Aggie blogged about the significance of Waitangi Day:
Today is a public holiday throughout New Zealand. It commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 which is considered to be our country's founding document.
Signed between the Maori chiefs (natives) and the representatives of the British Crown allowing British/European settlement here.
As far as the document is concerned it is a matter of our history. The Spirit of the Treaty is sometimes controversial amongst New Zealanders in the understanding of what it was meant to represent. Those cultural differences in understanding are still being worked out here, and sometimes the tension between the two mars the formal celebrations of the day.
Kate at Fossage has a beautiful post on her blog about what Waitangi Day means to her:
I am here, in my case because one of my ancestors threw an ink well at his father and was sent to New Zealand (or so the story goes). I feel like I owe it to Aotearoa to tread more lightly, with compassion, peace and understanding for the environment and the peoples of this land - indigenous or not. My ancestors did not fully comprehend what lay behind their passage here; the cost of their being here. Some of my generation sees this a little more clearly; rights of first peoples' being abused, land being altered and sometimes desecrated and a new way of being being imposed. I hope that tomorrow I can consciously tread lightly and honour this place.
Tiny Happy took inspiration from Kate's post (above) and also blogged about her thoughts on Waitangi Day:
After reading Kate's beautiful post yesterday, I thought about what Waitangi Day means to me. And imagined I was celebrating at Waitangi itself, rather than in Nelson, where I must say, it's easy to forget we live in a multi-cultural country. I visited Waitangi for the first time over a year ago, and fell in love with the feel of the place, and the expansive grass field in front of the meeting house which stretches right out to the sea and could be the end of the world.
I think to me, the day is about remembering the past of our land, feeling connected to and part of the land we're living on, and looking towards a hopeful future here in this country. One where all people are welcome, and can take refuge in our communities. And one where we can learn to walk more lightly on the earth itself. I think we have a long way to go, but there's so much hope there.
Caroline at Bibliocook lives in Ireland with her Kiwi boyfriend, and blogs about sending him off to work with suitable celebratory food for Waitangi Day:
Although we may be back in Ireland, today we are celebrating Waitangi Day, a national holiday in New Zealand, with that ubiquitous Kiwi desert - the pavlova. After bemoaning the lack of pavlovas in Irish supermarkets, the Boyfriend went off to work this morning laden with boxes of meringue nests, tubs of cream, my hand whisk and a nice pink bowl to assemble a selection of impromptu pavs for his workmates.
Bron celebrates Waitangi Day with a "uniquely Kiwi dessert". She has some amazing photos of pavlovas and a recipe, as well as a staunch defence of the claim that pavlovas are a New Zealand national dessert, and not an Aussie creation as it is usually attributed (I, of course, vigorously disagree with her, which I guess you would expect since I am an Aussie!):
There ain’t one thing “true blue†or “Aussie†about this dessert… it’s all KIWI! Plainly put, the Pavlova ‘debate’ has always been the bigger guy on the left (Aus) thinking he can steal our, the little guy’s (NZ) lunch. Now come on, how pathetic is that, really?!
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>I love a sunburnt country,
a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
of droughts and flooding rains.
This quote is the start of one verse of My Country, by Dorothy McKellar - a poem that I (and a number of my friends of the same age as me) had to memorise in Grade 3 or 4. The issue of droughts and floods in Australia is just as prevalent now as it was when MacKellar wrote her poem, with most Australians obsessing over not enough rain or too much rain, depending on where they live.
]]>I love a sunburnt country,
a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
of droughts and flooding rains.
This quote is the start of one verse of My Country, by Dorothy McKellar - a poem that I (and a number of my friends of the same age as me) had to memorise in Grade 3 or 4. The issue of droughts and floods in Australia is just as prevalent now as it was when MacKellar wrote her poem, with most Australians obsessing over not enough rain or too much rain, depending on where they live.
Melody in Cairns blogs about the recent rain in Far North Queensland which has caused serious flooding:
It has been raining here non-stop since this time yesterday. I'm not exaggerating either. It's true. Non-stop rain.
The Burdekin Dam, the largest water reserve in Queensland, which is in this corner of the country, is over flowing with over 1.86 million mega liters. Whilst most of Australia is on strict water restrictions and suffering from the worst drought on record, here in North Queensland we have had sooooo much rain over the past week, it doesn't seem fair.
Last year, Tropical Cylcone Larry destroyed the entire banana crop in Far North Queensland ,which meant that the price of bananas for the last year has been obscene (about $A15 per kilogram, which is about $US5.50 a pound). Finally, the price of bananas was back to normal ($A1.89 a kilogram) but reports on the news today indicate that farmers aren't able to get their crop to market due to the flood, so supply and demand will once again cause prices to skyrocket. Hard to believe that bananas can be considered a luxury item...
