by Aushra
Last week I decided to rent a car and head for a drive to the 12 Apostles for an overnight camping trip. Never mind I went alone, in fact I really made the most of it! Taking the inland route the drive was about 3 hours – quite straight in fact comparing to the intense windy Great Ocean Road. Though toward the end you do get to drive on part of the Great Ocean Road as well. After reading a […]
by Aushra
Australia Day 2019 inspired me to visit the Immigration Museum of Melbourne. It was very interesting to discover personal stories of immigration, the challenges and the joys, most of which are experienced by immigrants even today. Writing this blog brings a shade of sadness because no one should leave their homeland unless they wished so, but so many leave due to impossible situations such as poverty and political chaos. But the flexibility and creativity they must develop in order to […]
Categories: Australia, Beautiful nature, Travel • Tags: #immigratiomuseumaustraliday
by Aushra
This year, Australia Day was as colourful as ever, with hundreds of performers and spectators! Here are some of my captures with the Canon 800D camera and 50mm lens. In conclusion, very impressive colourful exposition! The second half of the day I spent in the immigration museum – learning about the first settlers in Australia that came from across the globe also listening to audio personal stories of people sharing their arrival to Australia journey. See my next blog: […]
Categories: Australia, Travel • Tags: #australiaday2019
by Aushra
Yesterday night I took part in a group lesson for beginner photographers where we walked around the city exploring different settings of our cameras. The focus was on learning about movement and other things involved with long exposure. Here are some of the results. The city of Melbourne has so many faces. The narrow, graffiti painted streets is something you’d normally avoid, but for photography class it was perfect. I learned that in photography the creative part of making a picture is about […]
Categories: Photography, Travel • Tags: #melbournenightlongexposure, #photohclass
by Aushra
As the distractions of the secular Christmas celebrations died down and after the fireworks of the New Years passed, the Star of Bethlehem became brighter, shining a way to the New Born Baby, the Saviour, the Emmanuel. The one who remained with us. Celebrated by the old calendar on the 7th of January – the Orthodox Christmas time, this is where the star of Bethlehem brought me this year! And this was the only place I could have ever wanted […]
Categories: Australia, Orthodoxy • Tags: #Orthodoxchristmasmelbourne
by Aushra
This year in preparation for 2019, I participated in a Russian Orthodox community gathering for young people in Melbourne city. The conferences were about the wisdom of the Holy Fathers of the Church. Here are some notes and photos to share of time spent together. On modernisation of the Church The idea behind adjusting the original Christian practices to modern time can be summarised by the oxymoron of ‘We have to change in order to stay the same’. However we […]
Categories: Christianity, Discovery, Orthodoxy, Travel • Tags: #fathersofthechurchretreat, #orthodoxretreatmelbournecbd
by Aushra
Days off work… it’s not always easy to cope. The longing for returning to my homeland follows me throughout. So Christmas Day was no exception. After visiting a beautiful Church in the city of Melbourne I had to find something to direct my mind and heart to the here and now. I decided to visit the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium. I have to say, despite being super busy when I arrived at 3pm, by 4.30pm it became unbelievably quiet as […]
Categories: Australia, Discovery, Travel • Tags: #australiansealife, #christmasinmelbourne, #homeawayfromhome
by Aushra
This is my 5th Australian Christmas… filled with colours, smells and hard work… Building dream, saving for it and learning to enjoy every moment. At the end of the day, I have a life that’s good! Remembering Lithuania where temperatures are way below 0C at this time of year I am ever so grateful to be wearing short sleeves and taking walks in the park… and yet, in my heart I embrace those enduring the hard winters staying close with […]
Categories: Australia, Beautiful nature, Travel • Tags: #australiansummer, #dandenong, #Melbournebotanicgardens
by Aushra
Today is another rainy day and I’ve looked through my shelf of books of another interesting story to share. I came across a book I have kept among my journals for many years of my travels: a biography and work of my Grandfather: Pranciškus Baltrus Šivickis. I was named Aušra Pranciška Šivickytė – in his honour and my half-brother is Baltrus Šivickis. As if that is not enough, there is also a school and a street in Lithuania by his […]
by Aushra
Children raised in cultures other than those of their parents, who for a significant amount of their early developmental years are exposed to a variety of cultural influences are known as Third Culture Kids or TCK. Technically speaking we could argue such development is a privilege due to the richness of language and culture stimulating neuronal growth and self awareness… However as the title of an article in BBC Capital News describes well: they often call themselves ‘Citizens of everywhere […]
Categories: Australia, Christianity, Discovery, Growth and Self-discovery, Orthodoxy, Travel • Tags: #adultTCK, #findinghomeasTCK, #thirdculturekids, #whatmakesusdifferent
by Aushra
Today I went to explore the Caribbean Markets, that open only Wednesdays (free) and Sundays (2.50AUD). It was quite a slow day possibly due to the cloudy weather, but nevertheless everything was running as usual. It is possible to get there by bus 901 which drops you off near the main gate. There is a bit of a walk to the pay boot, after that you can take the cable car (8AUD both ways) to get to the market itself. […]
Categories: Australia, Beautiful nature, Discovery, Marketplace • Tags: #caribbeanmarket, #discoveringmelbourne, #placetoresttowville
by Aushra
Here are some photos of birds I’ve caught on camera in Brisbane and Melbourne! *I hope you enjoyed my bid photography expo ;). Photographing birds is never easy but the results with DSLR are always so much better than with my phone! I hope to bring more goodness soon!
Categories: Australia, Beautiful nature, Discovery, Travel
