Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Trip to Cowra


The trip to Cowra from Sydney was suppose to be 4 hours and 20 minutes but because of traffic jams, it turned out to be 5 hours! It always bit busy around Kattomba and there were roadworks.

It was such a warm day so perfect for the festival.....except all the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) were finished already!!



It must have been very warm in Cowra in this spring. It looked like Sakura finished about 2 weeks ago. So I was bit disappointed with that but still enjoyed the garden.

Cowra Japanese garden is the biggest Japanese style garden in Southern hemisphere. There were many native Japaneses plants, rocks and beautiful water features.





The entertainments at the festival included demonstration of Japanese sports(ie Aikido) and music. I was expecting to see large varieties of Japaneses style gifts in the garden's gift shop but there wasn't much.

After visiting the festival, I went to Cowra POW camp and the cemetery for Japanese hostages. The cemetery was very quiet. It was very peaceful. Many of the grave stone had age of hostages and some of them were very young. It made me cry. If they didn't have a mind set of being hostage is a stigma, they would have survived.

I spent one night in a town. It was the first time for me to stay in a motel!! I wasn't expecting much but a room was clean and all the necessary amenities were there so it turned out to be ok.

A funny thing was, on the way back to Sydney, I stopped over in a town called Leura. And they seemed to have a lot more Sakrua than Cowra. And it was still blossoming!  It was probably because Leura is colder than Cowra(I coould be wrong)

In the end, I was very glad that I finally went to Cowra after living in NSW for 5 years and I had a good time. It was worth it!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Azuma cafe in Sydney CBD

I only know one Japanese style cafe in Sydney.

It's called Azuma located in The Regent place in Sydney CBD.

Japanese sweets culture is based on French style. Azuma is the only cafe I know where I can eat my favourite Mont Blanc(chesnut cake) in Australia!


Of course other sweets are just as great as Mont Blanc. If you have time to kill in CBD, please visit Azuma cafe. They are open till late.

Azuma cafe
Ground Floor Regent Place Shopping
501 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Review from Smh Sydney

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Spring is here



I came back from Melbourne a couple of days ago. It was nice to see friends and check the trend in Melbourne! It was very sunny and warm day for Melbourne but Sydney is always warmer.

It's been 5 years since I moved to Sydney from Melbourne. Many people ask me which city I like and I always answer " It depends on what you like"

If you like Japanese food, nice weather and beach culture, Sydney is better. However if you like locally designed fashion accessories, clothes, cultural events, art festivals, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Vietnamese food, Melbourne is better.

I do prefer shopping in Melbourne but I love the markets in Sydney. They are everywhere! As some of you may know, I hold a stall at  Kirribilli market occasionally.  I like the vibe of Kirribilli market. Apart from this one, I like Paddington and Glebe market.

I've been trying to get a stall at the next Kirribilli market but their website is not open at the moment. It was suppose to reopen today but it didn't! Hopefully it will open soon so that I can book a stall.

In a mean time, please go to my website or shops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.


(Photo: Sunny morning in Balaclava, Melbourne)