Beerli blogs about the recent flooding in South Australia:
Australia can be a land of extremes and surprises. If the photo of the two little boys splashing in the red, torrential Todd River has gone around the wrold, people will wonder what on earth is the matter with us. The are places where it doesn't rain for years and then when the rains come everyone and everything is so relieved and joyous. Some kids grow up and don't see rain and then it rains and the water is so magical no matter how much red earth is in it. It can be as it has been here...so dry, so dusty, so relentless and then the rains come and everyone is chirping. The birds get so excited. The domestic pets are so confused. The spiders are out, the snakes are away hiding and it's ...Australia. The drought, the fires and then the huge, humungous rains and you go from one extreme to the other.
Lucky-1has some photos of flooding at a farm where her sister lives.
And on the other end of the spectrum, we have the drought that is gripping large parts of Australia - every night during the weather section on the TV news, dam levels are reported with the percentage full level creeping ominously lower.
Sarah recently blogged about the worsening drought and feeding livestock:
...I engineered Take 2 of the mission to obtain feed for starving animals.
We finally met up in Windsor at around lunchtime on a day which may well be amongst the hottest for this summer. I had another trailer load of drought feed pellets and by the time we got to the farm the thermometer on the balcony said it was 42C. And frankly, it was cooler under the shade of the balcony than out in the paddock where we spent an hour shackling chains together in order to drag a cow out of the dam.
The water is so low now that it has exposed the clay...clay which is essential to making sure that a dam can hold water, but is a death trap when the water level drops low enough to expose it. It seems that some time between when I left on Wednesday and yesterday morning, she walked around to this section of exposed clay, got stuck in it, fell forward and drowned. No. It wasn't pretty. Nor was it an easy job pulling her 500kg body out of the glug.
Australia is a country of extremes, and to see some parts of the country deluged with rain whilst other parts are still bone dry can be heart breaking.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>Nikita Kashner is a 22 year old from Perth in Western Australia, who blogs about her life - her posts usually make me laugh, like this one about Kim Beazley, former leader of the federal Opposition.
]]>Nikita Kashner is a 22 year old from Perth in Western Australia, who blogs about her life - her posts usually make me laugh, like this one about Kim Beazley, former leader of the federal Opposition.
The Breakfast Blog is a blog "in search of the best eggs in town" (where that town is Melbourne) - it has some great photos and lots of fantastic recommendations which I intend to consult next time I visit Melbourne.
Tokyo Girl Down Under is written by a British woman, who has lived in Germany, Japan and now Sydney, and contains lots of quirky and interesting observations about her life.
Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and good luck!
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>Here's a wrap up of Australia Day from the blogosphere:
]]>Here's a wrap up of Australia Day from the blogosphere:
Sarah Cooks has some fantastic photos on her blog (and a rather delicious sounding post!) on the pavlovas she made in honour of Australia day:
If you are in the habit of making custards and ice-creams, it is inevitable that you will amass a great deal of egg-whites. I didn't realise quite how many egg whites I'd collected over the past year, all neatly glad-bagged and stashed in random locations around our freezer, until my mother and I cleaned it out a few weeks ago.
Ahem. This weekend, being the Australia Day weekend, presented me with a good opportunity to work my way through these egg whites. I volunteered to make a couple of pavlovas for my friend Jordy's barbecue on Sunday, a gooseberry ice-cream meringue stack, and some mini-pavlovas for my family to eat on Australia Day itself (Friday).
J celebrates Australia Day in Canada:
well here we are. It’s Australia day and we’re still in Canada. Where are all the aussie pubs in edmonton? i for one can’t find them. so we went to the next best thing, the outback steakhouse. it took me 4 buses there. count them. 4. it’s on the main road south and is poorly serviced by buses. when we got there, there was no mention of australia day! what a farce!
Vic posts about her Australia Day, including what she missed out on:
I missed out on playing goon of fortune. That's my regret for the day. A friend only recently told me about this game, and that they play it for Australia Day. What it is: a goon bag (the sack thing out of a cheap cask of wine) on a hill's hoist (rotary clothesline). Everyone stands around it and then you spin the clothesline. Whoever it lands on drinks. Beats the hell out of swinging from the clothesline.
Claire at Kiddley (Everyday Ideas for You and Your Kids) has some great ideas on how to celebrate Australia Day with your kids.
I love this next blog, which is written by a dog, Texas, who had a pretty busy Australia Day for a dog!
