Harmony Day

Harmony Day began in 1999 and  is intended to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia by promoting a tolerant and culturally diverse society. Managed by Department of Immigration and Citizenship, this celebration held every 21st March coincides with the United Nation International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In 2012, the theme for Harmony Day was Sport - play, engage, inspire and recognise the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation. Many schools, community groups and organisations across Australia hold events in celebration of this day. There's almost no limit to the types of events that you can hold and they don't have to be on the 21st of March.

In Adelaide the celebration took place at Light Square. Activities included singing, food tasting, sports and many other games such as book balancing. It was delightful to see many English Language Service students participating in this event. Here are some of their actions.

Crabbing at Ardrossan

Ardrossan is a small town on the east coast of the Yorke Peninsula, about 150 km (90 mi) from Adelaide, South Australia. Tourism plays a large part in Ardrossan's economy with the town being a popular destination for Adelaide residents on weekends. While it doesn't have an attractive swimming beach, it is a popular location to catch fish, squid and blue crabs which are abundant during the months of September to April each year.

The jetty was constructed in 1876 and completed in 1878. It is 150m long with some benches for sitting while waiting for the crabs to get into the nets.

It was a very exciting experience for Vinh and me as this was the first time we'd been crabbing. Vinh ran up and down the jetty to check the nets every 5 minutes.

The South Australian Crabbing regulations state that anglers must make sure that their crabs measure the legal size of is 11cm across the widest part of the shell. Under sized and females bearing eggs must be put released back into the sea, otherwise there is a maximum fine of $5000. There is also a "bag limit"  of 40 crabs per person from the jetty. 

At the end, we successfully caught 15 crabs, although we had to throw back about 5 times as many that were undersized. At home, David cooked them the Aussie way by boiling them with a bit of salt and then we ate them with a seafood sauce...Yummmm! Next time we go, I will cook some with oyster sauce :)

Can't wait until we go again (which with any luck, will be in 2 weeks time :) )

Pancake Kitchen

Yesterday, David and I met with Shanty and Brendan at the Pancake Kitchen for dinner. It was my first time there, but David and Brendan spent a part of their teenage lives at this Adelaide institution that was establish in 1965. The place was quite nice, it was an old building with a lot of caricatures framed on the walls.

The food was OK, but nothing like David and Brendan remembered.

Well, David and I spent $25 for our meal but we spent $12 for 1 hour and 3 minutes parking. Bloody Hell!...someone's making some money.

We finished the evening (and part of Sunday morning...lol) playing Poker at Brendan and Shanty's place. David is considering opening a branch of Gamblers Anonymous for all of my school mates that he is introducing to the game of Texas Hold'em...we now play it so many of my friends.

Australia Day

The tradition of having Australia Day as a national holiday on 26 January is a recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date. Not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date. On that day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It's the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future.

There are a number of events and ceremonies which have become both a tradition and a symbol of our national day such as Citizenship Ceremonies, Australian Day Breakfast, Parade, Concert and many more other events. This year I volunteered as one of the crew for the Adelaide City Council's Australia Day Parade. Participating in this parade were a lot of communities and organizations. One of them was Indonesian community which won the best costume award. 

 
The parade made it's way from Hindmarsh Square to Elder Park where the Australian Day celebration continued with Ricky Lee Coulter, the Australian Idol winner and Stan Walker in concert followed by a fireworks display. It was here that I met up with David, Vinh and Tri to enjoy the concert together. To my surprise, there's the truck full of shortbread biscuits in the shape of Australia distributed for free. Mind you, there was around 30,000 people there.  

When the Ricky Lee Coultar concert started, Vinh and I went to the front of the stage and together with other audience members, clapped hands, danced and jumped about. I was so tired, but it was so much fun and reminded me of the night out I had in Bali with my UOBI friends.  The fireworks, sponsored by the Commonwealth bank was spectacular. Well, another great night out in my new home. 

Moonlight Cinema

Every summer, the Ford Focus Moonlight Cinema  open air cinema is held in every capital city in Australia. In Adelaide, the cinema screens the latest releases as well as contemporary, cult and classic movies on the lawns of the Botanical Gardens. The summer 2011-2012 season runs from 8 December 2011 to 25 March 2012. It is the perfect time and place to gather with a group of friends and relax with a picnic as the sun sets and the screen lights up.

The ticket prices are as follows: 

Ticket Type	Price*
Adult	$18
Concession	$16
Sen/Child (5-15yrs)	$14
Gold Grass	$33
Eco Adult	$15
Eco Concession	$13
Eco Sen/Child	$11
Eco Gold Grass	$30
Gift Vouchers	$16 (online only)

*$1 booking fee per ticket for online bookings
Moonlight accepts cash and major credit cards 

Eco Tickets apply if we use public transport and purchase the ticket at box office prices with a valid ticket. A Gold Grass ticket includes entry and a reserved bean bed in a premium viewing location on the lawn, but as seating is limited you should book ahead to secure your place. The gold grass tickets are the perfect Christmas or birthday present. 


Last Wednesday, we saw "A few best man" here. Fortunately, the weather was very nice so the park was quite full. A lot of people came early and had a picnic there. The movie  was good, the atmosphere was good and it was a nice evening out. 

Pondok Bali

Since I came to Adelaide, our neighbours Michael and Jody have told me about Pondok Bali, Adelaide's finest Indonesian restaurant which serves some of the most popular dishes from various regions. There were a few times when we have tried arrange to go there for dinner but unfortunately we haven't been able to find a time when we could go. 

Last Saturday, my friend Shanty, also from Indonesia and her husband Brendan arranged for us to have dinner together at Pondok Bali, I was so excited having heard so much about it. It was difficult to choose what we wanted as everything on the menu looked so nice. Finally, we decided that we would each chose a dish that all would share. We had Martabak (panfried pastry with a spicy savoury meat filling) as an entrée, and for main menu, we had Ayam Panggang Bekakak ( char-grilled chicken), Gulai Kambing (Lamb Curry), Ikan Acar Kuning (Tumeric Fish) and Udang Saos Kecap (Soya Prawn). All the food was very delicious but I forgot to take pictures. :(

After dinner, Shanty and Brendan came to our place and we played poker until 12pm. We had a great time and can't wait until we can do it again Shan....^_^

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!