While I am getting new pictures from our Weekend in the Blue Mountains, I thought I would just share some pictures with you, Out N’ Bout Down Under! 🙂
Note: All images, photographs and content on this post and this blog unless otherwise noted, are © 2014 by Dahni & I-Magine, all rights reserved.
We have been to the grocery store or as they call them here, supermarkets several times since we have been in Australia. Each time, I have seen many products with the name of John West on the label.
So, I thought it would be informative and fun to share some stuff I found with you.:)
Today, John West is a brand famous throughout the world.
In the early 1800’s though, John West was a man; an ambitious migrant from Linlithgow in Scotland who went on to chase gold seams in California, mill the giant timber of Canada and Oregon and most importantly, export salmon to the world.
The first fish John West processed were salted, packed in barrels and shipped from Oregon’s Colombia River to California and then on around Cape Horn to nourish the hungry workers of Britain’s industrial north.
Seeing the potential – and being the inventive and ambitious Scot that he was – John West not only co-founded the Westport Cannery, he devised and built his own automated can filling machine to get it up and running.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
John West has been a fixture in the kitchens of Australia for the best part of half
a century and today is one of the nation’s best loved food brands.
From About Us –
http://johnwest.com.au/about-us
Enjoy these funny YouTube videos 🙂
Into The Woods
Tuna Tempters
Snatch and Grab
Man & Bear
by Donnie Hayden
© 2014, all rights reserved
First of all, you need to know that I know that Susan is and always will be my first and number one LOVE! She knows this and she knows that I know this is true! But there is room in all of our lives for many loves. Thank God this is true, because I now have some new loves!
Yeh, yeh, technically, we are supposed to like stuff or things, but love people. OK then, I have some new stuff thingies that I really, really way really to infinity and beyond really and truly LIKE a HEAPING HELPING OF A WHOLE LOT OK?!!!! 🙂
It all starts with lovely ginger. Delicious, spicy and all, but it has a lot of other uses and benefits.
All of these above are delicious and very beneficial as an aide to digestion, upset stomach, motion sickness and other uses. Australia is full of all kinds of ginger beverages. But to follow is my latest discovery. I don’t much care for the taste of champagne. I never have, until NOW!
OMG, this is absolutely incredible. I’ve have been scratching my head and have come up with my own recipe for making beautiful ginger sugar cubes to add to some champagne. I can’t wait to try this for you when we get home!
Now we move on to Lavender. I love it’s fragrance and calming effect. Lavender grows all around us here in Australia. I love to take a walk and throughly and thoroughly enjoy their nasal delights that are especially fragrant in the air after a rain. But as they say in Australia, “No Worries,” you can always grab a leaf or so and crush it and roll the oil around on your hand and you have instant hand-fresh. Lavender is great for soap and as an air-freshener. But if it is food grade, it is a delicious flavor to add to salads, breads and deserts.
The flowers are beautiful too!
Ever since we were in Japan and I had several cones of Green Tea ice cream, I have been thinking of a way to make it at home with coconut milk to make it more delicious/nutritious with less calories. Now, I am not only excited to begin work on this when we return to the states, but why not Lavender Ice Cream out of coconut milk too?!
Ginger and Lavender can be found in the United States, so why am I so inspired to work with these while here in Australia? For one thing, there is so much of both all around us here. And finally because, it is Australia that has inspired me! Thank You Australia! I’ll send you my recipes when they are to my liking. 🙂
by Donnie Hayden
© 2014, all rights reserved
Well, first off, I do apologize for this post running a little behind. I have been working on several to try and get ahead. We are leaving on Friday, I believe, for the weekend to the Blue Mountains and I’m not sure if I will have Internet/WIFI access until we get back to Camden, Sunday night? So, after today’s post, I will schedule a couple of posts to publish automatically around midnight of Eastern Standard time (EST) in the United States.
For today, On: Trolleys.
I’m not exactly sure, but I think Australians refer to “trolleys” as anything that has wheels and moves including: elevators and escalators, but certainly what we call shopping carts in the United States.
In Camden, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the two local and frequently visited places by the general public, for grocery shopping are: Woolworth’s (not the familiar past 5 and dime department store) and Coles’. This post is about Coles’ and their trolleys (shopping carts).
Have you ever grabbed a shopping cart at the store and it seems like you always get the one that has a flat spot on one wheel and as it rolls it goes frump, frump, frump, squeaks or just doesn’t roll right? Me too! Problem solved at Coles’!
OMG, these have BIG O’ HUGE wheels and roll so smoothly, you check between the wheels and the floor, just to make sure the trolley (cart) is not actually floating over the floor! As shown above, there is one size for quick shopping of a few items or the average size for more items or say, your weekly grocery shopping. I say “weekly” shopping loosely as, it appears just like in Japan, many people shop daily. Like Japan, Australian refrigerators are smaller than in the U.S.A., which seems to suggest that many Aussies shop frequently. They also, as the Japanese, like their stuff, really fresh!
There are, of course, some other carts with baby seats similar to the car seat or child-restraint seats used in most vehicles. The baby seat carts are attached to the trolley/cart and have seat belts.
There are trolleys/carts for those that are walking impaired or challenged.
Then there is another kind of trolley/cart that I have never seen before!
These are much more than just adorably cute! They are constructed with the same quality of materials as all the others. The flags attached are not to advertise the name of the store. The flags are so the adults (any responsible adult) can easily find the kids. And the trolleys/carts are for much more than mere amusement, to keep the children occupied. They are important teaching aides. And they help instill in the child the – “I’m not a little kid, I’m a grown-up,” attitude, most kids desire to embrace. And each child is instructed that if they do not return the cart to the place where they got it at the end of their shopping experience, they will not be allowed to use one next time. That’s a pretty good lesson in personal responsibility, good manners and discipline.
Notice how the little girl is in front, leading her father? Oh, and she is taking this so seriously too, just like an adult! 🙂
Oh, I love these trolleys/carts! They are the best made and the easiest to steer and guide and glide that I have ever seen! And yes, just like in the United States, I’ve seen these in and around the neighborhood. I know of no complaints at Coles’ so, I guess these wandered off trolleys/carts, make their way back home, eventually! 🙂
With all this sincere and honest praise about these trolleys/carts, there is just one problem…
Yes, what’s missing in the above picture? Yes, that’s my foot you see. But there is no bottom rail!!! I can neither be pushed nor run fast and jump on and ride this cart through the store and the parking lot! 😦
I suppose these were built this way because, either my wife Susan told them they should or they just knew I was coming! 🙂
For quite some time, we have been told and have been taught that the world was at some time past, was once, one large land mass in the midst of water, we now call oceans and seas.
Then also, some time ago, the popular catch-phrase – ‘a global village’ was coined to show that the world is really a small place and that we are all connected by some commonality called, “the human race” or simply put, humanity.
Yes, yes, I know that I, as a Koala, am an arboreal (tree hanger-outer) herbivorous (leaf eating) marsupial (pouch carried) mammal (milk fed), Phascolarctidae (the only extant bear that lived in a pouch), cousin to the wombat, native to Australia, and not a human bean! 🙂
But I have made an all-important discovery!
Despite our many differences in language, culture, the many pigments within our skin, our beliefs, economic status, education, intellect, talents and skills and whether we are female, male or a child, we all have much in common. Principally, each of us desire life, liberty and the pursuit of, “happily ever after,” at least every once in awhile.
Oh sure, there are birds and bugs and plants and animals here and where ever your there is that are no place else on earth, and everything I guess got land-locked whenever the great land divide took place, but there is still proof we were once all connected!
And now, for the first time ever, I, yours truly, here in Australia, at almost the bottom of the world or just plainly, here down under, have undeniable and irrefutable PROOF that we were all once connected!!!!!
