AUSSIE WEEKENDER 20

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 18

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

Cheers
Venki

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

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 17

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

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

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 16

Day 2 in Brisbane:
The previous night’s broken sleep and the day’s walks and go–around had made us so tired to get up at 7! We had to get ready and take the breakfast before the pick-up bus turns up at our hotel at 7:50.
After been picked up at 7:50, our real trip started by 8:45. We were out of the city in 15 mins! Big buildings gave way to houses which were raised above the ground with logs! There are two reasons for this: one, to escape from the floods, and two, keeping away from the heat (coming from the ground) in summer. But in another half an hour, we were completely out of the suburbs (if you can call that villages suburb). We travelled through Pineapple plantations, Strawberry farms, and took an exit to drop a few people in the ‘Australian Zoo’. This is the place of our famous Discovery Crocodile Hunter - . He is in the effort of making this one the best in the World, raising money through television shows and documentaries. He inherited this flair for loving animals from his father who started the Zoo.
The Australian Zoo trip is planned in such a way that our Sunshine coast bus will drop them in the Zoo and on the way back, we will pick them up on our way back.
We went on, through sugarcane, mango trees and a lot of pines too, our destination was the so-called ‘world’s largest ginger factory’! The ginger farms, were surrounding us entering the factory premises. A big shop selling their products which are already in the market, welcomed us. A small train taking us around the premises, and some more shops, looked like making a good business out of it J. A tour in to the factory’s working, processing, and products constituted our 1 hour stay there. There was a coffee factory just, but the prices of coffee beans were as same as the stores back in the city.
During the tour there was a mention that volcanic soil is suitable for ginger and that is why it is so suitable here. But I couldn’t find any volcanos nearby!
Our next destination was Noosa, one of the main beaches in the Sunshine coast. It was fully crowded with people enjoying the Sun, and packed with resorts filling the coasts. A walk through the coast, and the busy Hastings Street; the street was full of people walking after the Sunbath to their rooms in the resorts. Had a lunch in one of the restaurants sitting outside – a Margeritta pizza with some basil flakes on it.
Sunshine coast is actually full of beaches; it would count to some 30 plus in all. The law goes like, you start from one end and keep walking till you find a lonely beach. Once you find it, the beach becomes yours for the day!
Started our journey back by 2, and stopped at the underwater world which is one of the replicas of Sydney Aquarium. We started from there by around 4 after the Seal show. It was heavy traffic and we could manage to enter Brisbane back by 6, late by about 5:30.
There was another surprise waiting for us in the Parkland gardens in front of our hotel - a multicultural Festival! It was just happening for a day, and we were in! There were some 10 stages where art forms from different countries were happening (stages segregated by dance, folk music or instrumental – not by country)! We had a chance to see a sitar recital and bhangra. Three girls took the whole crowd to dance on their will and the huge crowd dominated by Aussies were dancing in full! We happily went to try some Indian stalls for supper and they were closing down and dumped us with whatever they hadL. Mostly Sri Lankan people making all dosai and all saying Indian food, and it was junk. We could eat some that night, and threw away the rest next day morning as it was doneL. In between an old guy came with a receipt and managed to pull a 10$ note from my pocket for renovation of a temple in Brisbane! Who knows! Another Sri Lankan!
That ended our time in Brisbane.
Day 3 :-
We started by morning train, my intention was to travel and see the places in daylight. The train left Roma Street by 7:30. There was another mother who came off to see off her son( this son is around 35 plus), and she was just not ready to leave him J, going out of the train and coming back in. The guy got a bit embarrassed seeing us watching them, and said ‘she is not always like that J’. Anyway, as soon as the train left the station, he started his making of cigarettes with some powder and jumped out at every stop to smoke, it smelt horrible!
Farmhouses, horses, hell lot of huge cows, the countryside was beautiful. Lunch didn’t go well, we both got some roasted Pumpkin ravioli in cheese sauce! I could eat it somehow, but that was the only vegetarian dish available in our lunch car.
We reached Sydney back by around 9:40. We got down at Strathfield, a station which is more nearer to Parramatta and took another train home. That was a long journey in deed as Krithi was not enjoying sitting the whole day in the train.

Tailpiece: I think Aussies are one of the most tolerant people in the World as far as I have seen. I will start putting some events, one-by-one in the tail piece from next week onwards.

Information: Most of the railway is not electrified here in Australia. The local trains and suburban one are all electric lines, but the long distance trains run with Diesel engines!

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 15

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.

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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 !

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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

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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.

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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’.