C'est la vie!

This top sums it all up..."Life is short, travel"!

I finally booked my domestic flight and headed from Melbourne to Sydney to meet my cousins, Theresa & Stanley, at the airport. I've never met Stanley before, and have only seen Theresa once, when I was 8 years old, so I was quite excited to finally see them both. They live in Gosford which is an hour and 15 mins train ride from Sydney. They were both on summer holidays and were kind enough to show me around.

Gosford is best known for its beaches. We asimmediately hit up Avoca Beach on my first day there, and I started working on my tan. The weather was just perfect...clear blue sky. I find that the sun is much hotter in Australia compared to Canada, which is probably one of the reason why I actually got a REAL tan for the first time in my life! This was one of the cleanest and most beautiful beach I've ever stepped foot on. The beach was very long and the sand was very nice and hot. The best part about this beach was the walking trail around these massive rocks that created the bluff. There were quite a lot of people fishing here, and tents were pitched up here and there too (on the sand, of course).

We also checked out The Entrance which is the Pelican capital of Australia. Everyday, at 3:30 pm, the pelicans are fed at The Entrance Waterfront.

"The attraction started over 20 years ago when the staff of a local fish & chips shop fed scraps to the birds on a daily basis. The pelicans began demanding their food from the staff and the feeding was taken over by Jimbo's Quality Seafoods." These pelicans were pretty massive and they eat a lot! I managed to catch the end of the feeding, as we were running a bit late, and snapped a few photos.

I also had my first Cold Rock icecream experience there also. If you didn't know already, I LOVE HEART ICECREAM! Maybe even more than fudge and chocolate! My friend Lisa have told me about a place in London, Ontario where people (mostly students from Western) line up around the block for icecream. She described how there's tons of different flavours of icecream, and toppings (such as real baked apple pie & cookie dough), and you get to pick both and they mash them together in a marble slate to create your own icecream flavour. I never got a chance to go back to London to check this out, but was so excited when I heard about Cold Rock here. I've had their icecream a handful of times already and my favourite combination has to be Ferrero Rocher icecream with caramel fudge squares. Mmmmm...

Daytrip to SYDNEY

The three of us also headed down to Sydney, which was also known as "the city", for a day. We started off our morning quite early and caught a train around 9. We reached the city and had breakfast in Chinatown before heading off to Darling Harbour. There were tons of tourists attractions including museums, exhibition centres, and even a Chinese Garden. I opted out of this since I already visited a Tea Garden in China. We ended up checking out the Sydney Aquarium instead. Highlights from this were the massive shark tank where you could walk under and look up at all types of stingrays and sharks, and the seal feeding. We even saw a couple of seals kissing. We spent a good 2-3 hrs here before jumping on the Monorail, a sky train, since we were too tired to walk.

Our next stop was Circular Quay where you can find the famous, Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. After slapping on massive amounts of sunscreen (we all got sunburned from the beach a few days before), we walked around and checked out one of the many buskers performing in the area. We watched a contortionist, who was quite hilarious, twist herself into different shapes and somehow manage to fit into this small glass box. This box is quite small and I was surprised she was able to do it. I wonder how people like her realize they have a gift/talent to do these unique things. I took a video and will try to tackle my next challenge of posting up a video. We snapped a few shots here and I went a bit crazy with my camera and made a few flip book photo films. The Sydney Opera House was better than what I expected. I've seen many photos of it, or sometimes had a glimpse of it on Tv as a backdrop (ie. fireworks), but I didn't appreciate the architecture of this building until I got there. I wish we had more time there, as it would have been nice to check out a tour and learn more about it. We concluded our day by heading to Market City and Paddy's Market for a bit of shopping before heading back to Gosford. I didn't get anything as most of the stuff was similar to the markets I've already visited in Thailand or Melbourne, or were marked up in price.

Stanley sneaking up on me.

