Everyone was tired yesterday so could not get up until 8:30 AM. But realized that we have only one day to cover other side of Sydney so quickly got ready and all of us are in car by 10:00 AM. We started with Helensburg hindu temple. Drive to the temple reminds us of Tirupathi. The temple sits top a hill which is 400ft above sea level. Beautiful sea cliff and views while driving will really drive you crazy. The temple itself is an amazing architectural structure and a great opportunity to know the traditions and culture of the Hindu society. The temple was extended now with two main parts one is Vishnu temple and other one is Shiva temple but both stay in one compound. I had a great darshan of lord Venkateswara and Mahalaxmi. I like the statue of ‘Seshasailapathi’ just out side the main hall. I think I am blessed to visit this temple in one month’s gap.
We came out and had Prasadam and then straight went to Canteen. Best thing about this temple is not only it is beautiful in itself but also it has a canteen which serves the best and the cheapest South Indian food. We all had Masala Dosa but Mns just had Idly. After the brunch we had Masala tea which was very nice. The canteen is only open on weekends and public holidays.
We took few pictures of the garden, temple, architectural structures and started our drive to Wolloongong. Mns said we are going to Nan Tien Buddist temple. I never been to this place so quite exited as many of our friends said it is a nice place to visit and stay.
Nan Tien is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. It's a great drive with plenty of cafes and vantage points to stop along the way. In no time the grey tarmac and built up towns turn to dark green forests. As you take the turn off for the temple, you are taken through an industrial park, you may wonder what you were thinking until you see the beautiful Pagoda jutting out of the hills in the distance. Serenity is a little nearer. There’s plenty of parking and entrance to the temple grounds is free. You can stretch your legs after the drive around the perfectly manicured gardens which are home to many cheeky little Buddha statues all in different poses. WE took some photos and Nireep is quite exited and gave pose for photos with little Buddha statues. The atmosphere and the weather is quite refreshing there. We entered into the Pagoda area. We can see a single budha and then went inside to see another golden Budha. That room was decorated for chines new year. There was plenty of rice and vegetables around. I asked on of the temple members and they said they mark their new year with rice and vegetables. No matter what your culture is everyone is living for food :0). Hindus also celebrate Pongal with newly harvested rice grains. We came out and started walking to the other side of the temple. We are just following Mns as he was the only one visited this place before.
Such a pleasant environment around the temple I just cannot describe in words. There was a golden tree and a small wishing well. Nireep and Vedu put some money and made a wish. Temple area was very clean even though lot of tourist are in that place. we took stairs and went up to another temple. There are 5 amazing Buddha statues (massive) inside the temple and thousands of gold plated small Buddha’s line the walls. Whether you're Buddhist or not it's well worth a peek inside to enjoy a moment or two of quiet reflection and meditation.
We came out and went to museum. As kids wanted some water we went to the teahouse. I really wanted to sip the kumquat tea but no time so we came out and donated little $ and started walking towards the bell on the top of the hill. The bell is massive and the belief is that each reverberation of the bell will chase away all the lousy experiences, wrong deeds and bad luck. We all had our turns and headed down the hill to car park. This is such a tranquil place to meditate and pray. I will be coming again to this place when I visit Sydney next time. By the time we came out it was 3:30 pm. We went straight to friends place and from there went straight to Vani & Sarathi gari house. They received us very warmly and we had very nice chat at their place. From there Mns took us to Rydes a new suburb to show the new constructions in Sydney.
We headed towards Olympic park. It was very nice. Laxmi garu explained us about each building and where the torch was lit etc. We took some pictures and went to Laxmi gari house. We had dinner there and took photos with whole family. It is always hard to say good bye to dearest friends. We came out and visited students at Citrus. We only stayed there for half an hour. We headed back to hotel room to catch an early morning flight.
We had such a Fun/awesome and hectic trip. I am sure Pavani and Nireep enjoyed their holiday. I really wish to have family holidays more each year.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sydney trip - day 3
Got ready by 9:00 AM and booked a taxi to strathfield station from hotel. Bought tickets and went to city. We went straight to darling harbor. As per plan we booked a water taxi. Pavani and Nireep got excited to sit in the taxi. It started slowly and we got to see the spectacular city view, Opera house, Harbor bridge, Lunar park, cruises, pirate ship, Governors house, rocks one of the richest suburbs of Sydney, Fort Denison, Goat island, breach front, Navy fleet… one after other very close and good look. We got down at circular quay and had coffee. Laxmi garu and Srilu joined us to take ferry to Manly.
