BOLINA FAMILY IN AUSSIE LAND

2009-09-26T17:21:00.015+10:00

I dug up this old photo of Kitchie's 1st Year Apprenticeship class. Standing on the left is their apprentice manager.

A few months back, we enjoyed a 3-course lunch at William Angliss Restaurant prepared by Kitchie's 3rd yr class.

Entree
Main Course
Dessert
These will be the entry for Kitchie's upcoming cooking competition to be participated in by all students in her class this October. She practiced at home and after taking these photos for her written report, her dad and mom dug in, hehe.

2009-09-15T16:52:00.004+10:00

I had a treat for the family on my birthday. I brought them to Melbourne Museum to view an exhibit about Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius erupted.

Click here to view a virtual recreation of a typical Roman Pompeii House. Their lifestyle were very modern considering it was 79 AD.

The body casts were quite disturbing and sobering to see up close. It's a shame as picture-taking inside the exhibit wasn't allowed.

2009-06-27T19:09:00.023+10:00

Off we went to a Chocolate Factory in Philip Island called Panny's.

Replica of Cocoa Pods in trees

A chocolate collage of Dame Edna, a famous Australian comic character

1 tonne solid chocolate

Amazing chocolate falls, mmmm yummy

Michelangelo's David chocolate statue (huh?)

Luke catching some choco shapes coming out of the conveyor belt while Jake tasting some.These were designed by the kids out of a tube-like machine.

There were so many choices of chocolate blocks to choose from, so before leaving we bought what we fancied and we happily went our way.

2009-05-02T16:48:00.010+10:00

We went to Warrnambool, more than 3 hours drive from our place, to take part in a Fishing Event sponsored by the Victorian Government. Warrnambool is a coastal resort and Victoria's fifth largest city. It is at the western end of the Great Ocean Rd. The fishing event was in Hopkins River.

Here, the kids are having a tutorial on how to throw a fishing line.

Among us, Luke was the first one who caught a fish. See him here, holding his catch but had to throw it back in. He was rewarded a souvenir for being one of the early catchers.

Jake catching his very first fish! However, they had to throw it back in the water as it was undersized. It was our first attempt at fishing (except Orly) and we had so much fun that we plan to do this quite often. Hopefully, we can catch some fishes for dinner in the future.

2008-09-26T12:40:00.002+10:00

Jacob joined his school's team to perform at this year's J-Rock event in Hi-Sense Arena in Melbourne City. It is his first time to join such an event and it was very memorable for him and for us watching him perform as well. Around 14 primary schools performed during that night among other nights wherein other schools are scheduled to perform too.

What is J-Rock?

J Rock™ is a performing arts event incorporating dance, drama and design which provides Australian primary school students with an opportunity to express their creativity through music and dance by producing and eight minute performance. The focus of J Rock™ is on students learning the benefits of being active and eating healthy food in a fun atmosphere. Students, teachers, parents and communities work together helping to prepare the school’s performance reflecting the personalities concerns, hopes and dreams of those who create it.

J Rock™ offers students the opportunity to experience the thrill of performing live on stage and the satisfaction of working together in a large team while learning the importance of eating right and being active. The end result is a night of true inspiration and entertainment, displaying Australian children at their best.

2008-09-15T21:07:00.003+10:00

Orly went fishing with a few friends at one of the top holiday spots here in Victoria, LAKES ENTRANCE. Fishing in Australia requires a fishing licence. A fine is imposed if you are caught fishing without one. Fishes caught have to conform to certain measurements required by law, otherwise it is thrown back in the water. A hefty fine if you are caught with undersized catch.

He only brought home about a dozen, as most of his catch were undersized. We enjoyed fish for dinner the whole week!

2008-09-06T15:56:00.002+10:00

Our pet has since grown from the time we got him. He can fit in the palm of a hand before, look at him now!

2008-03-27T21:56:00.005+11:00

We went to the Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by Cadbury Chocolate.
The boys enjoyed themselves. It should have been called Easter Egg picking, not hunting as chocolate eggs were spread across the grass. The faster they pick the more they get. The event was broken into age brackets to have a fair go for all children.

