Woke up early today to start my another 4 days 3 nights trip in Canberra and Sydney. It was 850km+++ from Melbourne to Sydney. But for today, we were just going to Canberra, the capital town of Australia.
On the way to Canberra, we stopped in several town for rest room and some visit.
The first town was Glenrowan. We were here to see the memorial of an evil man Ned Kelly. He was a good man in the beginning, but since he was poor, the police always bullied him and treated him unjustly. Thus, he turned rebellious and robbed some businessman. He even robbed a local bank. The policeman couldnt catch him because he wore in copper clothing to protect himself from bullet. In the end, he get caught because his buddy betrayed him and his ankle was shot. There were no copper pieces to protect his ankle part.
The statue showed how Ned Kelly wore last time to protect himself.
The next station was the hometown of an admiral. We were here to see the submarine used during the World War I.
Third station before reaching Canberra was a town named Gundagai. There was a legend about a dog on the tuckerbox in this town. Once upon a time, there was a business with a dog came to this town. The owner of the dog ordered his dog to look after the tuckerbox filled with food and drink and waited him at this place. But he never come back after that. The dog was hungry too but he did not eat the food in the tuckerbox and it died in the end. The loyalty of this dog touched the residents in this town and they built the memorial for this dog. :)
After a 6 hours+ journey, we reached our destination Canberra. Though Canberra is the capital of Australia, this city isnt as hustle bustle as our capital Kuala Lumpur. It is just the eightth largest city overall. It is quite a quiet city. But this city is well organized. This city was just a small kampong and was selected as the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne.
Lake Burley Griffin.
The lake was given this name after Walter Burley Griffin, a major 20th century architect, who designed the city to be a well planned city. This lake was an artificial lake.
We then visited High Commission/ Embassy area in Canberra. There are high commission of France, Indonesia, Thailand, China, USA, New Zealand, Vietnam, USA, UK, etc in this aread. Sadly Malaysia High Commission isn't here.
Papua New Guinea High Commission.
Singapore High Commission
That was the end of my day 1 in Canberra.
Kick off my day 2 in Canberra by paying a visit to the Parliament House of Australia. The Parliament House was located at Capital Hill. The old parliament house is located opposite the new one. The new one was opened in the year of 1988 to replace the old one as there is insufficient of meeting rooms and seats in the old parliament house. There are 4600+ rooms in the new parliament house.
The old parliament house in the middle (the white building) and the war memorial building at the back.
The handmade ground using the corak of the natives to show respect for them.
We had to undergone a security check before entering the parliament house.
One of the hall.
House of Lords. 上议院. Red colour seats. 12 representatives from each states, 2 native representatives and 2 from the special region = 76 seats
Tuanjie di di and me :)
House of Commons. 下议院. Green colour seat. The number of representatives sent here depends on the population of each states. For examples 5 representatives from Tasmania as there is 500,000 people in that state. The seats keeps on increasing as the population in Australia keep increasing.
With the portraits of Queen Elizabeth.
The hall.
Outside view.
We then paid a visit to the Australia War Memorial. This building was built to commemorate the Australia soldiers that helped other countries to fight for harmony. The Australian soldiers helped Malayan to fight during the World War II too. *Salute for all the soldiers especially for those who had sacrificed their life*
There is a museum for the visitors to understand more about the world war 1 and 2, the clothes and weapons used by the soldiers that time and some videos during the war. I felt grateful to be borned in the peaceful society without any war now. There is a grave inside the building too, one of the unknown soldier was buried there to represent all the soldiers who had sacrificed in the war.
The pond with fire.
Inside the memorial building.
The monument.
That was the end for the Canberra trip. We then headed to another city in NSW, Wollongong (卧龙岗), to visit the largest temple in the Southern Hemisphere, Nantian Temple (南天寺). I felt amazing to see such a big temple in this foreigner country. So proud to be a Buddhist. -/\-
大雄宝殿
里面供奉的五方佛非常庄严，让人看了很舒服，很安心
大悲殿
灵山塔
里面供奉着地藏王菩萨。那尊地藏王菩萨看起来也十分地慈悲庄严
虽然这些殿里都不能拍照，但我现在仍能记得佛菩萨们慈悲庄严的模样。
Looked like lotus. Kind of cactus, perhaps.
One and a half hour from Wollongong to Sydney. Finally we reached Sydney at 6sth in the evening. Check in hotel and had our dinner in one of a Taiwanese restaurant in the Chinatown.
Get ready at 8pm to join the extra night trip. We paid $25 for this extra trip!! We visited the red light area (红灯区) at King Cross and Oxford Street (同志街). We saw quite many pairs of gay couple there. Oops!
We then went to visit the night view of Harbor Bridge (海港大桥) and Sydney Opera House (悉尼歌剧院). I nearly shed a tear when I saw Opera House in real! I saw the picture of it since I was young, and finally I got the chance to see it in front of my eyes! I was so exhilarated that moment!! XD
After that , we went to the casino - The Star. My spirit lifted too coz this was my first time entering the casino!! The guard stopped me from entering until I showed him my passport to prove that I am no more underage. We registered for a member card by using our passport and $20 to gamble. We were quite blur and confusing about all the games in the casino. Luckily there was one handsome staff taught us how to play one of the table game. That was an easy game. I won $30 at first but then at the end I lost all. I felt down. :(
The last destination for the night trip was the Darling Harbor (情人港).
There were 3 Santa Claus with different posing over there.
The Santa Claus climbing up the building.
The Santa Claus lying on the roof, peeking at the passer-by.
The night view. I think the night view at Shanghai and Singapore was much prettier than here as it was brighter and more colourful. The light in Sydney was quite dim actually.
Back to hotel at 11pm, feeling so lethargic and drowsy...
TO BE CONTINUED......