Australia Day started like this. My hoomans and I slept until about midday (this is really pretty weird because my Dad is usually up at about 8am on the weekends and Mum soon follows. Dad did get up but then went back to bed). The hoomans said that we all probably needed the sleep.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules, and was too busy playing backyard cricket to blog this on Australia Day.
]]>The Herald Sun covered the announcement of the ban and reaction from several politicians:
THE Australian flag has been banned from this year's Big Day Out in Sydney after organisers branded it a "gang colour" and symbol of hate.
Organisers of the Aussie rock festival at Homebush will confiscate any flag or bandana bearing the national symbol at the gate.
Labelling Sydney a hot bed of racism, producers of the Sydney Showground event said it will be the only city in the nationwide event to be subject to the draconian action.
Promoters have already moved the event from the traditional Australia Day gig to a day earlier to avoid nationalistic overtones.
Spooked by last year's event, which came only weeks after the Cronulla riots, organisers will outlaw flags being brandished as a "gang colour".
Prime Minister John Howard said the Big Day Out should be cancelled unless organisers reversed their decision to ban the flag. Big Day Out patrons were intimidated and harassed at the Sydney event on Australia Day 2006 by bigoted fans brandishing flags and demanding people pledge their allegiance.
Event producer Ken West said the use of flags last year after the Cronulla riots and recent clashes between Serb and Croatian fans at the Australian Open tennis had forced his hand.
"I didn't like the behaviour of last year and we have moved the event from Australia Day this year partly because of the way the flags were used," Mr West said.
"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours. It was racism disguised as patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it.
"I am telling people not to bring flags - they are free to get them out at midnight on their way home when it is Australia Day."
The issue has been all over the blogosphere, with a lot of different opinions expressed over the banning.
Minotaur blogs about how the flag has been misused and misappropriated:
What a ridiculous, shrill, misinformed and ideological furore has broken out regarding the decision by organisers of the Big Day Out music festival to discourage the wearing of the Australian flag at their events. The only voice of reason amongst all others, scurrying for their safe positions and their Political-Correctness-Gone-Mads, has been the Democrats who, quite rightly, point out that those who really do care about the flag should be most upset about the fact that wearing it can now be interpreted as a potential act of racism or ultra-nationalism - `gang colours', as it was described by BDO organiser Ken West.
Bronwen, who is a former journalist and founder of PerthNorg (described as "a news site with a twist - you are in control. By becoming a Cit J you can link, write, record or take a photograph of the stories that matter to you"), blogged about the flag/race issue:
Admittedly dragging the flag into the race debate was probably not a wise move by Mr West. Saying it was used as gang colours was not so choice either from a PR perspective, but I think it has a ring of truth about it.
Racism in Australia is a legitimate issue however and the problem is not the flag, but people’s own prejudices – on all sides of the fence.
The real story here is that a major Australian event feels they have to take unprecedented measures to diffuse racial tension that could lead to violence...
Original Mel displayed the kind of apathetic attitude that most Aussies feel about the flag:
I was going to write a big rant about how people should stop blaming Big Day Out rganisers from "discouraging" the Australian flag this Thursday and instead look at the real problem - pissed, allegedly patriotic bogans, but I can't be arsed.
In fact, I can't be arsed with anything at the moment.
Shannon at Aurillia suggests redesigning the Australian flag:
The best thing that could come out of this flag issue is to, finally, redesign the bloody thing! It's out-dated and kinda ugly. More to the point, it no longer represents Australians. For a country that prides itself on its multi-culturalism (though, as in Canada and elsewhere, this is fraying at the edges), the flag represents British colonialism and someone else's identity. There's nothing particularly Australian about our flag. It's crappy, go on, admit it. I admire flags like Brazil's, Canada's, South Korea's, Palestine's - there are some lovely, unique flags out there.
Most Aussies aren't flag waving patriots, and I really struggle to remember the last time I saw the Australian flag in public when it hasn't been used on a Government building or at a sporting match.
I'm in two minds about this controversy. On the one hand, I'm angry that the Australian flag has been hijacked by racists, but I'm also glad that this controversy has occurred, since it is making Australians think about what our flag, the symbol of Australia, actually means to them.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>So, in the spirit of summer, here are some of the female bloggers of Oz who have been hitting the road and blogging about it:
]]>So, in the spirit of summer, here are some of the female bloggers of Oz who have been hitting the road and blogging about it:
Jula Berry blogged her recent road trip (the joy of Wifi!), and was particularly unimpressed by road trip food:
My wrap was soggy (as it had obviously been made last night with the leftover salad), fell apart and had an overload of grated cheese that tasted like armpit. Oh. And the chicken was limited to little fatty, wibbly bits.
