Australia Travelogue - Day 13 Day 14 and Day 15

 Day 13 - Ride to Mount Kiera & Kiama Blowhole Point🚗🚗🗻🗻🌄

After the tiering marriage and reception ceremony, everyone took a day off the next day, rather it was more so a family meet-up affair the next day and hence there was less action. We were to plan the next 15 days that were remaining of our visit. The last 5 days were reserved for Melbourne, hence we knew that the next 10 days we have to plan to places we want to visit. So on 1st April 2019, we decided to go for short drive to Mount Kiera and Kiama Blowhole Point. It was a Monday and we expected less rush on the motorway.

Mount Kiera is a 70km drive from Glenfield where we were staying. We bunched up in 2 separate cars, one driven by my uncle and the other by his friend. We started our journey from home at 1pm post lunch. We were also to visit the Chinese temple on the way, but first we were to visit Mount Kiera lookout. We reached there by 2.30pm, as it took us good 90mins to travel to the location. We travelled along the scenic M31 motorway. From the lookout we could clear Port Kembla.

Port Kembla from Mount Kiera

The lookout was very green and with lots of trees around and showcased an awesome view. We were informed by few locals that the Chinese temple would be closed today as it was a Monday. We thanked the locals for the information and decided to go directly to the blowout point.

From Mount Kiera we had 2 options, either take the B65 motor way which takes us from the city near Kembla or carry on our way via the M1 motor way. We decided to stick with the M1 motor way and continue towards the Kiama blowhole point.

We reached home by by 7pm and had to run to a family dinner. This was given by the elder brother of the aunt as they were to fly to New Zealand the next day for their further family travel. At a Thai Restaurant, I ordered the Roast Duck Curry Noodles while my wife ordered Red Curry King Prawns Noddle's. The food was tasty and we called it a day as the next day my uncle had to drop aunts family at the Airport for their travel to New Zealand. Our next visit on 2nd April was to the Taronga Zoo Downtown Sydney.

 

Day 14 - Raronga Zoo Sydney🐘🐪🐵🐴🐂🦘🦘🐊

We were up early and ready by 10am the next day to travel to Taronga Zoo. We took the metro to get off at the Town Hall and then walk towards the Sydney Ferries at Circular Quay. From there we boarded the ferry towards Taronga Zoo.

As we sailed away from Circular Quay, we got to see the Cruise Ship called Carnival Legend. This was the same organization in which my brother-in-law was working for and was amused to see his office docked at Sydney.

As we were sailing towards the zoo we got to see the Sydney Harbor Bridge also called as the Hanger in Australian terms and the the legendary Sydney Opera House. It was a beautiful and picturesque view of both the marvelous structures.

 Post a sailing time of 30 mins, we were at the Taronga Zoo, we got down and had to walk for 5 mins towards the gate of the Zoo, we paid the necessary fees for entries and off we went via the ropeway towards the main gate of the Zoo. In between I saw a Puneri Paati mentioned in one of the cafes.

Puneri Pati in Taronga Zoo

As soon as we were off the ropeway, we entered the zoo post checking in our hand bands. The first site of the Australian animal was the Kangaroo. They were lazing around in their paddock.

Then we came across the Emu, along with the Southern Cassowary considered one of the dangerous birds to have a deadly pointed nail in its leg.

Post this, it was the time of the Giraffe, and the ranger explained to us the various attributes of the animal while feeding it some carrots.

Post that it was time for aquatic animals and mammals. It was the seal show that we were able to witness and post that we got a chance to see the Kuala's.

We spent around 4 hours at the zoo going through various paddocks of animals and finally started our return journey towards home. It was a tiring day for all as we had to walk a lot. Clicked some pics of the Hanger and the Opera House while on the ferry.

It was a fulfilling day and since everyone was tiered we called it a day. Today we got to travel via 2 means of transport which were not part of our life back in India. It was the metro and then the ferry service. We enjoyed this day a lot. Up next in our tour of Australia was the famous beach of Bondi.

