January 21, 2007

One morning at Southbank

Today, we decided to go to Southbank, a buzzing popular local attraction near the CBD. Dh's officemates had been recommending it to him but we never got to go as we were always interested in going somewhere else. Well, since there were some activities held in conjunction with The 5th Asian Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery, I thought it was a good idea to have a look at the area. We parked our car at the basement and had a brekkie, then decided to stroll along the river bank. We didn't have a glimpse of any gallery or museum when dear son saw there... an artificial manmade beach near the river, and our program to see the gallery went haywire. Play dad took out wetsuits for the kiddos and after a change of clothes , they were all set to hit the water. They stayed there for hours. Luckily, there was a craft market nearby and I had a stroll with baby. I bought him a big hat to protect my precious baby from the glaring sun and sent him back to have some fun at the the beach.
There were some interesting things at the market. One lady was selling some locally made olive oil and spices. I am a sucker for Mediterranean food and had to see what was on offer. She demonstrated how to eat the dukkah. Use a toothpick to pick up some bread ( cut into bitesize pieces) , soak it into some olive oil and then dunk it into the dukkah spice mix. Yummy. I bought some dukkah and olives straight away. I also had a look at a stall that was selling swimwear with UPF 50. Full body attire swimwear is the rage in Oz to avoid over exposure to the sun. Funsunwear. The lady was willing to measure me and make a tailor made and full body cover swimwear for me. I had to take a raincheck. I already had a burqini I bought from a ahiida.com dealer.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those swimsuits (the funsun wear ones) are very well made. Just out of curiosity, how much did the woman charge for the full outfit? I find those burqinis while look really good mashaAllah, way too pricey.

Earthmom said...

I think she quoted $50+ for top and $30+ for bottom. I had to hurry at the time but remember thinking that is half the amount I paid for burqini. *sigh*

Blabarella said...

I haven't yet donned the hijab (Insha'Allah, one day!) but when I saw CNN's coverage on the burqini, I thought it was awesome! It's good that someone has come up with something like that so that Muslim women too, can enjoy the sun and surf! Although I'm not exactly a water-baby myself, and will be quite happy to just sit by the beach and read a book!

Earthmom said...

Yep. there are more choices now.I half regret not being about to swim during my teen years coz there were lack of a better body cover swimsuit.I could not bring myself to wear a one piece swimsuit (that does not cover the legs) in public as it is totally not me. However, during Uni , my seniors sewed their own modest swimsuits and well.. I just bought one from them and started enjoying lovely swimming sessions again. Tis an awesome feeling.