Earth Hour 2011

This was our family's very first year to participate  in Earth Hour.  I planned some unplugged activities for our family to participate, from day to night time.  We spent the day just like any other weekend (mostly outside the house and minimizing electricity usage because we unplugged all the appliances except the fridge and ricewarmer).

We had brunch at the Innaloo Shopping Centre because we need to sign a new contract for our mobile phones account at Optus Counter, then we went for a walk at the Kings Park and playing a bit at Jolimont Park, and then attend the afternoon mass at St Joseph Subiaco. Then we went home for dinner and then going out again, this time to the foreshore of South Perth, to capture images of Perth CBD during the Earth Hour.

From its debut in one city in one country in 2007 - Sydney, Australia – 2.2 million individuals turned their lights off to take a stand against climate change, Earth Hour has become a truly global movement, embracing 128 countries and territories in 2010. At 8.30pm on Saturday March 26th, 2011 millions of people around the world (glad we're one of them) will turn out the lights for Earth Hour. This awareness movement is intended to get people talking about the importance of reducing human impact on the Earth. 

We met some people at the Mill Point foreshore. Some had picnic, some of them walks their dogs, some guys fishing at the Swan River, some of them took pictures just like us. We saw some boat and ferries crossing the river. There are partying people on the (chartered) ferry, some just cruising in the dark. Yes it was dark in the foreshore Mill Point because the lights of Kwinana Bridge was off, only dimmed lights from the street and passing cars and train that crossing the bridge.

The CBD during The Earth Hour

Noelle did not seem bored during Earth Hour, she was busily pointing at the sky and said "Stars" and dancing and jumping. I saw the Ursa Minor Constelation and pointed to her. It looked so clear because of minimal lights from the city. Then we (read as ME) sang "Twinkle Twinkle", and theme song of "In The Night Garden" show which says "The night is black, and the stars are bright and the sea is dark and deep".. It was her favourite lullaby, and she doodle on her palm just like in the show. 

We got several pictures, before, during and after the Earth Hour. Most buildings turned off their name sign, including Perth landmarks like Bell Tower and Supreme Court Building. 

The CBD after the Earth Hour

Some people said, Earth Hour is useless, will not make a difference. But I turn off our lights for one hour, as a vote for our planet against global warming.  Despite how you feel about the politically-charged issue of global warming, I am convinced energy conservation is a good thing for our planet, our society, and our personal economies. Earth Hour also provides an excellent opportunity for families to enjoy one of my favorite frugal ideas.

Our Earth Hour was fun, it was cheap but meaningful because I got some quality time with my family. I am determined to do this annually, and as often as we can to saving the energy. I also wanted Noelle to understand what we were doing and why it is important for us to participate in Earth Hour. 

Save the Earth. Together we can. 

jolimont park

today we spent the afternoon at jolimont park. we used to take morning stroll here when we live in wembley. but now that we live in balcatta, we come to jolimont park only on weekend before church or weekdays before pick up my husband at his office. noelle loves to play in the playground, she loves to climb up the stairs and going down on the slides. lately she loves to "read" the letters on the plank which spelled SS Jolly Rogers.

look ma! bunch of letters!

steering the wheel

her expression is priceless..

welcoming autumn!

YAY! finally it's autumn again.. i watched those maple leaves turns from green to yellow-brownsih, soon they will be falling to the ground and leaving the branches leaf-less.. we'll be free from those "toasted" days for the next 6 months.. but i also dread being all wet and cold in the winter.. so ungrateful, ey?

yesterday i managed to clean up noelle's drawers, sorting those summer/too small clothes and finally putting those winter outfits in.. thick knits, long sleeves dress, coats, turtlenecks, skyvvies, tights and gloves.. all she needs now is a new leather black boot.. i was eyeing those clark's boots, but the price tags make me want to scream!

one day on the south beach, fremantle

i really like spending time on the beach, but i dont like sunbathing (i already have tanned skin), or swimming (not knowing the base is a major phobia for me). well, you could call me weirdo i just don't care. i just love beach and you can see i put a lot of beach photos this year :)

when i was younger, i went to the beach to talk to my self. a lot. especially when i was upset. i used to smoke on the beach too, but i hate it when the wind made my cigarette burn faster :(

now i have a kid, i love to take her to the beach, but unfortunately she hates it. it took ages for us to make her feeling at ease on our beach trip. well, she just hates the wind and the sound of the waves. but i won't stop trying. whenever the sun is shining, we'll go for a picnic, in the park or on the beach.