Tickets bought for Manly and hopped in to ferry. White sands meet the crystal blue waters at Manly Beach, where it is said to be one of the best areas for surf in all of Sydney.
I did not go out much as I was feeling head ache but Pavani and kids went out and took photos and had heaps fun it seems. I saw all these places I just came for Pavani and glad to see she is having great time. We got down from ferry and there we saw bubble swim guy. Kids started bugging us so we said yes and started looking at them. We had great laughs to see them unable to stand in the water. I am sure $10 is worth spending on this sport. We took some photos and started walking towards beach.
I showed Pavani where mns used to live I Manly and how we spent time with mum and dad in Manly how leisurely I used to take a stroll along the Esplanade during mum and dad’s visit in 2009. We went straight to beach. Even though weather was gloomy many people are in beach. I recollected the memories of dad and his Irish coffee. Kids said they are hungry so we went to HJ to get Veggie burgers. Birds gave us company throughout our late lunch. On our way back to Manly ferry stop, we saw paragliding and thought I must do it atleast once in life time – next time for sure. We came back to city in ferry again. This time I went out and saw the views of Harbor Bridge and Opera house one more time. Took some photos and enjoyed the sun rays falling on the water.
We reached circular quay and met Rama Venkar to collect friends watch. From there went to Strathfield with Laxmi garu. Mns came and picked us for dinner.
For dinner we met Mahi, Vijay and Srikanth at Hyderabad house. We had bajji and nice Indian dinner. I asked mns if we could go to Darling Harbour so that we can see the night lights. As always he said yes. After dinner we went to DH. Jeez.. what a view it is an artificial view but different kind of experience. I wanted to show this to Pavani and Vedanth. When I sat on the steps with Mns I remembered my earlier days in Sydney (1998). We used to come and sit there and chat for hrs. After 15 mins it started raining heavily. For few min I waited in rain to see the harbor water. We started walking back to car and Mahi asked us to come to Citrus so we all went there. We had nice mango smoothie and talked and talked and talked for 3 hrs. At 1:00 AM we went back to hotel room.
Tickets bought for Manly and hopped in to ferry. White sands meet the crystal blue waters at Manly Beach, where it is said to be one of the best areas for surf in all of Sydney.
I did not go out much as I was feeling head ache but Pavani and kids went out and took photos and had heaps fun it seems. I saw all these places I just came for Pavani and glad to see she is having great time. We got down from ferry and there we saw bubble swim guy. Kids started bugging us so we said yes and started looking at them. We had great laughs to see them unable to stand in the water. I am sure $10 is worth spending on this sport. We took some photos and started walking towards beach.
I showed Pavani where mns used to live I Manly and how we spent time with mum and dad in Manly how leisurely I used to take a stroll along the Esplanade during mum and dad’s visit in 2009. We went straight to beach. Even though weather was gloomy many people are in beach. I recollected the memories of dad and his Irish coffee. Kids said they are hungry so we went to HJ to get Veggie burgers. Birds gave us company throughout our late lunch. On our way back to Manly ferry stop, we saw paragliding and thought I must do it atleast once in life time – next time for sure. We came back to city in ferry again. This time I went out and saw the views of Harbor Bridge and Opera house one more time. Took some photos and enjoyed the sun rays falling on the water.
We reached circular quay and met Rama Venkar to collect friends watch. From there went to Strathfield with Laxmi garu. Mns came and picked us for dinner.
For dinner we met Mahi, Vijay and Srikanth at Hyderabad house. We had bajji and nice Indian dinner. I asked mns if we could go to Darling Harbour so that we can see the night lights. As always he said yes. After dinner we went to DH. Jeez.. what a view it is an artificial view but different kind of experience. I wanted to show this to Pavani and Vedanth. When I sat on the steps with Mns I remembered my earlier days in Sydney (1998). We used to come and sit there and chat for hrs. After 15 mins it started raining heavily. For few min I waited in rain to see the harbor water. We started walking back to car and Mahi asked us to come to Citrus so we all went there. We had nice mango smoothie and talked and talked and talked for 3 hrs. At 1:00 AM we went back to hotel room.
Sydney trip - day 2
Got up early morning and got ready by 8:00 AM. Weather was alright. We all wanted to start our day with a visit to temple so started driving to Minto – Mukthi Gupteshwar temple (Lord Shiva) which is under ground and constructed in 1999. Surrounding of the temple is green with grass and trees. I came to this temple in 2009 on the same day with mum and dad. Dad liked it so much. This temple is constructed underground (man made guha) as most of the Shiva linga’ are underground. Hindu’s believe that there are 12 jyothir lingas but Nepal people believe that there are 13 and this is one of them. More information on this temple is available from 
http://www.muktigupteshwar.org/whyaustralia.asp 
Best place in the temple is ‘Saraswathi mandhi’ which is also used for meditation. The whole room is filled with fragmented air and special positive energy. After coming out there are statuses of other lord.