Did I mention it cost me $7? It literally IS highway fucking robbery.
I didn't even eat half before I cracked the shits (Australian colloquial expression for throwing a tantrum) and threw it in the bin in a fit of disgust.
Claire has some fantastic photos on her blog from a recent road trip to the Blue Mountains.
Dana reminisces about a road trip she took from Melbourne in 2000:
Ahhh... was scanning all my pics, and came across the pics of my first Great Ocean Road trip. I still remember it was the first time we rented car to drive on our own, and feeling all trembling yet exciting. Furthermore, the whole distance of the trip was more than 700km!
And Alice has some incredible photos on her blog from a road trip through Gundagai she did recently, which show how bad the drought has been in Australia.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>On the one hand is the interesting, challenging job, located overseas in an environment that could be called "difficult" or, if one was to be optimistic, "an adventure". The job excites me and I can see how it would lead on to other things in the future. The location? Eh. I could live with it for a few years.
And on the other hand is what I have been referring to as The Lifestyle Choice, which involves moving to Melbourne and temping or taking short term contracts until I find a long term contract or full-time job. None of the jobs excite me - they would be a means to an end, ie funding a fabulous lifestyle which involves drinking lattes on Chapel Street, shopping, and curling up with a glass of wine on a big, comfy sofa with friends in a hidden-down-the-alleyway bar that Melbourne is reknown for.
I've been trying to work out if I am the kind of person who can live for the lifestyle alone, and have yet to come to any satisfactory conclusion. Going off to work each day to a job that I find "okay" but is not my passion makes me wonder what the point is - am I just wasting my time and talent? But I'm also wondering why work has to have that special meaning for me - surely I can find meaning in my life outside of just what I do. So much of my identity seems tied to what I have done careerwise to date and it doesn't necessarily make me happier or a better person.
How do you strike that balance between doing something you are passionate about or having a life outside of work that you enjoy?
When not musing about her career path and life choices, Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>Police have identified that there is more than one offender that has committed these attacks, and have offered a $50,000 reward. They have also advised women not to exercise alone, to stay in areas with other people close by, and to not wear an iPod so as to remain alert to what is going on around them.
What has been interesting, however, is how women have reacted, joining together with other women in their neighbourhood to go walking or running together, rather than retreating as individuals into their homes. There was a large rally in a park yesterday to launch the "Walk Without Fear" campaign (click here for news coverage), with the community being urged to come together and not let these predators ruin our lifestyle.
Jennifer is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has recently moved to Brisbane, and has blogged about the differences between running in Newcastle and running in Brisbane, and how people have reacted:
Then there's the setting. In Newcastle I run around Leazes Park, which is actually really pretty, and extremely Victorian, but too small to hold the interest day after day. Plus it was the pond at Leazes Park into which my motorbike was thrown a few months ago, so it still has painful memories, despite the swans. In Brisbane I have a 5K route that runs, for most of the way, past a creek, through bushland. It's cool and shady and replete with water dragons and sulphur crested cockatoos (no swans, though!) and smells of gum trees and hot grass. I swap smug smiles with the other runners and dog walkers, in tacit acknowledgement of our moral and physical superiority over the local slugabeds.
There is a hitch, however. In the past two months there have been 25 sexual attacks, of varying degrees of severity, upon women exercising on Brisbane's footpaths, including a couple in this area. The local government has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction, and is advising women not to exercise alone. This morning I'd only gone a kilometer before encountering a very impressive motorcycle cop on my usual path. It's all a bit depressing.
But what really interested me was the way people responded. I do find myself scanning the path ahead, looking for lurkers, and trying to keep tabs on cyclists who overtake me, in case they turn round and turn evil. It does take my mind off the heat, my lungs and my legs, which I guess is some sort of silver lining. But what I really liked was the fact that it seems to have had no effect on the interactions between the early morning exercise community. We still smile and nod, and mouth "Morning", to each other. It's really encouraging to see that most people aren't letting these bastards get to them.
These attacks have made me think a lot more about my safety. I now borrow my next door neighbour's dog when I go running, and stick to roads rather than running through the park.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>Earlier this year, debate raged in the Australian Senate over whether the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, should be allowed to veto the Therapeutic Goods Administration on deciding whether RU486 should be made available in Australia (I blogged about the issue on my own blog here, here, and the conclusion here).
A few days into the New Year, and the issue has flared again, this time with Mr Abbott awarding the contract for a pregnancy helpline to a company with strong ties to the Catholic Church.
From an article in the Sydney Morning Herald:
THE federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, overlooked a respected family planning agency to award a $15.5 million contract for a national pregnancy helpline to a multinational company taking advice from the Catholic church.