today, we went to south beach, fremantle, about 30km from our house. i "discovered" this beach when i drove catherine harris out and about perth/fremantle/cottesloe last week.

i asked my hubby to go there again for a picnic, because i love the white sandy beach and the turqoise water. also, beach trip would be like a therapy session for noelle :D

the first 20 minutes, she just clinged on me, or her father, 10 meters from the water. when we got a chance to let go of her, she just stood in the sand, did not move even an inch eventhough we said BYE BYE (she hates goodbyes).

and about 10 minutes later, she FINALLY stood in the waterfront. sands on her tiny feet, water brushes her feet, two seagulls stood nearby (too bad they are not in the picture) and she just clapped her hands. she did that when she excited or happy. i just can't wait our next session, kiddo!

margaret river

we spent the weekend at margaret river which famous for it's vineyard, dairy farm and beautiful beaches. it was only a short visit (two day one night) minus 3,5hrs+3,5hrs driving going and back. but the weekend was lovely, and we definitely will come again!

this is where we stayed. i think the hotel was unfair the check in time is 14.00 and the check out time is 10.00. why don't they make it 12-12 just like the other normal hotels? it cost AU155 for the accomodation without breakfast.

the rooms are not in the one solid building, but in two blocks and scattered in small buildings which each had 6 units. we got room number 19 , it was on the ground (thank God because i hate to carry noelle when climbing the stairs). we got a HUGE bed, spacious built in robe, kitchen area (fridge, microwave, kitchen sink, dinnerware+cutlery), bathroom area with sink, shower and separated toilet. all nice and clean. there are 2 set of picnic table behind the fountain.

preverilly beach, 13km from margaret river city centre.

just like the othe cow we saw in busselton, this cowman the moorander by myles and jaquie happ is one of the cow which took part in the cow parade all over western australia. the cow looked like indian cow with those chain and gold plates on it's back, especially the fruity headdress and the make up. sooo bollywood! i think i spotted around 4 decorated cows during our stay in margaret river. this picture taken in leeuwin estate where we had long lunch and of course wine tasting!

our orders took quite some time to make, so the waiter brought a sheet of paper with animal pictures and a set of crayons to make those sticky fingers busy while we're waiting for our order. i observed noelle uses her left hand quite often and you can see she colored with two hands..

our entree was a dozen of oyster kilpatrick, with smoked bacon and red wine sauce. i am not a big fan of oyster but somehow i ate 3 of them.. yum..

my lunch : ricotta and mozarella canneloni with tomato and basil sauce.. double yum! noelle ate some of my canneloni, she just cant resist cheesy meal..

this is what my husband had : ranger black angus scotch fillet, brioche, mushroom dauphinoise, shallot jus. the meat was well cooked, tender and juicy. love angus!!

and this is my desert.. flourless orange cake with sour cream and caramel sauce.. weird combination but it works! noelle ate some of my desert while abenk busy with his raspberry soufle with ice cream.. it was so beautiful looking my husband jump right on it before i got the chance to take photo of his desert :( but in the end, he regreted his decision for not choose the chocolate desert HA!

noelle just had her lunch, finished her coloring activity and started to bite the crayons so we ordered her chips. and you can see the massive pile of chips in front of her, she ate about 10 of it, throwing at least 10 and i decided she need a table manner class.

during our short visit, we managed to buy souvenirs. from left to right on the back : glass markers and 2004 wine from leeuwin estate, chilli + garlic infused olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from olio bello. on the plate : chocolate hazelnut fudge, coffee caramel fudge, banana coated chocolate and peanut brittle. on the right : peach and cream soap bar, aussie map fridge magnet, margaret river magnet.

after the hailstones..

hailstone in the size of golfball

for the second time in my life, i experienced hailstones. the first was when i was living in bandung (during junior highschool), and the second was yesterday. a freaky storm spat various sized hailstones, from the size of ice cubes to tennis balls, freaky wind and freaky rain. me and noelle lounging safely in our apartment. i was busy taking pictures and videos, my baby calmly watching her favourite kid's show at ABC.

