Australia is a country with different climatic regions. I think you all know the geography of Australia. It is an Island between Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is a federal country. It consists of seven provinces, namely, New South Wales (NSW) ,Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania. Tasmania is in the southern tip of Australia away from main land. My visit is confined to NSW and Canberra. The Southern part of Australia is irrigated by Murray and Darling rivers.
Sydney is in NSW. Our Son-in-law lives in Stanhope Gardens, a suburban area of Sydney. The roads in Sydney are well laid out. They are like boulevards. We can’t find even a drop of water on the roads even if there is a heavy down pour. We can’t find din & noise anywhere. We rarely see people going on foot along the roads. We see mostly cars, two wheelers are also a rarity. Everything is kept spic & span. There are a number of parks and gardens in every suburb with facilities like playgrounds, walking tracks and picnic areas.
The places I visited so far are
- Sydney City - The Harbour, Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Sydney Tower
- Blue Mountains - A Hill Station, with expansive views of peaks and valleys and rain forest walks.
- Nelsons Bay - A bay area, on the Central coast of NSW with beautiful beaches
- Sri Venkateswara Temple at Helensburgh
- Nan Tien Buddhist temple at Wollongong
- Sai Baba temple at Strathfield
- Featherdale wildlife park where we saw Australian birds and animals such as Kangaroo and Panda.
- Various Shopping malls such as Westfield, Castle Towers etc
- Parliament house at Canberra
- Cockington Green Miniature gardens
Sydney Tower is the tallest tower in Sydney from which we can see a panoramic view of the City and the Harbour. We visited the Opera house and then took a ferry to Darling Harbour. Opera house is a monument worth seeing. Sydney Harbour is one of the busiest places in the city. During weekends it is thronged with visitors. It consists of Pubs, Hotels, Shopping, Casino and other entertainment places. We also visited Hyde Park which is beautiful with a large variety of flowers.
In Nelsons Bay, there is a beach called Stockton Beach with large sand dunes that resemble a desert. We went through the sand dunes on a Hummer. We stayed overnight in a Motel. It was very thrilling.
We visited the Parliament House at Canberra. Everybody has access to the Parliament house. We can also take photos inside and outside the building.While coming from Canberra, we visited a place called Cockington Green where the miniatures of historical places of the world are created with natural greenery.
As Christmas is around the corner, the people are very busy. There is shopping spree a week before Christmas as the shops will be closed for 3 days during the festival.
The people of Australia are gorumets. They prefer eating outdoors, generally during weekends. The shops are very big. To name some, Kmart, Coles, Aldi. are found everywhere.
In olden days Australians were called pummies. It is a slang word. Before the advent of the British, Australia was inhabited by the aborigines. We find aborigines rarely in the city area. They usually live secluded in their own territories. Australia is a multicultural country. We find people here from all the countries in the world.
About people from Andhra living here, they have two organisations. Australia Telugu Samithi and Telugu Association. They celebrate the Dasara and Ugadi every year with festivites and entertainment. They also invite celebrities from India sometimes. During our stay, we attended the felicitation function of the famous writer Yandamuri Veerendranath.
That’s pretty about our visit to Australia. We are leaving to India in about a weeks time. As our itenerary goes through Singapore, we take a short break there to visit Somu Pramila & Lalli papa’s houses. We will be arriving in India on the 5th January 2011. We are looking forward to see you all at Bambi’s wedding without fail.
Before I take leave, I would like to wish you all in advance, A Very Happy New Year 2011. See you soon.
-Best Wishes / Regards,
KSN Murthy