"No Worries" in BRISBY (Brisbane)

After much debate over where to go to in Queensland, I finally booked our flight to Brisbane. I was a bit worried about the whole trip there as I had a poor knowledge of the proximity of each place, finding a place to stay (it's summer holiday and most places are booked up), how to get from each place to the other, and most of all - the weather. Rain was forecasted for the whole entire week! Iwey was really generous and let the three of us (my cousins came with me) crash at her place. I was a bit worried too b/c Iwey was supposed to be preparing for teaching and I didn't want to intrude. She reassured me on the phone not to worry, and that we'll figure things out when we get there. It didn't hit me that I was finally going to see her, until I saw her at the airport.

To test my stress levels (they haven't been elevated this much since my National exam), my first challenge was not to freak out when I realized that I've left my purse on the plane! Thank god Iwey was there to remind me to just chill, as a dozen different thoughts including "I can't believe I've left my passport and new camera in there", ran in my head. After waiting and bickering with the airline staff, I recovered my "camera bag" from them (there was miscommunication as they thought that my purse was a camera bag). The rest of the trip was smooth sailing after that. It was great spending time with Iwey, especially since I haven't seen her for a year and a half. I was hoping that by the end of the trip her "no worries" attitude would rub off on me.

Everything just fell in place. We spent a total of 7 days in Queensland & New South Whales, and I thought it would be challenging trying to coordinate all our different itinerary together (the kiddies wanted to check out all the theme parks and zoos, and we wanted to check out the beaches instead). We ended up renting a car for the last 3 days as it was a lot easier than taking public transport.

It rained, as forecasted, on our first full day there. So we took the bus to the city to Queen Street and spent the day shopping and checking out a museum there. The shopping in Brisbane was pretty nice. The highlight of it all is probably bumping into Dean Geyer and Lisa from The Veronicas, who were quite popular celebs in Oz. I had no idea who they were, nor did I realize how popular they were until I saw their photos in a magazine while I was getting my hair cut later on. Dean was very cute and extremely friendly. I can see how millions of girls would go goo goo gaa gaa over him. We ended up meeting up with Rich later on for dinner and went for a walk looking out for bats in the neighbourhood. There are LOTS of bats and Ibis (ugly looking birds) in Brisby. The bats are pretty massive also.

The kiddies went to the Australia Zoo, while Iwey, Rich and I took it easy in the city the next day. It was so nice to just sit and catch up on things. Rich tried to teach me the basics about cricket, but it's still a bit too complicated and I prefer my hockey. Iwey and I hit the beach the day after, and drove down to Burleigh Beach and Surfers Paradise. Both had pretty good waves and there were a lot of people learning how to surf. I wish I knew how to swim, so I could learn also. We spent most of the day tanning and checking out a few of the little shops, and eating icecream. Lowlights from this trip has to be being pooped on by a seagull while tanning (see 3rd photo below). It was quite unexpected and pretty nasty too. Iwey had a good laugh at my expense. I did however, end up finding some coins on the beach though (someone once told me it's good luck when you get shat on - they were clearly lying). I should have played the lottery that night.

bird poop on my stomach. yuck!

We stopped at Byron Bay the next day, which Iwey had informed me, is more of a "Hippie" kind of town. I've already noticed a few people walking barefoot in public before, while I was in Gosford, and found this sort of awkward, but apparently it's quite common in Australia, especially in Byron Bay. Byron Bay is in New South Whales and is the eastern most point on the eastern seaboard. There are markets also that sell all sorts of neat stuff, but we didn't really check that out, and spent the day on the beach enjoying the water and the sand. The biggest difference I notice on this beach was a few topless girls. It's not a nude beach, but apparently it's common for girls to go topless in many of the beaches. I guess they really don't want any tan lines. At first, I thought they were only topless while they were sunbathing, but I was wrong, they run around on the beach topless too. I wonder if Stanley (he's only 9) noticed it much. Maybe he's used to it, since he lives here. I'm definetly a lot more relaxed and starting to adopt this "no worries" sort of culture, but I definetly won't be going topless anytime soon.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT.

