Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Eid a la Angelina

PROLOG
"Mama, are we going to Nana's house for Eid?" asked Brad. I let him ask the hard questions as he's always into trouble anyway.
"Ehmmm...we're not. In fact, we'll be going outstation this time around as your Dad and I have to do abattoir duty," came Mama's answer.
I couldn't suppress my excitement and had to open my mouth too, "Where are we going? Are you taking us with you? How long will we be away? You're not sending us to the babysitter again, are you?"
"Whoa! Calm down girl. We are going to a faraway city called Dubbo, about 400km away," Mama said and continued, "To all your other questions, except the last one, the answer is YES!"
Brad suddenly jumped and yelled, "Yahoo!!!!"
"Brad, behave! Or else you'll be left alone at home," o-oh...Dad has spoken.

ON THE ROAD
Frankly, the journey wasn't very exciting. It was indeed a loooooong looooong way from Sydney to Dubbo. Along the way, we passed by places like the Blue Mountains, small towns like Bathurst, Orange, Lucknow, Molong, Wellington before reaching Dubbo in the afternoon. I guess Dad was irrirated by Brad's constant whingeing of, "Are we there yet?" that we made very minimals stops.



Bales of hay in the field - had to convince Dad to stop so we could stretch our legs
among the brownish wonder.

The loooong road to Dubbo - this is what we see all along the way.

Finally, a much welcomed signboard.

Our room was quite nice. We stayed at the Cattleman's, reputedly Dubbo's best hotel. It has three swimming pools and award-winning restaurant.

EID DAY 1
Eid started with prayers at this little mosque (Kotku Mosque) that was established back in 2000.

Breakfast courtesy of the mosque. We get to mingle with the locals.

AT THE ABATTOIR
Then, Mama and Dad went to the abattoir to witness animal slaughtering there. We were left at the hotel as Mama didn't want us to be exposed to the gory scene. The abattoir management wouldn't allow us in anyway. Yeah, what if the shepherd dogs get excited and forgot their duties of guarding and guiding the sheep?

Sheep in the paddock.

Sheep before the slaughter. From these....

...to these...

...and these...

All packed to be shipped overseas.

To be continued....

17 comments:

Kak Elle said...

thats a far away drive for Eid ya?How many cats do you have btw?

Naz in Norway said...

Wow! that's a long drive. I love the name of places in Australia. One day...one day...

Nice pictures too, Meow!

Pi Bani said...

Did you and Brad behave in the car? Or did you 2 end up trying all sorts of tricks to get your dad to stop for breaks?

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Elle,
Two rascals in Sydney - Angelina & Brad, plus four sweethearts in KL - Tom, Nicole, Michael & Nikki.
It's nice to get out of the city once in a while. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Naz,
Most of the names have aboriginal roots. For example, Dubbo means Red Earth while Katoomba means Valley of Falling Waters. Mai la sini....purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pi,
We did threaten to make poo in the car if he didn't stop at the hay field. Ironically, the place was full of flies as there was a dead kangaroo lying by the roadside. Thus, it was a very very short pee-stop instead of poo-stop. hahahaha...purrr...meow!

Anonymous said...

Yum! yum! yum! Grilled lambchops. Grilled leg of lamb. Grilled lamb ribs. Braised lambshanks. All my favourites.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Andrea luv,
We also make lamb curry, lamb madras, lamb kurma, lamb satay and lamb rendang. We even have lamb plush to play with, sheepskin to sleep on and uggboots (made from sheepskin too) to warm our dainty feet. But Mary Had A Little Lamb is not my fav song....har har har...purrr....meow!
Oh, has DAdsy made u eat lamb brain yet? eeeuuuuwwww....

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Dubbo looks like such a quaint, charming little place! I could do without the photos of the slaughtered sheep, though. Trust you had a great time, kitties! Happy Belated Eid!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

CO78,
Yes, you're right! Dubbo is a beautiful place too. It has a small population of just over 40,000 and people are very friendly too. Sorry about the bleeding sheep pix. Watch out for our next installment about this trip. I think you'll like that one more. purr....meow!

kay_leeda said...

Ohh..400kms drive? That's really far mate! Bet you and yr Mama had a great time during eid. Now Angelina, you didn't go disturb them sheep, did you? Dun be notty now, ya hear :)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Kay,
No, we didn't disturb any sheep, just some tigers. purrr.....meow!

Unknown said...

Wow!!! You little darlings are lucky to have your mama take you to places!!!

I dedicated a post to you :

WHY YOU MUST GET A DOG OR A CAT

Check it out, ya?

Take care and have a lovely evening!

Salam

Lee said...

Hi Cat, hey, really interesting pics you posted here.
You know, Malaysian are everywhere....even in Dubbo.
I think only the Artic and Antartic belum ada, ha ha.

Love your pics....actually we did look at Australia and NZ about living there, but then thought Toronto only a buang batu away from Incik Obama's Negeri, also hard to understand Crocodile Dundee's talking..."Sheilas, Billiebongs..."etc, ha ha.
And their "Mate...".

Anyway, love the conversation you had with mom and dad....your Dad ex Special Forces or what? Ha ha, G'day, Lee.
ps, I still want to go visit Alice Springs one day.

Unknown said...

Hi there

Oh dear - I left a comment here the other day but it does not seem to be around. Guess I must have clicked the wrong button. Wanted to let you know that I dedicated a post to you in my blog...Take care and have a good weekend.

Salam

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Uncle Lee dear,
We have a hard time understanding the locals too. Especially when they speak in heavy accents. As for the local lingo, there are many books that we've been learning from. Mama even has a dictionary of Aussie slang.
We haven't been to Alice Springs too so you're in good company. Still waiting if you'll win the $50mn lottery...purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Paula,
We're lucky Mama and Dad took us with them this time. Sometimes I can only dream about their trips. Thank God there are many hotels that are pet friendly in this country, so not too bad. We'll check out the link soon, OK? purrr....meow!