The Herald understands Family Planning NSW and Australia's only dedicated independent pregnancy counselling service, Children by Choice, were among the unsuccessful tenderers.
The 24-hour helpline will be operated by McKesson Asia Pacific, which runs several helplines in Australia, including the G-Line in NSW for problem gamblers.
McKesson will take advice from a group of clinicians including representatives from the church's welfare arm, Centacare, whose involvement has caused concern among pro-abortion groups.
The national president of Family Planning Australia, Devora Lieberman, said: "It will be greatly challenging for them to provide advice about the termination of pregnancy given they have the clearly stated missions of being pro-life or, as I would prefer, anti-choice."
The website of Centacare's umbrella organisation, the National Network of Catholic Welfare Australia, pledges that: "All policies, programs and procedures will support the sanctity and dignity of human life from the moment of its conception until death."
A spokeswoman for Children by Choice, Cait Calcutt, said the decision to award the contract to a group seeking religious input was not surprising. "We were concerned from the outset, given Tony Abbott's well-publicised views in relation to unwanted pregnancies and abortion."
It disturbs me to see the role of personal religious beliefs creeping into Australian politics and being imposed on citizens who may not subscribe to those beliefs. I don't know how the tender process was assessed, but one would hope that it included an assessment of the quality of advice that would be provided to women (ie, providing information on ALL options available without religious ideology being imposed on those seeking advice).
The next Australian federal election is scheduled to take place in late 2007, and I can't wait to vote.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>And since its summer in the southern hemisphere, New Year's Eve is also the perfect time to be outside wearing flip flops, watching fireworks and drinking champagne. A quick wrap up of what some of the Aussie bloggers were doing to see in the New Year:
]]>And since its summer in the southern hemisphere, New Year's Eve is also the perfect time to be outside wearing flip flops, watching fireworks and drinking champagne. A quick wrap up of what some of the Aussie bloggers were doing to see in the New Year:
Helen at Grab Your Fork blogs about her NYE experience in Sydney, and has some fantastic photos of the fireworks:
Noone puts on a New Year's Eve spectacular quite like Sydney.
Having spent NYE beneath Big Ben in London, and penned in at Times Square New York, I can say that neither comes remotely close to the awe-inspiring atmosphere and camaraderie of a NYE spent around Sydney Harbour with a million of your closest friends.
A pyrotechnic orgy worth AU$3million dollars exploded last night, firing off buildings in the city CBD and cascading across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the crowd gave a collective "aaaaahhhhhhh".
Ampersand Duck has been spending a few days at the Woodford Folk Festival, which is one the many festivals on around Australia during the New Year period. She has a great summary of the different things she's seen, and blogs about what the festival experience is all about:
Someone I met yesterday said that they'd never been to a festival where there was so much time between gigs. My reaction was a doubletake -- WHAT? Turns out he was focusing only on the music, on the (make rabbit-ears here) big gigs (stop making rabbit-ears with your fingers now).
But that's the whole point! This isn't a MUSIC festival! It's more of an alternate culture festival. And I don't mean that in a feral sense, not anymore. Ferals are waaay outnumbered by the plebs who just want a fun time in a meaningful way (except tonight, when the whole place becomes inundated by drug-fueled fun-timers from Brisbane and the normal festival-goers bunker into their venue of choice to avoid the New Year street scenes). No, this is a festival where the main problem is finding the time to do everything! Aside from the music, there are spoken-word venues, comedy clubs, visual art classes, street performers who don't ask you for money, film festivals, excellent food stalls, clothing stals to browse, and a fully-functional children's festival (unlike the one at the National Folk Festival). How you could be bored here is beyond me!
Not everyone enjoys NYE though, like Girl Blog Etc:
Let's face it. New Years Eve is one of the shittiest events of the year. There's too many people. There's too many drunk teenage girls shitting me off. There's vomit in the streets. There's drunks in the streets. The Doc Martens I hadn't worn in a month shredded my feet. By the time you get through the swarm of people at the bar, midnight has already been and bloody gone.
And as it ticks over to 2007, you have to tell yourself that your life isn't passing you by, and that tomorrow is just another day, rather than the beginning of yet another year which will inevitably fly by in a flash and leave you wondering exactly what have you achieved?
Sigh.
My major achievement was discovering that my camera has its very own setting dedicated to fireworks.
And Steph at Much Ado about sumthin! has a blog post entitled "Nothing Changes On New Years Day":
Bono had it so right with that lyric, but it never fails to surprise and disappoint me.
Ever since I was a little girl with all the magic and anticipation of new years eve, it was all crushing to wake up in the morning to discover not a fucking thing had changed since the night before.
