The Road Not Taken

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sydney Road

Another scorching day in Melbourne...I might as well have stayed in Malaysia! Not really, we actually try to avoid the really cold weather when travelling because it's...well, very cold weather would only make me want to stay cocooned inside a sleeping bag forever..lol! Unfortunately these last few days were really hot and sweaty (well, Alhamdulillah I shouldn't be complaining 'cos you can't have your cake and eat it..*sigh*). Anyway, I haven't been going out much since Bang Ngah is almost always out at work and the only excuse for me to go out is to buy groceries. Shopping for groceries is very convenient at where we're staying. Sydney Road is just around the corner and certainly not easy to lose your way. It's only a long, long stretch of road, very busy most of the times, and noisy too, sometimes into the night where I have to endure it through my open windows (have to leave them open for some much needed cooling breeze..) It's really convenient because you can get your halal meat at any of the numerous halal shops along the road. In fact there are quite a lot of Muslim-owned and halal eating places apart from other kinds of shops that they own. If you're a Muslim, you certainly won't go hungry around this area.. Sometimes you'd almost feel you're walking along a street in some middle-east country, seriously! Some pics taken on my excursions:

See what I mean..

Trams running through the street as most streets in Melbourne

Even the customers are hijabies..

This reminds me of shops in Cairo

There's even a shop selling these - at prices I don't want to mention (when compared to how cheap you can get them back home..)

Halal meat - haven't the courage to buy those kinds yet..

The grocery shop I frequent - Muslim-owned

Vegetable heaven

Love these button mushrooms - wouldn't ever find this kind in Kuala Terengganu.. so I would always buy them!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Swimming with Joy

The day before, I contacted and visited a friend, Joy who is doing her PhD at La Trobe University. And yesterday, she took me to the Reservoir Leisure Centre where Sundays 6-8 pm are ladies hours; only women allowed in the Centre. Not only do they have heated pools, there are also a jacuzzi and 2 saunas! Well, I don't swim actually, just splashing around in the pool and of course relaxing in the jacuzzi and frying myself in the sauna! The place was mostly filled with Muslimahs; Middle-Easts, Parkistanis, Malaysians (only 4 of us then - met up with Niza and Wani there). We are allowed to go in the pool in whatever clothing we like. Joy said once, some ladies even jumped in their abayas and nobody gave a hoot. (fortunately nobody did that while we were there, or I would have taken some pictures...just kidding - no pics allowed!) A far cry from most swimming pools in Malaysia (a Muslim country, mind) where one is not allowed to go in without swim-wear.. (or rarely do we find an establishment that caters the needs of Muslim women like this one which is in a non-Muslim country...sigh..). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures taken (in dry clothes, ok..)

In front of Leisure Centre before going home

From left: Joy, Niza and Wani - PhD students in Melbourne

Thanks Joy, for a wonderful time! Enjoyed myself tremendously!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Graduation Day!

Yesterday was graduation day for RMIT students and our second son, Hamzah was one of them. This was the main reason that I came to Melbourne, actually. He majored in Finance and Economics and after three years, there he was, Alhamdulillah, graduating at last! The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology almost 6,000 graduands started their day with a parade through the streets of Melbourne along with their families and friends and in the evening they attended the actual graduating ceremony.

Getting ready at start of the parade

Trying to figure out how to put on the hood..

A little help from a friend (photographer and housemate, Irfan)

The Parade

A lot of Chinese, Vietnamese and Asian students..

Walking along the street..the weather was good, Alhamdulillah!

Met up with Norlin's family (we went sightseeing together a post ago)

Picture taken with some friends

Hamzah with Norlin and another graduating friend

Well, in the evening we congregated at a stadium, where all of the graduating students from various schools were receiving their scrolls AT THE SAME TIME! Universities in Malaysia (and other universities in Melbourne, too actually) take days to cover their graduation ceremonies. How they did it? Divide the stadium to accommodate 13 mini stages where a big screen on each stage will show up the names of every graduating students as the go on the stage to receive their scrolls. Of course for the PhDs graduands, their names were called out as they went on stage before the other students' turn. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch a photo of Hamzah as he went on stage...

I was seated above the stage where Hamzah would be receiving his scrolls

This guy was going through the boring bit by playing a game on his cell-phone..(I would have done the same if my phone hadn't run out of batteries!)

The graduands lining up to go on the stage one by one..

I think this is the reason why they decided not to call out students' name..lol

Excited parents..

Another thrilled and enthusiastic family members

Where it all happened..

Well, a rather tiring day for everyone, I bet... Anyway, congratulations Hamzah! A different life awaits you now and let's pray that whatever you intend to do you always do it to gain the Blessings of Allah in this Life and the Hereafter...Amin. Love you Bang Ngah!

Monday, December 12, 2011

A Day Out

For nearly the whole day today I went for a trip to a couple of interesting places near Melbourne. A friend of Bang Ngah, Norlin, has her mom, an aunt with her two children to take on a tour, so I tagged along. The son's housemate, Irfan drove us around. First stop: Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. Yess! Strawberry-picking time! $8 entrance fee and you get 500gm of strawberries that you've picked (you must make sure you can close the lid or you'll have to pay for the extra fruit..)

That's me before I stepped on some muck on the far side..yuck!

Yummy... that which couldn't fit in the punnet popped into the mouth!

Next stop: Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Garden. $17.50 entrance fee and all the pictures you can take! The roses were simply amazing... just look at them:

Hydrangeas...truly beautiful!

The Lavender Garden. Pinched a tiny head and it smelled..hmm..lavendry... (Norlin said it smelled like toilet.. only because some air fresheners for toilets have lavender scent.. lol!)

Norlin's little cousins having their picture taken..aren't they adorable?

Our next destination was the Cape Schanck Lighthouse. Unfortunately there was a 30 minute wait before the next tour so we skipped it and just took pictures from outside..

Looking out to the blue, blue ocean..fantastic view!

Part of the lighthouse

Before heading 'home', stopped at the beach in Sorrento, watching boats while having some snacks..

Luckily it's summer so the day is long and by the time we reached Malaysia Hall where the others were staying, we still had time to do our zuhr and asr prayers.. A pleasant and enjoyable day indeed! (Wish the hubby is here, though...)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

A Trip to Hidden Valley

Today, we (the son, his friend and I) went on an hour's journey to visit a Malay couple who lives outside Melbourne at the Hidden Valley. Hamzah has a tour-guide business and the couple wants their home to be listed as a Homestay for visiting tourists from Malaysia. The mission was to take pictures of the house and add to the son's business website (which is in the process of building). We spent about 4 hours there, having been invited to lunch as well. (that's Malaysian hospitality for you..) I took some pictures too using my PHD* camera (Hamzah's friend has a more expensive camera of course). Here are pictures of their lovely home. So for anyone out there who is interested to spend your holiday in Melbourne Homestay-style... do contact me: ummuumar@rocketmail.com (since they do not have an official website yet). Hmm... I might just demand a commission for the service...