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| Welcome to Parklea Markets |
My day two agenda involved visiting the
Parklea Markets. Apparently, it was only open on the
weekends and public holidays. It opens at 8:30 AM and closes by 4:30 PM. It has numerous stalls that offer a wide range of products such as food, clothing, toys, gardening tools, accessories, and many more. According to my aunt, it would also be a good place to buy souvenirs for my family and friends back in the Philippines. Plus, I could even start a bit of shopping there. Though I still had plenty of time, it would be good for me to cross out as early as possible some of the things in my "to-do-list". This way, I would have one less thing to worry about. But first, a good breakfast [actually it was already brunch given the time that I woke up] was definitely in order. Mushrooms, bacon, egg, bread, and of course, some hot chocolate with marshmallows on top, comprised my meal. Once done, we headed out immediately to get on with our day.
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| I just love mushrooms! |
There seemed to be no traffic on that beautiful Sunday, so after 20 minutes or so, we were already at Parklea Markets' parking area. It was a hot day and I was already feeling the Australian summer heat. Good thing that I was suitably attired for that day.
The first area we went to was the clothing section. They had pants, shirts, shorts, skirts, and colorful dresses just perfect for the summer season. I think the cheapest that I could find was for a minimum of AUD10 and unfortunately, you can't haggle for any discounts. After browsing through the stalls, I ended up buying two summer dresses to add on to my wardrobe.
Our next stop was the souvenirs, which were relatively good buys, given their prices. I was able to buy some bags, fridge magnets, coasters, pouches and pencils for my give-aways. Since I had a lot of purchases, I was even given a free bag by the stall owner.
We then headed to the food section wherein my aunt bought some stuff for our Christmas celebration.
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| Can you guess what fruit this is? |
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| Fresh cherries |
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| One of my favorite fruits |
One of the things that my aunt bought were some tea leaves. As I've discovered during my stay, Australians do seem to love their tea and I think I can understand why. In the Philippines, milk tea has been the latest craze especially in 2012. However, if you want to make your own, you would just have to settle with the tea bags sold in the local supermarkets or grocery stores. We also had limited flavors. So it was a new experience for me to buy and select your own tea leaves. Th stall owner lets you take a whiff, so that you could smell its very appetizing aroma.
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| I wonder how gunpowder tea tastes like? |
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| So many tea leaves to choose from! |
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| All the spices you would need |
We then continued to roam around the area and ended up in the gardening section. I particularly liked this part as I was able to discover a lot of cute displays. If only I had enough money and baggage allowance, I would surely be buying a thing or two. But alas! We can't have everything so I just took some pictures to serve as my souvenirs.
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| I wish I had a real tiger, but this one would work too. |
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| Sooooo cute!!!! |
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| I was born on the year of the rabbit. How about you? |
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| Snails and caterpillars |
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| Yummy! |
It was almost closing time when we left the place. By the time we got back to my aunt's house, I was ready to get some rest. My aunt let me have a very relaxing bubble bath. For dinner, she just prepared some prawns [another favorite] and potato salad. Afterwards, we had some freshly brewed tea by their garden. My aunt then suggested for us to take a drive around their "subdivision" to see the different houses with their Christmas lights. In the Philippines, we also love putting up Christmas lights on our houses and various decorations to spread the spirit of Christmas. As early as September (the start of "ber" months), you could already even see Christmas lanterns or "Parols" held for sale.
The first few houses that we passed by had the typical number of Christmas lights put up. In other words, there was nothing special or extraordinary. But there was this one street, wherein each house seemed to be in serious competition with each other. It was as if they were really trying to outdo all the other houses. I can just imagine how high their electricity bill would probably be. I actually thought that nothing could beat how we Filipinos decorate our houses with Christmas lights. But I guess I was proven wrong, as these houses seemed to be adorned with lights from every possible nook and cranny. In fact, their houses were beautifully decorated that it almost seemed to be a tourist spot. So we got down from the car and continued on foot so that we could appreciate them better. Along the way, we also saw quite a number of people who were there to enjoy the view and take pictures.
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| Beautifully lit |
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| I wonder how long it took them to put these up? |
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| This house even had its own snow mobile |
After deeming that we have had enough house exploring, we went back to Tita A and Tito Bru's house to settle for the night. Because the next day, would surely be another fun-filled adventure.
Watch out for my...Day 3 in the City
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