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 !

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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 !!!!

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It was Christmas day. All we know was we can’t expect anything to be open and working. The shopping mall in Parramatta had closed after a 32 hours continuous sales, yesterday evening itself. The same with the public transport also. And Christmas is a unique day in a calendar year that almost all cruises and other site seeing trips also will be closed.

It was noon by the time we woke up. The Saturday was spent at home itself as it was a hot day, with mercury climbing to 37degree Celsius. We started looking for something which can help us to enjoy an evening, and somewhere we have never been to. The net dial-up came handy. There was this Hawkesbury River, but no information available for any cruises on web. Anyway, most of them will be closed today. We got hold of a wharf of the river while looking at the plan-your- trip site. It was all quick. We decided to give it a try at around 2. We could start by 3pm train from Parramatta and reach the river side by 4:30, and spend 2-3 hours there and can be back home by 9 !

We had no worries in getting the connecting trains, except the expected waiting time in Strathfield station for the connection. The 25 mins waiting under the asbestos sheet roof in the heat was a bit irritating.

The train journey was peaceful; we had enough food also to survive till we come back. Train passed Hornsby and Berowra which are the city rail limits. It dropped us at the Hawkesbury station by 4:40. We had river on both sides and the rail going in between that (Picture).
The river was full of yatches, motor boats, and house boats but most of them stationary! The wharf was mainly meant for fishermen. There were one or two cruises available on normal days. But all closed for Christmas!

We walked through the banks taking snaps of the houses on water on the other side of the river, ‘busy’ fishing people, the personal boats been brought to the shore with a trailer (Picture) and then pushing it to float (a lot of private boats were moving around). We also enjoyed a group of Pelicans fighting with the seagulls for the fish people feed them from their catch (Picture).

Some people were having their Christmas with family along the banks; the family means 6-15 people here as I have mentioned earlier! Except for that, it was pretty empty in spite of having the parking lot full of cars! I have heard of some houseboat packages here, with around 750 to 1500 AU$ per night! Oh, my little Kerala !

It was a bit hot still, but people were enjoying diving in to the water from the jetties to kill the heat. I got a long picture of the whole view of 120 degree( It was a 180 degree plus view but cropping to reduce memory)(Picture at the top).We started back by 6:40 train, reaching back in Parramatta by 7:50. It was a short but a sweet experience; a memorable evening spend on the banks of Hawkesbury river!

Wishing you all a very very Happy New Year 2006 ! See you next Year !

Tailpiece : It is New Year Eve tomorrow ! And Sydney is ready for the site setup for people who come to see the fireworks. If you need to see the same from a good position like Opera house( I mean around the Opera house premises), you have to be there by 1pm and then wait till midnight ! The forecast is 35 Degree Celcius for 31st December. They are planning to close the areas once the count is reached. If you have money, you can get the best views from Mrs. Macquarie's chair paying 190 AU$ per person and going there by around 7 pm. Even the meadows of Royal Botanical Garden is been sold out for 145 AU$ per head ! There is a freeway or a flyover near the Harbour bridge. They have conducted a contest through 'The Daily Telegraph' newspaper in the first week of December and selected some 1000 people for free passes to stand there and celebrate the Eve!

This is the site where you can see more details of the same:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/ I have some write-ups ready for next week, but I hope I will have the New year celebrations experience which will get priority above them all.

