Beautiful waterfront.

Impressive skyline.

Inside the Marina Bay Sands.

To the casino. We didn’t go in cos the minimum age is 21 and Singaporeans/PRs have to pay $100.

The iconic 3 buildings.

Helix bridge linking to promenade. This is modelled over the double-helix DNA strands, and at intervals there are lights on the ground with the letters A, T, C and G, standing for the components of DNA. A little tacky though.

View from the top of Crown Plaza. Adelaide has so few tall buildings that this is a relatively rare sight.

Group picture.

Outside the stadium.

They had a free reception lunch for international students. When we reached, it was almost over; we just had time to grab a few bbq hotdogs and drinks. As we were leaving the hangar for the stadium, they gave out Port Adelaide memorabilia such as the football, programme guide, waterbottle, etc.

At the entrance of the stadium.

At the spectator’s stand.

Unfurling the flag at half-time.

Close up view of the match.

Kind of looks like the engineering/science buildings in NUS – 70s building, function over form.

The university is on a hill so you can look down into houses below.

Climbing a tree. =)

There’s a lake in the middle of the campus.

First up was the seahorse farm. Petting a seahorse, what’s not to like about that? Unfortunately, it cost more than we expected (I thought it was free), and no cameras allowed? Nah, just a quite snapshot of the entrance, and we’re off to the next destination.

Next up was the lighthouse. Entry to it is free if you buy the maritime museum ticket, which we did.

The old machinery can still be seen in the lighthouse.

The view from the top of the lighthouse. There was a school group on a trip today.

The original lighthouse lamp.

The maritime museum was next. Their main attraction is a life-sized replica of a boat. Visitors can climb onto the boat and visit all the sections of the boat.

The maritime museum is not all about the past, though. There is some decidedly modern apparels in its “swimwear through the ages” exhibition.

They also have a collection of working old toys/amusement machines.

At the basement of the museum, there is a section chronicling the immigration of people to South Australia. South Australia was a free colony (i.e. all the immigrants were not prisoners), unlike other parts of Australia which started as penal colonies.

There’s a recreation of the condition on the boats that took months to sail from Europe to Australia. It was a cramped and uncomfortable conditions that the poor immigrants had to endure for months – the richer ones of course got the better class of cabins and sailed in luxury.

I decided to watch the parade. Unfortunately, not many people were interested in such stuff, and the early hour (it starts at 9.30am) didn’t help. In the end, just Song Ping and I went. It was a fantastic experience, to see so many people lining the roadside where the parade takes place, and the clapping that started from the very first marcher and never stopped till the last one had finished. From the young, the old, and even infirm participants who were pushed in wheelchairs, one gets a sobering sense of perspective about how the ravages of wars cut across all generations.

There were veterans from the recent Afghanistan/Iraq war, but also veterans who fought in Singapore and Malaya during the Japanese occupation. Some of the earlier units had only a few veterans left alive, but even if there was just one left the unit flag is present, held by boy scouts.

They also allow relatives of war veterans to march in the parade. The relatives wear the veterans’ medals on the right side; the left side is only for the person who received the medals personally. Unfortunately, the many relatives in the march probably means many veterans have died.

The sense of pride, honour and sadness invokes a unique blend of feeling. The drizzle that started in the middle of the parade, and the fact that no one left the roadside for shelter, adds to the sobriety of the event.

More pictures available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/innumerabilis/sets/72157624459376647/

The interesting thing about Tea Tree Plaza is that buses get there via an “expressway” of sorts – the O-bahn.  The O stands for omnibus, while bahn is the German word for road. It is a guided busway, where special small wheels at the side of the bus will lock onto the tracks, and the driver just has to step on the accelerator without steering. The tracks will guide the bus automatically. This road/rail combination means that buses can go up to 100km/h. I verified the speed using my phone’s gps, and indeed at straight sections the speed can hit around 106km/h.

Meeting point.

River red gum, which lived 1500 to 2000 years ago. It died about 500 years ago.

This cast iron pavilion was originally a greenhouse where tropical plants were kept. It turned out to be a bad idea because the moisture corroded the iron and made the whole building structurally unsound. Finally, in the new millennium, extensive renovation and preservation efforts were made, and now the pavilion  houses dry, cactus-like plants.

After lunch, it was off to the Parliament House of South Australia. This plaque, laid in 1834, heralds the beginnings of SA Parliament.

First chamber we went to. Australia has a bicameral parliamentary system, but I wasn’t sure which was which. Anyway, this chair looks impressive but it belongs to the Speaker. The real seat of power (Premier’s seat) is the first one on the left side of the house.

The other chamber. This chamber was part of the wing that was built later, when they had run out of money, so it is a lot less ornate than the other one.

The corridors are full of statutes reaching back decades.

The façade of Parliament House.

One good thing is they have this metal contraption (and wooden chairs) for beginners – you can hang onto them while you shuffle awkwardly around and you wouldn’t fall flat on your face.

Everyone else in the bigger ring. They all seem so pro. -_-”

Besides the skating rink was this, er… furniture cum old props store. Lots of interesting displays!

They even have flying props hanging from the ceiling.

More parts of the shop.