Note: And I don’t want to hear anything about this being possible because of bird migration either! 🙂
by Donnie Hayden
© 2014, all rights reserved
Well the Camden Show. Where do I begin? The Show was held April 4th and 5th, 2014 in Camden, New South Wales, Australia. I probably took close to 300 pictures and with the exception of perhaps a small handful, I’m pretty happy with the rest of them. Choosing which ones to share and sizing them (down) has been quite time consuming. But I had the time.
Thus far during our stay here, it seems we have some activity on one day, followed by a day of rest. This has worked out very nicely for me. I’m not sure what factor or factors may be involved (my age, physical condition, the high humidity, intense sun or all of the above), but walking a lot and the activities have pretty much left me spent the following day. Adjusting to the time zone and/or jet lag may have made their contribution to my tiredness as well? But nothing hurts, I feel great and enjoy the walking just like we did much of it in Japan too. Days have been really pleasant. The temperature rose during our visit to the show, but was cooled off by the weather-predicted rain or actually, the downpour. It was nice, fun and funny. We were all able to duck into a large tent of interesting demonstrations and wait out the rain.
Well anyway, back to pictures. I have chosen 50, yes 50. That may seem like a lot and they are not because I believe they are such great shots that I want to share them with you, but because they reflect the wonderful Camden Show. It is very similar to any county fair you may have ever been to, but still different. So I will just start with pictures and some text and some captions and see how it goes. Perhaps it will end up with more posts about the show? Here we go.
Show bag shops were everywhere. Very decorative and artistic billboards. You find the stuff you want for a certain price and then put it all in a show bag. There were many of these vendor/shop/kiosks. Very popular with the youts (youths). 🙂
The Common Ground is a totally self-supported and self-sufficient Christian Commune. The support themselves by places like these eateries. We ate in one in Picton Australia where I recorded the Bell Birds. see: Bell Birds here
They make their own clothing and grow their own organic food, some of which they use in their restaurants. Their food is excellent! I believe they have a sister cafe in Ithaca, NY in the United States.
This was an interesting and miniature museum. It was filled with history of the company which is a major producer of rum in Australia. Various shapes of bottles were on display as well as the process involved in how rum is made from raw cane sugar. We even got to taste samples of the molasses. The next picture is of a bottle of rum made to look like one of those pirate movie pistols.
There was something for everyone at the Camden Show! So many different kinds of food, animals, shows, rides, demonstrations and people of all ages having fun. It rained both days and was not perhaps the greatest for the vendors pocketbooks, but it was a wonderful experience. They even put down straw and other materials so people did not have to walk through the mud. That’s was real nice and something I have never seen in the United States at any of the fairs I have ever been to. And the children were all so engaged, curious and their excitement was well contained, controlled and managed. People were all, for the most part, nice, friendly and well behaved. No alcohol was allowed except for the two wineries that gave samples. All in all it was a wonderful time. I was like a young child again. I would have loved every minute of both days, rain and all, but glad for the time I had. It was all eye candy for me. My camera was not unhappy either. 🙂
After we left the tent where we ducked under after the downpour of rain had stopped, we had to take the ardent and difficult task of getting home. WE HAD TO WALK LESS THAN SIX MINUTES TO GET HOME!!! 🙂 Around 9:00 PM, we watched the fireworks from the middle of our street. That was perhaps the closest and best view of fireworks I have ever had. And it was produced by a world class and world renown top pyrotechnical company, F0ti International, based in Australia.
Then two of us walked back to the carnival at night and watched the wild Brunby run. The Running of the Brunby are wild ponies in Australia, similar to the Mustangs of the southwest in the United States. So I will conclude this post with a small Youtube video I made and uploaded.
Final Night of the 2014 Camden Show
by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved
Well, not even a year ago if you would have told me I would be in Australia, I would have been just as surprised then as I am now! Once the reality set in (whenever that was), one thing for sure I wanted to see here (besides grand baby Felix, his Mom & Dad and the animals of Australia) was the Sydney Opera House. I would have been glad, just to see it from the outside and with a further glad, to seeing it inside. I spent several hours on line at http://theoperahouseproject.com/ looking at a timeline of the making of this beautiful architecture. I invite you to click on the link above, do yourself a favor and do the same thing! It is interesting, informative and awe inspiring!!
