal seat. That used to be my favourite in my childhood days). We decided to go for a full route first and then decide on which all to be prioritised for getting down and spending time. The bus went on with us, passing some stunning views of mountains, view points, the Scenic World (which has this cableway, and winch across the mountains), golf courses, houses with gardens, and then it was village nearby called Leura. This one looked like a typical English village – a long street full of small shops, selling paintings, flowers, a bar, butchery, a bakery, a pizza shop and so on.
During the next round, we got down at Scenic World, took a combined ticket for all the three trips. Started with the scenic rail which, they say, is the steepest in the World! It was taking us down through a slit between two huge rocks almost vertically! The ride will be for some 30 seconds, but it was amazing. We were actually sitting horizontally and the train was moving not as fast as a ride, it looked wonderful why we were not getting pushed out of the seat! I forgot the tickets leaving it in my seat. We had started walking through the rainforest which they call as scenic walk. Suddenly I realised it and came back. The train has gone up to pick the next set of people. I was amazed to see the tickets lying in the same spot, when the train came back!
We completed the walk, through the forest. We have to walk half a km and then, we will be picked up by a cable car of a capacity about 15 people taking us to the top. The last stretch was another cable car to take us to a point from one hill to another and bring back. It was again having a capacity of 10 plus, but was empty when we went in. That was amazing one. They had made the flooring also with transparent glass which made a flying feeling! A water fall, down below, gave us the feel of the depth. I would say that was the best of all!
I think it is enough for a week. I will continue with it next week.
Friday, September 23, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 11
We started where we left it last week. We, actually planned for a two day trip with a day stay there in Kiama or Wollongong. But I got too confused that nothing really happened on Saturday J !
The same train on Sunday, and reached Wollongong around the same time, seeing the same views! Isn’t it boring? But this time, we had a better flask; we planned our lunch to be taken at the Buddhist temple. Nowhere could we find where to get a bus or timings, for the temple! Anyway, we walked to the closest bus stop and checked the timetable. It had an entry for the place where the temple is situated. We had no clue of the next bus, it said after an hour!
But sometimes, timetables go wrong for good! A bus turned up in 10 minutes! It was costly, far costly compared to the train fare and Sydney city buses. For a 15 minute ride, we were charged A$4 per head! The only good thing was, the driver was asking us whether we have to get down at the temple, straightaway, while issuing the ticket. The bus went out of the town area, was moving parallel to the rail and crossed a level cross( with no gate man), climbed a hill and dropped us in an isolated place where we could see a Chinese building inside the gate far away hidden in woods.
The time was around 2pm. The driver told us that there will be only one bus to go back now, around 5:40pm. The temple was built up around a compound of some acres, landscaped with trees, pond (we saw some lotus leaves, but no lotus), some ducks in them. The temple architecture was typical Chinese with the curves and all. I still wonder whether it was Chinese, as the whole premises including the Shrine was crystal clean and very well maintained.
We saw the boards saying No meat, No alcohol, no smoking, no pets, etc. in the premises. We tried the small restaurant like below, which was obviously fully vegetarian. I ordered for a vegetarian mince with noodles, and Krithi tried some Veggie nuggets. The dishes arrived, made of mushrooms in different shapes and colours – mostly look like meat ! I confirmed with them twice or thrice and the monk was smiling and telling that it is all mushroom no meat J !
Krithi couldn’t get on with it (She had to depend on the sandwiches we brought with us for lunch). So I had to eat them both! It was tasty, with a difference.
We slowly climbed the steps to the shrine. It was a Buddha with 12 hands (or more?) all having weapons of different kind ! I think, I have missed out something here! Else how can I see a God, who is the teacher of Ahmisa, standing packed with all sorts of weapons like a God of destruction! The prayer hall was silent. There was a stand on the corner selling some beautiful candles covered with glass, and some incense sticks, again for offering. The prayer style suggested was standing on the knees! More like the idol is similar to a Hindu God and the rest (candles, praying on knee) similar to Christianity!
We climbed the steps through the sides to the main shrine. It was bigger than I thought; the infrastructure around the main shrine included a Student room, a painting gallery, a dining hall, and a souvenir shop. The shrine consisted of 5 huge Buddhas sitting in colourful attire, each representing a direction (the 5th Buddha for the middle direction). The main shrine built in a Chinese style resembled the palace structure in ‘The Last Emperor’ from outside. Inside, the walls were gloriously filled up with small Buddhas in 1 foot squares, lighted with a neon lamp, uniquely named and covered in glass! Sounded very much taken from Hinduism, chants thousand names for God! The floor was having some cushions for seats where you can kneel down and pray. In front of the five Buddhas covered in glass, plenty of candles been lighted by the worshippers. There were prayers written in English and Chinese, for different purposes (money, prosperity and what not). Easy way of praying, isn’t it? Decide what all you want, and then, take the respective notes and read it silentlyJ !
We spent exploring the premises, for an hour more and came out by 4:50. We had more than half an hour for the bus. Just gave a try to walk down the hill, to the nearest rail station. The roads are empty with a few cars passing by.
We walked for some 40 minutes to reach the station, Unanderra. Now, we had to wait for an hour in that small, lonely station. The station is empty, not even a station master, except an young guy with his girl friend who got disturbed with our presence. The machine gives the ticket, and there is no need for anyone to be in the station! By the time train came, there were some more people started coming – a drunkard gang of teenagers, and a couple of girls. Though the gang was talking to each other using all swear words, it was within them. As far as we are not too bothered about it, can just stand away as nothing is happening; none is going to bully you.
The train was empty again, dropped us back at Central by around 8. One more weekend gone with a bit of redundancy with the travel, but there was this unique experience of a Chinese temple. Mind is filled with a lot of questions: Buddha had been customised for marketing? Or is it something in Buddhism we never have heard?
