Spring Score

The girls once again participated in the before school orienteering relay - Score. The hardest part was all the event were southside which meant getting up earlier (always a challenge for Ella) and a bit more driving for us. Anyway we made it to all the events.

A total of 7 teams from Aranda join the 25 teams form other primary schools for the series. Score is a mass start relay consisting of two girls and two boys per team. Set at 4 different primary schools, the courses were around 3 - 8 minutes long with a few splits thrown in.

Overall Aranda did exceptionally well with 4 teams in the top ten including a second place. Ella's team came 6th and Katy's was just outside the top 10 in 13th place. The Score series finishes a week before the ACT Primary School Champs hoping to keep the interest and enthusiasm to extend to this bigger event. All looks good for Aranda Primary for a successful championships!

Summer Sport Onslaught

Term 4 has brought with it all the summer sports. I feel that our weekends are now busier than our weekdays! It all begins on Friday afternoon with Ella playing cricket. Her team has had an awesome start to the season winning 5 games from 5 (it took them 2 seasons to win a game!)

Saturday mornings is little athletics down at the local oval. One of the parents does a great job photographing the kids!

We have a bit of a reprieve on Saturday afternoons. First thing Sunday Katy plays futsal which is going well.

Then Sunday afternoon it's a session of silks (more on that in a few weeks with their end of year showcase) and Andy takes the opportunity to climb. By Sunday evening I'm done and ready for a relaxing weekend!

Farewell Singapore

Farewell Singapore - it's been great! Fantastic conference and wonderful adventures with the folks. I couldn't have asked for more. Was glad to be heading home after 7 nights away. Had time for a visit to the Butterfly house in the airport although not many butterflies to be seen...perhaps it was too early!

Meanwhile back in Aston Cres, there was a little too much drama. Number 17 caught on fire around 6.30 pm one night. Andy and the girls were enjoying dinner only to be interrupted by the wailing sirens of the fire engines getting closer, closer and closer. A total of 5 trucks blocked the street. Andy and the girls headed out, along with a hoard of neighbours to have a stickybeak. Luckily no-one was home and the fire put out relatively quickly however the house was significantly damaged. Both girls were upset with the unfolding drama and returned home in tears. For Katy, this scenario was a little too close to home and seemed to occupy her mind for a little while.... got to love the spelling!

Last Night Celebrations

We farewelled our Singapore trip by sipping on a Singapore Fling while enjoying the awesome views from the Singapore Flyer. Soaring 165 metres in the air, this giant Ferris wheel has 28 capsules which are mounted on the outside rim of the wheel allowing for uninterrupted views over Singapore.

The Singapore Flyer, unlike the London Eye, was extremely quiet  - no waiting in massive queues. After being collected from the waiting area, we were ushered straight on the capsule and handed our drinks with only one other couple! Over the next 30 minutes we soaked up the views while the sun sank.

The Future World - An Exploration of an Immersive Digital Universe

Today, we met at the ArtScience Museum. Emerging from the large lily pond below, this architectural masterpiece, has 10 petal like structures radiating from its centre much like a lotus blossom. These petals differ in height but each has a sky light at the tip allowing light into the gallery spaces. Functionally, the lotus channels rainwater 35m down the central atrium to a reflection pond and is recycled back into the buildings plumbing system. With only limited time, our destination was the Future World exhibition, a world of high tech, immersive digital art installations taking one on an exciting journey through different narratives - Nature, Town, Sanctuary, Park and Space.

Sneaking between the heavy curtains, we entered Nature -  a dark long rectangular room evocative of a natural environment which was rendered entirely digitally with the imagery of one work breaking free of its frame and entering the space of another! Apparently there were six pieces of art here. 

The 8 metre waterfall at the far end was hard not to miss however, the first to capture our attention was a blossom tree changing with the seasons. Snow in winter, buds blossoms and butterflies in spring with the butterflies flying out of the frame and across the wall! Known as Life Survives by the Power of Life, this 6 min digital art loop is part of a series of Spatial calligraphy.  What we had assumed to be the blossom tree was actually calligraphy brushstrokes!

Flowers and People Cannot be Controlled but Live Together was another installation highlighting the season of a flower inspired by the cherry blossoms of the Kunisaki Peninsula.  

It was only then we noticed the pattern of the water at our feet! The Universe of Water Particles, was the proper name for the waterfall piece. Not only could you interrupt the flow of water on the floor but we discovered if you stood against the waterfall, the water would run around you as if you were a rock. It was very cool!

As we ventured onwards, we wished the girls were with us. They would have been having so much fun in this place! There was a slide titled Sliding through the Fruit Field, where the kids by sldigin down the slide would create sunshine which would bounce and collide with fruit which in turn would grow more plants and flowers. We decided to take part in Sketch People and Animals. We chose an animal, coloured them in, placed our finished product into the scanner and hey presto our drawings appeared on the wall animated! Our animals reacted to each other and also to our touch!

And our journey ended in Space - Crystal Universe! A piece of art extremely hard to describe but was absolutely amazing! Consisting of 170,000 led lights suspended on rods from the ceiling with mirrors on the floors and walls creating a sense of infinite space. The feeling one got from stepping into the small walkway was completely weird - it was like your brain was telling you that if you didn't step in the correct spot you'd fall into the abyss!  It was too much for Mum, so she wandered around on the outside to view this dazzling display. Again this installation was very interactive - the viewer could select which astrophysical phenomena to be created which then was also influenced one's mass and motion within the exhibition. A truly magical and unforgettable piece of art!

Another Day Another Adventure

Our post conference excursion today involved a leisurely river cruise at sunset. We began our evening, enjoying a pre cruise wine while waiting for the sun to sink a little further. Conveniently located at Clarke Quay a 5 minute walk from our apartment, we hopped onto a bumboat. Historically these large barges were used around the Malay archipelago to transport cargo from ship to shore or vice versa. Today the only bumboats on the Singapore River are those frequented by tourists for sightseeing.

With it's painted eyes to look for dangers in the water we departed Clarke Quay. Although the  bumboat was equipped with an audio track, we missed most of it as it was difficult to hear form our position at the back of the boat. Our 40 minute tour took us on a loop of the three Quays - Clarke, Boat and Robertson.

As we approached Boat Quay with the city skyscrapers dominating the sky with their lights. Dad points out one building, the OCBC building - the building on the far right in this photo. Built in the mid 70's, Dad tells us he was involved in the drawings of this 57 storey (197m) skyscraper!

At the mouth of the Singapore River, we pass the 8.6m Merlion, the offical mascot of Singapore. This mythical creature has the head of a lion (representing Singapore's original name - Singapura meaning lion city) and body of a fish (representing Singapores origins as a fishing village).


Continuing around Robertson Quay, Marina Bay Sands hotel, the ArtScience Museum, the Singapore Flyer and the Helix Bridge all awash in coloured lights and looked spectacular. With the loop complete, it was a mostly direct route parallel to the north bank of the Singapore River back to Clarke Quay.

After alighting, we ambled through the Clarke Quay mall eventually finding the restaurant that Mum and Dad had eyed off during the day. It was an interesting one - a grill crossed with a noodle shop! We were instructed to place our order on the slip provided - ticking the box next to your selection. While waiting for our dinner to arrive Dad decided to sample (a rather large mouthful) from a small dish that looked like sliced cooked onions! Instantly he was in hysterics as the onion had been doused in chilli oil!!! He took some while to recover but that moment for us will never be forgotten :)