WOW, were we in for a surprise! Surprise and excitement is really an understatement!!! Why? Well not only would we see outside and inside of ‘The House’ we were treated to a whole day downtown Sydney, a fabulous dinner of fresh oysters and on-and-on, and tickets to a live performance of the world-class Sydney Orchestra and choir! Did I mention or emphasize enough the word, “LIVE’?!”
DESCRIPTION:
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
Powerful, spine chilling and epic. Ridley Scott’s blockbuster, Gladiator, comes to Sydney for its world premiere, and the film score will be performed live in concert by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Lisa Gerrard.
The Sydney Opera House will transform into the Roman Coliseum as Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s sweeping and dramatic score, among the all-time favorites, is brought to life by a full symphony orchestra while the movie is played in high definition live on the giant screen above.
Gladiator, winner of five Academy Awards, and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score – Motion Picture follows loyal Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe – born in New Zealand, but now an Australian citizen), who is betrayed when the emperor’s ambitious son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), murders his father and seizes the throne. His family dead, and reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his emperor.
excerpt from: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/gladiator_with_sso.aspx
soundtrack to: ‘Gladiator’
Now I have seen this movie a couple of times previously, but NEVER like this! There was an intermission where you could move about, get something to drink, go outside and etc., but OMG, by the start of the rest of the movie, I kind of got lost into the music itself and the vocals from the choir and the lead vocals from Lisa Gerrad that actually performed on the original soundtrack for the movie. The timing and the volume and the acoustics of the opera house were incredible!
The performance received and was much-well-deserved of a long, standing ovation! And by the way, the people of Australia generally and genuinely love to dress up when they go out. It was nice to see this!
Many years ago and even before my time, 🙂 the first movies were black and white and before the “talkies” (movies with sound), background music was performed by a sole pianist, some other musician, musicians or a small orchestra. Our experience at the Sydney Opera House was like a trip back in time. By this I mean, the old becoming new again. Obviously we cannot go to the movie, rent one or buy one and expect like “fries come with that,” to count on a live symphony and chorus to show up. But WOW, wouldn’t it be great if this was the common thing!
For me, I have never appreciated the importance of music in a film as much as I now do! And it was just beyond words to express my gratitude for this experience, for the incredible seats and to not only hear this music “live,” but to see the musicians as they played and the vocals as they were sung by such a world-class orchestra, choir and the vocalist that sung on the original soundtrack. All together, this was perhaps a lifetime experience being first in Australia, 2nd in this theater, 3rd to experience the movie/live music/visual display acoustics and to share this with my best friend and the love of my life! And I am thankful that Jonathan and Caitlin our ‘gifters,’ were here to join us and that they had some much needed time together. A big shout out to Wendy that took care of baby Felix, so they could enjoy date night! 🙂
I do apologize for some of the pictures above as they are not to my satisfaction. I have been having some difficulty with my camera recently. Also, the favorite digital media card for many professionals and me is compact flash. Unfortunately, it is a terrible design for downloading via a card reader to my computer. Before I left for our trip, I bought a new card reader so I could download my pictures to our laptop. Yesterday, the pins got bent and I had to get a new reader today. Today was raining so I spent it recouping my energy, and catching up with pictures and posts. I will need to address my camera with perhaps something new after we get home and I find some money or knock out all my teeth so the tooth fairy can visit me big time! 🙂
Sydney Opera House is a marvel of vision and construction. I believe I am correct in saying that each year, Sydney and Australia celebrate this icon in what is called, ‘The Lighting of the Sails.’ This year, the event starts on May 23 through June 9th, 2014. I would love to be here for this, but we will already be home. Each year it is different. I will close with a beautiful picture from http://vividlive.sydneyoperahouse.com/lighting-the-sails/?gclid=CO-Ph9Pixr0CFQUJvAodA7IAIg and two (2) YouTube videos, highlights from 2013 and 2012. If possible, crank up the volume and watch these FULL SCREEN! Enjoy! 🙂
‘Lighting the Sails’ 2013
‘Lighting the Sails’ 2012
by Donnie Hayden
© 2014, all rights reserved
Being in Australia, I thought I should share some music. What better songs than ‘Down Under’ by the 80’s Australian band, Men at Work and a childhood favorite, The Kookaburra Song by Marion Sinclair in 1932.