I also overheard one of the monks explaining to the tourist saying, ‘We are also like you. We also believe that a Buddha will take birth (I am not sure what he meant by ‘you’. Christianity is heard to have this basic difference between Christians and Jews that Christians have Jesus as God, and Jews are still waiting for Jesus. So for both of them, The Bible is the religious text)’. That seems to be something sounds like ‘Heenayana’. I know that Mahayana worships Gautam Buddha as their God (and those are the only two partitions in Buddhism).
Please revert if you have any idea about this, or if you feel I am wrong about anything.
Tailpiece:- About my query on Australia as a colony, one of my friends replied that Canada is also similar. Though it was freed from English colonialism, still they maintain Queen, for their coins, holidays, and heard they even pay taxes to the Queen! So, ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’, we have left it long long ago !
Information :- About Nan-Tien Temple : Opened in 1995, the Temple is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Wollongong was chosen as the site for the Temple because of the ideal location of Mt Keira and Mt Kembla in relation to the site. The name 'Wollongong' also has significance in the way that it is a tribute to a Chinese man of great intelligence named Wollong. The translation of Nan Tien is ‘Paradise of the Southern Hemisphere’.
The same train on Sunday, and reached Wollongong around the same time, seeing the same views! Isn’t it boring? But this time, we had a better flask; we planned our lunch to be taken at the Buddhist temple. Nowhere could we find where to get a bus or timings, for the temple! Anyway, we walked to the closest bus stop and checked the timetable. It had an entry for the place where the temple is situated. We had no clue of the next bus, it said after an hour!
But sometimes, timetables go wrong for good! A bus turned up in 10 minutes! It was costly, far costly compared to the train fare and Sydney city buses. For a 15 minute ride, we were charged A$4 per head! The only good thing was, the driver was asking us whether we have to get down at the temple, straightaway, while issuing the ticket. The bus went out of the town area, was moving parallel to the rail and crossed a level cross( with no gate man), climbed a hill and dropped us in an isolated place where we could see a Chinese building inside the gate far away hidden in woods.
The time was around 2pm. The driver told us that there will be only one bus to go back now, around 5:40pm. The temple was built up around a compound of some acres, landscaped with trees, pond (we saw some lotus leaves, but no lotus), some ducks in them. The temple architecture was typical Chinese with the curves and all. I still wonder whether it was Chinese, as the whole premises including the Shrine was crystal clean and very well maintained.
We saw the boards saying No meat, No alcohol, no smoking, no pets, etc. in the premises. We tried the small restaurant like below, which was obviously fully vegetarian. I ordered for a vegetarian mince with noodles, and Krithi tried some Veggie nuggets. The dishes arrived, made of mushrooms in different shapes and colours – mostly look like meat ! I confirmed with them twice or thrice and the monk was smiling and telling that it is all mushroom no meat J !
Krithi couldn’t get on with it (She had to depend on the sandwiches we brought with us for lunch). So I had to eat them both! It was tasty, with a difference.
We slowly climbed the steps to the shrine. It was a Buddha with 12 hands (or more?) all having weapons of different kind ! I think, I have missed out something here! Else how can I see a God, who is the teacher of Ahmisa, standing packed with all sorts of weapons like a God of destruction! The prayer hall was silent. There was a stand on the corner selling some beautiful candles covered with glass, and some incense sticks, again for offering. The prayer style suggested was standing on the knees! More like the idol is similar to a Hindu God and the rest (candles, praying on knee) similar to Christianity!
We climbed the steps through the sides to the main shrine. It was bigger than I thought; the infrastructure around the main shrine included a Student room, a painting gallery, a dining hall, and a souvenir shop. The shrine consisted of 5 huge Buddhas sitting in colourful attire, each representing a direction (the 5th Buddha for the middle direction). The main shrine built in a Chinese style resembled the palace structure in ‘The Last Emperor’ from outside. Inside, the walls were gloriously filled up with small Buddhas in 1 foot squares, lighted with a neon lamp, uniquely named and covered in glass! Sounded very much taken from Hinduism, chants thousand names for God! The floor was having some cushions for seats where you can kneel down and pray. In front of the five Buddhas covered in glass, plenty of candles been lighted by the worshippers. There were prayers written in English and Chinese, for different purposes (money, prosperity and what not). Easy way of praying, isn’t it? Decide what all you want, and then, take the respective notes and read it silentlyJ !
We spent exploring the premises, for an hour more and came out by 4:50. We had more than half an hour for the bus. Just gave a try to walk down the hill, to the nearest rail station. The roads are empty with a few cars passing by.
We walked for some 40 minutes to reach the station, Unanderra. Now, we had to wait for an hour in that small, lonely station. The station is empty, not even a station master, except an young guy with his girl friend who got disturbed with our presence. The machine gives the ticket, and there is no need for anyone to be in the station! By the time train came, there were some more people started coming – a drunkard gang of teenagers, and a couple of girls. Though the gang was talking to each other using all swear words, it was within them. As far as we are not too bothered about it, can just stand away as nothing is happening; none is going to bully you.
The train was empty again, dropped us back at Central by around 8. One more weekend gone with a bit of redundancy with the travel, but there was this unique experience of a Chinese temple. Mind is filled with a lot of questions: Buddha had been customised for marketing? Or is it something in Buddhism we never have heard?
I also overheard one of the monks explaining to the tourist saying, ‘We are also like you. We also believe that a Buddha will take birth (I am not sure what he meant by ‘you’. Christianity is heard to have this basic difference between Christians and Jews that Christians have Jesus as God, and Jews are still waiting for Jesus. So for both of them, The Bible is the religious text)’. That seems to be something sounds like ‘Heenayana’. I know that Mahayana worships Gautam Buddha as their God (and those are the only two partitions in Buddhism).
Please revert if you have any idea about this, or if you feel I am wrong about anything.
Tailpiece:- About my query on Australia as a colony, one of my friends replied that Canada is also similar. Though it was freed from English colonialism, still they maintain Queen, for their coins, holidays, and heard they even pay taxes to the Queen! So, ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’, we have left it long long ago !
