Category Archives: Australia

My life in Australia

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is Cancer Council Australia’s most popular fundraising event and the largest, most successful event of its kind in Australia.
Across Australia, workplaces, schools, communities and homes join the celebrations with funds raised contributing to vital cancer research, prevention and support services.


In conjunction with eight cancer-fighting organisations, money raised allows the Cancer Council to:
•    Undertake and fund cancer research
•    Prevent and control cancer
•    Provide information and support for people affected by cancer


Every cup counts:

$5 Can help us give a newly diagnosed cancer patient important support and information resources to help them through their cancer journey.

$10 Can help offer free exercise programs to help cancer patients build strength and fitness during and after treatment.

$25 Can help transport cancer patients to and from hospital for treatment.

$50 Can help the Cancer Council Helpline 13 11 20 provide free and confidential information and support on all aspects of cancer.
$100 Can help provide free accommodation to cancer patients, their families and carers during treatment.

$500 Can help fund ground-breaking research into new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

One in two Australians will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85. Look around the room you are in, that is a scary stat. Every 12 minutes, someone in Australia dies from cancer and about 13,140 people will die from the disease this year.

Celebrating its 20 year anniversary this year, Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea plays a vital role in raising money for the non for prophet’s work in research, support & cancer prevention initiatives.

Every year our work participates in Australia’s biggest morning tea and raise much needed funds for cancer research. As you can see from the photos below, our office knows how to feast in style, and everyone was more than generous in bringing food and donating to this very worthy cause.

To make the fundraising more interesting, there is a competition held so people can be more creative. This year the theme was “party” and there was high tea party, kid’s birthday party, white themed party and cocktail party.

Prizes were awarded for:
• Best sweet
• Best Savoury
• Best Beverage
• Most creative

We had a great time feasting and having fun in the name of cancer research. Sharing some amazing photos from today.

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If you would like to support the cause please visit their website.

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North Coast holiday : Coffs Harbour

From Forster, we went to our next stop, Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour is a coastal city located on the north coast of New South Wales about 540 km (340 mi) north of Sydney, and 390 km (240 mi) south of Brisbane. It is a popular sea change destination attracting people to relocate from big cities to smaller towns on the coast.

As we had only one day there, we had our breakfast and went straight to one of the most iconic places in Coffs harbour, the Big Banana, one of the first of Australia’s Big Things (it celebrated its 40th birthday in 2005), with the World’s Largest Banana celebrating the region’s best known export. Coffs Harbour is the hub for a thriving banana industry.

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The big banana was not as big as I expected but we took some photos in front of it and went to the next stop,  camel riding along the beach.

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Unluckily the ride was at least an hour away so we decided to ditch the plan and went on a hike instead to the beautiful Muttonbird Island.

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Muttonbird Island is a great spot for watching birds up close; it’s one of the only easily-accessible places in NSW where the migratory wedge-tailed shearwater nests. It is also an important Aboriginal place, harbouring stories of the Dreaming and a wealth of traditional resources. The island, which is effectively one big hill, is connected to the land via a breakwall alongside the International Marina.

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As we started our walk I could see that the trail seemed too long but as we ascend, I loved the place. All I could see was the green island and blue water. The sun was shining and the day was perfect to spend on the beach.

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A 500m paved walkway runs across the island to the other side. The path was well maintained so it was an easy hike and we saw many people around the island. Finally when we reached the top of the island, we were greeted by a council worker who was there to explain to us about the island and the birds there.

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Home to thousands of wedge-tailed shearwaters, also known as muttonbirds, the island is a protected Nature Reserve. Shearwaters are named for their ability to cut or shear the water with their wings as they skim across the surface. Early settlers called them muttonbirds for their fatty mutton-like flesh.

The muttonbirds spends the Australian winter in South-East Asia and travels thousands of kilometres each year to return to the same burrow on Muttonbird Island in August. The island’s plant cover hides the thousands of burrows and people are urged to stay on the track so as not to damage any of the burrows.

A pair of birds takes turns incubating a single egg and also sharing in the raising of their chick. They forage for food during the day and return to the burrow just after dusk. The muttonbirds leave the island for their annual migration in late April.