“Marion Sinclair wrote the song in 1932 for a contest being held by the Victorian Girl Guides.
The competition was for an ‘Australian round’ song. Her song, the Kookaburra Song won and was introduced by Marion at the World Jamboree in Frankston, Victoria in 1934. It was instantly a hit with the girls and has become a much loved song all over the world.
This is a fun children’s song. A gum tree is a name for the eucalyptus tree. There are more gum trees than any other kind of tree in Australia.
Lawsuit
The Kookaburra song was involved in a copyright dispute with the Aussie band Men at Work over their song (I come from the land)”
excerpt from: https://alldownunder.com/australian-music-songs/kookaburra-song.htm
The Song, ‘Come from the Land’ or simply ‘Down Under’ had a flute riff which the Australian Court ruled is an infringement of the copyrighted tune, ‘The Kookaburra Song.’ Despite the controversy between the two songs, and even former members of ‘Men at Work,’ both songs are wonderful and are shared here via YouTube videos. But first, what does a Kookaburra look and sound like?
Now for the lyrics and followed by the video of, ‘Down Under.’
“Down Under”
© 1980 by Men at Work
written by Collin Hay and Ron Srykert
Travelling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said:
“Do you come from a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover.”
Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscle
I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
And he said:
“I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover.”
Lying in a den in Bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, “Are you trying to tempt me?
Because I come from the land of plenty.”
And he said:
“Oh! Do you come from a land down under (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover.”
Even though this video is about 14 years old and was filmed during the Olympics in 2000 in Australia, note both the familiar icons on stage and the enthusiasm of the crowd. They (the Aussies) loved this song, seem to connect to it and it was treated as an almost unauthorized national anthem. The term Down Under is a colloquialism referring to all things Australian, New Zealand or just one or the other. it is also known as “The Land Down Under” for its position in the southern hemisphere. This is because when one looks at a map in the most common way, Antarctica at the ‘bottom’ of the page, north appears to be “up” and south; “down.”
By the way, it rained this evening then cleared off. I am not a star specialist nor do I know the difference between the big and little dipper, but the sky was full of stars and what ever ‘dipper’ I was looking at, I have never seen it appear so close!
Anyway, despite the term “down under’s” wide usage, it is rarely used by Australians themselves, many of whom regard it with some derision. Nevertheless, Australians are not above using it themselves, as exemplified by Men at Work song “Down Under” which has become a patriotic rallying song. Australia’s most famous boxing champion, Kostya Tszyu, was nicknamed as “The Thunder From Down Under”.
According to Roger Ebert, “No film set in Australia is allowed to use the word Australia in its title where “Down Under” is an acceptable alternative. For example, we don’t get The Rescuers in Australia or Quigley in Australia.”
And now for the childhood favorite the world over, The Kookaburra Song.
Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!
Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Eating all the gum drops he can see.
Stop Kookaburra, stop Kookaburra
Save some there for me!
Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Counting all the monkeys he can see.
Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra
That’s not a monkey, that’s me!
Here is another video that I thought you might also enjoy.
“G’day mates and ma-tesses!” Well, we’re off to the Land Down Under.
So waltz Matilda and tie me kangaroo down sport, we’d put some shrimp on the barbie for you, but I don’t really think they say this in Australia?
“Shrimp on the barbie” is an often-quoted phrase that originated in a series of television advertisements by the Australian Tourism Commission starring Paul Hogan from 1984 through to 1990. The actual quote spoken by Hogan is “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you”, and the actual slogan of the ad was “Come and say G’day”. It has since been used, along with some variations, to make reference to Australia in popular culture.”
excerpt from:
gatheringplace.blog 