Information :- About Nan-Tien Temple : Opened in 1995, the Temple is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Wollongong was chosen as the site for the Temple because of the ideal location of Mt Keira and Mt Kembla in relation to the site. The name 'Wollongong' also has significance in the way that it is a tribute to a Chinese man of great intelligence named Wollong. The translation of Nan Tien is ‘Paradise of the Southern Hemisphere’.
Friday, September 16, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 10
It was another weekend, and we had run out of plan. We had planned to start going out of Sydney now. Though we have a lot to see in Sydney itself, we can keep them as fillers and start going for long ones now.
To begin with, I was planning to start with one day trips, to places where we can reach with a 2-3 hour travel and then, spend a day there and come back home by late evening. That will give a feel of the places outside Sydney in terms of expenses and food. That is, if I can see that in an outer area is a problem for vegetarian food; I will have to plan for either for packing food or take a self contained cottages.
We had Blue mountain as the first pick, and we didn’t bother to check for others at all ! Checking the weather, the Mercury level was still giving us a ‘negative’ answer ! But it was too late by the time we dropped Blue Mountains. Else, this place is an hour from Sydney and the train will pass through Parramatta.
We spotted a diesel locomotive train in our of our leaflets, which takes us for a day tour leaving Sydney Central in the morning and reaches back by evening. The journey is the attraction here – the route passes through the Royal National Park, a cliff and seashore to Wollongong and then climbs a hill to reach the destination, Robertson ! It just reaches there stays 2 hours, and comes back. But by the time we started chasing it, the offices were closed. As it was a private rail, none know about it in the City Rail office ! Again, it runs only on Wednesdays and Sundays. The tour costs A$85 pp. So, we got Saturday free to plan( *understood* free to sleep too) !
There goes the filler concept – this is where the remaining spots in Sydney comes! We planned for an IMAX experience, and while going to the city planned to check for more information about the Cockatoo run( that is the touring rail’s name).
Took a return ticket to Town Hall station, got down at the Central for more information ( but I can’t go out of the station as the return tickets does not allow breaking the journey, unless for changing trains). The rail staff had no clue about this rail. But they gave me another valuable information. The normal trains go through that route to the same destination, and it costs just 18 bucks for a same day return! Then, we are paying the extra 70 bucks for just the diesel experience( which we get in India without any choice) ! The normal trains also takes the 2 hours plus, and we will have the advantage of travelling free than depending on this train which will wait at the destination for 40 mins for shopping and lunch, before it starts its journey back.
Walking to the Darling harbour from Town Hall, the cloudy sky started a light& shade show with the Sun and the clouds! I will say it was the best, better than the IMAX ! The sky was dark, and suddenly we found only the skyscrapers behind us lit by the Orange Sun rays! As the Sun went down, it gave a beautiful backlit sky ! And whoever had a camera or a camcorder were copying it into the celluloid. But, I have seen the best shows of nature only when I forget to take my SLR. Today was no exceptionL !
IMAX, I had my first experience of a 3D film in my life and Krithi, it was her first IMAX experience! A show costs A$17( for 3D and 16 for 2D), and you will get a A$27 if you can see two shows one after the other !
For Sunday, we decided to give a try to take the normal train and see what can see ! We chose Wollongong, a spot on the way which is a coastal spot. It was just a 1hr 40 min. journey, and the trains left Central every hour. We started by 11 from home to take the 11:44 train starting from Central. We took a direct ticket from Parramatta and rushed into the local train just ready to depart. It was as usual slow. It dropped us at the central station by 11:38 at platform 6. We have to see which platform our trains for Wollongong depart. Each platform/ the escalator to the platform will have a TV displaying only the routes of the trains departing from that platform. Nowhere can you get the big pictureL ! So we did a running to the main board to check with the information, and ran to platform 14, the train was just about to close its doors!
As a precaution for the first journey, we had taken a flask full coffee and some sandwiches! The train was slow but it was not stopping in any of the local stations! It went in to a tunnel after Waterfall station, and there we go…. ! It was full of trees, dominated by Eucalyptus (now we know why Koala is so choosy, and may be why Australia is very dry)!
The train stopped at one or two stations, and was moving faster than ever before! It was going through a tunnel every 10 minutes! There were a couple of bridges too, very old ones! We exited a tunnel and down some 200-300 meters was a beach! We were on the edge of a sea cliff ! It was greenery around us, and filtering through the woods was the glittering sun rays resulting from the reflection of the beach! It took a turn through the side of the next hill to go much closer to the beach, and at a point, the sea was just below us down the hill! I would say it was beautiful!
It was travelling through the coast at some distance – the greenery in between slowly tuning in to roads, houses, shops and all. It approached small stations every 5-10 mins. A very useful fact I noticed was a board with the next station name on it, at the end of platform for each station.
It dropped us at Wollongong by around 1:20. We walked with no plans ahead. All we know is, we had to take a train back by evening. We know there is a beach there, and there is a Buddhist temple too! That latter is been told as the biggest in Southern hemisphere!
We had a problem with my bag getting wet with the coffee leaking from our new flask, just bought a day ago! We cleaned up the mess, but some of our travel books had already gone for a toss! Foreign vacuum flask, ehJ !
We found a shopping mall there, as good as one we could find in Sydney! We spotted the food court and had Pizza( this looks better, at least you get some pizzas all over the country. Thanks to Roman !). A long walk to the beach, and spent sometime walking through the rocks and that was it. We had to cancel the Buddha temple plan as the last bus was also gone by 3 (we realised that it is far and there are only buses once in 2 hours) !
That was all we could do that day, so it was at the end of the day just as good as the train journey! We returned by 4:30 train, promising we will be right back :) !
