Saturday, December 31, 2011

Festive Season

During the festive season, many communities around Adelaide host family friendly events. Starting with the Credit Union Christmas Pageant .  Almost every week there is a Christmas event in every suburb. As this was my first time celebrating Christmas in Adelaide, I tried to see as much as possible.

A couple weeks after the Credit Union Christmas Pageant, we went to see Salisbury Christmas Parade in our local suburb, however I found it  was no where near as good as the Pageant.  


As a volunteer at Adelaide City Council Library, I was invited to attend the Lord Mayor's Gala Concert with a friend for free!....so I went with David, who had never been to the Town Hall before (He has been here all his life and I've only been here 8 months...lol).

One evening, with some friends from Northern District Card Club, we went to cabaret at the Salisbury Lawn Bowling Club. The group, called Strolling Stones, imitated famous singers like ABBA, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley and many more. We sang along , especially when they sang ABBA songs, and we also danced to a lot. That was a very fun night. 

One of the biggest Christmas event in Adelaide was the Carols by Candlelight, which held every year. I'd been looking forward for this special day for a few months, but unfortunately on that day the weather was not very good. It was raining and very windy. Hope next year it will be better. 

  
On Christmas Day, our neighbours Michael & Jody was very kind enough to invite us to join their family for Christmas Lunch. As this was my first Christmas in Adelaide, it was nice to see how families in Australia celebrate their Christmas. Here people send each other Christmas Cards and buy Christmas presents for their love ones. 


So from my new home here in Australia, I wish all of my friends & family around the world a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Murray River at Murray Bridge


The City of Murray Bridge is located on the mighty Murray River approximately 80 kilometres east of Adelaide. Taking the freeway from Adelaide it takes just 45 minutes to arrive at Murray Bridge, which is an enjoyable drive with great scenery.

The Murray River is indeed a popular tourist attraction within South Australia - with Murray Bridge being the "crown" of the Murray Region, containing many attractions for people of all ages. 
With a great climate, the region hosts more than 1.1 million visitors every year for business and holidays. The Murray River is a picturesque site of houseboats and paddle steamers and happy, relaxed people. Sit back and relax while observing the beauty of this natural wonder.


Last month, we enjoyed a Captain Proud Paddle Boat 3 hour Sunday Champagne Breakfast Cruise. We bought a voucher from CUDO which cost us $39 for two instead of the usual price of $100. As we had to be on board on 9am, we decided we'd stay the night before so we could be up early. 


On arrival each of the passengers were greeted with a glass of champagne or fresh juice before we enjoyed a hearty and fully cooked breakfast (especially made for Cudo customers!), comprised of bacon, eggs, sausages and fried tomato. Afterwards we had a fresh fruit platter that we enjoyed as we admired the spectacular views - and don’t worry about missing anything important either because the Captain provided commentary throughout the cruise!



Last week, we went to Murray River again, this time we were yabbying, fishing for a kind of prawn which lives in fresh water. It was supposed to be good weather, but too bad it was very windy, nevertheless we still enjoyed our trip.

After spending around half an hour looking for the best spot, we found a nice place to sit and set up our gear. David immediately baited the traps, hoping we would catch some yabbies for lunch.



While waiting for the yabbies, we enjoyed the scenery and took some pictures.



We were so excited when we caught our first yabby. Unfortunately we didn't catch a lot. We only got 8 yabbies and 1 very unlucky fish that we were unable to eat (it was an Euorpean Carp, very bony). We were so disappointed, but haven't given up, vowing to come back and try again. ^_^




Sunday, December 18, 2011

Farewell Party

After Studying half a year at ELS - Tafe, besides improving my English, I have also made lot of new friends.  As this is my last term here, the last day became even more special, because it was not only an end of term party, but also a farewell party as we won't be seeing each other so regularly any more. 


Unfortunately, our teacher couldn't come because she had a very bad back pain. We felt very sorry for her but we had a replacement teacher and off course, the show must go on.


We started our day watching a DVD about the Australian Bush. The teacher made some notes about new vocabulary and explained it to us afterwards. 


The DVD finished around lunch time, so we set up the table for all the food that we brought. We had a lot of different kinds food from many countries. As we ate our lunch, we also took a lot of pictures.



We also took our class picture, too bad it was minus our teacher. 


In some western countries around Christmas, some families or offices share in a "Kris Kringle" tradition where everybody buys a present to be exchanged for another. As this term finished around Christmas time, we decided to have a "Kris Kringle" between our class mates. Everybody was so excited while they exchanged their presents. 


We also had prepared a special gift for Marion, our class teacher. But as she was not here, we asked the relief teacher to pass the gift on. Hope she will like it.


After we exchanged our email addresses and phone numbers, one by one our classmates left. Some of us hung around until the final moments, promising to keep in touch and have lunch together sometime. Yes, our time together as students maybe over, but some of us have really made lasting friendships here.  


Merry Christmas everyone and I hope we will have a bright New Year.