Culture on the 'Coast

I have done so many things this past week that to write a story about what I have seen and done actually stops me in my tracks! Where to begin!
So to be feminine and non logical I am writing about today first!
It was a hot "summer" day today with the temperature over 30'C and the air was filled with the haze of smoke from grass fires (most likely the fire brigades burning-off the long growth as a safety measure)so wandering around was rather exhausting. But at the same time stimulating.
Today many of the different cultures that make up the people who have made the Gold Coast "home" had made a great effort to demonstrate either their dance, music or their foods. It was the Gold Coast Multi-Cultural Day.
I had barely managed to charge my batteries for my Nikon and my Bloggie camera after two days in Toowoomba but I was so pleased that I had made the effort. The colour and the sharing by everyone was wonderful to see. I stayed three hours and in that time I travelled the world!
I had actually arrived ten minutes before the first "show" (Three stages in action, non stop - and all free) and a brightly dressed Chinese woman encouraged me to sit down and she told me so much about the group she belonged to. It is a strange title for a group of dancers but I will share it with you - "Global Federation of Chinese Business Woman of Australia" (Yes, womAn not womEn)They practice a kind of Tai Chi and martial arts with swords that looks more like a beautiful dance than a type of aggressive attack/defence skill. I took some Bloggie of the sword dance so I will share it later on.

When the ladies posed for a photograph for a friend, of course I could not resist grabbing one myself! Don't they look gorgeous? The woman who was chatting to me is in the centre at the back, in green. Surprisingly most of them did not speak English at all.
When the performance had finished I made my escape (or I would still be talking to the Chinese lady!) and made a bee-line for one of the other stages. On the way I came across three little girls in yellow costumes. They looked so beautiful. I chatted to them and asked them if they were going to be doing some dancing somewhere soon. I asked if their mother's had done their beautiful hairstyles and the floodgates were opened! They turned around so that I could admire them all the better and showed off this hand movement and that dance position until I asked them if I could take a picture of them. I took one but the next thing was that three more children were called over - and then more, so I have three photos of these delightful children (different number in each!) who later were on stage demonstrating Indonesian Dance.

What surprised me was that some of them did not "look" Indonesian - but they may have either an Australian mother or an Australian father. (remember that you can click on the pictures to see them larger - click on the "back" button to return to this blog!) They did dance beautifully - I made a point of returning to the stage for their performance.
While waiting near a stage for a different show - it was an Indian song and music demonstration - I was joined by two little girls who had obviously been to the face painting. I can strike up a conversation with children very easily and these two were just so sweet. I asked them if they would mind if I took a photo of them since they looked so gorgeous and I asked them to put their heads close together and look at me - here is my lovely shot of them.

Don't they have the most beautiful eyes? The face painting is lovely too, not the mess that you sometimes find! I wish that I had found out if their mothers wanted a copy of this photo - maybe they will find it accidentally by finding my blog!
I have so much to share that I will be writing again tomorrow!
AJ