To begin with, I was planning to start with one day trips, to places where we can reach with a 2-3 hour travel and then, spend a day there and come back home by late evening. That will give a feel of the places outside Sydney in terms of expenses and food. That is, if I can see that in an outer area is a problem for vegetarian food; I will have to plan for either for packing food or take a self contained cottages.
We had Blue mountain as the first pick, and we didn’t bother to check for others at all ! Checking the weather, the Mercury level was still giving us a ‘negative’ answer ! But it was too late by the time we dropped Blue Mountains. Else, this place is an hour from Sydney and the train will pass through Parramatta.
We spotted a diesel locomotive train in our of our leaflets, which takes us for a day tour leaving Sydney Central in the morning and reaches back by evening. The journey is the attraction here – the route passes through the Royal National Park, a cliff and seashore to Wollongong and then climbs a hill to reach the destination, Robertson ! It just reaches there stays 2 hours, and comes back. But by the time we started chasing it, the offices were closed. As it was a private rail, none know about it in the City Rail office ! Again, it runs only on Wednesdays and Sundays. The tour costs A$85 pp. So, we got Saturday free to plan( *understood* free to sleep too) !
There goes the filler concept – this is where the remaining spots in Sydney comes! We planned for an IMAX experience, and while going to the city planned to check for more information about the Cockatoo run( that is the touring rail’s name).
Took a return ticket to Town Hall station, got down at the Central for more information ( but I can’t go out of the station as the return tickets does not allow breaking the journey, unless for changing trains). The rail staff had no clue about this rail. But they gave me another valuable information. The normal trains go through that route to the same destination, and it costs just 18 bucks for a same day return! Then, we are paying the extra 70 bucks for just the diesel experience( which we get in India without any choice) ! The normal trains also takes the 2 hours plus, and we will have the advantage of travelling free than depending on this train which will wait at the destination for 40 mins for shopping and lunch, before it starts its journey back.
Walking to the Darling harbour from Town Hall, the cloudy sky started a light& shade show with the Sun and the clouds! I will say it was the best, better than the IMAX ! The sky was dark, and suddenly we found only the skyscrapers behind us lit by the Orange Sun rays! As the Sun went down, it gave a beautiful backlit sky ! And whoever had a camera or a camcorder were copying it into the celluloid. But, I have seen the best shows of nature only when I forget to take my SLR. Today was no exceptionL !
IMAX, I had my first experience of a 3D film in my life and Krithi, it was her first IMAX experience! A show costs A$17( for 3D and 16 for 2D), and you will get a A$27 if you can see two shows one after the other !
For Sunday, we decided to give a try to take the normal train and see what can see ! We chose Wollongong, a spot on the way which is a coastal spot. It was just a 1hr 40 min. journey, and the trains left Central every hour. We started by 11 from home to take the 11:44 train starting from Central. We took a direct ticket from Parramatta and rushed into the local train just ready to depart. It was as usual slow. It dropped us at the central station by 11:38 at platform 6. We have to see which platform our trains for Wollongong depart. Each platform/ the escalator to the platform will have a TV displaying only the routes of the trains departing from that platform. Nowhere can you get the big pictureL ! So we did a running to the main board to check with the information, and ran to platform 14, the train was just about to close its doors!
As a precaution for the first journey, we had taken a flask full coffee and some sandwiches! The train was slow but it was not stopping in any of the local stations! It went in to a tunnel after Waterfall station, and there we go…. ! It was full of trees, dominated by Eucalyptus (now we know why Koala is so choosy, and may be why Australia is very dry)!
The train stopped at one or two stations, and was moving faster than ever before! It was going through a tunnel every 10 minutes! There were a couple of bridges too, very old ones! We exited a tunnel and down some 200-300 meters was a beach! We were on the edge of a sea cliff ! It was greenery around us, and filtering through the woods was the glittering sun rays resulting from the reflection of the beach! It took a turn through the side of the next hill to go much closer to the beach, and at a point, the sea was just below us down the hill! I would say it was beautiful!
It was travelling through the coast at some distance – the greenery in between slowly tuning in to roads, houses, shops and all. It approached small stations every 5-10 mins. A very useful fact I noticed was a board with the next station name on it, at the end of platform for each station.
It dropped us at Wollongong by around 1:20. We walked with no plans ahead. All we know is, we had to take a train back by evening. We know there is a beach there, and there is a Buddhist temple too! That latter is been told as the biggest in Southern hemisphere!
We had a problem with my bag getting wet with the coffee leaking from our new flask, just bought a day ago! We cleaned up the mess, but some of our travel books had already gone for a toss! Foreign vacuum flask, ehJ !
We found a shopping mall there, as good as one we could find in Sydney! We spotted the food court and had Pizza( this looks better, at least you get some pizzas all over the country. Thanks to Roman !). A long walk to the beach, and spent sometime walking through the rocks and that was it. We had to cancel the Buddha temple plan as the last bus was also gone by 3 (we realised that it is far and there are only buses once in 2 hours) !
That was all we could do that day, so it was at the end of the day just as good as the train journey! We returned by 4:30 train, promising we will be right back :) !
Friday, September 09, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 9
Getting into the big picture now, Australia is a place big enough to be told as the 6th largest country in the World next to Russia, Canada, China, USA and Brazil. It is the flattest and driest of continents (after Antarctica). This landmass of 7.7 million sq.km( India is around 3 million sq.km) yet has got extremes of climates and topography !
There are rainforests and vast plains in the north, snowfields in the south east, desert in the centre and fertile croplands in the east, south and south west. About one third of the country lies in the tropics. Australia has a coastline of 36,735km - if it were possible to drive non-stop along the entire coast at 60 km/h it would take about 24 days to complete the trip !
Australia consists of 8 territories : New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania( this is a small Island on its South east corner) and ACT( Australian Capital Territory).