I truly expected to wake up to a brand new shiny world, or wearing a tiara because my wish to become a princess had finally come true. That would last all of a few minutes before I realised that I was still me, in the same bed, in the same house, with the same irritating brother waiting to ambush me in the hallway with his water pistol.Now that I'm an adult, not much has changed. Of course I don't expect the tiara, I bought myself one ages ago. I'm a friggin princess and no mistake, mofos!
However, I now hate and loathe new years eve/day. So much pressure to have a good time. So many expectations that this night of nights will yield much frivolity and hijinks, when the reality is that those expectations often create a forced hilarity , a fake atmosphere, a quest for fun at all costs. Arghh!
I hate it. Call me Narky McSour, I don't care, I just never have a good time on NYE because I feel like I HAVE to. Maybe it's performance anxiety or maybe I'm just a grumpy cunt. Meh!
How did you see in the New Year?
Contributing Editor Jules blogs at Jetsetting Jules, and spent NYE sitting on the back deck of a friend's house up on the Sunshine Coast, overlooking a rainforest, and drinking way too many glasses of wine, champagne, and gin & tonic.
]]>While all y'all Americans were busy voting in your mid-term elections, the first Tuesday in November is known in Australia for an event which is a lot more fun: Melbourne Cup Day.
]]>While all y'all Americans were busy voting in your mid-term elections, the first Tuesday in November is known in Australia for an event which is a lot more fun: Melbourne Cup Day.
This is the race which stops a nation (literally), where Aussies bet an obscene amount of money on a race that goes for about two minutes. But its not all about the ponies...
Surfing Free reminisces about past Melbourne Cup's:
I used to get all excited by the Melbourne Cup. It was a chance to dress up, sip champagne, and meet friends for a flutter on the gee-gees. But, those days are gone or at least on hold. I can't drink, I can't fit into a fine frock, and I have to take Miss N to have a skin allergy test at the doctors this afternoon because she has excema that doesn't seem to be getting better.
Aussie in Boulder gives a bit of history regarding the Melbourne Cup, and what it means to Aussies.
Caity Cat has some commentary on the hat fashions on display.
Velle is a Singaporean now living in Australia, experiencing her second Melbourne Cup:
Last year, I didn't bet on any horses and watched as the winning jockey cried nonstop for half an hour on national television.
This year, I got into the spirit of things, pulled a name out of a hat, and ended up rooting for Mandela.
The winner turned out to be Delta Blue. The jockey turned out to be Japanese, and what ensued was possibly Melbourne Cup's shortest interview with a jockey that cannot speak English.
Betty Sue and merry risa provide the anti-Melbourne Cup perspective.
But really - its all about the fashion. Who's wearing what. What the hats look like. And who wore the most appalling outfit. Mama Wombat, Rachel, Christina at Fashionable Conundrum all blogged about the fashion. I put some photos up on my blog that I snagged from one of the news websites, including what I think is the most appalling outfit of the day.
Oh, and for those who are actually interested in the horse race, Delta Blues won by a nose (literally!).
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
Image courtesy of ninemsn.com.au
]]>When you travel for work, you are there to work - which means that every minute is utilised to its maximum potential. Its hard to schedule sightseeing when you've got back to back meetings planned. In my last job, I had been to China five times before I had seen the Great Wall, and even then the only reason I had seen it was because I had gone to China on holiday so that I could do all the tourist stuff.
My tips for business travel:
* Travel light - carry on luggage only. Makes for a quicker entrance and exit through the airport.
* If you are travelling internationally, investigate whether you can get an eGate card for your country of residence - it means you can bypass the queues at Immigration and go through a self-service area instead which is much quicker.
* Pack clothes that don't crush and don't need ironing.
* Pack clothes that are culturally appropriate, and appropriate for the weather.
* Take any medications (over-the-counter and prescription) you might need - I always carry paracetemol, cold & flu tablets, and Immodium.
* Charge all electrical items before you leave home, and take the charger for items that you use a lot (eg, cell phone) along with a power adaptor if the country you are going to uses different plug sockets.
* Have a set of toiletries that you only use for travel, which you can leave in your suitcase between trips (particularly if you travel frequently).
* Comfortable shoes - need I say more?
* Try to get some exercise in while you are away, whether its hitting the gym or pool at the hotel, or going for a walk outside. It really does make a big difference to your stamina and helps your body cope with the extra stress of travel.
* Keep in touch with those back home, and make sure that your cell phone has international roaming activated.
What are your tips for when you travel for work?
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>In preparation for moving to Dubai, I did a lot of research. I read guidebooks, I read websites, I logged on to a travel bulletin board and read postings, I emailed with someone from said bulletin board who was living in Dubai to find out the lowdown on life in the Sandpit.