Day 15 - Bondi Beach Walk🏖🏊🏄⛅

It was Day 15, half a month of my travel and leaves were already over and we still lot of places to visit and see for ourselves. This day was reserved for travel to Bondi Beach. Uncles friend was happy to join us during this visit. So again it was time to travel via the metro and then the bus to the Bondi Beach. When I was a teenager there used to be a series on Discovery Channel which was called as the Bondi Rescue, I got to witness the same beach today.

I had no plans to take a dip in the water but few of my family wanted to take a dip and so I obliged to take care of their belongings so that they can enjoy the sea. I sat along uncles friend and chit chatted about life and how are things back in India.

We spent the entire day there and in the evening after having some fish and chips at the beach returned home.

It was a wonderful day and tomo it was time to visit the Chinese Temple. Since my family were going to return early to India, we planned this visit to the Chinese temple the next day. See you in the next one.

Australia Travelogue - Day 1 Day 2 and Day 3

 Australia Travel Diary

Day 1

Visit to Uncle's Friend Place and Eating Out 🚘🎧🏡

This was the first day in Australia and due to jetlag, we woke a little late, you can in the afternoon. That day in late afternoon, uncle's long time friend who had seem me grow from a young age came to visit us and take us to his place. When he greeted us, he said finally junior has come to Australia for a visit. My parents visited Australia twice before and this was their 3rd time. Post our late brunch we were off to his place. In Australia its mandatory for all to wear seat belts whether seated in the front or the back seat. It was a tough time for 3 people seating at the back to find belts and then hold on to them to lock them in place.

Family and Me

We reached his place in about 30 mins from Glenfield to Macquarie Fields. His spouse was yet to arrive from work and he had taken a break from work for a few days. Uncles friend started showcasing his Japanese styled house till the time his spouse arrived. Post some snacks and tea we were to travel to Campbelltown. 

Dad and Wifey playing a game of table tennis

We played table tennis for some time and then were off to Campbelltown for some last moment shopping for my niece. So off we went to Campbelltown city center mall. While leaving we were greeted by the sight of Cockatoo Birds (kind of parrot). This was our first instance of a close encounter with Australian wildlife. We clicked a few pics and zoomed our way.

Pair of Cockatoo

Family at the Campbelltown Shopping Mall

It had started drizzling by the time we had reached the mall and after window shopping for a while, my niece got the dress for the event that followed the next evening. We were told that the Campbelltown area now a day had a Middle-east influence as people from regions like Turkey, Morocco and few other middle-eastern countries had settled in the area.

Post the shopping it was already around 8pm in Australia and we were quite a distance away from home. So my uncle asked all of us if it would be fine to eat outside in an Indian restaurant which was on the way back to home. We all agreed in unison. Uncle also said he will discuss the plan for the upcoming family events.

As I finished my dinner a little early, my niece and me sat on a nearby table in the restaurant close to the road and played a game of counting cars passing.

Niece and me playing the car counting game till others finished

Post dinner, we took a group pic and then travelled back home. This you can say was the official Day 1 spent in Australia.

My family and me closing our Day 1 with a group pic

Day 2

Hanging around the place 

We were late to wake-up again and hence did not have much time to plan any activity as such, household choirs were going on for our traditional Hindu Pooja then next day. So we ventured out to stroll to the nearby Metro station and walk around a bit lazily. We were strolling near by the Glenfield Metro station.

Roaming Around Glenfield Metro Station

The evening that day was very pleasant and it started drizzling by the time we reached home. March is a month when winter and sudden rain visits Australia, so when we travelled from India, we travelled from a Spring Summer weather and found the weather in Australia very pleasant. Captured the beautiful mood for the evening with the various shades of the sky.

Sunkissed and rainbow at the same time with slow drizzle

Late in the evening few of my uncle's friends came to visit the family that arrived from India. We had couple rounds of bear and talked about how the family and friends in Australia were awaiting our visit. Had dinner with the folks visiting and then closed our day.