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The summer is peaking, the days are becoming longer. The nights are cool, but they are short! The Sun rises by 6 and sets by 8:30. I think I have never seen this before. So I was always thinking that long days are good and was looking forward to them. It is good to have long days during vacation but for working days, it is a problem. You feel like it is only getting dark for taking your supper, and end up in miscalculating the time to settle down while will make you tired waking up the next day morning (it is anyway a tough thing to get up at 7:30, but now blame it on the Sun).
We had our limitation that we can’t walk too much, and have to be always in places where we can get something to eat or drink. It is not summer, if you misunderstand.
We started by 3 in the evening, the Sun stays at the top from 12 to 3 before climbing down J ! So getting out at 3 is as good as starting by 12. We had to get to bus for Circular quay from Central as there was some maintenance work happening.
It was a straight forward plan. We always get tired or late by the time we reach the gates of the Botanical gardens which is right in front of the Opera house. The gates close normally by 6 and in summer by 7. It is open to public. One side of it covered by the sea, the other side merges with the Hyde park. The Botanical garden contains some view points which gives you a fantastic opportunity to take the Harbour Bridge behind the Opera house (Picture).
There was a huge party happening in the sea-facing side. They call it the schoolies party, which is the school final year’s party. It is a big event here, and it is organised under the Schoolies banner than one for each school. So that area was fully crowded and noisy. The water in front of them also was full of boats may be owned by the students, containing 6 -7 students, and some people in the water too! And all of them drunk, to their limits.
But even that 500 -600 people party was just a corner of the park. We had to walk through the road in between the sea and the party, nothing annoyed except the noisy music. People are drunk, and that too teenagers. But still, we didn’t see any kind of indecent behaviour from them to the passer-bys. They were enjoying, true, but there it ends!
We walked to ‘Mrs.Mcquarie’s chair’ where you get the best of the Sydey-duo (Picture). And, it was very true! I have never seen them together like this for a snap! Again, we met with a lot of people in the just-married attire with their best people, taking snaps from there (Picture). The photographers/video-graphers were competing and queuing to take pictures of their clients. We had to find some odd spots from the sea shore, to get a picture, being unable to compete with the marriage crowd (picture).
We spent sometime sitting on the rocks near the water. Walked back to the internal of the green; there was a marriage going on in the meadow with a glorious small crowd (Picture). It seems the place has been used for private functions!
Taking snaps of these functions, we walked to circular quay back. Outside the gates there was two marriage parties waiting at the gates for the toy train to pick them up in to the Botanical garden.
It was already 7. We slowly walked to towards the other side of the quay. The sky was getting dark slowly, as it was a cloudy day. The sea breeze was cool or even chilly when the summer has begun already and the day was hot too! We got a good view of Opera House in Twilight from the other side of the quay (Picture at the top). That side had a lot of restaurants; we tried to find one for us. There was an Italian restaurant which had neither pizza nor pasta! All of them specialized with Sea food L. So couldn’t do much there. To the railway bus stop for the substituting buses to get back to the Central and train from there back home.

Tailpiece : Australia is hotter than what I thought ! Sydney is not that bad in terms of temperature, but I think we feel the heat because of the variations. One day it will be maximum 20 and the next day it will jump to 30 or 32. Still, the nights are 17-18 normally. But the middle part of Australia and the northern part is very hot. Places like Darwin shows in 40s !

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We are slowly limiting our trips to the city and just exploring some areas in the downtown for a couple of months. It was a sunny day, and we started around 4. It is not a problem because the Sun is on till 8, and it is slowly increasing (it seems it will go till 10 in peak summer).
Our plan was to just spend an evening in the Hyde Park. We got down at Town Hall and slowly were walking to the Hyde Park. At the first junction, the traffic was blocked to turn right, and the road was crowded. A Spanish Summer festival going on !
We crossed the road and joined the crowd. It was like a local festival! All stalls for food, obviously stalls for bangles, earrings and so on. Two artificially-long-legged dancers walking in between the crowd, we kept walking to the end of the crowd, which was a stage. I could see people crowded even from the nearby old buildings to get a good view of what is happening.
There was one man on the stage with a couple. The man was giving clear instructions to the crowd and the couple was showing it, and they were learning Spanish dance. We stood there for sometime, and walked to the main stage at the next cut road.
The only intolerable thing was the smell of hot dogs everywhere, so we couldn’t stand there much. Slowly walked to the Hyde Park getting out the crowd. A pleasant evening at the Hyde Park surrounded by War memorial on one side, a beautiful fountain on the opposite end, and the St.Mary’s Cathedral on one of its sides. We just had a relaxed walk through the Hyde Park. Krithi was upset with some scene happening on the sides – a couple of young ‘same-sex’-couples (of both sex) enjoying the summer and each other J. Some guys trying to stand in a single wheel with their bikes and some taking photos , it was a pleasant evening.
We crossed the road to St.Mary’s Cathedral. Sunday evening service was going on inside. Krithi was very keen on looking inside a church. We were hesitating at first, but then saw a couple of tourists going in, we followed them. It was not a worry even to take a picture without a flash as I couldn’t find any notice saying no photos (I have seen people taking video in the temple here, so I think it is not an issue here).
Walked around the premises and started walking back to the Town Hall station by around 7:15. Got in to a ‘Hungry Jacks’( it is a fast food chain like McD, but I would say these people top here and what I see in McD is not the same class which I saw in London, or not even South Africa) for veggie burger, some chips and a milk shake. Back in Town Hall station around 8, the sky was just getting dark. Just took a train back home finishing one of those very peaceful, or rather lazy weekends here.
I hate to bore you if I have nothing new or eventful to write from my side. But the World is wonderful, and each day is so different.
As Australia is getting ready to celebrate Christmas, Sydney planning for a 4 million dollar New Year celebration at the Harbour Bridge, I am hoping to find something new for the next week…bye for now…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 18

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

Cheers
Venki

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

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 17

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

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