The local currency is Australian dollars which costs around 33 INR. The denominations are cents. The currency notes are in denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. The coins goes as $2, $1, 50c, 20c, 10c and 5c. Like India, 5c is the minimum denomination. The currency notes are thin, and like a polythene sheet with some faces featured on it( I have not heard of anyone before). The coins mostly contain Queen's face( no confusion, I am talking about Queen Elizabeth II only ) ! The coin size grows bigger till 50c( 50c coin is bigger than any coin I have ever seen). $1 coin is a bit smaller( comes to our 50ps size) and $2 is smaller than that( its radius is almost same as 5c). The difference is, $1 and $2 are heavy and made of bronze(not sure what it is, the same metal as 1pound coin) whereas the other coins are made of nickel/steel.
This coin's head raises a big question: Is Australia still a British colony?! The union jack part in the map of Australia ( same as New Zealand’s flag) is again confusing ! To my knowledge Australia still got a Governor General! Queen’s Birthday is a National Holiday here! Any idea ?
But, I still know that the immigration laws are separate, UK citizen need a Visa to enter Australia, and so this is surely a separate country!
Coming back to the vastness, there is a wonderful train across Australia. It starts from Sydney on Saturday afternoon and ends its journey in Perth travelling some 4000+ kms, by Tuesday! It is a bit expensive with the fare coming to A$1500 one way per person for getting a berth, and if you are ready to spend 3 nights in a daynighter seat, it is A$550. This is heard to be a life time experience to travel across Australia. It travels the World’s longest straight stretch of railway track (478 kms ! ), and promises you unique landscapes and fascinating array of wildlife from the comfort of the lounge or your cabin.
The travelling costs compells me to restrict my journeys or rather, sample them. A night's stay costing around 150-200 bucks and the food costing some 100 per day, travel is costly even without the train fares. Again, after all this, we rather end up getting tried at the destination after a long journey may not be worth it.
There are rainforests and vast plains in the north, snowfields in the south east, desert in the centre and fertile croplands in the east, south and south west. About one third of the country lies in the tropics. Australia has a coastline of 36,735km - if it were possible to drive non-stop along the entire coast at 60 km/h it would take about 24 days to complete the trip !
Australia consists of 8 territories : New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania( this is a small Island on its South east corner) and ACT( Australian Capital Territory).
The local currency is Australian dollars which costs around 33 INR. The denominations are cents. The currency notes are in denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. The coins goes as $2, $1, 50c, 20c, 10c and 5c. Like India, 5c is the minimum denomination. The currency notes are thin, and like a polythene sheet with some faces featured on it( I have not heard of anyone before). The coins mostly contain Queen's face( no confusion, I am talking about Queen Elizabeth II only ) ! The coin size grows bigger till 50c( 50c coin is bigger than any coin I have ever seen). $1 coin is a bit smaller( comes to our 50ps size) and $2 is smaller than that( its radius is almost same as 5c). The difference is, $1 and $2 are heavy and made of bronze(not sure what it is, the same metal as 1pound coin) whereas the other coins are made of nickel/steel.
This coin's head raises a big question: Is Australia still a British colony?! The union jack part in the map of Australia ( same as New Zealand’s flag) is again confusing ! To my knowledge Australia still got a Governor General! Queen’s Birthday is a National Holiday here! Any idea ?
But, I still know that the immigration laws are separate, UK citizen need a Visa to enter Australia, and so this is surely a separate country!
Coming back to the vastness, there is a wonderful train across Australia. It starts from Sydney on Saturday afternoon and ends its journey in Perth travelling some 4000+ kms, by Tuesday! It is a bit expensive with the fare coming to A$1500 one way per person for getting a berth, and if you are ready to spend 3 nights in a daynighter seat, it is A$550. This is heard to be a life time experience to travel across Australia. It travels the World’s longest straight stretch of railway track (478 kms ! ), and promises you unique landscapes and fascinating array of wildlife from the comfort of the lounge or your cabin.
The travelling costs compells me to restrict my journeys or rather, sample them. A night's stay costing around 150-200 bucks and the food costing some 100 per day, travel is costly even without the train fares. Again, after all this, we rather end up getting tried at the destination after a long journey may not be worth it.
Friday, September 02, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 8
Australia is the land of Kangaroos. But we have not yet met one! The only place we can see a Kangaroo in Sydney, is Zoo ! There is another species Koala, you can say it is like Panda.
There was a place nearby which they called Featherdale Wildlife Park, which turned out to be a place little bigger than our Panagal park J !
We had to take a bus after getting down from the train. On Sundays, the frequency of the buses is only once in an hour ! And we landed just when the bus just left ! That left us wait in the bus stand for an hour. It was noon by the time we reached the gates of the ‘Park’.
Once we had a look at it, and realised that it has all birds except a crocodile( which I doubt Krithi is still believing that it was a statue), some reptiles in a small room and then some Koalas and small kangaroos. And for that, the entry fee was A$18 !
The birds which can fly out were in cages, and the fats ones were out in small river-shaped pond (I would like to call it so, as it was supposed to look like a river and got some flow also, of recycling. But I hate to call a 100 meter -sort-of-river, a river).
That is it with them and we will move to Koalas. None of them are caged, and at places we never even had fences. The advertisement itself was ‘take a snap with Koala’. There are one or two kangaroos also in the open.
Koalas are the most wonderful creatures I have ever seen. They just somehow manage to be in between the branches of a tree, and that is it! You should be lucky to see it moving! It mostly will be sleeping, sitting on some branches of the tree and holding the next branch tightly, like a standing person sleeping in a running bus! In between it opens its eyes, looks around with minimal movement for its head, like the sleeping traveller sees whether the bus has reached his place, and goes back to sleep J. It was fun watching them, as they look cute, but deadly lazy!
They eat only Eucalypts leaves! Believe me, I just mean it! They won’t eat anything other than that, it is said to get 90% of its hydration from these leaves. It only drinks water when the leaves are dry, or when it get sick! The word Koala came from the aboriginal language which means ‘no drink’! It will be more surprising when you know that these leaves are very low in nutrition and extremely poisonous to most of the animals.
