Category Archives: Australia

My life in Australia

New rules for use of mobile phones while driving on Sydney roads

Posted on November 8, 2012 | 9 comments

As I mentioned in my previous post here, I get really annoyed with drivers who are so careless on the road that they are putting themselves and others in danger. It is not fair that someone is careless and they take the life of some innocent road user or make them injured.

It is a common scene on the road to see a driver holding a mobile while driving. If I could issue fines to these people, I could have made lots of money for the government. Even though talking on a mobile phone while driving is not illegal in Australia, holding it is; but drivers hardly care about these rules until they see a cop car.

But things are changing now. They are making these rules very serious. From 1 November 2012, changes to NSW Road Rules have come into effect. These law changes primarily consist of minor amendments, clarifications and tightening of existing road rules.

Motorists will only be allowed to use a mobile phone while driving if the phone is fixed to a secure mounting or can be used without the driver having to touch any part of the phone. Here are the new rules that were effective from last week. Drivers cannot hold a phone in their hand, other than to pass it to a passenger, and can’t rest it on their legs or hold it between their shoulder and ear.

Provided the phone is mounted in a commercially designed and manufactured cradle, fully-licensed drivers can press buttons on the phone for the purpose to make a call, use GPS systems or listen to music.

Texting and emailing while driving, whether the phone is mounted or not, remains illegal.

I am so glad they are taking things seriously and hope this will help save lots of innocent lives on the road.

Rule states from Roads and Maritime Services’s Centre as below

Use of mobile phones

While a vehicle is moving or stationary (but not parked), a driver may only use a mobile phone to make or receive a call or use the audio playing function:

1.         If the mobile phone is secured in a fixed mounting; or

2.         If not in a mounting, use of the mobile phone must not require a driver to touch or manipulate the phone in any way.

All other functions including texting, video messaging, online chatting, reading preview messages and emailing are prohibited.

The new laws make it clear that a driver in a moving or stationary vehicle (unless parked) MUST NOT HOLD a phone in his or her hand other than to pass the phone to a passenger.

Penalty: 3 demerit points (4 in a school zone) and $298 ($397 in a school zone)

NOTE: Learner and Provisional P1 drivers are not allowed to use ANY function of a phone (including hands-free) while driving.

Police and emergency services vehicles

Police and emergency service drivers may continue to use mobile data terminals in the course of their work to receive job allocations, licensing, registration and other important information.

Visual display units in motor vehicles

A visual display unit (including a mobile phone), which is being used as a driver’s aid function, such as a GPS, may only be used in a motor vehicle if it is secured in a fixed mounting. This mounting must be commercially designed and manufactured for this purpose. It must be positioned in the vehicle to not distract or obscure the driver’s view.

Penalty: 3 demerit points (4 in a school zone) and $298 ($397 in a school zone)

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Posted in Australia, Social Issue

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Melbourne cup 2012

Posted on November 6, 2012 | 8 comments

Today is Melbourne cup here in Australia. Melbourne Cup Day is Australia’s best known horse racing event held on the first Tuesday of November every year. It is an annual public holiday in the state of Victoria but I live in NSW so we don’t have day off. This event is popularly dubbed as “the race that stops the nation”

The main racing event takes place at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria. More than 100,000 people usually attend Flemington Racecourse. Local races are held throughout the country on this day and when the main race of the day occurs at the Flemington Racecourse it is televised on screens at race tracks across Australia. The race is televised live to an audience of about 650 million people worldwide. Many people stop what they are doing shortly before 3pm on Melbourne Cup Day to watch or listen to the main race either via television, Internet or the radio.

At the races, people dress up – many women wear their best or most colourful hats and dresses, with some participating in fashion parades on the field. Marquees are set up for VIP guests, including local, national and international celebrities who attend this festive event.

The guests this year include Prince Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

The other guest includes Mischa Barton, VRC International Style Ambassador Philip Treacey OBE, and the stunning Rose Byrne .

Champagne, wine and gourmet finger foods are usually served on this day.

Many offices across the Australia stop work closer to the time of the main race to celebrate the event. Activities include office parties that feature hat and dress competitions, staff lunches at restaurants and afternoon teas where a television is available so workers can watch the main race. Bets are made on this day – even those who usually do not bet try their luck with a small wager or entry into a sweep, which is a lottery in which each ticket holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse. There are some Australians who deem horse racing as a cruel sport and have been vocal in their protests over the years.

We follow suit like everyone at work and flocked up with hats and fascinators. Like every year, I put on the dress and a fascinator to go with that.

There will be nibbles with drinks during the race .We also did sweep and I have got 3 horses and hope one of my horse will win :).

The Victoria Racing Club expects the crowd at Flemington to reach 100,000 in time for the spectacular Emirates Melbourne Cup at 3pm.