Although Kitchie was not able to join as 12 was the oldest allowed, she won 1 of 10 giant chocolate eggs in a raffle where she bought 3 tickets for 5 dollars! The egg weighs 6 kilos! It's almost been a week since, and the egg hasn't been eaten halfway thru yet.

2008-01-25T15:42:00.001+11:00

We had fun touring The Enchanted Maze Garden

Beautiful garden landscapes along with a variety of puzzles
and maze for the kids to enjoy. The kids especially enjoyed
the souvenir shop and bought a few novelties to bring home.

2007-09-14T13:33:00.001+10:00

People appropriately dressed in the 1800's attire. It's like traveling back in time.

Drum roll and some gunshots fired.

Kids pulling the fire engine from the firehouse, if you can call it that

In the schoolhouse with the teacher. It reminded me of Little House on the Prairie tv show.

2007-09-14T13:10:00.000+10:00

We struck gold! Sovereign Hill is a recreated 1850's goldfields township about 2 hours drive from Melbourne City. We forgot to take photos when we were panning for gold, too excited to find gold, hehe...

2007-06-15T12:35:00.000+10:00

Bird-feeding during the summer months. Enjoying one
of the hundreds of bike trails scattered around
Melbourne's suburbs. I had to ride Orly's bike as
Luke is still learning how to ride with his help.

2007-06-14T21:50:00.000+10:00

Taken at the Ford Discovery Center in Geelong

The Bollards

Up on a ferris wheel enjoying the sites of Geelong
which is a 45 minute drive from our place

2007-05-09T00:05:00.000+10:00

Alie at work. She is a Trainee Dental Nurse at a nearby clinic here. The photo is a bit blurry, sorry.

2007-05-08T23:34:00.000+10:00

You can read Kitchie's story in this newsletter. She's the one on the farthest left in the photo.

2007-04-03T22:09:00.000+10:00

Today, a cooking competition was held at the William Angliss Institute of TAFE where Kitchie goes to school once a week as part of her apprenticeship program. She joined the competition for the sheer fun of it and guess what? She won 1st Place for the 1st Year Apprentice students! Her winning dish was called "Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Wine Sauce and Mashed Potato with Onion & Bacon" as seen in the photo above. She was shocked to find herself winning the Gold Medal for the 1st Year Apprentice Students. Winners are lined up to join another competition to be held at another venue. She's quite excited and looks forward to it.

2007-02-22T22:27:00.000+11:00

Kitchie started her apprenticeship in Commercial Cookery this Feb. Here you can see her in her induction to knife skills.

2007-02-09T23:39:00.000+11:00

This was where Kitchie worked for the last few months as a kitchen crew. Taken during the last week of Kitchie's work at Hungry Jack's Fastfood Outlet before she starts her 1st year chef apprenticeship this February 2007.

2007-01-26T15:48:00.000+11:00

Kitchie and Michael having a feel of the snake, Jake and Luke aren't that brave.

2007-01-26T14:55:00.000+11:00

We went to Halls Gap Wildlife Park & Zoo which is a 3 hour drive from Melbourne to the Grampians. The kids had a lovely time feeding and touching the animals. There is an albino kangaroo, lots of deers and kangaroos. You can see Jake feeding a wallaby.

2007-01-19T16:38:00.000+11:00

Orly was recently featured in a site named Expat Interviews.
This website was co-created by my bookworm sister. You can view her profile here and here.

2007-01-02T12:32:00.000+11:00

We spent our Christmas holiday in Sydney. We drove from Melbourne to Sydney for 11 hours with few stopovers to eat and refuel only. It was a nice drive seeing the countryside of Victoria and New South Wales. A bit dry though since it is summertime now.

2007-01-02T12:23:00.000+11:00

Orly's siblings and their families take a break and have their pics taken. Seen behind is the Harbor Bridge, to climb to the top is a long walk and an expensive endeavor, but worth the view. We didn't try it though.