This chap, then says he is very choosy! All he eats is only Eucalypts leaves and that too he eats only a few types of them! Luckily that Australia has some 80 types of Eucalypts J.
They are also like Kangaroos in carrying the young ones in a pouch! I was of the impression that only Kangaroos do this!
But at the end of the day, this guy won’t even move for the fear that movement may trigger the digestion of what they ate and so may have to eat again J ! I think their fat, bluffy body should be a lesson for people who think that fasting is the way to become slim :D.
We met some Kangaroos also. They are mostly fed up with the feeding of the people coming there. They also follow Koala as their stomach is full J !
We finished it all in 1-2 hours, and that too because we spent too much time waiting to see Koala moving J ! A restaurant inside the park had only French fries (rather will say potatoes in the shape of French fries) for vegetarians!
Tailpiece:- School looks full fun here ! They got a hell lot of vacations – 1.5 months for Christmas, 1 month April, 2 weeks in July and 2 weeks in September !
Information :- More information about Koalas can be found at : http://www.thekoala.com/koala/index.htm
There was a place nearby which they called Featherdale Wildlife Park, which turned out to be a place little bigger than our Panagal park J !
We had to take a bus after getting down from the train. On Sundays, the frequency of the buses is only once in an hour ! And we landed just when the bus just left ! That left us wait in the bus stand for an hour. It was noon by the time we reached the gates of the ‘Park’.
Once we had a look at it, and realised that it has all birds except a crocodile( which I doubt Krithi is still believing that it was a statue), some reptiles in a small room and then some Koalas and small kangaroos. And for that, the entry fee was A$18 !
The birds which can fly out were in cages, and the fats ones were out in small river-shaped pond (I would like to call it so, as it was supposed to look like a river and got some flow also, of recycling. But I hate to call a 100 meter -sort-of-river, a river).
That is it with them and we will move to Koalas. None of them are caged, and at places we never even had fences. The advertisement itself was ‘take a snap with Koala’. There are one or two kangaroos also in the open.
Koalas are the most wonderful creatures I have ever seen. They just somehow manage to be in between the branches of a tree, and that is it! You should be lucky to see it moving! It mostly will be sleeping, sitting on some branches of the tree and holding the next branch tightly, like a standing person sleeping in a running bus! In between it opens its eyes, looks around with minimal movement for its head, like the sleeping traveller sees whether the bus has reached his place, and goes back to sleep J. It was fun watching them, as they look cute, but deadly lazy!
They eat only Eucalypts leaves! Believe me, I just mean it! They won’t eat anything other than that, it is said to get 90% of its hydration from these leaves. It only drinks water when the leaves are dry, or when it get sick! The word Koala came from the aboriginal language which means ‘no drink’! It will be more surprising when you know that these leaves are very low in nutrition and extremely poisonous to most of the animals.
This chap, then says he is very choosy! All he eats is only Eucalypts leaves and that too he eats only a few types of them! Luckily that Australia has some 80 types of Eucalypts J.
They are also like Kangaroos in carrying the young ones in a pouch! I was of the impression that only Kangaroos do this!
But at the end of the day, this guy won’t even move for the fear that movement may trigger the digestion of what they ate and so may have to eat again J ! I think their fat, bluffy body should be a lesson for people who think that fasting is the way to become slim :D.
We met some Kangaroos also. They are mostly fed up with the feeding of the people coming there. They also follow Koala as their stomach is full J !
We finished it all in 1-2 hours, and that too because we spent too much time waiting to see Koala moving J ! A restaurant inside the park had only French fries (rather will say potatoes in the shape of French fries) for vegetarians!
Tailpiece:- School looks full fun here ! They got a hell lot of vacations – 1.5 months for Christmas, 1 month April, 2 weeks in July and 2 weeks in September !
Information :- More information about Koalas can be found at : http://www.thekoala.com/koala/index.htm
Friday, August 26, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 7
I have missed this Taxi driver’s story in between.
It was a Sunday( 3rd July), and we were moving from St.Leonards to Parramatta. He was not sure of the location of where we wanted to go, but had a street map. I just helped him out in spotting the place we wanted to go, to the precise point where the apartments are.
Then he started with asking me whether I am a software professional, and whom I am working for and all. I took this opportunity to go in to his life and get his story.
I will call him Ching, a Chinese migrated to Australia some 10 years ago. He had come to Australia some 10 years ago. He struggled a bit to find a job, and then started with driving taxi. Once slowly settled down his parents in China started looking for a girl for him. He says, then, he could see the girls have changed over 3-4 years when he went back to his home country. They were only looking for money. He was telling some examples of his friends who married from China and the girl ran away with a rich man in Sydney, after an year or so !
So, Ching dropped that plan and found a girl, basically Vietnamese, settled in Sydney itself. She also came to work and almost 3 years she has been in Sydney when Ching met her. He feels that this gave him the advantage that she will be comfortable with the environment, and don’t have to worry much about her language problems or cultural shocks. He is now married to her and has got two kids.
The taxi drivers works in shifts. One person is only allowed to work for 8-9 hours only. They take one day off a week. Most of the drivers, Ching says, start by 6am or 7am and work till 3pm. Ching normally starts an hour late, and stays for an hour or two more so that he can exploit the demand for taxi around 3 pm when all taxis vanishes. The second set of people takes over to work till midnight, after that.
Ching is a Buddhist, but he was telling me he will eat fish and meat. Once a week they will fast, that is fully vegetarian. I was about to ask him why, as the followers of Buddha – the father of Ahimsa, they are eating meat, but then I realise in spite of all this wisdom and charm, this question may be too much for a poor taxi driver ! I have the danger of us been forced to get down somewhere on the roadside with all my luggage J !
I am not sure whether I am becoming a story teller from a traveller, but I think these stories are also part of the journey J.
