australia – Page 2 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Q – Quay

Published on April 18, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

As in Circular Quay.

Very cool area of Sydney adjacent to the CBD where all the boats dock. You see ferries size boats taking people to Manly and Watson Wharf and cruise ship size boats taking people all over the world. There are several great restaurants in this area and quite a few characters such as this aboriginal performer you see here. No exactly authentic, but entertaining.

Her are a couple more photos of this beautiful area of Circular Quay in the Sydney Harbor.

What I really want to discuss is this word quay.

Why have I never heard of this word before? I had to look it up to see if it meant what I thought it meant. And, it does. It is a pier, wharf, or dock – platform built out into water where boats and ships dock.

The pronunciation of the the word is even more of a mystery. I naturally pronounce it how it sounds, with a “kewa” sound. It is actually pronounced “ki or key”. Or is it? I did more research (love the internet) and apparent there is more debate as to how to say this world then you might think. And, a bit of a surprise considering I have never heard of this word until I arrived in Sydney.

Click here for the great quay pronunciation debate.

Have you heard of the word quay and if so, how do you pronounce it? Are their quays that are called quays in the US?

P – Population

Published on April 18, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

I am always curious about the population of cities I visit. Mainly because when I moved to China, I was fascinated and shocked about the fact that within a 150 mile radius of where I live is the entire population of the United States. Let me spell that out for you. Within a 150 mile radius there are more than 300 million people.

That is just amazing to me.

There are 10 million people in the city of Shenzhen, where I live; 25 million in Shanghai, my favorite city in China, 19 million in Beijing and 8 million in Dongguan where I work. In all there is a total of 1.3 billion people in China. That is a hell of a lot of people.

So, when I heard about the population in Australia, this time I was shocked and fascinated.

There are only 22 million people in all of Australia; 22 million. In a place that has a land mass bigger then the United States there are only 22 million people.

300 million in the US and 22 million in Australia.

The US doesn’t feel overcrowded. At least not where I am from. I figured that Australia would be even more spares. Although 85% of the population live within 50 km of the coast line. In a way it just doesn’t feel like there is a lot of people in this city. We went to play golf today at The Australian yesterday. A private club that was established over 130 years ago. Even though it was raining, we were the only people at the course that day. Even in the rain, you would never find an empty golf course in China or the US for that matter.

Having dinner at any major restaurant in any major city in the world and you would need to make reservations at least a day in advance. For some restaurants you need to make reservations weeks in advance. We had dinner at one of the best seafood restaurants in Sydney. It is called Manta. There was no one at the restaurant. We got right in.

In general, it feels like fewer people are in this city and that is a strange felling for me after living in congested Southern China.

But, there is one other population fact the I believe Australia has every other nation beat. There are more sheep in China then people. I am talking 4x more sheep in Australia then there are people. If the sheep every got together and wanted to take over, they would have no problem.

Moral to this story, keep the sheep happy.

N – New Zealand

Published on April 16, 2012April 16, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

N – New Zealand #atozchallenge
I wanted to do a post on New Zealand for N because I was made aware from my former employees in no uncertain terms that Australians and New Zealanders are not the same. Apparently, there is a big difference between the two countries despite their close proximity to each other. Since I am traveling, I am so happy to have found this great post from leftofthesettingsun.wordpress.com who spelled out the differences perfectly. Check it out.

Left of the setting sun in November

Enough is enough. I’m sick of it, do you hear? Every time I turn on the radio or open a newspaper I’m confronted by some idiot politician or half-wit commentator making some stupid comparison between New Zealand and Australia, invariably at New Zealand’s expense. Generally this is followed up with the immortal threat about everyone leaving here to go there. Well, I’ve done that and come back, and I think it’s a bloody stupid comparison. If you want somewhere to compare New Zealand to, try New Caledonia. Or Jamaica. Or even Ireland. Any post-colonial island nation would make a better comparison than Australia, and they aren’t even our closest neighbour (and we certainly aren’t theirs). Here are nine whole significant reasons why Australia is not New Zealand. Anyone who wants to compare the two countries needs to come up with good reasons why most of these aren’t important.

Money

Australia…

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M – Musicians From Australia

Published on April 14, 2012April 14, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle6 Comments

Icehouse – 80’s pop rock band who had two big hits in the US Crazy and Electric Blue. The former was written by John Oats or Hall and Oats fame.

Crowded House – 80’s and 90’s rock band that found more fans in the alternative scene then the pop scene. The too only had two hits in the US. One of my all time favorite song – Don’t Dream its Over. You might also remember Something So Strong.

Midnight Oil – The champions of one hit wonders. Beds are Burning. I can still see the video and the crazy looking ball headed lead singer and that dance he did. It was such a rally cry song that demonstrated their quest for social change especially in support of aboriginal rights. I still love this song.

Savage Garden – They are a little singsong poppy for my taste but they did have a couple of big hits in the States. I Want You and Truly MadlyDeeply are pretty good. It was a radio station in my hometown of Dallas that starting playing their song I Want You that got them signed in the US. I have to claim it.

INXS– One of my all time favorite bands. I got to seethem when I was fairly young. It was my first concert. I was a hugefan and was really sad when the lead singer Michael Hutchence died in 1997 under suspicious circumstances. My favorite songs are Never Tear Us Apart, Need You Tonight and Mediate (great video).

K – Kangaroo or Koala – Which are you?

Published on April 12, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle5 Comments

Australia’s contributions to the animal kingdom are the Kangaroo and the Koala. Let me interject here for a brief moment to point out that although you have heard the koala referred to as a “koala bear” it in fact is not a bear. It is a marsupial. Both kangaroos and koalas are marsupials.

What is a marsupial you ask?

A marsupial is a mammal of the order Marsupialia, whose young are very undeveloped when born and continue developing outside their mother’s body attached to one of her nipples. Most marsupials have longer hind legs than forelimbs, and the females usually have pouches in which they carry their young.

Yep! I just looked that up. It’s called research.

Besides the fact that both of these animals are endemic to Australia (“research”) and are marsupials. The are also herbivores and can go months without drinking water.

But, that is where the similarities end. While the kangaroos diet is very diverse, koalas eat eucalyptus leaves exclusively.

Kangaroos can jump over 45 feet high but can’t climb. Koalas can climb in trees over 45 feet in the air, but can’t jump. Ok, I made up that 45 foot tree part, but they can climb trees. How else do you think they get to the eucalyptus leaves?

While kangaroos are very gentle social animals who live in groups called mobs, koalas have very little interaction with other koalas. They are socially akward and have low self esteem. Ok, not really. They probably just enjoy being by them selves and they may be alone, but they aren’t lonely. There is a big difference. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Perhaps it has more to do with the fact that koalas spend 20 hours of each day sleeping and resting. They only reason they wake up is to eat.

But, kangaroos can’t walk backwards, so they both have issues to deal with.

What marsupial do I most identify with?

Well, I tend to be lazy and I seem to never have any energy. I like to eat, but I need diversity in my meals. And, I am pretty social. Although, I can definitely walk backwards. Not gracefully, but I can do it, I will admit to the koala in me. But, I strive to be the kangaroo.

Which marsupial are you?

Tag: australia