The Whispering Wall..(100th entry)

Yesterday all of us packed into the car and made about an hour's trip to the Barossa Reservoir to check out The Whispering Wall... It was truly amazing - I was at one end of the dam and Bang Long at the other end. We could really hear each other as clear as if we were standing side by side, MasyAllah! I was actually startled at first when I heard a "hello" that I checked whether there was someone near! For those of you who can't read from the picture below; it says at the bottom: 'The dam has surprising acoustic properties. Sounds at one end of the dam can be heard clearly at the other end. Its curved slender shape and quiet location induces conditions that contribute to the transmission of sound. Straight line sound waves reflect obliquely off the wall as they travel 140 metres to the other end.' Cool....have never seen (or heard) anything like it! The surrounding area is quite picturesque, too..

 

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By the way, this is my 100th entry...pathetic really, if you considered I started blogging about 3 years ago, lol! Anyway, Alhamdulillah I made it this far..  The entries may not be that interesting or inspiring...but by writing about events in my life it preserves the memories and maybe when I'm dead and gone, my grandchildren can still read about their Jedda and her adventures...! .

Eid Carnival!

Last Sunday there was an Eid Carnival at the Islamic College South Australia School (which Kindy Umayr goes to). Bang Long was put in charge of the barbequing and so early Sunday morning off we went (minus Kak Long and Amru) to the school to set up the barbeque sets... It was a very fine day - as hot as Malaysia (temperatures reached 32 degrees, I think). It was a fun day for the kids especially Umayr and Ammar. I had to chase after Ammar all the time as he seemed to have boundless energy (especially when he got near the toy stall - he thought the toys were there FOC..). Here are pics from the day:

School grounds - we were early

School grounds..

The playground

Enterprising Malaysian ladies selling Malaysian food..

Aiskrim Malaysia (they call it ice-blocks over here) selling like hot cakes..

Bang Long and his friend hard at work

A number of BBQ sets to grill lamb chops and sausages..

Another Malaysian stall - the Swinging Bowl (read: Mangkuk Ayun - restaurant near Central Market)

Main attraction - the satay

Ammar loves the satay..

The Messy Eater strikes again!

They even had rides and bouncing thingies..(free of course -  kids only)

Umayr having fun.. (Ammar couldn't muster the courage yet)

He prefers the Bouncing Castle

There he goes..up the ladder

..and down he slides..

Playing with bubbles..(no no..the friend's name is Yaya)

Got his Dad to buy one..

Yeay..! Now I can make my own bubbles..

The older kids have bigger guns (sweet girls...)

Umayr is somewhere out there shooting water from his own gun that Dad had to buy..*sigh*

And this is a picture from the next day..in the backyard..

Hmm..apparently Dad wanted to have fun shooting water as well..(we must have missed giving him one when he was a kid..lol)

Spring is for Roses..

We've visited Adelaide Botanic Garden a couple of times when we came to Adelaide but had never coincided with actual springtime (either very early spring or late summer..) So when the hubby was still here last weekend we went there as I especially wanted to visit the rose garden. I simply love roses!

The Garden covers a large area

There's me among the roses..

The daughter..

The grandsons

Ammar smelling the roses like Jeddah..

Here are some close-ups using my PHD* camera:

They were really marvelous, masyAllah! The rose flower must be one of Allah's creations that brings endless pleasures to mankind subhanAllah.. Wish I could plant them myself but roses like these don't grow very well in hot country like Malaysia. And it takes a lot of effort to make them grow and flower.. I think I'll just enjoy them here..*sigh* Here's a poem about roses:

Roses   by George Eliot

You love the roses - so do I. I wish

The sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be

Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

We also entered the conservatory where we immediately felt very familiar - we were in a rainforest! (not that we live in the jungle back home..lol..but the trees and plants reminded us of hot, humid Malaysian countryside..)

Rainforest theme

Feeling like home..

At certain hours they had the place misted up for rainfall effect - fantastic!

There..raindrops!

Looking for turtles

What makes people want to throw coins in ponds..I wonder? (I wish people would throw coins in our pond back home though..lol)

All these walking makes one thirsty..

We didn't explore the whole garden as it was quite late in the afternoon and Umayr was getting restless and kept saying: "I want go home". So after an AUD5 ice-cream, we went home..
*Press Here Dummy