By the by, these guys here never worry about helping you out with loading your luggage, and never worry about the tip too! If you give them a tip, they are more than happy, that is all. I am just telling this, as it is the other way in US.
Tailpiece:- About Driver's license in the Aussie Government Site J,
Whether you rent or buy, you'll need a valid driver's license. If you have a driver's license from your home country, with your photograph on it, you probably won't need anything else. In some cases you may need to carry a translation of your license if it isn't in English. You probably do not need a so-called international drivers' license - they went out of fashion years ago.
Information :- Taxi charges-
Booking- $ 1.15,
Flag off - $ 2.75( what we call minimum),
per km - $ 1.56
It was a Sunday( 3rd July), and we were moving from St.Leonards to Parramatta. He was not sure of the location of where we wanted to go, but had a street map. I just helped him out in spotting the place we wanted to go, to the precise point where the apartments are.
Then he started with asking me whether I am a software professional, and whom I am working for and all. I took this opportunity to go in to his life and get his story.
I will call him Ching, a Chinese migrated to Australia some 10 years ago. He had come to Australia some 10 years ago. He struggled a bit to find a job, and then started with driving taxi. Once slowly settled down his parents in China started looking for a girl for him. He says, then, he could see the girls have changed over 3-4 years when he went back to his home country. They were only looking for money. He was telling some examples of his friends who married from China and the girl ran away with a rich man in Sydney, after an year or so !
So, Ching dropped that plan and found a girl, basically Vietnamese, settled in Sydney itself. She also came to work and almost 3 years she has been in Sydney when Ching met her. He feels that this gave him the advantage that she will be comfortable with the environment, and don’t have to worry much about her language problems or cultural shocks. He is now married to her and has got two kids.
The taxi drivers works in shifts. One person is only allowed to work for 8-9 hours only. They take one day off a week. Most of the drivers, Ching says, start by 6am or 7am and work till 3pm. Ching normally starts an hour late, and stays for an hour or two more so that he can exploit the demand for taxi around 3 pm when all taxis vanishes. The second set of people takes over to work till midnight, after that.
Ching is a Buddhist, but he was telling me he will eat fish and meat. Once a week they will fast, that is fully vegetarian. I was about to ask him why, as the followers of Buddha – the father of Ahimsa, they are eating meat, but then I realise in spite of all this wisdom and charm, this question may be too much for a poor taxi driver ! I have the danger of us been forced to get down somewhere on the roadside with all my luggage J !
I am not sure whether I am becoming a story teller from a traveller, but I think these stories are also part of the journey J.
By the by, these guys here never worry about helping you out with loading your luggage, and never worry about the tip too! If you give them a tip, they are more than happy, that is all. I am just telling this, as it is the other way in US.
Tailpiece:- About Driver's license in the Aussie Government Site J,
Whether you rent or buy, you'll need a valid driver's license. If you have a driver's license from your home country, with your photograph on it, you probably won't need anything else. In some cases you may need to carry a translation of your license if it isn't in English. You probably do not need a so-called international drivers' license - they went out of fashion years ago.
Information :- Taxi charges-
Booking- $ 1.15,
Flag off - $ 2.75( what we call minimum),
per km - $ 1.56
Friday, August 19, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 6
The days are mostly pleasant here. It was rainy for one or two days in June, but it is no more like that. The temperature is also pretty consistent.
The shops normally closes around 5-5:30, except one or two like Woolworths. On Thursdays, they are open till late, mostly till 9. So, if you can plan your purchases on Thursday, weekends will be all yours!
For this weekend, we left the Saturday for sleeping, and planned for Sunday. Again, it will be 12 by the time it is morning for me J. This week, the rail maintenance was for our area, and Parramatta station was closed. We got a notice in all our post boxes notifying this! This replacement buses till Granville, the next rail junction from where we can carry on with train journey. The day’s plan was to get down at Town Hall and go to the top of Sydney Tower.
We had a downtown’s map to guide us. A 10 mins walk from Town Hall station, we came across some old huge malls on the way. A shopping complex built in early 60s or before -something like a shopping complex looking like our old government office buildings !
Then, was this shopping area with two huge malls on both sides, and from the middle of one of them goes the Tower, going up and up for some 1000 Feet – it is about 4 times our Kutub Minar, New Delhi ; 4 times the height of The monument, London ; only 81 metres less than the Empire State building Structure ! I can swear it is the highest view I have ever got from a man made structure! (I am not sure of the Fire Exit :D ). There are 4 round floors on the top, and an open terrace!
The first two floors are restaurants. You have to take $40 entry ticket (per person) and get in to another set of lifts to reach one of those revolving restaurants. Imagine sitting and eating at some 1000 feet high, and while you eat, the building is rotating slowly, to finish one rotation in an hour ! You will see the whole of Sydney!
This is told to be the highest building in Southern hemisphere. Aussies are lucky that US went in to the northern hemisphere J !
We had our lunch to finish. We settled for a north indian shop in the food court downstairs (Central Plaza), which got settled for around $15 - for rice, a curry, some pakodas and pappadams ! Then we just had a walk around, went to the entry ticket counter by 2:30. The entry to the top floor for view costs $22 per person and this comes along with a hologram show known as ‘Oz-Trek’ when you come down.
A small queue for the checking before entering the lift, for sharp objects or weapons, and here we go. The lift was fast enough to take us to the top in less than one minute, non-stop.
This floor is only for viewing. The middle portion has lifts, souvenir shop, and steps to go to the coffee & bar below. There is this terrace on top, which is open! They charge you $110 to go there, rather take you there, with safety equipments and it is referred as ‘Sky walk’.
Views from all sides were looking good. One part had the view of the sea with the Bondi beach, we had the harbour, and the main parts on the other side! We spend around an hour on the top, didn’t buy the souvenirs as a small 15cm model of the Tower cost $23!
We came down to enjoy a Virtual Reality show, which took us to an air ride above the harbour bridge, and then a lot of places in Australia ! It was a first time experience for me, have heard of such things from Brajesh and others – the shows in Universal Studios. May be it is a similar one?