the hailstones melt after the storm

several times i saw lightning strike the city, and the power in our apartment like goes on and off for miliseconds. our apartment carbays (with metal roofing) sounds like been thrown by rocks, and alarms from the cars on the carbays, but the owner didn't come to turn in off just in case they got hit by hailstones on the head..

broken window and fly net

i watched the hailstones from our front balcony as well as back balcony. hundreds of hailstones landed at the swimming pool, carbays, balcony, and our bathroom window.. OH NOOOOOO...

i phoned abenk, i told him not to come home during the hailstones because i saw some cars sliding wildly on cambridge street. he did wait for 30 minutes, and arrived at home about an hour later. it was supposed to be a 10 minutes drive from his office at osborne park to our apartment. turns out, herdsman parade and shelby street was flooded. lots of car got jammed and off in the middle of the flood. some SUV's like our car managed to flee the flood and safely back home, like our TReg. :)

can you see the dent?

but in the morning, we found out that our TReg got a few dents from the hailstones. hopefully our insurance cover force majeure like this.

view from our front balcony

and today, every news channel told stories about storm damage. floods, shattered windows and glasshouses, broken car windows, broken cars, fallen trees and ruined gardens, land/mudslides, and almost every traffic light in north-western perth went off so police officer forced to stand at interchange and give direction manually (just like what i saw everyday in jakarta). around 160,000 people left without electricity and many more struggling to cope with landslides and floods, and the insurance people call this storm as insurance catastrophic..

there comes sunshine after the rain..

it was the most powerful storm for more than a decade followed the driest summer ever recorded in western australia's state capital. the gauged recorded the rainfall just about 0.2mm for the last three months, and as wind and rain lashed the city last night about 40 millimetres fell in a couple of hours.

busselton

we went to busselton, small city blessed with beautiful beach, about 230km from perth. it was only a one day trip because we were so fed up with perth :p we leave our apartment at 10.00 and arrived just in time for lunch. we planned this trip just to get the idea of busselton and therapy for noelle and her sound of wave phobia.

you see, in her first weeks, noelle was a sound sleeper. she slept in my arm while i talked to visiting friends with my loud voice and bouncing body because sometimes i laughed out loud. but she didnt stir even a bit. now that she's bigger and older, she hates when her father sneezed loudly (man heavy voice = loud sneeze/cough) or the sound of sirene, people cheering (she screams during ellen show trying to topped the audience!).

and the first time she set foot on a beach was when she was about 7 or 8 months old, and you can tell she hates being in the seashore. she just held me tight and kicking her feet against my body, her body busily moving trying to get me moving as far as possible from water. i thought it was just noelle and her sound-of-waves phobia. and i was right. on other visit to the beach, we did not even touch the water and noelle happily sat on the sand, touching and getting the idea of the beach sand and the wind and the joy of other people on the beach.

but yesterday, she seems to enjoying herself at the beach. she touched the sand, the water brushed her tiny feet and occasionally she touch the water. YAY!!! but i dont want to get my hopes up because i know she act like that because the sea was so calm and the wave just like a whisper.. i really looking forward to visit cottesloe or city beach again before autumn comes.. anyway, the coastal strip was beautiful, clean, fenced by pine trees. the bridge is busselton jetty, a 2,5km walkway and railway from the beach to underwater observing area, museum, souvenirs shop. too bad, the jetty is on construction rebuilding project so that make a reason for us to come again.

glistening water.. lovely lovely beach but next time we have to come early early in the morning to get a crystal clear water. finger crossed!

and here is the famous cow who participate on cow parade all around western australia. this art called "tru blu" by artist voytek kozlowski. i heard the word tru blu aussie and this amusing cow is trully a TRU BLU AUSSIE because it's so aussie!! it was painted in blue and has aussie flag on its left side, and built to mimic a ute, australian name for utility/pick up car. there are another cow on the beach but i forgot to take the picture, the color was like turqoise and has seaweed and fishes painted on it.

this is where we had lunch, the goose.

handsome fisherman (AHEM) standing at the busselton jetty.

i love the scenery, how about you?

pine farm we saw during the trip to and from busselton.

souvenirs from busselton.. mr pingu for noelle, fridge magnet and lovely seashell ring..

when the temperature hit 42°C..

we had long weekend because labor day is a public holiday in WA so we had fun eventhough we didnt take vacation.. the forecast said, this labor day long weekend will be hot and the temperature will be around 40-ies..

we planned to go to albany, but it was last minute idea (wednesday) and all the accomodation (with kitchen/microwave) we preffered all taken :( so, instead of sulking, we went to joondalup and afternoon mass on saturday. on sunday we went shopping at harbour town and have fun at lotterywest playground area (noelle make new friends, zoe, lily, flynn and 1 babygirl). we had domino's pizza and salads for dinner, me free from cooking.. YAY!!!

and on monday, we went to hyde park community fair and home expo (catch up with the gintings) and we felt soooo exhausted because of the hot air and sunrays. the temperature hit 42°C. even the wind feels warm on our skin :( our apartment has swimming pool, and it looks so tempting and finally we swam. uhm, actually we were not swimming, more likely soaking and playing in the water :D

noelle my little dolphin really loves being in the water, she got wringkly toes and fingers and object when i tell her swimming time is over. so i let her play in the water for another 5 minutes.

noelle and papa having splishy splashy moments

SPLASH!!! she just cant wait till wednesday for her waterbabies class...

skyworks 2010!!

hari ini kami bersenang-senang menikmati libur nasional Australian Day! yang senang pastinya abenk (dan pekerja lainnya) karena setelah weekend sabtu minggu, hari senin kerja, eeeh hari selasa libur.. dan bukan hanya di indonesia yang menganut budaya harpitnas, disini juga banyak yang calling in "sickie". selain abenk, noelle juga senang karena ada agenda hiburan gratis dari city of perth buat warganya.. dan yang paling kondang adalah skyworks alias pesta kembang api :)

walikota perth, ms lisa scaffidi (spelling?) bilang, skyworks udah jadi perayaan tahunan besar-besaran selama 26 tahun terakhir dengan tema berbeda-beda (tahun ini advance australia fair seperti yang terpampang di gedung st george's bank lewat lightshow-nya). menurut walikota, australia day adalah hari untuk merayakan karakteristik unik negeri kanguru yang membuat negara benua itu benar-benar istimewa. pesan dari walikota, australia day adalah kebersamaan seluruh warga tanpa memandang perbedaan latar belakang individu, tapi lebih mengedepankan rasa menghormati dan toleransi satu sama lain sehingga semua orang dapat menikmati aussie day.

tapi buat orang lokal, aussie day artinya adalah kesempatan untuk merayakan "keberuntungannya" hidup di negeri terbaik di seluruh dunia. ada juga yang bilang, australia adalah negara multikultural dan aussie day adalah kesempatan untuk mengedepankan aussie heritage dan merayakannya sebagai satu bangsa. yang lain lagi bilang, aussie day adalah kesempatan untuk merayakan segala sesuatu tentang australia dan kemajuannya selama ini.

well, setiap orang boleh punya pendapat beda-beda, buat yang minat bisa klik http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day untuk lebih jelasnya. sementara saya, cukup melihat dan merasakan keriaan warga setempat yang dengan bangga memakai berbagai atribut australia. sempat lho beberapa pemuda yang berpapasan dengan kami mengajak kami high five sambil teriak aussie-aussie-aussie! OY! OY! OY!

o iya, kalau ngelihat bule itu tampak santai dan kurang nasionalis, kali ini saya jadi percaya mereka nasionalis sejati. mereka yang setahu saya nggak pernah ada upacara bendera seminggu sekali, dengan mudahnya diajak menyanyikan lagu kebangsaan australia sesaat sebelum acara skyworks dimulai. selain itu, warganya juga diajak untuk cinta produksi dalam negeri, mulai dari produk segar (buah, sayuran, daging) hingga produk macam furniture, kerajinan tangan yang diberi lambang segitiga hijau bergambar kangguru. sederhana tapi besar artinya untuk memajukan perekonomian bangsa dan meminimalisir ketergantungan produk impor. jadi mbatin, kok beda banget sama sodara-sodara di tanah air? kok nggak bisa kayak orang-orang ini?

australia day adalah hari libur nasional di seluruh negara bagian, diawalil dengan penganugerahan Order of Australia dan Australian of the Year awards, berikut pidato Prime Minister. untuk kegiatan lokal, ada juga seremoni penerimaan warga negara aussie yang baru, kegiatan gratisan untuk keluarga di taman bermain dan taman-taman di sekitar swan river, pertunjukan musik, dan airshow berbagai pesawat sebelum pertunjukan kembang api itu.