And I read an lot of blogs, written by people living in Dubai. I've said before that one of the things I love about blogging is that you get a snapshot of someone's life, and get to see what it is like to live in different cities, countries and ways of life. I find that aspect of blogging fascinating.
]]>In preparation for moving to Dubai, I did a lot of research. I read guidebooks, I read websites, I logged on to a travel bulletin board and read postings, I emailed with someone from said bulletin board who was living in Dubai to find out the lowdown on life in the Sandpit.
And I read an lot of blogs, written by people living in Dubai. I've said before that one of the things I love about blogging is that you get a snapshot of someone's life, and get to see what it is like to live in different cities, countries and ways of life. I find that aspect of blogging fascinating.
So for today's post, I'd like to share with you some of the blogs I've been reading, written by Dubai-based bloggers.
Secret Dubai Diary is a fave Dubai blog of mine. This blog caused controversy a while back and was banned, only to pop back up online after protests to the authorities (certain websites are blocked in the UAE if they don't conform to the moral and spiritual guidelines of Islam, apparently, although this doesn't really explain why Skype is banned...). Sometimes snarky and sarcastic, but always with an interesting view on what is going on in Dubai, its a blog well worth checking out. She makes a fabulous post about the start of Ramadan:
The moon is sighted and the holy month begins.
With all the excitement and preparation over the past few weeks for Ramadan, with tents being put up in hotels and malls, and people starting to plan iftars and suhours, one gets a sense of what muslims living outside the Islamic world miss out on.
The best way to describe it is like a more spiritual Christmas season (since Lent, a closer equivalent, is not generally observed in the West). There's the same sense of festivity, family and peace on earth, with glittering decorations and delicious gifts on display, but with far less commercialism and general tackiness.
Dubai Sunshine has a post about celebrity spotting in Abu Dhabi:
It seems that Jeremy has been living it up in Abu Dhabi...he was spotted at Sax the night before (the jazz bar/lounge at the Royal Meridien hotel....and the only decent place left in Abu Dhabi).
I really wonder why any celebrity would come to Abu Dhabi? It's not your typical celebrity hotspot. Dubai is usually the city that attracts all the celebrities...Not that there's anything wrong with Abu Dhabi...on the contrary, anyone who reads this blog often enough knows that I prefer calmer, cosier, more charming Abu Dhabi to charmless Dubai.
Desert Idleness blogs about leaving Dubai, due to the high cost of living:
Sorry for not updating this blog in a while, I've been running around finalising our preparations to leave. So yes, after a few years out here in the desert we've had enough and decided to head for greener pastures (literally and metaphorically).
This might end up being a long post and I won't be editing it so excuse me if I ramble.In the last two years, we have seen costs literally shoot through the roof. In 2005 we saw our rent soar, but we hoped this would be an isolated incident. In our minds we thought surely no landlord would hike the rent again on the back of a 35% rise? How f***king wrong we were!
And Sharjah Diva posts about the names of some of her students:
So, I have had several students with the name 'Shaikha' which translates to 'Princess'. We don't do this in English - why? Maybe because it seems a bit presumptuous. I don't know.
'Princess, dinner....' 'Princess, clean your room...' 'Princess, stop hitting your brother Prince.'
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.
]]>This is the third time I've lived overseas (London, China and now Dubai), and in the lead up to leaving, everyone was asking me if I was nervous about the move (answer: nope, I was really looking forward to it). If I was worried about living in a Muslim country (answer: nope, Dubai is a very liberal place). If my way of life would be restricted (answer: not at all - I can drive, drink alcohol, and buy pork products, don't have to wear a veil and can wear whatever I want).
It was only about half an hour before we landed that it hit me. That feeling of "what the hell am I doing???" That feeling that I was drowning. That feeling of being completely overwhelmed. And all alone in a foreign country. That first day was difficult. I was tired and jetlagged and hot and cranky and feeling like I had just made the biggest mistake imaginable by moving to Dubai. I felt slightly better after having a shower and a nap, and once the air conditioning had started working, but that feeling of fear and being overwhelmed was still there.
I knew one person in Dubai, and she was someone I hadn't even met before. We had been emailing after I read some of her posts on a travel bulletin board, and I had been asking her advice about moving to Dubai and what to expect. She is an fellow Aussie, and in that time honoured tradition of Aussies looking out for other Aussies when overseas, she had given me her mobile phone number to call her once I arrived. And so I phoned her, and she greeted me like I was a long lost friend - "Oh my God! You're here! You're in Dubai!", and in typical Dubai expat style, we made plans to meet up the next day with a group of her friends at a beer festival at an Irish pub. Where I got to hear a lot of people telling me how it was completely normal to feel overwhelmed by moving to Dubai and to be asking yourself what the hell you were doing here. Nice to know I wasn't the only one!
