The Queen and I

Queen Elizabeth II has been the figurehead of the Commonwealth since 1952.
Lets now examine her aging process. Her DOB was 21/4/1926 btw.
Her pic on the Australian coin has been updated a couple of time over the years.
Her pic on the 1980 coin reveals a younger woman, prob in her 40s, with a slender but strong-looking neck.

In 1985 coin pic, she changed her crown, put on ear-rings, and has slightly curlier hair. She seems to have put on a bit of weight.
The 2006 coin pic shows the most drastic change for her aging. Her face is also rounder, and she is wearing yet another crown.

Everybody loves the old lady. The CHOGM (Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting) event provided a great opportunity for her fans to meet her in person.

In this "Big Aussie Barbeque" event where the would be present, thousands of fans(me included) gathered from all over WA.

This was what I thought I would see:
The Queen in her royal horse carriage or open-air vehicle, driving down the streets, and waving at her fans... She will be wearing her classic hat which matches with her blouse...
(pics taken from various newspapers)

We waited and waited....for her arrival.
Streets were condoned off, police patrolling, fences erected...

Damn it!
She did not bring her own carriage to Perth!
Instead, she arrived in a black rental vehicle.... disappointment...
Perhaps her security team felt that the UV rays in Perth was too strong for an old lady like her, thus no open-carriage vehicle.

Either way, she still got off the car and greeted her fans...
She still looks very healthy for an 85 year old lady.
Walked around the area for abt 15min, waved at her fans, and made her speech.

This Big Aussie BBQ event was actually held at the Esplanade and Langley Park. With over 100 BBQ pits, each hotdog cost $2 and each bottle of drinks cost $1. Proceeds will be donated to charity.

CHOGM Protest

CHOGM (Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting) is a biennial event where representatives of Commonwealth countries (Singapore included) come together. The last time it was held in Singapore was in 1971. This year, its in Perth!

Naturally, when important pple come together, and the media's spotlight is on, the protesters will come out to get themselves heard. What a golden opportunity right?

Its interesting to witness such protest, as I dont get to see such things back at home.

Right here in the city centre, hundreds of pple gather. Of which, prob 70% are pple like me, just watching and joining in the fun.

Many of them take the stage to give short speeches of what they are unhappy about. The mike is passed around and every protester only has abt 2 minutes. The funniest thing is, there is no common theme. Protester A can be talking about human rights, 2 minutes later, Protester B takes over the mike and talks about environmental conservation. Another minute later, Protester C talks about housing policies......
In short, EVERYONE IS PROTESTING ABOUT EVERYTHING

We have the gay/human rights gang

We have the free-the-refugees and anti-custody pple:

We also have the environmentalist:



We even have the communist party:

and other "literature"

As this is a peaceful protest, the police are just standing at a corner observing...

Milky Way

According to Wikipedia:

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky. The term "Milky Way" is a translation of the Latin for "milky road", Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek kyklos galaktikos or "milky circle", "milk" also being the root for the Greek word for Galaxy.
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000 light years in diameter containing 200–400 billion stars. Depending on its structure the entire galaxy has a rotational rate of 1 per 15 to 50 million years.
(This pic is taken from Wikipedia)

Here's a camera trick I learnt from a friend. To try to take a photo of the Milky Way, you have to
1. Select a cloudless night
2. Put your camera on a tripod / floor or any other support which is completely still
3. Set the Appature to open for abt 10 seconds.
4. Take a photo using timer mode. (So that you wont shake the camera when pressing the shutter button)

Got a glimpse of the Milky Way... look closely at the middle-right portion of the pic.

Aviation Museum

Welcome to Perth's Aviation Museum
There is a model of a Spitfire (forgot what series this is) at the entrance.
This museum mainly features (older) military aircraft used during the 60s during the WWII.





There's also a huge collection of model aircraft figures
... some military uniform..
(This is a Nazi general's uniform)

..other WWII gadgets
and memoirs..

Here is the best part of the day:
On the way out, I bought a Walls Magnum ice-cream to beat the hot afternoon sun.
There was this promotion going on..

Yup, and i won another ice-cream!!!
Haha, 2 ice-creams for the price of 1 !

Bells Rapids - Revisited

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my first trip to Bells Rapids was quite a disappointment.

Now in Spring, the river is filled with water again. :)



Canoing and white-water rafting activities going on...


Another view of the bridge, this time with water beneath it.