After darshan, we all we
nt to the canteen right next to the temple. We had yammy Dosa with chutney and sambar. Had lots of smiles on the cook and the cloth she used to wipe the barbeque. After brunch, we took some photos and went to other temple next to this premise. This temple was renovated and
looks very big now. There is also a shiva linga under a tree which reminded me of a Indian temples. I met a Fiji man and he offered me a tea. By the time my family came out of the temple I enjoyed the hot tea under the trees.
Weather looked bit gloomy but still we decided to go to Blue Mountains from Minto as it is only 60 kms from there. Half of the drive to Blue
Mountains was in clouds. I felt like I was in Ooty. The Blue Mountains were stunning. They are one of the many places in Australia that’s much easier to see by car. As we wind around the mountain roads, stopping at a cute town here for information and cup of tea. We entered the Katoomba region heading towards the Echo point. The most famous piece of the Blue Mountains can be found in Katoomba as Echo Point. Seeing the Three Sisters from afar is neat, but you can actually hike down to the base of one of the sisters for a dizzyingly spectacular perspective. You can’t actually smell the sweetly m
entholated scent eucalyptus when you’re already up in the mountains but the blue haze for as far as you can see is your first indication that the forests in the Blue Mountains north of Sydney contain such a high density of eucalyptus trees that the air is blue with tiny droplets of eucalyptus oil hence the name Blue Mountains. The Blue colour can be seen very clearly on a sunny day. Today is no exception but half of the forest is covered with clouds. Pavani started enjoying the breeze and the location. I am sure any person will fall in love with this scenery.
We reached the Echo point by 12:30 PM parked our car and went straight up to catch a cable car for the view. Before entering the place, we can see the aboriginal sculptures with three sisters and a man having a splash with water. Those statues are naked and when looked with heart can see the art in it. Kids started laughing at those art pieces – they will understand once they grow up. We took photos there from different angles and went inside to buy tickets.
Our first trip was in cable car with glass opening at the bottom to view the whole mountain region. I was here before but I bet I can come any number of times to this kind of place. I am cherishing and enjoying every min
of my travel on the cable car looking at the scenic spots, katoomba falls, eucalyptus trees, fern trees, three sisters (mountains formed in three parts) , clouds and most of all with my best half. Got down from the cable car and went out to look and take some pictures. What a view…. Words can’t describe the beauty.
http://www.muktigupteshwar.org/whyaustralia.asp 
Best place in the temple is ‘Saraswathi mandhi’ which is also used for meditation. The whole room is filled with fragmented air and special positive energy. After coming out there are statuses of other lord.
After darshan, we all we
nt to the canteen right next to the temple. We had yammy Dosa with chutney and sambar. Had lots of smiles on the cook and the cloth she used to wipe the barbeque. After brunch, we took some photos and went to other temple next to this premise. This temple was renovated and
looks very big now. There is also a shiva linga under a tree which reminded me of a Indian temples. I met a Fiji man and he offered me a tea. By the time my family came out of the temple I enjoyed the hot tea under the trees.
Weather looked bit gloomy but still we decided to go to Blue Mountains from Minto as it is only 60 kms from there. Half of the drive to Blue
Mountains was in clouds. I felt like I was in Ooty. The Blue Mountains were stunning. They are one of the many places in Australia that’s much easier to see by car. As we wind around the mountain roads, stopping at a cute town here for information and cup of tea. We entered the Katoomba region heading towards the Echo point. The most famous piece of the Blue Mountains can be found in Katoomba as Echo Point. Seeing the Three Sisters from afar is neat, but you can actually hike down to the base of one of the sisters for a dizzyingly spectacular perspective. You can’t actually smell the sweetly mentholated scent eucalyptus when you’re already up in the mountains but the blue haze for as far as you can see is your first indication that the forests in the Blue Mountains north of Sydney contain such a high density of eucalyptus trees that the air is blue with tiny droplets of eucalyptus oil hence the name Blue Mountains. The Blue colour can be seen very clearly on a sunny day. Today is no exception but half of the forest is covered with clouds. Pavani started enjoying the breeze and the location. I am sure any person will fall in love with this scenery.