2007-01-02T12:11:00.000+11:00

Of course, we had to have a family picture taken at the famous Opera House. It was a perfect day for a walk and have a great view of the Sydney Harbor.

2007-01-02T11:52:00.000+11:00

During our stay in Sydney, we drove up to Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are named so because, from Sydney, they look blue.

2007-01-02T11:46:00.000+11:00

2007-01-02T11:33:00.000+11:00

2006-12-12T14:17:00.001+11:00

Never have I seen this kind of Christmas Tree, an upside down Xmas Tree! At first I thought that maybe it has been displayed this way due to limited space, but when I saw one in an advertisement from a catalogue we receive weekly, it dawned on me that this is how the way it stands. Dont't ask, but the answer is "I don't know, too!"

2006-11-06T00:41:00.000+11:00

We frequent the bay coz we love to smell the fresh breeze from the sea. Summer is fast approaching and a lot of people enjoy windsurfing at the bay which can be seen at the background.

2006-11-06T00:24:00.000+11:00

One of Alie's creations shown here which we delightfully devoured in no time.

2006-09-11T12:22:00.000+10:00

We went to IMax Theatre and watched a 3D film entitled "Deep Sea" narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. It was nice but ran for 45 minutes only. Since IMax is located inside Melbourne Museum, we visited the museum for a few additional dollars. We weren't disappointed as there were loads of stuff to see.

2006-09-11T12:19:00.000+10:00

2006-09-11T12:15:00.000+10:00

Actual bones of a T-Rex dinosaur. I wonder how much was the cost to buy this.

2006-09-11T12:11:00.000+10:00

Seen at the background are Australia's native animals.

2006-09-11T12:05:00.000+10:00

A pose with a preserved polar bear, king crab and mmmm, i don't know what the other one is.

2006-09-11T11:57:00.000+10:00

Traffic during the earlier decades in Australia was maintained by this colorful contraption.

2006-09-11T11:51:00.000+10:00

This massive machine is Australia's first computer. It had a capacity of 2,000 bytes and its power consumption was 30,000 watts! Those were the days...

2006-09-11T11:45:00.000+10:00

I could not help but admire these beautiful crystals inside a rock formation. These crystals can be appreciated more when viewed under dim conditions because they are luminous and glow in the dark.

2006-09-11T11:40:00.000+10:00

Taken at the Discovery Centre in the museum where a variety of collections can be viewed such as fossils, preserved birds and bugs, australian coins, minerals, etc.

2006-09-11T11:32:00.000+10:00

Luke making some free art at the children's gallery of the Melbourne Museum.

2006-08-28T14:04:00.000+10:00

We went to Scienceworks Museum where the kids and adults alike had fun exploring science in everyday life. It was like a huge educational playground inside. We watched a presentation in the Planetarium located inside the building entitled "The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" narrated by Harrison Ford who had a mesmerizing voice. Now, how cool was that?

2006-08-28T13:50:00.000+10:00

Orly having fun at the Pumping Station located beside the Scienceworks Museum

2006-08-28T13:43:00.000+10:00

Look! We are building a bridge

2006-08-28T13:33:00.000+10:00

Jacob operating a mini backhoe.

2006-08-28T12:22:00.000+10:00

Luke discovering what happens inside a vacuum cleaner, as well as what consists of the average household dust.

2006-08-14T17:15:00.000+10:00

Taken at the Exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's Machines at Melbourne Docklands. We could not resist taking a photo beside the greatly admired Monalisa portrait. Would have bought a Monalisa portrait, unfortunately, it was already out of stock. We didn't want to go home empty handed so we bought a copy of The Last Supper (I got the last copy on the stand)

2006-08-14T16:49:00.000+10:00

One of Da Vinci's design of a flying machine based on the principle of flapping flight with a flexible wing. This design, one of his earliest, consisted of a wooden framework and two movable wings.