Americain remains favourite for the Emirates Melbourne Cup at $6.20 with the TAB, followed closely by Red Cadeaux ($7.70), Dunaden ($7.90) and Mount Athos ($9.80). (None of them are my horse )

Latest photos from the race course.

Some facts about Melbourne Cup

  • The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 – the winner was the horse Archer. Archer also won the cup the following year.
  • The first cup races were originally run on a Thursday. The race was first run on a Tuesday in 1875, and has done so ever since.
  • The prize for the first Melbourne Cup was a gold watch and 170 pounds cash.
  • The winner of the first race in 1961 Archer is said to have been walked 800km to the course in Melbourne from Nowra, in New South Wales.
  • The youngest rider of a Melbourne Cup winner is believed to be Peter St Albans, who won on Briseis in 1876. Although his official age was not recorded, it is believed that he was 13 at the time.
  • Seventeen horses contested the first Melbourne Cup in 1861, watched by a crowd of 4000.
  • In 1877, the first Tuesday in November was declared a public holiday in Victoria (and is still).
  • The 1880 Cup was the first Melbourne Cup to attract 100,000 spectators.
  • The first woman owner to win the Melbourne Cup was Mrs Edith Widdis, who owned the winner Patrobas in 1915.
  • In 1916, the running of the Cup was postponed by 5 days due to rain.
  • Phar Lap’s win in 1930 was the only odds on winner in history (8-11), and was also the shortest-priced favourite in Cup history.
  • In 1954, ‘Rising Fast’ won the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup treble.
  • The 1958 Melborne Cup race was the first to start from starting stalls.
  • Arwon, the 1978 Cup winner, was from the town of Nowra, as was the first cup winner Archer (1861). In fact, Arwon is Nowra spelt backwards.
  • The race was originally held over two miles (approximately 3,218 meters), but changed to the current distance of 3200 meters following Australia’s adoption of the metric system in 1972.
  • The first camera photo finish was in 1948 when 80/1 shot Rimfire controversially beat Dark Marne (12/1). Although the rider of Dark Marne, Jack Thompson, was sure he had won, the camera said otherwise. However, it was later found out that the camera was out of alignment, and was corrected before the next race.
  • There have been no dead heats for first, but Topical and Gaine Carrington (1933) and Lahar and Zazabelle (1999) have tied for third.
  • The record time for the event is 3 minutes 16.3 seconds by Kingston Rule in 1990.
  • The first northern hemisphere trained horse to win was Vintage Crop, from Ireland, in 1993.
  • In 2002, Jockey Damien Oliver won on Media Puzzle, a week after his brother Jason was killed in a riding fall.
  • The first and only horse to be a three time winner of the Melbourne Cup was Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005). At the same time, jockey Glen Boss becomes the first jockey to win three Cups in a row.
  • The 2006 Event carried 5.1 million dollars (Australian) in prize money.
  • Delta Blues becomes the first Japanese horse to win the Melbourne Cup, in 2006.
  • Bart Cummings has trained 12 Melbourne Cup winners (as of 2010) .
  • Americain became the first French horse to win Australia’s biggest race in 2010.

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Posted in Australia

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Sculpture by the sea

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 18 comments

Each spring, artists from all over the world converge on Sydney’s Bondi Beach to Tamarama coastal walk to showcase their work at Sculpture by the Sea, the world’s largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition. The scenic walk is transformed into a 2km sculpture park with more than 100 works by artists from Australia and around the world.

Sculpture by the Sea began in 1997 with an exhibition held over one day at Bondi Beach and is now an annual event.

I have been going to this event for the last few years and it is a really nice thing to do on a day off as it provides great exercise, spectacular views, beautiful arts and many photo opportunities.

Like every year, this year also, I went to this exhibition with my husband and my friend SS. This year the exhibition consisted of a variety of works from 49 New South Wales sculptors, 28 interstate artists, and 36 international artists from China, Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain, and the U.S.

Every year there are some wonderful arts on exhibit along with some weird one.

I really wanted to go this year for the sunrise but these days the sun rises at 5am so to be there at that time, I needed to wake up at 4am. On weekend, that was not a good plan so we decided to go around 8am. Unfortunately, it was a gloomy day but it wasn’t raining yet.

We started from Bondi and were surprised to see so many people already there. I saw busloads of tourist everywhere. There were also lots of family with young children.

We started of walk from the first sculpture and followed the path along the Bondi beach to the top of the hill. There were many amazing arts there and some complicated ones.

On the top of the hill, there was a tent with mini sculptures so we entered and started looking at the amazing creations. In that time, it started raining heavily and we felt lucky to be inside the tent. The rain stopped within 15 minutes.