Uncle's friend came visiting

Trying a beer which is famous in Australia

Day 3

 
Family function at home 🏠🙌🎬🎇🛕

The wedding and ring ceremony were couple of days away and if of our activities were planned. Today we had a traditional pre-wedding ceremony at home. This was related to addressing our native Hindu gods and taking their blessings for the forth coming ceremonies.

Beginning the ceremony

We had a Hindu head priest come visit and guided the entire family in terms of all the necessary sacred rituals.

Placement of all the sacred rituals as per Hindu Tradition

The priest read out the text from our Hindu religious book and also explained the meaning of what is being read out.

Praying and performing the traditional rituals

Other family members joining in the prayers

Traditional Ritual and Pooja Set-up

Uncle and Aunty in prayers

Traditional Thread for the ritual

Priest Reading Shlokas

Post the ritual, we had to also take the blessing around the house.

Post ritual activity

The ritual was over after this activity and then we had some family time clicking pics with the bride to be.

My bride to be Sis with her Papa and Uncle

Family pic time

Ladies pic

My Sis, the bride to be

Three Generations in one pic

Sis with her maternal family

The Cousin Gang

Post completing the photo session, we lay low for that day as we had nothing much planned for the rest of the day.

Australia Travelogue - Travel Day 1

Australia Travel Diary

March 2019 - Its time to fly

It was time for us to fly to a new continent "Australia". This was our first trip to another country and boy did we choose a continent. The reason for the travel was my cousins wedding. Post the wedding, we had plans to visit various other cities in Australia namely Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The start to the trip was not that straight forward as it looked. Let me take you back in time to explain how we started.

Leaves📝📝📚📚💻💻💸💸

I had saved enough leaves to enjoy the trip rather than worry about returning quickly for work. I applied for 21 days leave which were available in my leave balance. Leaves were approved after lot of deliberation and also the fact that in my office team, I was the only one who had not gone out of country. My wife too had to go through the same process of justification for leaves. At last, both got the leaves approved. That is the first hurdle we crossed.

Visas & Ticket booking🎫🎫🚩🌏🌏

It wasn't just me and my wife who were travelling but the entire family of aunt, parents, cousin, brother-in-law and niece. My niece was the youngest of the family bunch. For visa's we needed invitation letters from my uncle. These letter had to be addressed to individual families. We had to do a lot of to and fro on the letters content. As soon as the letters were addressed and submitted, we applied for visa's and booked tickets simultaneously. Tickets if booked in advance are a little cheaper. My brother-in-law had to apply for his visa later than all of us as he worked on cruise ship. This scenario kept the entire families (Indian and Australian) on tender hooks as he applied with less than a month left for the travel. In the meanwhile we began with shopping for the wedding.

Shopping🎁👕👗🎀

We were travelling to a foreign land for the first time. We were on a budget as well, hence our shopping had to be in-expensive yet trendy. Our family abroad had given us the dress code for the wedding and other programs and we had to shop accordingly in order to match the wear for the wedding. We shopped for the clothes and dresses in our local areas and shops. These kept our shopping budgets within limits. We travelled between Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad for our shopping. My brother-in-law and me shopped for the suits on the last night before the travel day with the trousers stitched and delivered to us on the afternoon of the travel day.

Nervous travel day🚖⚡⛽🛫🛫

Suitcases packed, waiting for the airport drop car to arrive, we woke up on travel day with urgency. Since we were to leave for about a month, we had to clean and shut the refrigerator for good. Finish any edible food and throw out perishable items, pay off the home maid and clean the house and leave no taps open. I called my sister to check on their visas but to my astonishment, their visas were yet to arrive. My aunt had received her visa. She was worried and disappointed that they may have to postpone their travel by hopefully another week. After having a call with her I called our airport travel cab and cancelled the second car we had booked. An hour passed and my sister called me again and she ecstatic that they had received the visas and will be travelling, I broke the news to her that I had cancelled the second car and now they were in soup to get a travel car in less than an hour left to travel to the airport. I told her that she need not worry about the travel docs as I had taken prints for them. Our travel car arrived and we left on time at around 1300hrs, some 1.30hrs ahead of the other family. We had to travel around 130kms to Mumbai for our flight to Australia. With travel unpredictable with traffic on roads and the car conditions we left a good 9hrs ahead of the flight time. In India it is advised to reach the airport 5hrs before the actual departure of the flight. Halfway to the airport I enquired with by sister on where they had reached and she told me that they had just left town towards the airport. We reached Mumbai at around 5pm and were caught in rush hour traffic with people returning to their homes. I was in constant touch with my sister and was guiding her which way she can take to avoid traffic. Finally at around 18.30hrs on the 19th of March, my family reached the Mumbai airport, we paid off the driver and waited for my sisters family to arrive.

Airport fun before we flew🛫🛫🌆🌆🌆

My family waited for about an hour and then my sister arrived all huffing and puffing as they had to run around a lot and go through a emotional roller-coaster with the visa situation.😇😢💪Finally the entire family was at one place and with one destination in mind, Sydney, Australia where we were to reach the next day after a 14hr flight with a stop over at Hong Kong for more than 3 hrs. We all checked and in and went through the security check. I bumped into a cricket superstar from Afghanistan - Rahmat Shah Zurmatai. No one recognized him even though cricket being a religion in India, but I did recognize him at the airport. Congratulated him on Afghanistan's latest test win against Ireland and requested for a picture. He was travelling to Kabul to be with his family. Afghanistan play most of their cricket in India in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh as their country doesn't have the cricket infrastructure yet. We reached the boarding gate and then stopped for a cup of coffee, some milk and food for my niece. We called our uncle in Australia and informed him that we were about to board the plane and will be next speaking to him from Hong Kong.

Selfie with Rahmat Shah Zurmatai - Afghan Cricket Player

Stopover at Hong Kong🛬🛬🛄🛄🏮

We took-off from Mumbai on 18th March 2019 at 0100 hrs in late night and landed in Hong Kong for our stop-over at 0630hrs next day. Hong Kong is 2.30hrs ahead of India, hence it was like waking up in the middle of the night and alighting to catch the next flight. We travelled by Cathay Pacific both ways and found it a good and comfortable flight. After our security checks we then went to our boarding gate and had our some morning snacks. Meanwhile clicked some pics at the Airport.

At Hong Kong Airport after alighting

Early Morning at Hong Kong Airport

There is a snake in my boot at the Hong Kong Airport

To Infinity and Beyond

I had tried to fill in all travel information on the Cathay Pacific site but there was some information missing about my wife and the Cathay Pacific staff was searching for her desperately and wanted her passport, this made the family a little bemused as to what was happening, but everything was normal as they just wanted her passport details. After having tea and coffee and some basic snacks we boarded the next flight to Sydney Australia, we took off at around 1030hrs in the morning and were to reach Sydney Airport at 1930hrs. This is the longest part of the journey so spent my time watching movies and reading and having all the food provided by the Cathay staff. Clicked some pics while in the air while approaching Australia.

Selfie with family on our way to Sydney

Entering Australian Mainland off the coast of Darwin I guess

Unique Cloud Formation

Unique view of clouds and mainland Australia

Arrival at Sydney🛬🛬🛄🛄🌏🌏

We landed in Sydney and hour earlier than scheduled at 1930hrs. As soon as we landed and connected to the airport Wifi, called my uncle that we have landed an hour earlier. They were in the parking area when we landed, so we didn't have to wait for long. After all the necessary security checks we had finally arrived in Sydney Australia. We arrived on the day of Holi which is celebrated in India with colours and bonfire.

Family Selfie @ Sydney Airport

We reached uncle's place after travelling for another 40 mins to Glenfield, Sydney Suburb. After freshening up we lit the Holi bonfire, had dinner and then rested as it was already passed midnight.

Selfie with family at the Holi bonfire in Sydney

So after travelling for 14hrs straight we finally were 6hrs ahead of time we would have spent in India. There were some great celebration and travels to come ahead. See you in the next one.