There are interpretive signs at the start of the walkway at the bottom of the island and along the path, explaining the lifecycle and habits of the wedge-tailed shearwaters.

The lady was really nice and it was an educational trip.

From top of the island, we could see an incredible 360-degree view across the ocean, beaches, harbour and marina, the city and the mountains. At the end of the walkway is a viewing platform, providing uninterrupted views of the waves crashing onto the rocks and of the Solitary Island Marina Park, which starts here.

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On the platform, there were interpretive signs about humpback whales. Muttonbird Island is one of the best spots on Coffs Coast for whale watching but unfortunately we didn’t see any that day.

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After an hour or so on the top, we decided to descend. As we were walking back to the car park, in the harbour, we saw a lot of of fishes which can be view from the top of the breakwater as the water is so clear.

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Finally we hopped into the car and went for lunch which was to McDonalds that day. Then we just explored the other parts of the Coffs Harbour until it was time for us to move to our next stop, Port Stephens.

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Take care everyone, till the next post

XOXO

M from nepaliaustralian

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North Coast holiday: Forster

Last week on Thursday we had Anzac Day holiday so we took the Friday off and made our own long weekend and packed our bags to go to the North Coast of Sydney with two of our friends.

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On Thursday we stayed at Forster, from there we went to Coffs Harbour and then on to Port Stephens for Saturday. It was a fun weekend and it was perfect weatherwise too. I came back 5 shades darker but I am not complaining.

It was really amazing how much I packed for the holiday as I didn’t know how the weather was going to be. I had both summer and winter clothes in my suitcase. On top of that we had swimsuits, hats, sun screen, towels, etc.

Forster

The drive up to Forster was pretty uneventful.

Forster is a large coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Great Lakes Council LGA, about 308 km north-north-east of Sydney. It was our first time in Forster so we were very excited. The night we got there, we didn’t do much. Just went to a restaurant had our dinner.

Our hotel was close to the city but still by 8pm there was no one walking on the street.

The next morning, it was a sunny day so after breakfast we went for a drive. First stop was Forster city centre to hire bicycles so we could go around the town. It was a great idea as we had heaps of fun going to all the fabulous beaches around Forster starting with Main Beach.

Forster

While we were crossing the bridge that links Forster to another town call Tuncurry, at the middle of way, the water was so crystal clear that we could see fish from the top of the bridge. We stopped there for a while to take a few photos.

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From there we rode on the beaches until it was time for us to return the bicycles. Then we decided to go to the One Mile beach. That is one of the famous beaches in the North Coast of Sydney.

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Luckily we got lost on the way there and discovered new places from where we could see the Nine Mile Beach as well as crystal clear blue water. We walked to many different look outs and captured really great photos.

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It was so surreal that I was seeing this amazing view so close to Sydney which I had seen only in tropical places.

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And finally we landed on one end of the One Mile Beach which had a very high sand slope from where the beach looked amazing. We had so much fun taking crazy photos with the whole beach as the background. We had our fun in the sun and decided to go to lunch.

 We all were very hungry so the burgers and wraps we ordered at Hogs Breath Café tasted so good.

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After lunch we continued to explore the area and ended on Tuncurry Rockpool which is at the end of Rockpool Rd adjacent the southern breakwater in Forster. The area looked really busy as it has showers, toilets, a kiosk, picnic facilities and ocean baths at its eastern edge. We kept on walking the path and saw lots of people fishing. We spend some time sitting on the rocks and enjoying the view.

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From there we decided to go to the Nine Mile Beach and swim before it started getting cold. This is one of the most awesome beaches I have been to. The water was warm and it was shallow at the end so we had a ball chasing waves. We also saw some dolphin frolicking in the wave some distance away. As we were in the water enjoying ourselves, the tide was getting higher and it was getting colder so we decided to call it a day and went back to the car.

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It was a great day in Forster and we were really happy with everything.

We ended our night with pizza and jacket potatoes for dinner.

Next stop is Coffs Harbour, till then take care

XOXO

M from nepaliaustralian

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Holiday in Picture

I am currently on holiday on north coast of Sydney. The place is just beautiful so  sharing some photos.

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Till next post, take care.

