Four Months Down, Eight Months to Go

13th March 2017 will mark my fourth month of being here in Sydney. I have passed one-third mark of my journey here and I am sincerely grateful.

I am far away from everything I am familiar with. Breaking through that custom and familiarity is sure hard. I cried out of fear before my flight, afraid of not being able to stand 12 months of all the new things and all the unthinkable experience.

As time goes by, I know my fear is unjustifiable. I still cry when I miss my dear ones but the universe has been treating me so well here.

I enjoy being down under and it's saddening for me to have this journey come to an end in eight months.

Some of the highlights in these four months:

1. Christmas and Christmas Break

There is no White Christmas or Freaking Cold Christmas here. Christmas that I experienced here is smoking hot one with UV index reaching 12 but I enjoyed it. The atmosphere of the season was just so cheerful and when my dearest company flew 8 hours from Singapore to be with me during the break, that's my best Christmas present.

2.  Australia Day

Australia Day is celebrated yearly on 26th January as the official national day of Australia. It marks the anniversary of the landing of first fleet in Port Jackson and the raising of British flag in Sydney Cove in 1788. Until now, there is so much controversy about this date. Some people strongly object this date as the official date for national day due to the irony, this is the day when British started conquering the Aborigines.

Apart from the protests being held at different parts of the country, people had fun during the Australia Day.

I spent my day by going to Barangaroo Reserve early in the morning to watch Wugul-Ora or Smoking Ceremony. Wugul-Ora is a sacred tradition of the Aborigines that involves burning native plants continuously to produce cleansing smoke. The smoke is believed to be able to heal sickness, ward of bad spirits, acknowledge the ancestors and pay respect to the country.

The fire was lit up the night before in Goat Island and transported to Barangaroo Reserve the next day. The ceremony was then performed by Koomuri Aboriginal Dance Troupe before transported to other places in Sydney.

The fire was coming from Goat Island

The dance troupe brought the fire around while chanting

The sacred dance

Uncle Max's speech on peace and racial harmony

The dance troupe, some are not purely Aboriginal

I spent the rest of the day wandering around The Rocks to watch many things happening there: markets, wheelchair race, jamming session, etc.

Free London bus ride for the day

Some people dressed up

Activities for kids

3. Chinese New Year
This year, Chinese New Year falls on 28th January 2017 on a Saturday. There is no Chinese New Year feeling that I used to feel this year. I spent it as a normal Saturday. I went for yoga, I watched some TV series, I had my meal as per usual.

I decided to go to Pyrmont Bay Park for Lunar New Year Markets in the afternoon. I expected something more but I did not find anything with 'the mood' there. It's just a normal market with red lanterns decoration.

Pyrmont Bay Park on Chinese New Year

Decoration

In the end I decided to treat myself

The next day someone was distributing fortune cookie in the office building. Mine says "No one ever injured his eyesights by looking on the bright side of things"

And Thu brought Vietnamese's Chinese New Year cake to the office. It is so delicious. Thơm ngon!

4. Summer Gatherings

One thing I realise here, summer is the time to gather. Despite the sun, people enjoy the time and the togetherness.

I was invited a few times. I met new people, I enjoyed the summer.

And of course, I burnt myself.

Never. Ever. Underestimate. Sun. Down. Under.

Team Yum Cha at Sky Phoenix, 14th December 2017

For Christmas, for summer, for working hard throughout the year (I did not get the work but the food)

An informal office gathering in Southern Highland on 21st January 2017

BBQ Chef of the day

Play time for the kids

Proofing the engineering side of the team: fixing the fountain session

Gathering with new group of people on 12th February 2017

Wattamoolla Beach, Royal National Park

Our lunch for the day

Gathering with the view is always fun!

Swimming time!

Dinner gathering with YPE mates on 12th February 2017, thanks David for cooking the special meal!

5. More Works

And the most important of all, the works. I was sent here to work, right? With many other bonuses, for sure.