2006-08-14T16:26:00.000+10:00

He produced many drawings of flying machines, one of which was the helical airscrew or helicopter. It was a four-winged flying machine that was designed to be driven by one person standing inside it. Leonardo da Vinci was not only a painter, but an engineer, inventor and philosopher.

2006-08-14T16:15:00.000+10:00

From the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci in Italy, 64 interactive models of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous machines consructed by Florentine artisans which are based on Da Vinci's famous codices are now on display at the Waterfront City, Docklands, Melbourne from July to September 2006.

2006-07-18T10:35:00.000+10:00

Jacob and Luke in their winter school uniform. Asking them how school was, Luke found it enjoyable even though he can't understand what was being said at times. Jake's comment was that kids were so loud. They are the only Filipino in their class so they should be able to understand and speak English in a few weeks.

2006-07-04T15:53:00.000+10:00

SALE, SALE and more SALE. Every week we receive these catalogues from different stores being distributed and left in our mailbox. Browsing through the pages and finding some items really tempting, we are heading to KMart on the first day of their July Sale and hope we can buy something we really like.

2006-06-26T10:35:00.000+10:00

Jacob has developed his reading because of the wide array of children's books found in the library. To my delightful surprise, he now regularly reads kids' pocketbooks at home.

2006-06-26T10:19:00.000+10:00

We love to go to the local library where members can borrow up to 25 books at a time. VHS, music CD's and movies (mostly educational) are also available. They have around 15 computers where internet surfing is free except for e-mail and chat, these they charge for AuD2.10 per half hour, yikes!

2006-06-13T18:50:00.000+10:00

View of the Yarra River at about 4 pm. The winter season has officially started and it gets quite dark early these days.

2006-06-13T18:42:00.001+10:00

Still more snapshots of the Business District.

2006-06-13T18:36:00.000+10:00

View of Melbourne CBD as seen on the Observation Deck.

2006-06-13T18:30:00.000+10:00

Alie and Kitchie went to the City on their own and explored some of the places such as the Rialto Tower which is famous for its Observation Deck where you can have a bird's eyeview of Melbourne.

2006-06-07T23:38:00.000+10:00

Is this a duck or a swan? Seems to be too big for a duck, but is it a swan in black? Do enlighten us please...

2006-06-07T22:46:00.000+10:00

Melbourne's first port is Williamstown, located at the mouth of the Yarra River. It is now one of the metropolitan suburbs near Melbourne City. View across is the city's Central Business District.

2006-06-04T14:14:00.000+10:00

What a big fat fish! You'd love to pat it on the back like a pet doggie.

2006-06-04T14:00:00.000+10:00

This is a large plexiglass fish tank simulating a pond popularly known here as a Billabong which dries up in the summer months.

2006-06-04T13:51:00.000+10:00

Overhead tank with lots of huge manta rays and sharks. Taken at the third underground level of the aquarium.

2006-06-04T13:14:00.000+10:00

Facade of the Melbourne Aquarium

2006-06-04T13:09:00.000+10:00

Jacob's profile against Melbourne skies. Air is so fresh and clean. No trace of smog, what a relief!

2006-06-04T13:02:00.000+10:00

Boats cruise along the Yarra River for a fee. This is a must ride for tourists.

2006-06-03T16:41:00.000+10:00

Taken along the Yarra River at St. Kilda Road. It's quite cold at this time, around 15-16 degrees.

2006-06-03T16:34:00.000+10:00

Trams at the background ply Melbourne City and surrounding suburbs.

2006-06-03T16:25:00.000+10:00

Flinder's Station is the yellow building at the back which has an underground train stop. On the left side, trams can be seen. These trams are one of the major transport operating around Melbourne City and its nearby suburbs.

2006-06-03T16:15:00.000+10:00

Taken at Melbourne City. At the background is the Visitor's Centre wherein information on Melbourne City and regional Victoria can be found.

2006-04-07T20:36:00.000+10:00

Daytime Melbourne, along the Yarra River

2006-04-07T20:27:00.000+10:00

Melbourne at night