We have a new prime minister

To my surprise, I read in the newspaper this morning that 'we' are likely to have a new prime minister today. I just came back from tennis, and I hear on the radio that the current prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, has stepped down. He will be replaced by Julia (nice name!) Gillard. This is an historical event as it is the first time Australia has a female prime minister. She is not married, no kids and she was born in the UK.

Could this have something to do with the World Cup soccer? This morning, Australia beat Serbia with 2-1. Despite winning the match, they are out of the tournament because Germany beat Ghana. Only a few hours later, the prime minister (a man) has to step down to be replaced by a women. That's more than a coincidence..

I don't understand Australian politics. This makes a move to a new country always interesting because you learn a lot of new things. Australia is a western country and at first sight there are not much difference between the countries. But the longer I live here, the more differences I see.

In the Netherlands, a political party does not have the right to replace its prime minister. I don't have a clue how that works here. I guess it's time for an online fast course Australian politics.

Thirty seconds and a Google search later I know the answer. According to the website of the “Parliamentary Education Office” (www.peo.gov.au) the prime minister of Australia is member of the parliament. He is chosen by the party (or parties) with the most seats. And yes, this party can vote against the prime minister and replace him or her by another candidate. This explains what happened today.

I like Kevin Rudd, he seems to be a very friendly person. I think it's a shame he has to go to make room for Julia Gillard. The things that I notice most about her are her heavy voice, strong Australian accent (I'm not sure what to make of her accent because she is originally from the UK), her big nose and red hair. Sorry, but for the time being she does not get my vote.

Its dark outside ..

I don't want to sound depressed but I guess I suffer from the "dark days before Christmas syndrome". This is not surprising because the days in Sydney are extremely short this week. Today it was already pitch dark at 4.50 p.m. Its also raining. Yes, enough reason to feel very depressed.

I remember how lovely it is to be in Holland right now where the sun sets around 10 p.m. Even in December in Sydney, when its summer, it won't stay light that long. This is definitely something I miss.

From now on the days will become longer again. Luckily I can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. In December, the sun will set at eight p.m. This doesn't make the days as long as in Holland but it gets close.

Dutch soccer in Sydney

Last night the Dutch played against Denmark. We watched the match in the Holland House in Darling Harbour.  It - almost - felt as if I was back in Holland. Lot's of orange and of course the Dutch food specialities 'bitterballen' and 'kroketten' and Grolsch beer. 

The Holland House is located next to the Fifa Fan Fest area. I can't help to feel sorry for the people who try to organise such a big event in a country where the majority of the people is NOT interested in soccer.  The average Australian likes rugby or cricket, not soccer. The main supporters are the immigrants from Europe (Italians, Greeks, British, etc.). The fact that Australia lost it's first match big time (0-4) does not help a lot, I guess.

Canberra

This weekend we visited Canberra. We didn't really know what to expect but as a newcomer to the country we felt we had to go to the Australian Capital to know what it is really like. We went this weekend on a very short two day trip. It's 300 kilometers South West from Sydney and the road is not very exiting. It's just one straight line and you hardly pass any towns. The trip took us a little more than four hours because we took the tourist route in an -unsuccesfull - attempt to make the drive a little bit more adventurous.

The city itself is not very attractive. There is a big lake which is nice. Despite a few attempts we were not able to find a city centre. The other thing was that we didn't see a lot of people. Because of the long weekend many people must have left the town to visit friends and family elsewhere.

The best thing about going to Canberra are the museums. We visited the National Museum of Australia on day one and Questacon, a technology centre for kids, on day two. The kids loved it and so did we.

I don't think it is worthwile to stay in Canberra for a long time. But a short visit to see the museums is definitely worth it.

The National Museum of Australia

Long weekend

This Monday Australia celebrates the birthday of the British queen and everyone will have the day off. Although the ties with the UK are not as strong as they used to be, Queen Elisabeth II is still the reigning queen of Australia. Long live the queen!

The weather will be good. It better be after all the rain of the past few weeks. In the morning it's chilly, this morning it was only 7 degrees in Sydney. In the evenings I use a blanket to keep myself warm but right now I enjoy the sunshine outside.

In a minute I will take my bike to go to the shops to get ingredients for an Aussie pie, the favorite food here. Tonight I will try to make one myself. The recipie does not look to complicated.  I will post a picture of the pies on the site tonight. 

A last thing. This is the headline of the article on the Dutch elections in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning: 'Dutch voters give anti-Islamic party boost'. It is unfortunate that it is also a boost for the reputation of the Dutch!

Where to watch the soccer world cup in Sydney

Soccer is not as popular as rugby and cricket but the Australians make an effort to make you believe something different. Sydney hosts one of only six official 'FIFA Fan Fest' sites in the world (see the website). Every match (64 in total) can be followed on one of the four floating maxi screens in Darling Harbour.

The games will start at 9.30 pm, 2 am and 4.30 am. The Dutch team will play the first two games at 9.30 pm which is very reasonable. For sure I will not see the Dutch team playing against Cameroon on June 25 at 4.30 am.

Australia (with Dutch coach Pim Verbeek!) plays it first game at 4.30 in the morning against Germany. I'm not sure how many fans will go to Darling Harbour to see this spectacle. I know where I'll be. 

Monday morning exitement in Sydney

"Oe, oe, oe, ahhhhhh!" A big adult Kukabara just flew inside the house through the open doors. After a few attempts bumping into the glass doors he managed to find the way out. The bird with his very long beak, now sits on a chair on the deck looking at me. He probably expects me to invite him in again. No way.

The owner of the house used to feed the birds sausages. Even though it's been a few months since the birds were fed for the last time, I'm sure they still remember.

Just before my adventure with the Kukabara I had to remove a black house spider with the vacuum cleaner from our window. I just checked the internet and for a second I thought this was a funnel web spider because they look a bit similar. Luckily it's not, but it is not a friendly spider either so I'm glad it's gone. 

Surfing

Today it was very windy with a high sea. But when you go down to the beach you still see lot's of surfers. These are the really cool guys. Peddling until they finally catch the right wave. It can't get more Australian then this I suppose.

Vivid Sydney 2010

To keep the tourists coming, Sydney organised yet another festival, Vivid Sydney.  Lights everywhere and old buildings along Macquarie street in CBD are beautifully illuminated. We went yesterday at 6 pm to see the spectacle. It didn't rain! These are some of the pictures I made:

Wettest May month in Sydney in seven years

This morning I read in our newspaper that the month of May was the wettest month in Sydney in seven years. I'm glad because this means the past few weeks were unusual. I really started to worry.

Today we have a dry day. Thank god! I even managed to play tennis this morning and I just spent some time outside reading a book which was nice. More showers are expected this week. I hope we are not heading for another record breaking rain month.

Due to the rain we have not been able to read our newspaper for a few days because of the very bad throwing skills of the newspaper boy. Instead of throwing them under the car port (an area big enough not to miss) he manages to (deliberately?) make them land exacly in the water stream going down the road resulting in a soaken wet pack of paper. I believe the newspaper boy (we have never seen him.) doesn't like us. The Saturday edition of the Sydney Morning Herald came without the promised car flag for the Australian soccer team (The Socceroos) with Dutch coach Pim Verbeek.