I feel like I have passed my adaptation phase within these four months. I am not sure when that point was but I have started to run the works comfortably, whether applying engineering judgement or liaising with other people within the project.

I am thankful that my manager thinks about my experience here. He tasked me to handle a small project, so to enable me to get the big picture of the project and to give me the chance to be involved in many aspects of it.

I want to learn as much as possible during my stay here and I am maximising every single moment that I have.

Captain Cook landed here in Kurnell in 1770 and my job landed me here too

Four months have passed. Summer have passed. I am welcoming autumn and embracing the remaining eight months with all my hearts.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Farmers Market in the Heart of Carriageworks Art Precinct

Carriageworks Farmers Market occupies the blacksmith workshop of former Eveleigh Rail Yard at Wilson Street. Eveleigh Rail Yard was utilised as a workshop to build and maintain train carriages of Sydney Rail Network. Due to inefficiency of the old building, it ceased operation since 1988.

New South Wales Ministry of Arts purchased the carriage and blacksmith workshop of Eveleigh Rail Yard. It was then refurbished to be a contemporary multi-arts centre under the name of Carriageworks. It has been officially in operation since 2007 and since then Carriageworks is known as the cultural precinct of Sydney.

The farmers market itself commenced its weekly affairs since February 2009 and it has been a famous fresh produce market in Sydney.

The nearest train station to Carriageworks Farmers Market is Redfern, but you still need to walk a bit to reach Wilson Street.

The refurbished blacksmith workshop

It is located at the corner of Wilson Street and Codrington Street

The residential area nearby the farmers market

I am always a fan of markets. Since I came here, I have gone to arts markets, farmers markets, food markets, night markets and many other. All are similar but I find each one of them has different kind of atmosphere. 

Carriageworks Farmers Market sells the fresh produces from the farmers as well as homemade food items. Some are labelled organics, some are labelled natural. Regardless, all of them look fresh and appealing. If you are not coming for grocery shopping, you can enjoy the food at the back of the market.

This is how big it is

The art centre is at the opposite of the market, I suppose

People are lining up

For the organic vegetables

There are flowers too

And breads

Eggs and apples

Nuts

Foods at the back of the market

Cakes

And more cakes

I bought one to satisfy my sweet teeth

Live music too!

That's one of the things I love about markets in Australia: you almost always get a live music! And this old man played his cello beautifully.

The coffee booth at the front of the market that I chose because of the strong coffee smell

Single O did not disappoint

See you again, Carriageworks!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

The Third Biggest, Sydney Park

Just a stone's throw away from The Grounds, there lies a beautiful park called Sydney Park. Sydney Park is located in the suburb of St. Peter and comprises of almost 42 hectares of land of open recreation area, sports oval, wetlands and heritage area. Sydney Park is apparently the third biggest park in Sydney.

View of Sydney Park from Sydney Park Road

The sports training ground

It is called Allan Davidson Oval

I walked up to the top of the hill

 It was a hot day and those shades were really tempting

But I continued to walk up

For 360 degree view of Sydney

It was a great feeling to be up there and see a part of Sydney from the top. However, it was so hot and the sun shone too brightly. I saw some people sat on the benches and laid on the grass but I could not follow their lead. I am an Asian after all.

So I went down and followed a track towards the wetlands that led me out from another end of the park.

The track

A small pond

Part of the wetland

The last one and the biggest one

Walking track by the side of the pond

Recreation area for children

Famous brickworks and chimney of Sydney Park

That is the former Bedford Brick Works. It was established in 1893 by Josiah Gentle. He invested in steam-powered machine and new technology kiln to survive on the market. The clay was extracted from the deep pits before being fired on the modern kiln to create bricks.

When Josiah Gentle passed away in 1912, his three sons continued this establishment until 1936 when Austral Brick Company bought Bedford Brick Works. The bigger company operated there until 1970.

Despite the summer heat, it was a nice stroll!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet