Saturday, August 23, 2008

AU2008 - Malam Gema Merdeka

Malam Gema Merdeka (MGM) was on again (read my previous post here) and the theme for this year was SPIRIT: Reigniting the Flames of Patriotism. Similar to previous years, the MGM is an event for Malaysians in Sydney to commemorate Malaysia’s Independence.

 

Event poster

 

As usual, a buffet-style dinner was served at Matthew’s Pavillion, University of New South Wales (UNSW), …

 

 All the dishes in one plate

 

… before the cultural musical performances took place at the Science Theatre, UNSW. Check out the opening Chinese dance video here:

 

Opening dance

 

A musical sketch is then performed, telling the story of Joe, who had to make a choice, without realizing that the decision will affect his past, present and future in a very literal manner.

 

Us

 

Coming towards an end, we had the Merdeka Shout, followed by several renditions of the Malaysian national songs and the closing credits for the event, introducing the performers and organising committees.

 

The people behind the scenes

 

Happy Merdeka Day!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

AU2008 - Snowing in Wollongong?

I was in my office at the University of Wollongong when the hail storm came. All of us thought it was raining heavily until we started to pack our bags to leave. At the entrance, we start to see the hail settling down in thick layers, resembling snow. At that moment, I guess everyone was really excited and thought it was snowing!!

 

Hail settling down at the building’s entrance

 

Anyway, as I had to catch the bus back to Campus East, I had to run during the hail storm to the bus stop, leaving footprints in the “snow”.

 

Footprints in the snow

 

As we drove from the University back to Campus East, we could see that the whole area is pretty much covered in white.

 

White soccer field

 

Icy road

 

Arriving at Campus East, interestingly, all the cars were covered in white and since the storm stopped, someone shouted let’s snow fight!!

 

Campus East

 

And so the snow fight begins!!

 

Snow fight!!

 

After all that fun, it actually took several hours before the “snow” started melting. It was an extremely memorable day as it was the first time Wollongong is covered in white!!

 

Anyway, here is a quick summary from the Illawarra Mercury:

After the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning and road weather alert, a storm swept through the Illawarra, dumping hail on several suburbs such as Balgownie, Mount Pleasant, Bellambi, Mount Ousley, Mount Keira and Wollongong Central. The hail blanketed the suburbs in a thick covering, making most of the places as white as snow. Temperatures across the region was reported to drop six degrees in 30 minutes where a warm, sunny morning turned into a cold winter's day. Luckily, although the hail was widespread, it was small enough not to cause damage.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

AU2008 - Fort Denison

I always had this thought in mind where Fort Denison was used as a filming location for action movies where the fort itself either serves as an underwater prison or an underwater research lab. So, I was always eager to check out what the fort is all about. Thanks to Myer and Tourism NSW, as a MYER one member, I get to take a guest along for free to a selection of Sydney’s finest attraction, including Fort Denison.

 

Fort Denison

 

Fort Denison, a small island in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, houses the last Martello tower built during the British Empire. Its tower is also one of only two surviving Martello Towers in the Southern hemisphere. It was built to protect Sydney against the threat of a naval attack by the Russians during the Crimean War of the 1850s. However, construction was completed in 1857, well after the war had ended. Fort Denison is currently well preserved and is now a popular tourist attraction.

 

Situated in the middle of Sydney Harbour, Fort Denison provides visitors a fascinating link with Sydney's convict past and is an amazing lunch venue with stunning harbour views from the island Cafe. In order to get to Fort Denison to join the heritage tour, we had to buy our ferry tickets from Captain Cook Cruises at Darling Harbour.

 

Matilda Cruises Ferries (now operated by Captain Cook Cruises) at Darling Harbour

 

We then boarded the ferry to Fort Denison passing by some of the highlights of Sydney Harbour, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Luna Park.

 

Views around the harbour, cruising from Darling Harbour to Luna Park

 

Our first stop was at Luna Park where the ferry dropped a few passengers while also picking up several more.

 

Luna Park

 

We then cruise below the Harbour Bridge passing by The Rocks and Sydney Opera House into Circular Quay where the ferry again picked up and dropped off some passengers.

 

More views around the harbour, cruising from Luna Park to Circular Quay  

 

Again passing by the Sydney Opera House, we finally arrived at our destination, Fort Denison, part of the Sydney Harbour National Park.

 

Arriving into Fort Denison

 

Nice view from the fort

 

Our national park ranger met us at the jetty before commencing on our heritage tour of the Martello Tower.

 

Entrance to the Martello Tower

 

Fort Denison is one of the last Martello Towers to be built in the world, following their proliferation in southern England after the design's defensive capabilities had been proven at Cap Mortella, Corsica, in 1794. The tower was built to defend Sydney against a possible attack by Russian warships, which never eventuated. Built from 8,000 tonnes of sandstone quarried near Kurraba Point, Neutral Bay, it was named after Sir William Denison, then Governor of New South Wales. By the time the fort was completed, it was redundant.

 

The common interior of the Martello Tower

 

The interior of a Martello tower was divided into three stories. The ground floor and/or basement served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, stores and provisions were kept. A well or cistern within the fort was also used to supply the garrison with water. An internal drainage system linked to the roof enabled rainwater to refill the cistern.

 

Starting off with the basement, we were shown the storerooms and also the traditional lightings used in the tower.

 

The ammo room

 

Going up to the next level, …

 

 

… we arrived at the gunroom. In a typical Martello tower, the garrison of 24 men and one officer lived in a casemate on the first floor, which was divided into several rooms and had fireplaces built into the walls for cooking and heating. The officer and men lived in separate rooms of almost equal size. However, in this case, the first floor has three 8-inch muzzle-loading cannons positioned before the stonework was completed in 1857.

 

The gun room

 

Due to the narrow passages leading to the gun room, the cannons cannot be removed without dismantling the stone work, which may be the reason why the cannons were still in there. We then moved up to the roof level.

 

Views from the roof level

 

In a typical tower, the roof or terreplein was surmounted with one or two cannon on a central pivot that enabled the guns to rotate up to 360 degrees. In this case, the roof level is quite empty without any cannons but spectacular harbour views.

 

 

Going back down to the lawn outside the tower, we realised that they did built several rotatable cannons around the fort, differing from the conventional cannons on the roof.

 

Views around the lawn area

 

After the tour ended, we went back to the jetty to wait for our return ferry back to Darling Harbour.

 

Back at the jetty

 

While waiting, we were invited to have some coffee at the cafe or visit the little information centre/museum that shows some interesting exhibits.

 

Interesting exhibit

 

The other interesting thing about Fort Denison are the toilets that were renovated from inside the existing building.

 

Toilet entrance

Male toilet with a fireplace-behind-glass decoration

 

Finally, our ferry arrived and we boarded it all the way back to Darling Harbour, while capturing in the spectacular harbour views.

 

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