M from nepaliaustralia

XOXO

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Bryan Adams Live in concert

One of the concerts I have always wanted to attend was Bryan Adams. I really love his songs and they remind me of my school days. Songs like 18 Till I Die, Everything I Do, I Do It for You, Heaven, Summer of ‘69 used to be our party anthem.

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For those who don’t know Bryan Adams (I think there are many), click here for his biography . As Canada’s best-known ambassador, Bryan Adams has spent the last three decades making music history. He has sold over 65 million records, toured six continents and achieved #1 status in over 40 countries around the world. With hits like, “Cuts Like A Knife”, “Summer of ’69”, “Kids Wanna Rock”, “Can’t Stop This Thing We’ve Started”, “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”, “Heaven” and most recently “Thought I’d Seen Everything”, Adams status as one of the great songwriter’s of our time, has been solidified. He has won MTV Video Music Awards, Juno Awards, Grammy Awards and American Music Awards.

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Last year, he had come to Sydney for a concert but we were in Nepal at that time so we missed it and not long ago he was in Kathmandu but we had just left Kathmandu so we missed again. I was telling my husband, maybe we will never see him in concert again as he is not getting any younger which means he may not have that many concerts organised in Sydney.

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Lucky for us he had a few concerts organised in Sydney and we managed to get the ticket for Friday.

I was already very happy to go and see him as I knew I would love it. I know most of his songs and I had heard that he is very interactive during his concert and I am glad to report that he didn’t disappoint me.

After work, me and AS met up in the city and went to have dinner first. The concert was to start at 7:30 so we wanted something quick and yummy so we decided to eat Korean. I loved my spicy pork with rice and AS enjoyed his noodle with prawns.

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I was really excited so we went to the concert hall at 7:00. There were already many people waiting in the bar and eating areas. We showed our tickets and went inside to find our seats. It looked like people were already there and excited. By 7.30, the hall was less than 70% full. I was surprised that it wasn’t sold out.

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The light went off and Amy Macdonald was on the stage. She introduced herself as a Scottish recording artist. I have to say her voice was awesome and even though I have never listened to her songs, I really enjoyed her voice. After she was done, the arena got really excited as it was Bryan Adams on the stage soon.

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By then the arena was 99% full. It was amazing that so many people knew that Bryan Adams won’t be on stage till after 8pm. Looking around I realised that most of the people there were a bit older than us. I guessed they must have been in their teens or 20’s when Bryan Adams was very famous. And there were younger people like me as well who must have been in love with him from very young age.

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While we were waiting for Bryan Adams to come on stage, there was a display of his twitter account on the huge screen behind the stage. It was really interesting as people started to send lots of funny tweets like, “Someone just farted” and “Marry me Amy”. As I have a twitter account, I also sent a few tweets and captured them on camera. Have a look 🙂

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It was a really good idea to keep us engaged for a while. Anyway, the light of the arena went dim again and it was the man himself on the stage. I was so excited and happy to see him.

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Straight away, everyone was cheering and the amazing night began. He sang all my favourite songs and I didn’t want him to stop. I really have to admit that he is really great even at 52 years to rock the stage like that for over 2 hours. The audience were standing up and swaying to the beats.

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There were also some taking pictures or video on their phones. We could see the whole arena dotted with the lights of the mobile phone screens like stars on a dark night.

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He normally has great audience interaction and this time as well he picked a girl from the audience to help him sing the “Baby When You’re Gone” duet. I wish I could have gone on the stage but this lucky girl from Penrith did a great job singing the song with him. She was just ecstatic to be there with Bryan and was giving him numerous hugs and kisses that many in the audience would have died for.

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After that he started his love songs and I was just blown away. “Everything I do, I do it for you”, “Heaven”, and “Have You Really Loved a Woman” sounded awesome when it was live. It was like he was taking the audience on an amazing journey to the love land. 🙂

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At the end he acknowledged his band members Keith Scott (lead) and Mickey Currie (drums). Mickey Currie was awesome as he played the drums using only bucket and metal plates at one point. Both me and AS were really impressed.

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You’re welcome back to Australia anytime Bryan Adams.

Do you like Bryan Adams? Which is your favourite song?

Till next post, take care.

M from nepaliaustralia

XOXO

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