I think we went out the night before Byron Bay to a few of the clubs/bars/pubs in the city. We checked out a few places - The Victory Hotel, Down Under, & ?The Exchange Hotel. The music was a bit different to what I'm used to back at home. They played a lot of house/dance/techno (I'm not really good at telling the difference) and some other random stuff, I don't even know how to categorize. I definetly expanded my Ipod collection, that's for sure. People are pretty friendly and easy going. Guys are actually polite, and they tend to ask first, rather than dance up on girls. My favourite spot has to be Down Under where only Backpackers, or students are allowed in. We met some pretty cool Europeans & Canadians fellow travellers there.

On our second last day, Iwey, Rich & I decided to sign up with the Dolphin Wild's Moreton Island Day Tour. We arrived in Redcliffe a bit early and grabbed some "breaky" (breakfast pronounced as breck-e) before jumping on the rocky ferry. I, thankfully, took my Gravol ahead of time as I have gotten seasick way too many times already to risk it. Our tour started off with boom netting. This was another first for me. It's pretty simple. They hang a net off the back of the ferry, and you basically try to hang on and try to enjoy the ride. It was definetly a lot of work hanging on to that rope. I ended up with these red lines all across my elbows from clenching on too tight. I pretty much had my eyes closed the whole entire time b/c the water/bubbles from the turbulence was covering my face. I lost a hair clip. One girl actually fell off. Good times. Good times. This was followed by a guided tour where we learned about how Moreton Island is the world's second largest sand island, and how 5 of the six species of sea turtles can be found in Australia. We didn't see any dolphins, but we spotted a sea turtle. Then, we snorkeled around the ship wrecks. The water was a bit murky, but we could still see a few fishes and some corals too. I liked the snorkelling in Ko Tao a bit more, but this one was cool too b/c we got to see a wobbegong shark. I definetly love snorkelling and can't wait to hopefully check out the Great Barrier Reef one day. We were pretty tired after all this activity, and thankfully, got the rest of the afternoon to chill out on the beach. This tour was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We spent the rest of the evening out in the city. We met up w/ the kiddies and checked out South Bank and Little Stanley Street. South Bank was pretty neat. There's a man made beach in the middle of the city. How cool is that? There was a sandcastle sculpturer buskering there, and he built this mermaid couple sitting in a middle of a pool. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and had dessert at Cold Rock, of course! It was a great way to end the trip, as we started and ended our trip with a visit to the city. I definitely miss Iwey already, and she's only an hour plane ride away, at the moment.

Good ol' Gosford

The kiddies and I headed back to Gosford, and I spent my last few days shopping and checking out Terrigal Beach. Terrigal is one of the most popular beaches in Gosford. It pretty much rained the whole morning, but we still went there when the rain let up. I'm glad we did. What sets Terrigal Beach apart from the rest is this lookout on top of a hill of the whole beach. The climb was a bit tiring but definetly worth it. We also managed to squeeze in the Waterfront in Gosford also before I left. Very picturistic with lots of boats.

Aside from the beaches, what I remember most about Gosford is the food. My Aunty Sophia is a very good cook and she was so sweet to find out about all my favourite dishes and made sure I had them all before I left. She'd stock up her fridge with mangoes, lychees and OJ and insists that I eat them all. I must have gained about a good 2 kg's within a few days. My favourite dishes of hers have to be her fried calamari, salted fish, and the raw oysters. I must have ate a good 14 pieces of oysters in addition to all the other food she made that meal.

"Marvelous" Mebourne

I'm back in Melbourne and these last days have zipped by quickly. Aunty Alex, Almeta, Jaclyn and I jumped on the Metlink and went to the city the other day and I finally went to the Eureka Tower. It is 88 storey high and have a skydeck, which is a glass cube that projects out of the building and the windows and floors go from being opaque to completely clear. The whole experience was a bit cheezy as they try to make it more exciting and scary by adding all these light and sound effects of glass shattering and thunder/lightening while the cube is slowly projected out from the building. It was a bit too much. It wasn't anything spectacular, especially for an extra $10. You end up with a Livestrong-like bracelet that says, "I survived the Edge" in the end. But the view of Melbourne city was definitely worth it. We spent earlier that morning shopping at DFO which are outlet malls found in most major cities in Australia. I've checked out 2 so far, and they both have stores like Country Road, Jeans West, Giordano, Guess, FCUK, Supre & Nine West. The shopping was pretty good as there was a lot of sales post christmas. I just couldn't get over how marked up a lot of the products are here. I did pick up some very cute dresses and high-waisted skirts. Shopping was followed by a train ride on the Metlink back to Flinder Street Station where we took tons of photos in front of some bridge (I don't know the name of that bridge). Flinder Street station is a very famous yellow railway station that has a huge clock on it. It's been filmed in many movies (I'm not sure which ones, but I was informed that it was so).

