F is for the Flemington and Fish Markets and G for Gong yuan

We decided to ignore "E". "E" could be for Epping or Eastwood, but it did seem a bit silly to make that part of our travels around the Sydney area. Anyway, last week we moved on to "F" and headed off to the markets at Flemington. We bought a lot of fruit and six crabs. We then bought a steamer in order to cook the crabs. Sha can cook seafood so well!!

Yesterday we went to see Bran nu dae a very funny Aboriginal Australian film. I've been reading up more on the history of Australia as I've applied to become an Australian citizen. I decided to get hold of the controversial history book: "A short history of Australia" by Manning Clark. The 350-ish page book contains one page on the Indigenous population before the arrival of other groups of people. "The Europeans offered the Aborigines the previous gift of their civilization, abandon the life of the nomad, and become a labourer on the bottom rung of the ladder of Euopean society. But in the beginning the Aborigine resisted every attempt to approach him." and "On 26 January the convict transports moved into their new home as a handful of Aborigines on the shore set up a horrid howl ..." Apparently though such issues are not addressed on the Citizen test (apart, perhaps, for me having to declare that I understand that "the English language is an important unifying element of Australian society".

Today we went to "G for Gong Yuan" or the "Chinese Garden of Friendship". I like the garden. There were lots of big lizards, huge fish and it was very relaxing ambling around. Apparently the garden was made in conjunction with Sydney's sister city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, China.

We then jumped on a tram and headed off to the Fish market. We arrived near closing time, but still managed to pick up a heap of fish. This included some salmon that Sha intends to eat raw. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to take part in this or not. Anyway Sha cooked the most amazing scallops with something and something else. They were stunning.

A sunset

I can't think of much to write at 3:30am, but here are some more pictures. These are from the sunset this evening.

A few more pictures

Just a few more pics taken at the end of last year (in no particular order).

Windparked at Parkes

Being windparked at Parkes at 11:30pm is not so fun. However, it does mean that I can get a bit of work done (and finally update my blog). Sha, Yu Meng and I drove here a few days ago (stopping for a while in the Blue Mountains and to have lunch in Bathurst). It's Sha's first time at Parkes and she seems to be enjoying herself - she's got through the safety induction and also listened in on the observer training. The photos on this blog entry were taken by Sha (I haven't downloaded the photos from my camera yet).

Sha and Yu Meng have been helping me with my Chinese. I've written a story!! It's very exciting.

一个大袋鼠住在澳大利亚
袋鼠叫包子
今天包子在田野里吃草
包子有一个朋友叫莎
莎是一个白色小兔兔

which translates to: A large kangaroo lives in Australia. The kangaroo is called Bao zi. Today Bao zi is eating grass in a field. Bao zi has a friend called Sha. Sha is a white, small rabbit.

There you go!! What an exciting story.

Sha and I also just watched "The Dish" whilst sitting in "The Dish". Now I need another tea.

Feeding a tiger

Lots happened!! After having a fun Christmas at home, Sha ended up taking me to hospital. Anyway, we got up early the next day to go to Canberra by train. Beautiful journey. Kangaroos bounced alongside the train! The weather cleared up as we got away from Sydney.

When we arrived in Canberra, we checked into our hotel and then walked down to the lakeside (with a bit of a detour as I got us lost) and went to the National Museum of Australia. This is an interesting museum. We watched a film on the history of Australia in which the entire seats rotated around. In the evening we went to a Sri Lankan restaurant that seems to keep winning the "Canberra restaurant of the year". Very good!!

Yesterday we had a very arty day. During the day we went to the National Gallery of Australia to see the exhibition entitled "Masterpieces from Paris". The exhibit contained post-impressionistic paintings from the Musee D'Orsay. These paintings included La Nuit Etoilée by van Gogh along with his self-portrait. Sha is now very excited about seeing even more art in Paris. In the evening we went to see "Bright Star" a film about John Keats (oh ... in complete contrast, I should say that we watched Avatar in 3D a few days ago - that was an incredible experience).

Today was amazing. Sha and I went on the ZooVenture tour at Canberra Zoo. During this tour we got to help the zoo keepers feed the animals. Sha went first feeding a huge Bengal tiger. We also got to feed white lions (so beautiful), brown bears, a cougar, otters, giraffes ("deer with long necks" in Chinese) and a big antelope. We also got to hold a snake (the first time that Sha had done that ... in fact, it was the first time she'd fed a tiger as well!) and stroke a dingo. A wonderful experience!!

wo mang

I've just finished Chinese Mandarin 1 (for beginners). We learnt about food. The teacher got very excited and told us that in winter one should eat "snake with chicken and cat". Apparently this is a delicacy. Also one should try the great soups that include "bear paw simmered for 7 days" which is "hard to find" as it is illegal. Anyway, I impressed the teacher with my knowledge of dumplings (jiao zi) and really did enjoy the lessons.

Last weekend was wonderful. Really wonderful. Sha came around and we decorated the house with Christmas decorations. We have a tree (which is still missing the pulsar that will sit on top), lots of lights and a huge amount of tinsel. We had some Christmas crackers, but they may have been damaged in the flood. errr .... we managed to flood the kitchen with bath water (don't ask how!). This caused a short circuit in the electric stove which subsequently (and impressively) produced a large number of sparks and little fires before blowing the fuses. It now doesn't work.

Leaving the receding flood waters behind I drove, with Jonathan, Rabbit and Andrew to Parkes on Monday. We all woke around 4am to help run a PULSE@Parkes session from Cardiff with students from Whitchurch school! We had a moderately relaxing day at Parkes before getting up early again to drive back to Sydney this morning. We managed the drive in just over 4.5 hours which is a record for me. Tomorrow we have astrofest and then a gravitational wave meeting on Friday. Lots to do ....

A long time since the last update

I've been really bad at keeping my blog up to date. Since our Tasmania trip Sha and I have been doing lots of things. We went to see the Egyptian and dinosaur exhibitions at the Australia Museum. That was fun! Dick, Barbara, Sha, Meng Yu and I also went for a hike around Sydney harbour. We got very wet.

Off to Parkes tomorrow until Wednesday and then lots of meetings

I'm exhausted but happy.^^.