berbekal info mengenai acara, cara mengakses lokasi acara, tempat parkir dan sebagainya, dan perlengkapan piknik seadanya, berangkatlah kami dari rumah sekitar pukul 15.00 mampir ke domino membeli pizza, salad dan coca cola botol besar. kami janjian dengan keluarga hengky manoppo untuk ketemu di taman bermain. setibanya di lokasi, tikar piknik langsung digelar dan kami santai-santai (ngerumpi buat ortu dan bermain buat anak-anak) menunggu jam 20.00. sekitar pukul 18.30 kami bergeser dari taman bermain ke rerumputan di bibir sungai, ramai banget! sementara menunggu, warga dimanjakan dengan airshow dari sekolah/klub terbang setempat.

anyway, jam 20.00 acara kembang api dimulai dan berlangsung selama 30 menit. luar biasa indah! sayang kamera pocket kami nggak bisa menangkap indahnya skyworks, bikin saya dan abenk bertekad belajar foto pake kamera beneran.. yuk hunting kamera yuuuk.. :p

sepanjang acara, saya (dan noelle juga) terkagum-kagum dengan kembang api yang beraneka bentuk dan warna ditingkahi musik! saya jadi tertarik dengan kembang api, tapi belum sempat browsing tentang cara kerja/cara membuat kembang api seperti pertunjukan skyworks itu..

all skyworks photos by Hengky Manoppo

special parking spot..

noelle nemenin mama shopping di floreat forum

salah satu hal yg gw suka dari kota ini adalah, tersedianya parkir khusus buat penyandang cacat dan orang tua yg bepergian dengan anak/bayi, yg luaaaas banget... liat nih, parkiran khusus parents with pram alias utk orang tua yg bawa stroller.. tau sendiri kan, bawa bayi artinya pasang carseat di backseat, klo mo keluarin bayi harus buka pintu lebar2 spy orang tua yg nggendong bayi bs keluar dari pintu dengan leluasa.. bahkan si maxicosi noelle ini (aslinya kan carseat buat infant) bs keluar berikut bayinya dgn luas.. bepergian dengan bayi gk ada halangan lagi.. :-) kebayang klo markir di pasar tanah abang blok A ato mall ambasador, yg parkirnya lumayan bikin lumanyun.. ribeet dan si ortu yg bodinya berisi kayak gw pastinya harus narik napas dalam2 biar bs keluar beserta bayinya.. uhm mungkin klo pintu mobilnya sliding, ceritanya jd lain lg hehe

oh iya, klo di shopping centre di suburb malah lebih asik lagi, ada juga parkiran khusus seniors alias warga yg ud lanjut usia.. sering lo gw liat orang2 tua yg umurnya ud 80an, dah tertatih2 jalannya di parkiran, ternyata nyetir sendiri.. bener2 mandiri, gk kayak di indo, umur segitu biasanya dah duduk anteng di kursi penumpang.. parkiran buat seniors ini juga luas, sekilas sama ama buat penyandang cacat, spotnya bukannya persegi panjang, tp hampir bujur sangkar.. klo orang dah lanjut usia, mungkin susah utk parkir di lahan yg sempit jd dikasi ekstra space.. sementara orang cacat, buat buka pintu lebar2 dan nurunin kursi roda yg kadang ditaro di bagian atap mobil.. semua orang jadi mandiri disini..

nah, parkiran khusus itu biasanya deketan sama pintu masuk ato lift basement.. krn orang lanjut usia, penyandang cacat kan cape klo kejauhan jalan kaki..

salut banget sama kota yg care dan toleran sama orang2 dengan kebutuhan khusus. bukan cuma parkiran, moda transportasi pun bisa diakses sama penyandang cacat dan strollers.. apalagi di oz banyak penderita multiple sclerosis (uhm gangguan tulang belakang?? gk tau definisi pastinya, tp mereka ini gk bs bertumpu pada kakinya dgn baik, jd rata2 pake wheeled vehicle, kursi roda yg pake mesin dan bentuknya kayak motor ATV yg manusiawi..). jadi para MS ini bs bepergian jauh dengan bus yg bs keluarin ramp khusus, juga kereta.

mudah2an jakarta dan kota2 di indonesia bs juga meniru hal positif kayak gini.. jadi kota yg lebih "ramah" utk ditinggali..