More than a week ago we made the walk from Bondi to Coogee beach as we also told you in a previous post. From 16 October till 2 November, you could see the outdoor exhibition “Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2008″ where artists from all over the world exposed their sculptors. Unfortunately the exposition is over, but we made a short film to give you a glimpse.

We liked the idea very much of showing the sculptures in this environment instead of a traditional gallery. Most of them fitted in the surroundings very well, like sculptures imitating big toys on a large playground, or a large bubble on the sea, or stones on the rocks, suddenly  spitting water on curious children. Another big difference with an usual gallery was that you could get very close to these objects and even touch them.  This was a kind of cultural event that you can remember for a long time.

This exhibition is organized every year at different location. The next show will be at the beautiful Cottesloe Beach in Perth in March 2009. For more information you can look at the Sculpture by the Sea website.

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Many places in Sydney are being coloured in purple-blue nowadays: it is the flowering season of the beautiful Jacaranda tree. First of all, I have to tell you a short story about me and my relationship with plants. I never felt this kind of enthusiasm about flowers, trees and other plants before. But the truth is, that this all started here in Australia. The whole year long, flowering bushes and trees make you just a bit happier when you are passing them on the street. You can not miss them if you are walking in the city. I have sent a lot of letters and pictures - many about flowers - to my family in the past few months, telling them, that the nature here is absolutely stunning and lovely. At a certain point one of my dear aunties reminded me smiling of that day (this happened a few years ago), when they were talking between each other about the flowers- growing in their gardens-, and suddenly I was wondering loudly and ironically, whether I would be interested in flowers as well in a few years time …

But let us go back to the jacaranda tree. I can say, it is one of my favorite trees here in Australia, because of its castanets-shaped fruits hanging on the branches through the whole year. But the name of this tree has been unknown for us until these days, when it started flowering so purple, so brightly, that we got curious and looked after this tree on internet.

You can find Jacarandas in tropical areas, especially in South and Central America, in India, Africa, etc. Here in Australia -according to Wikipedia - Brisbane  is very famous because of its purple avenues, as well as Grafton because of its Jacaranda Festival held in every October.

The students at Sydney University know the saying: “by the time the jacaranda in the main quadrangle flowers, it’s too late to start studying for exams”. By the way, the tree is also known as `exam tree`. If a flower falls onto your head, it apparently means, that you have failed your exam, unless you catch a falling bloom before it reaches the ground.

Finally, there is an other Australian expression as well, which says: “When the bloom of the jacaranda tree is here, Christmas time is near”.

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Today we made a start with the collection of useful links, just press the “Links” button in the top right corner to see them. This is a start and we will keep updating the list. We would appreciate your help, so if you think that there is link that should be on this page, please leave a comment.

Thank you!

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“The race that stops a nation.” That is how Australian people describe the Melbourne Cup and it really does! Today was the second time I watched this horse race. Last year I did not have a clue what the Melbourne Cup is, but now I know it is big, really big, almost bigger than the U.S. elections. It is the major annual horse race and generally regarded as the most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world, according to Wikipedia. The event is held on the first Tuesday in November, just like the U.S. elections. Actually I thought that Australians are mostly interested in rugby and cricket, but now I think that more people watch the Melbourne Cup than the rugby-league final. Most weekend newspapers came with a special edition dedicated to the race with more analysis and pictures about Master O’Reilly or Septimus than about Obama and McCain together.

The Melbourne Cup is celebrated as a public holiday in Victoria, but we live in Sydney so unfortunately no free day for us. However everyone in Australia stops working when the race is about to begin. Where I work you could by ‘sweep tickets’ during the day and bet on one or more horses. An hour before the race everybody came together in the canteen for free drinks and snacks, all prepared for ‘the Cup’. I think this is different for every work place, last year there was a big lunch and then a whole ceremony of selling and bidding on horses.

I was quite excited to see my first horse race, because I have not been very interested in any sport that is related to horses. More than 100.000 people come together on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. It is also about fashion, wearing your best suit, your most extraordinary hat and get to be seen. But you have to pay very much attention once the race really starts, the horses run almost 60 km an hour, so the whole race takes less than 4 minutes. This years winner is Viewed, who beat Bauer in the closest finish ever as can be seen on the picture

Unfortunately we could not visit the race our self and we had to do with television. Therefore no photo report or video this time, but if you are interested you can watch this video.

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