Me inside the Skydeck glass cube. They don't allow cameras inside the cube, and they make you wear these blue hospital booties over your shoes so you don't scuff up the glass floor.










Flinder Street Station is the yellow building behind me and the bridge.

The girls have just started school a few days ago. It was Almeta's first day of school, so everyone was a bit nervous for her. The schools here are very different from the ones back home. All students, whether they're in public or private schools, have to wear uniform. Parents are sent a long list of supplies and uniforms that are required for school. I went shopping with Aunty Jenny for some of these supplies, and it was a bit crazy. They tell you exactly how many pens, markers, sheet protectors, notebooks, laminators, and even boxes of tissues that are required. All children have to wear the school uniform hat as well as backpacks, that have their school names clearly labelled on them. Iwey told me how it's mandatory that children wear their hats during recess, and if they've forgotten it, they can't play outdoors with the other kids. The backpacks are quite massive too and it was quite funny watching Almeta attempt to lift her heavy pack filled with all these supplies on her back that morning. Apparently they need a separate bag for library books also. They also split kids up into different groups or house teams too. When Iwey told me about this, it reminded me of Harry Potter immediately. Boy, I'm glad things weren't this complicated when I went to elementary school. Maybe uniforms aren't such a bad idea, as kids are less likely to be singled out if they're not wearing the latest fashion trends.

Randoms

There are water restrictions in every city I've been to so far. I find it very interesting considering that Australia is a continent surrounded by amples of water. They don't recycle the water here, and it's so hot here, there's usually a drought, hence a shortage of water supply. And at different times of the year, there are various stages of water restrictions that are implemented. Pretty much in all the cities I've visited, people are not allowed to water their lawns or wash their cars and are discouraged from taking bubble baths, and soaking in their pools. If you have really crappy neighbours, they can report you and you'll be fined. I also found it fascinating visiting all these touristy places with waterfountains with no water in them. I finally found this one at Chadstone mall which had a sign explaining exactly why there isn't any water in a waterfountain.

Boomerangs were created back in the day by the Aboriginal people for fishing and hunting. "It is believed that the shape and elliptical flight path of the returning boomerang makes it useful for hunting. Noise generated by the movement of the boomerang through the air, and, by a skilled thrower, lightly clipping leaves of a tree whose branches house birds, would help scare the birds towards the thrower. This was used to frighten flocks or groups of birds into nets that were usually strung up between trees or thrown by hidden hunters." -Wikipedia.

Vegemite is commonly considered as a national food by many Australians. According to Wikipedia, vegemite "is a dark brown savoury food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuits, as well as a filling of pastries like Cheesymite scroll, in Australia and New Zealand." I finally tried it while I was in Brisbane, and umm...I'm not a fan. It's very salty and weird.

A female kangaroo is called a doe or a flyer, while a male is called a buck or boomer.

NEXT ADVENTURE

After 6 weeks in Australia, I'm leaving Melbourne and heading back to my motherland, India, this Sunday. I'll be there for Chinese New Years and will be staying for a month. Not sure which cities I'll be visiting but I'll definetly be in Calcutta and Gaya for sure. Just to give you a background, I was born in Calcutta and haven't been back in over 17 years. I have tons of family there still, many that I have never met or haven't seen for over 17 years. I'm very excited about this part of the trip and hope 1) my malaria pills work, 2) that I can adjust to the change in air quality, and 3) that I also won't end up with diarrhea at any point of this trip. India...here I come!