My first couple of weeks in Dubai were difficult. My new job was completely overwhelming. Although it was similar to what I had been doing in Australia and China, it was in a very specialised area that I hadn't worked in previously, and so the learning curve has been rather steep. I would get home from work and feel completely and utterly exhausted from work, but then be unable to fall asleep until really late. And dealing with all the paperwork associated with starting a new life in another country - residency visa, new bank account & credit card, liquor licence (because you need a licence here in Dubai to buy alcohol and keep it in your home), switching my drivers licence, sorting out accommodation issues. And the heat of summer has meant that I've spent most of my time indoors, in air conditioning, rather than exploring my new city - there are only so many shopping malls you can go to before they all start to blur into one big mass of consumerism.
But it hasn't all been about fear and feeling overwhelmed. There are moments of awe as well, as I see this city rising up out of the desert sands, with all the construction and vast number of cranes on the skyline. Or when I see the Burj al Arab and am filled with a sense of wonder. It truly is a remarkable place to be living at the moment.
I think that the feeling of fear and being overwhelmed is normal when you are pushing your boundaries and going past your comfort zone. Every time I push past my comfort zone, I learn something new about myself, and realise how resilient and capable I am. Fear doesn't have to be something that holds you back - it can also push you forward into a new life.
Four weeks later, I'm feeling a bit more settled. Not that it feels like home yet, but I am feeling more comfortable. Work stuff makes more sense now. I have routines and patterns for my life, which makes things easier. I've met a few interesting people to hang out with. And life is getting easier.
Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules, and promises to blog more frequently on BlogHer about life in Dubai, as well as covering the ANZO beat.
]]>Jenn wrote a fabulous piece (link) soon after the news broke. I heard the news in another way. My boss, who is English and who loves to make fun of my Aussie accent, came over to my desk and sat down saying "I've got some really bad news about one of your compatriots, Steve Irwin." To which I flippantly replied "What? Did he get eaten by a crocodile?" She told me that I took all the fun out of giving bad news, and then went on to tell me what happened.
For the past week, I've been receiving emails from family and friends back home about what the reaction has been: calls for a State Funeral (turned down by his family, who are planning a private funeral and a public memorial service); women and children crying publicly (it would be unAustralian for an Aussie man to cry); pilgramages to the Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast; news of the State election pushed off the front page of the newspaper (it really wouldn't take much to push it off the front page anyway); and declaring today International Khaki Day. From this side of the world, it has been rather bizarre to see the national hysteria this has created.
Caz at The Spin Starts Here has a post questioning the sincerity of people who have jumped on the khaki wearing bandwagon:
Good morning little possums. Sitting down at your computers, ready to begin the day and for some reason the urge to kill is greater than usual? Yes? Why could that be? Haven't had your coffee/barbituates/anti psychotic medication yet? Possibly. Is it just because it's Friday,duh? Possibly.
Or could it be something else that's bothering you? Perhaps you're in an office full of fuckwits clad in khaki celebrating "National Khaki Day" so they can mourn the loss of someone you never, ever EVER heard them mention, even in passing, in the entire time you've known them? DING DING DING! You might have a winner!
Germaine Greer, Australian feminist, author and expat, wrote a rather backhanded tribute to the Crocodile Hunter in The Guardian newspaper (link to article):
The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo-owners in their turn.
Greer has been roundly criticised by bloggers, politicians, and just about every "man on the street" journalists can round up to interview for her insensitive comments on Irwin's death so soon after it occurred.
Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony blogs about how Greer and Irwin are cut from the same cloth:
Trouble is, I think with her ability to irritate just about everyone (including old patriarchy-blamers like me), and her penchant for speaking her own mind about our sacred cows, she is just as much an Australian institution as Irwin was. She’s a real ratbag and an eccentric, and we need them in these carefully marketed times.
And Bernice Balconey's Baloney posts about the bigger issue Irwin's death and Greer's response has raised: How do you define the archetypal Aussie?
However I think the main point of Greer's article and the response to it is a fight over how & what is defined as the archetypal Aussie. & for Greer it aint Irwin; for her detractors it aint Greer. There is her indignant sarcasm at his demi-god role as master of nature, and her scathing assessment of his less than sophisticated political savvy. But it is her challenging of the myth-making of Steve Irwin that was already well underway that points most clearly to the prize being fought for here.
Contributing Editor Jules also posts at Jetsetting Jules.
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