We reached the Echo point by 12:30 PM parked our car and went straight up to catch a cable car for the view. Before entering the place, we can see the aboriginal sculptures with three sisters and a man having a splash with water. Those statues are naked and when looked with heart can see the art in it. Kids started laughing at those art pieces – they will understand once they grow up. We took photos there from different angles and went inside to buy tickets.
Our first trip was in cable car with glass opening at the bottom to view the whole mountain region. I was here before but I bet I can come any number of times to this kind of place. I am cherishing and enjoying every min
of my travel on the cable car looking at the scenic spots, katoomba falls, eucalyptus trees, fern trees, three sisters (mountains formed in three parts) , clouds and most of all with my best half. Got down from the cable car and went out to look and take some pictures. What a view…. Words can’t describe the beauty.
Its one of the 100 things to do in Australia before you die, according to the Australian Traveler.
From there we took a walking trail and god what a beauty. Most of all walking with friends in that walking trail is wonderful. Kids also enjoyed every bit o
f the walk. We found water falls in the middle of the walk and some one said we can drink those water so kids went and had some water from the falls. After 30 min of walk we waited for ropeway and got back to information center. I wanted to go to cable car one more time as first time I missed half of the beauty covered with clouds. This time I was very lucky.
I got the full view of the mountain region and three sisters from cable car. Pavani missed this as she went on train. Returned back and headed towards Sydney. It was raining heavily so we thought we take a break. We got down at a gas station for a cup of tea. From there went straight to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
We decided to go to peak point in sydney for views - planetarium. At 8:45 we started
from the restaurant and went to city by 9:00 we are so lucky as it was 26th of Jan there were fireworks in darling harbour which we got to see. Very lucky in deed because people are waiting there for this event from almost midday and we got to see the spectacular fireworks just like that. We stopped at some road but the view was not as good as from the main road. When we turned right we realized that there was a big cruise ship waiting there. Jeezz it was massive. We took some photos and went back to hotel room crossing the city crowed.
We did not waste even single min of our day today. Such a great fun.
Sydney trip 25/01/2012
Quite excited about the trip to Sydney as this was the first time my lovely sister Pavani visiting Sydney and she waited all these years for us to join her. After landing in Sydney our dear friend Mahi picked us from airport. We asked him to drop us at Darling Harbour as we don’t want to waste even a single day of our trip. The min we stepped out from car it started raining haaa what a lousy weather but I liked it because I can sit in front of Harbour and eat hot pizza. We took kids to a pizza shop right in front of Harbour and ordered veggie pizzas for lunch. Looking at the harbor in rain and eating hot pizza mmmm it’s a different feeling. My sister was upset but I really enjoyed every min of my stay there.
I thought Aquarium is the best place to go in this weather so we went to aquarium. Sydney aquarium is one of the biggest acq in the world. I went there 3 times and I like the sting rays and sharks passing over the glass roof. dugongs (Australian manatee), angel shark, grey nurse shark, leopard shark, black tipped reef shark, starfish, crayfish, Nemo, a few more lego creatures… we saw them all!! Nireep was quite fascinated with the sea creatures.
Myself and Vedu went to wild life hub in darling harbor. We did not go inside as we don’t have enough time. One of the staff is holding a blue tongue lizard in her hands. I dared and asked her if I can touch it? She said yes and I tried couple of times and "touched a LIZARD" aaaaa, I don’t know how I did it but I DID IT. I was very proud of myself. I never went near any insect/reptile my life. Woohooo something to mark in my diary.
It was still raining so we decided to take a mono rail to town hall so that they 
will get a glimpse of the city. We hopped on Monorail and reached Townhall. I showed Victoria building and town hall to Pavani and Nireep. We went on all levels of the building and took photographs of the clock and did some window shopping of the branded items.
We met Ravi garu at the George street train station and went on train to Strathfield to catch up with Laxmi garu and family. Srilu cooked Chocolate brownies for us and they are very yammy. I had 2 of them and had hot tea. Recovered from the strain we had from morning.
My best half came around 6:30 and we all went out for dinner at Taj. Met Mahi and other students at Taj. We had dinner and headed straight to hotel room to check in.
will get a glimpse of the city. We hopped on Monorail and reached Townhall. I showed Victoria building and town hall to Pavani and Nireep. We went on all levels of the building and took photographs of the clock and did some window shopping of the branded items.We met Ravi garu at the George street train station and went on train to Strathfield to catch up with Laxmi garu and family. Srilu cooked Chocolate brownies for us and they are very yammy. I had 2 of them and had hot tea. Recovered from the strain we had from morning.
My best half came around 6:30 and we all went out for dinner at Taj. Met Mahi and other students at Taj. We had dinner and headed straight to hotel room to check in.
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