Category Archives: Australia

Hello Summer!

I know most of you on the northern hemisphere are counting the last few days of autumn and it will be a cold winter but for us here down under, it is a different story, its summer time.

As you may know reading my posts here that I hate winter so this is a great time of the year for me. I am loving the beautiful spring weather which is slowing turning into summer. To enjoy this beautiful weather we have been going to parks often.

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There is a park near our place which has rows of Jacaranda trees and the purple colour looks just amazing this time of the year. Chhori loves running around and it is a great place for me to spend some time with my parents.

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Also on the weekend, we took Chhori to a beach with our friends and family. She had an absolutely amazing time. We took a beach bucket and spade set so we could dig in the sand. We made sand castles and dug holes.

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We had Chhori and my nephews covered with sand at one point and they loved it.

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Overall it was an absolutely great day and I can’t wait to spend more days like this by the beach.

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Summer always makes me happy, coming home from work when the sun is still up in the sky, enjoying the beach, BBQ and lots of outdoor times. As Chhori is getting older, we are going out and about more and life is getting back to normal.

If you are on my side of the world, enjoy the great weather and if you are on the other side, stay warm.

On a side note, I am not sure for you all but for me this year has gone by so quickly. I feel as if it was only a few weeks ago that I wrote a post about coming back to work after maternity leave and now it is almost the end of the year.

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Looking forward to Christmas and New Year break.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful day.

from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S.

Nominations open for NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2016

Make sure your blog and the blogs you read are nominated so they can win the title.

Supermoon as seen from Sydney

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Hope you all enjoyed the amazing super moon as well. The photos are taken by AS 🙂

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Ganesh and Kumari puja during Nawami

In Newari tradition, during Nawami young girls and boys are worshipped as Ganesh and Kumari. It is believed that young children are pure and God resides in their body.

As my parents are here this year, we did the ritual this morning.

We had Chhori as Kumari and my nephew as Ganesh.

To celebrate Dashain, I dressed Chhori in traditional Nepali kurta. I absolutely love traditional outfits on Chhori, she looks so cute.

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We did the simple process for puja; just tika and flower first, then all the adults gave them gifts or money and touched their feet for blessing. Both the kids were over joyed getting all the money and gifts.

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It feels so good to do traditional things for Dahain. Made me miss Nepal a little less this year.

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Hope everyone who is celebrating Dashain is having a great time.

Happy Dashain once again!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Dashain Kite festival in Sydney

The biggest festival for Nepalese, Dashain, started from 1st October and we had a great start to the festival.

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This year it is really special for us as I have my parents here and this will be the first time Chhori can have Dashain Tika as we couldn’t celebrate last year.

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On Saturday, it was Gathasthapana, the day we plant Jamara. That day in Sydney, we also had another event to attend, the Kite festival organised by Guthi Australia.

They have been organising this event for the last few years and I really like it. They try to bring the Dashain vibe from Nepal to Sydney as much as possible by organising lots of cultural and traditional things during the gathering.

The function was held in the Rockdale Bicentenary Park and the entry was free.

The main highlights of the event for me was the Rath (Charito), Kumari, Lakhe and colourful kites in the sky.

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The Rath was done better than last year. It was a smaller version of the Rath in Nepal but it was great for kids to understand what the Rath looks like and they were allowed to pull them around the ground as well.

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There was a little girl dresses up as Kumari , only living Goddess in the world worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal.

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 Lakhe is a demon in Nepalese folklore with a ferocious face with protruding fangs and mane of red or black hair.

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They had an energised Lakhe dancing to traditional music.

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If you are in Kathmandu during Dashain, the sky will be full of kites of different colours and we got to see some of that on the day as well.

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Little girls performing in traditional music was amazing and so was the fashion show and concert.

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There were many stalls for Tradtional handicrafts and Food stalls. Of course we enjoyed our evergreen momo.

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Chhori had a great time as well running around, playing on the swing in the park and enjoying the food.

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She was spoiled by all of our friends and relatives as usual.

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I am really glad these types of events happen in Sydney. As you all know I love my traditions and culture and I want Chhori to see, learn and know our culture too. These kind of organised events definitely will help me educate Chhori and hopefully develop her interest in Nepali traditions and culture in future.

Wishing you all a very Happy Dashain!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Our family trip to New Zealand

As I wrote in my post, I was excited and anxious about our trip to New Zealand. I was excited for Chhori as it was her first overseas trip but scared for myself as I didn’t know how I would handle her if she started to cry or threw tantrums in the plane.

Our flight was at 9 am so we took a cab to the airport very early. Luckily, Chhori woke up on her own around 6 am so things worked out perfectly. We had a bit of drama for the cab but we reached the airport on time and checked in and were in front of boarding gate by 7 am.

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Like last time, Chhori was walking around and saying “Hi” to everyone around us in the waiting lounge. She made friends with a few of the air hostess from Emirates. They were really nice and sweet with her and Chhori loved all the attention.

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Then it was time for the actual test: 3 hours flight with a toddler. The good news was that she was well behaved and happy the whole flight. She just ate and interacted with people most of the time. We also had a tablet ready for her just in case she got cranky but she was not interested in her rhymes for a long period.

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She would rather walk up and down the aisle. Everyone on-board were very sweet to her when she went in front of them randomly and said “Hi”.

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On our way back she even made friends with a family who had two kids around 6 and 8 years. They were happy to take her for almost an hour, so she sat on the mum’s lap playing with crayons and toys. The kids were playing with her and she was delighted to play with new people and toys. I really appreciated having such lovely people on-board our flight. So overall, Chhori was well behaved on the plane and our next big test will now be during our big trip to Malaysia and Nepal next year. Hope it will be as easy as this one.

As I and AS had been to New Zealand multiple times, this time we made sure we knew what we were doing every day in advance. We flew to Auckland and spent a few days in Hamilton and the rest of our trip in Auckland.

When we left Sydney, it was warm and sunny for winter but New Zealand was really cold and chilly. Once we landed, we hired a car and went straight to Hamilton.

Hamilton is a small beautiful city 2.5 hours from Auckland airport. By the time we reached our hotel, it was dark and was drizzling a little. We checked in and were glad to find our rooms were warm and cosy. We ordered our dinner and just rested for the evening as we planned to go to the Hamilton Zoo the next morning.

The next day, we were greeted by a beautiful sunny day and were glad there would be no rain for the rest of our time in Hamilton. Our hotel was next to a golf course so we could see greenery when we opened the window. I felt very relaxed and happy and so did AS and my parents.

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On the other hand, Chhori was too excited discovering new rooms, opening every drawer and cupboard :). It definitely made us realise how much we have done at our own place to childproof the rooms. We don’t have to worry at all to leave her on her own in our apartment but at the hotel, it was hard to be constantly making sure she didn’t hurt herself or break something.

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After breakfast, we drove towards the zoo . I was driving that morning and, it was a breeze to drive there in comparison to Sydney, no road madness and no crazy drives. It made me realise it may be a great idea to live in a small city where getting from one place to another is not a big headache.

I will write about our trip to Hamilton Zoo in my next post.

Till then take care and have a great day.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO