Australia Day 5: Capital of Australia

26-12-2009

All the while, I thought that Sydney is the capital of Australia but it’s not, it’s Canberra. It is about a 3-hour drive from NSW. They say that this is a dead place. Chili and Rein also tells us a saying that goes “Why wait for death if you can go to Canberra”. :p

Formule1 Hotel

We went there and we stayed in a hotel named Formule1. It is like a backpacker’s hotel, a cheap one. It is around $82 for 2-3 persons a night. It is a small room that has a comfort room that looks like the one you can see in the airplanes. It’s really small and I think it is really intended for short time stays.

Formule1 Comfort Room

Anyway, in Canberra you can see all the government related buildings. The embassy is located there, the Parliament house and others. We went first to the Parliament House. It was funny thinking that I’ve been inside Australia’s Parliament House and never been to the Philippines’ Batasang Pambansa! Inside the house are the paintings of all the Prime Ministers of Australia. We also joined the Guided Tour to know more about the details of the Parliament House. It was like a highschool when you go on a school field trip and will take an exam after the tour. He was talking about how the Parliament was built, how many senators per states, how many bills they read, how many months before a bill is approved and all. Even the architecture and all the stuff like that were discussed during the tour. There in the middle of the Parliament House hangs the biggest Australian Flag and it is being replaced every 3 weeks manually!

Infront of the Parliament House

Entrance of the Parliament House

After the tour, we just went inside the Souvenir Shop but all the items were pricey. So we moved on to the Australian War Memorial.

Infront of the War Memorial

Inside War Memorial

Inside the War Memorial lie the heroes of the country who gave their life during the war. You can see a looong list of names who offered their lives for the country. They were very much respected here and the museum was really good.

Names of the people who died during the war

There was a special exhibit called “Love and War” where they get to remember the soldier’s love stories. I got teary eyed when I saw one corner there where the soldiers write to their wives and saying that they might not be coming back. Imagine the suffering and the sacrifice they’ve undergone just for the country. Some were only married for 10 days and never get to remarry. So sad.

Love and War Exhibit

Anyway, there was also a Discovery Center where they made a replica of what happened during the war. There were helicopters, submarines, bikes, etc. We had fun when we played dress up like nurses and sailors. Cool stuff!

Fooling around with the Helicopter

Feeling Sailors

Playing dress-up

The Parliament House seen in War Memorial

I liked the pins and shirts they sell in the Souvenir Shop but I forgot my money inside the car and was too shy to borrow money from my mom and Hannah. So I’d let go and hope to find another one like that in Melbourne. Since the shops all over Australia closes as early as 5pm, we don’t have any place to go. We looked for something to eat for dinner so we went to the mall for fast food. I think it was the only mall there. We had shawarma for the night. I also saw a store named “Kathmandu”. Hahaha! I liked it since it is close to my name. After dinner, we went to Gloria Jeans inside Borders, a bookstore like Powerbooks. It closes at 9pm so we are very happy since we can stay there long enough to be tired and just go to sleep when we go back to the hotel since we can’t do anything there.

Kathmandu Store

By the way, Dec 26 is “Boxing Day”, a public holiday for them. You might ask why it is called Boxing day, this is because they are boxing their old stuff since they’ve receive a new one during Christmas day. I thought it’s like a Manny Pacquiao thing. Hehe. And so, there is massive Sale everywhere! However it’s only 3 days and after that all will be back to its original price. Cool huh?

Canberra, maybe this state is for the old people. They get sentimental with this kind of stuff. Also, my mom said that the architecture looks like Washington DC.

It was a tiring and fun day. Tomorrow, we’re off to Melbourne.

Christmas in Sydney

This is my first time to celebrate Christmas out of the country and away from my family and loved ones (though I am with my mom and half of my extended family) and it's kinda exciting and at the same time somehow sad because Christmas in the Philippines is really happier compared to all countries in the world.

Nevertheless, I still managed to enjoy the Christmas season here in Australia. I will tell you how my Christmas been here in Sydney, Australia.

Prayer Guide for Family Mass

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated Mass in St. Mary's North Sydney where the Parishes of Our Lady of the Way come together to celebrate as one. This is a Family mass that's why there are lots of children playing dress up during this time.

The mass here in Australia is different from the mass in the Philippines. The people don't care to stand up or kneel down, they only sit and listen to the priest. The only time I remember standing up is during the "Our Father" song then after that the people sat again.

Angels in the outfield

Since it was a Christmas Mass, there was a Nativity play by the children. There were cute children played as animals, shepherds and angels too. Joseph and Mary is of course present in the play. I was amazed that Mary was carrying a real baby boy! I never seen it in the Philippines.

After the celebration, Rein and the rest of the Vega Family helped in fixing and returning the things that was used during the celebration. Then we went back home to load the things we need for Noche Buena and sleeping things. We will celebrate in thier cousins who are also Filipinos. When we arrived in their place, we are just like in the Philippines.

Christmas Costume with Chili

We ate dinner: dinuguan, shrimps, fried chicken and lumpiang shanghai. Then we started to play Wii with the kids and the young at heart started singing in the videoke. We had a great time while waiting for 12mn to celebrate Christmas!

The young at heart having a good time

Then 5mins before Christmas, Tito Reg started to give the gifts to the children and when they all got their gifts, they opened it up and started to play with it. The smiles on the faces of the children makes everyone smile too. Eventhough we're far away from home, we still enjoyed this time of the year.

children opening their gifts

Around 12:05am, Andrew called and I was happy! Christmas is complete! \(^_^)/

Since we are 3hrs advanced here in Sydney, I didn't get the chance to wait for 3am just to greet people from the Philippines. So I just waited the morning to greet people in facebook. Sorry, I can't txt everyone!

Christmas Breakfast

We then went home after breakfast in their cousin's place. We took a bath and had our own Christmas celebration here at home. We prayed first by lighting the advent wreath then Ate Es served as the Santa for today. We opened our gifts with glee.

Christmas Wreath

Family with the Christmas Tree

Opening of the gifts

We had our own time with our gifts and we rest because we haven't got enough sleep last night. Then we had our Christmas dinner! We had an Australian dinner, with Turkey, our traditional Hamonado, Salmon, Cheezy Potatoes, Cheese, then we had Fruit Salad, Fruit Cake and Buko Pandan for dessert. We also had this Christmas poppers where we are to pull both sides to get some little gifts and jokes inside. There was also a paper crown inside that we wore while eating. We had such a wonderful feast. :)

ham, turkey and salmon

cheese

fruit cake with cherries

with the Christmas Poppers

jokes inside the poppers

dinner wearing the paper crowns

It's raining here in Sydney right now, unlike the other days that we are experiencing extreme hot weather. Now, we experienced 19 degrees in Darling Harbour. We just took pictures of the scenery and went home after because it's raining and we might get sick. We are not allowed to get sick. Hehe. :)

The view in Darling Harbour

Christmas tree in Darling Harbour

Floating Restaurant at the back

We had a great unique Christmas this year. And I hope everyone had their own joyful stroy of Christmas! May we remember Christ's love this Season. Happy Holidays! v(^_^)v

Australia Day 3: Koalas and Kangaroos

2009-12-24

pandesal and corned beef for breakfast

We had pandesal and cornedbeef with pancakes for breakfast. The pandesal was given to us from our visitors last night who is living in the Filipino Community here in Australia, known as the Blacktown. Later, we will be going there for our wildlife adventure. For breakfast, Tito Reg also asked me to try the famous "Vegemite", which is somewhat like cheezwhiz! He said that the original taste is not like that but Kraft already bought it that's why it tastes like cheezwhiz but a little bit bitter in taste. And its color is chocolaty.

vegemite spread

This time, I want to see the koalas and the kangaroos. So we went to the Featherdale Wildlife in Blacktown which is 45mins far from where we are staying. We also had the chance to pay half the regular price since one of Ate Es' friends told us that there are coupons available online and we just have to print it and show it to the counter to avail for the "Buy one take one" promo! It was originally at $22 and we only paid $11 each because of the promo. :)

Blacktown

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Park Passport

The passport is given as you enter the park. There are stations that has stamps on it and you are to stamp it in your passport as proof that you've been there. However, because of the heat the stamp ink dried up that's why I didn't bother to complete it.

koalas

Since I want to go to the park to see real koalas and kangaroos, I go straight to them. The koalas are sooo cute but they are really smelly. I get to feed the wallabies too but the kangaroos are too far that's why I dodn't have a close up pictire of them.

feeding the wallabies

There are animals like the pelicans, tazmanian devil, wombats, dingo (askal), eagles, snakes, echidna and much more. After we went to the souvenier shops but I don't like the stuffs they are selling. I'll just buy my pasalubongs the day before we go back to the Philippines. Then we saw some maps of tourist spots in Australia, so we planned where to go next.

Hannah, Mom and Ate Es planning our next adventure

We went home because it's burning hot in the park. Ate Es might get a migrane if we stayed long. Then when we checked the temperature in the car and guess what? It's burning 45 degrees!!! Waaahh..

check the temperature

Then as we go home, we drop by the Sydney Olympic Park. It was a beautiful and wide park. And the poles you see in the entrance of stadium are names of the players who joined the olympics that time. A very nice place to go to when you want to relax and just feel the cold breeze of Australia.

ANZ Stadium

poles infront of the stadium

That was my 3rd day adventure. I will post my Christmas in Sydney later.

Australia Day 2: Beaches Galore

2009-12-23

This day, we are off to the beaches!!! :)

We woke up late again as usual.. wait, earlier than the first day I think. Then we had breakfast at home.

pancakes for breakfast

We first went to the famous Bondi beach. It is famous of it's crescent shape I think. A lot of Australians are sunbathing there, while we are sun hiding! hahahaha. :)

I didn't have the chance to take a dip since I have my period. I will just go back there to take a dip before going back to the Philippines. Just look at the pictures to see how beautiful the beach located in the city!

walking in bondi beach

having my own time

Then we had our lunch in the beach. We ate in Oporto, the Australian version of Lechong Manok. It's better I think. Hehehe. :)

 

Chicken from Oporto

fries with chili sauce

Before going to our next destination, we took a picture infront of the Bondi Pavilion, then we are off to Manly Beach. The crowd in Manly is more on family oriented crowd. Bondi is more popular than Manly so tourists go to Bondi instead of Manly. The beach in Bondi is bigger too compared to Manly but I like the crowd in Manly. Also, there are lots of shops in Manly and they say it's cheaper. But there are no bargains this time of the year. All the bargain stuffs are jackets and winter clothes. The next time we want to buy bathing suits in Roxy and Billabong, we should be buying during Winter season.

 

infront of Bondi Pavilion

infront of Manly Wharf

surfboard rental in Manly

Since we were all disappointed with shopping, we head home after the Manly beach. We should be going to Balmoral Beach but since we are all tired, we just went home and prepared for dinner. We had visitors that night so we prepared lots of food. And also, Tito Reg promised me that we will have barbeques when we visit Australia, we had Lamb Chops, Beef Sausages, Pork Steak, and of course Kangaroo! :) We had salad, ang spaghetti and the barbies for dinner. Then I ate ice cream for dessert.

 

beef sausage, kangaroo and lamb chops

 

salad, pasta, and barbies

kangaroo

chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream

Another good day in Australia. After dinner, the visitors came and they brought pizzas and pandesal for tomorrow's breakfast. We played wii while the Vega's are entertaining them.

For my next stop? I'll be seeing the koalas and the kangaroos! :)