After the rain, we continued our walk toward Tamara beach. We saw two award winning arts. It was so nice to walk the coast and finally reach the last art. Overall we had a great day and quite good exercise.

Sharing some photos from the day.

18 Comments

Posted in Australia, NSW - Australia

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The Man Who Sued God

Posted on October 18, 2012 | 15 comments

I was looking to watch a movie last night and I saw one of my friends Facebook’s status: “OMG (Oh My God) is a great movie.”

So I googled and found out that it is a Bollywood movie and it looked interesting so I convinced my husband to get this movie from our local Asian grocery shop and we watched it together.

It is a film about our relationship with God, how instead of being God-loving, we have become God-fearing. How religion has become a business run by god-men  ( referred to as ‘salesmen’) who aren’t in fact very spiritual at all. While I was watching this movie, it came to me that I have watched a very similar movie before and then I remembered that it was “The man who sued God.”

The Man who sued the god (2001) is an Australian movie that I watched a long time ago and I really liked it. But over time I had completely forgotten about it.

The story was very similar in both movies but one aimed at the Hindu religion and other at the Christian religion but both conveyed the same message. My husband loved OMG and I did as well expect a few instances where it was hard for me to understand Bollywood humour and the subtitle didn’t help at those times.

So if you are into Bollywood movies then do watch OMG (Oh My God) but I am sure you will also love The Man who sued the god.

The story in a nutshell is:

Billy Connolly plays Steve Myers, a lawyer who became a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was ‘an act of God’. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and the church under the guise of God, defending himself.

Billy Connolly is excellent, his wit and charm is on display throughout the film and it is very, very, funny, most of the time. The story itself is very intriguing; it successfully provokes your thoughts and captures your imagination with interesting questions.

I don’t want to spoil your fun so please watch either or even both of the movies and tell me what you think.

ou may also like:

*I’m Addicted to Game of Thrones *The Hunger game **Life in a day

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Posted in Australia, Movie Review

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Helensburgh Hindu temple

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 11 comments

I am sure you get the vibe from my blog that I am not a very religious person but I do enjoy going to the temple occasionally. My husband always reminds me how religious my mum is and he finds it a bit surprising that I am not like my mum in the religion department. I always tell him, “If I have a clean heart and make sure that I am not hurting anyone in my day to day life, God will consider me as a good citizen and will be happy with me. There is no need to really visit a temple all the time or pray for hours :)”.

There are not that many Hindu temples in Sydney and most of them are not close to where I live so planning is required to visit one.

From time to time I feel like I should go to the temple and pay my respect so I drag my husband along for some prayer. Last weekend we managed to go to a temple in Helensburgh called Sri Venkateswara Temple. It is around 45 minutes’ drive from my apartment or an hour from Sydney city center (55km). The temple is built on top of a hilly area 400 feet above sea level. It has four ‘praharam’ (encircling corridors). Sri Venkateswara Temple was built in 1978 by the Indian people in Australia as a South Indian-style Hindu temple.

So far there is no Nepali temple in Sydney but they are planning to build a version of Nepal’s famous Pashupathi in Sydney.

At the temple devotees are supposed to leave their footwear outside and wash their hands and feet before they enter the temple. The temple area inside has small shrines for each of the Gods. There are priests performing rituals at each of the shrines at a pre-determined time.

There is a temple counter inside which provides visitors with more information about temple rituals and prayers.  They also sell puja for $15 which goes towards maintenance of the temple. You get a plate of puja which has Sindoor, flowers, dhup and fruits. Also, you can buy diyo (oil lamp) if you want to light just the diyo.

The temple has deities like Lord Venkateswara, Goddess Mahalakshmi ,Lord Chandramouleeswarar, Goddess Thripurasundari , Lord Ganesh, Lord Subrahmanya , Lord Navagraha, Goddess Durgambika , Lord Rama , Goddess Andal , Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma , Lord Hanuman, Lord Garuda  , Lord Sudharsana , Lord Viswakshena , Lord Dhakshinamurthy and Lord Chandikesa.

I have seen lots of South Indian weddings being performed inside the temple in my previous visits.

I know it doesn’t sound so right but I love to go to this temple because they serve a great Indian food in their canteen during weekends. I always have Masala Dosa (made by stuffing a lightly cooked filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices in a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils) and Vada (a donut  shaped dish made from lentils and gram flour or potato) . They are so cheap but so yummy. They do sell other South Indian vegetarian dishes as well but those two are my favourite especially with masala tea (spiced Indian style milk tea).

The temple opens 8am – 7pm, week-ends and public holidays; 8.00am to 12.00pm and 4.00pm to 7.00pm on weekdays.

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Posted in Australia, NSW - Australia

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