We had spotted some beautiful meadows and fountains( Hyde Park) from the top, just walked in that direction and spent a peaceful evening there. Walked over to the Harbour, back to the Town Hall station, we had done with the day and back home by 8. One more weekend is over.
Tailpiece :-
Information :-
About the Sydney Tower: (taken from) http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/tower.html
Construction of Sydney Tower Centrepoint began in late 1970 with the first 52 shops opening in 1972. The office component was completed in 1974 and the final stage of the complex, the Sydney Tower, was opened to the public in August 1981.
Ranked as one of the safest buildings in the world the design has made the tower capable of withstanding earthquakes and extreme wind conditions. 56 cables stabilise the tower, and if the strands of these cables were laid end to end, they would reach from Sydney to Alice Springs, or from Sydney to New Zealand.
The turret has a capacity of 960 persons, and contains two levels of restaurants, a coffee lounge, an Observation Deck, two telecommunication transmission levels and three plant levels.
Three high speed double Deck Lifts take approximately 40 seconds to travel from top to bottom.
The 1504 stairs, constantly monitored by security, provide emergency exit from the tower. Divided into two fire-isolated sets of pressurised stairs, they allow patrons direct access to street level.
The 420 windows of the tower are cleaned by a semi-automatic window-cleaning machine, which recycles and filters 50 litres of water. This machine takes two days to clean all 420 windows.
A 162,000 litre water tank, the tower's primary damping system, one million dollars worth of fire protection equipment and countless sprinklers add to the safety standards which far exceed normal building requirements.
The shops normally closes around 5-5:30, except one or two like Woolworths. On Thursdays, they are open till late, mostly till 9. So, if you can plan your purchases on Thursday, weekends will be all yours!
For this weekend, we left the Saturday for sleeping, and planned for Sunday. Again, it will be 12 by the time it is morning for me J. This week, the rail maintenance was for our area, and Parramatta station was closed. We got a notice in all our post boxes notifying this! This replacement buses till Granville, the next rail junction from where we can carry on with train journey. The day’s plan was to get down at Town Hall and go to the top of Sydney Tower.
We had a downtown’s map to guide us. A 10 mins walk from Town Hall station, we came across some old huge malls on the way. A shopping complex built in early 60s or before -something like a shopping complex looking like our old government office buildings !
Then, was this shopping area with two huge malls on both sides, and from the middle of one of them goes the Tower, going up and up for some 1000 Feet – it is about 4 times our Kutub Minar, New Delhi ; 4 times the height of The monument, London ; only 81 metres less than the Empire State building Structure ! I can swear it is the highest view I have ever got from a man made structure! (I am not sure of the Fire Exit :D ). There are 4 round floors on the top, and an open terrace!
The first two floors are restaurants. You have to take $40 entry ticket (per person) and get in to another set of lifts to reach one of those revolving restaurants. Imagine sitting and eating at some 1000 feet high, and while you eat, the building is rotating slowly, to finish one rotation in an hour ! You will see the whole of Sydney!
This is told to be the highest building in Southern hemisphere. Aussies are lucky that US went in to the northern hemisphere J !
We had our lunch to finish. We settled for a north indian shop in the food court downstairs (Central Plaza), which got settled for around $15 - for rice, a curry, some pakodas and pappadams ! Then we just had a walk around, went to the entry ticket counter by 2:30. The entry to the top floor for view costs $22 per person and this comes along with a hologram show known as ‘Oz-Trek’ when you come down.
A small queue for the checking before entering the lift, for sharp objects or weapons, and here we go. The lift was fast enough to take us to the top in less than one minute, non-stop.
This floor is only for viewing. The middle portion has lifts, souvenir shop, and steps to go to the coffee & bar below. There is this terrace on top, which is open! They charge you $110 to go there, rather take you there, with safety equipments and it is referred as ‘Sky walk’.
Views from all sides were looking good. One part had the view of the sea with the Bondi beach, we had the harbour, and the main parts on the other side! We spend around an hour on the top, didn’t buy the souvenirs as a small 15cm model of the Tower cost $23!
We came down to enjoy a Virtual Reality show, which took us to an air ride above the harbour bridge, and then a lot of places in Australia ! It was a first time experience for me, have heard of such things from Brajesh and others – the shows in Universal Studios. May be it is a similar one?
We had spotted some beautiful meadows and fountains( Hyde Park) from the top, just walked in that direction and spent a peaceful evening there. Walked over to the Harbour, back to the Town Hall station, we had done with the day and back home by 8. One more weekend is over.
Tailpiece :-
Information :-
About the Sydney Tower: (taken from) http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/tower.html
Construction of Sydney Tower Centrepoint began in late 1970 with the first 52 shops opening in 1972. The office component was completed in 1974 and the final stage of the complex, the Sydney Tower, was opened to the public in August 1981.
Ranked as one of the safest buildings in the world the design has made the tower capable of withstanding earthquakes and extreme wind conditions. 56 cables stabilise the tower, and if the strands of these cables were laid end to end, they would reach from Sydney to Alice Springs, or from Sydney to New Zealand.
The turret has a capacity of 960 persons, and contains two levels of restaurants, a coffee lounge, an Observation Deck, two telecommunication transmission levels and three plant levels.
Three high speed double Deck Lifts take approximately 40 seconds to travel from top to bottom.
The 1504 stairs, constantly monitored by security, provide emergency exit from the tower. Divided into two fire-isolated sets of pressurised stairs, they allow patrons direct access to street level.
The 420 windows of the tower are cleaned by a semi-automatic window-cleaning machine, which recycles and filters 50 litres of water. This machine takes two days to clean all 420 windows.
A 162,000 litre water tank, the tower's primary damping system, one million dollars worth of fire protection equipment and countless sprinklers add to the safety standards which far exceed normal building requirements.
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