Last weekend was the long waited break that every Western Australian was looking forward to. It was the Queen's birthday public holiday on Friday where Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth and and His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburg, Prince Phillip, flew to Perth from Melbourne to officiate CHOGM.
The Queen's "real" birthday is on 21st April but the public holiday that Western Australians celebrate is supposed to be on the 3rd of October. But to coincide with the Queen's visit to Perth for the CHOGM event, the holiday was postponed to 28th October.
Having visited the Buckingham palace early this July and obviously, didn't see the Queen then, I was very much looking forward to seeing her during this event. So I looked up her schedule on the CHOGM website and seize every opportunity of getting to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty.
I found out that Her Majesty was going to the Perth Convention Centre to officiate CHOGM. It was written that we could catch a glimpse of her at 11.25 am. I initially thought of getting down to St George Terrace at 7 am to reserve a good spot to see her. But since we were living right smack in Perth CBD and it only takes 3 minutes to walk to St George Terrace, we only got there at 9 am. And man, we were shocked because there wasn't anyone at all!!! We were wondering to ourselves, is Her Majesty really that unpopular here in Australia that no one bothers to see her?? There were so few people and most of them were the elderly ones, carrying colourful flags. The younger kids, especially the girls, wore tiara and carried along the British or Australian flags. But really, we found so many empty spots along the road!
I kinda underestimated the weather that morning. It was pretty warm at home, but I guess because there were many buildings built along St George Terrace, it created a wind tunnel effect so at times, I was feeling quite cold. So at around 10 am, I decided to go back home and get my cardigan while Chin Fei stayed and reserve a spot for me to see the Queen at 11.30 am.
Ironically, as I was about to leave, Chin Fei called me and I turned back to him. He wanted to ask me to be careful when crossing the road, when we suddenly saw a black car whiz past. Surprisingly, no one saw the royal car came and gone! It was too fast. Everyone thought it was some other delegates going to the Perth Exhibition and Convention Centre and no one cheered nor screamed. We were all caught off-guard! I saw the Queen inside but she didn't wave at us. I guess the Queen was rushing to meet her scheduled time to officiate the event. Or probably she was disappointed at the poor outcome of people waiting for her? Hehe.
A bee line of white Holden cars that were meant for delegates, I think
After that, Chin Fei and I went home to get my cardigan. We were home for just an hour (decided to clean the house a bit before leaving again to catch the Queen coming back from the Convention Centre to Government House, where she was staying) but we were rather surprised that in just over an hour, there were so many people standing along St George Terrace! We had to walk hundreds of metres before we found a spot to squeeze in to see the royal motorcade return. Now that we know how the car looked like (well, it actually had a small little flag in front) so it was quite easy to spot.
The Queen!
The security was very tight that entire day (and also the days earlier). There were police everywhere; in cars, bikes, bicycles, horses and helicopters and it wasn't surprising to see two at the top of a high-rise building with a telescope, looking down at us.
We were standing opposite of this building
14x zoom from my compact camera on the building opposite, and here you can see police officers with telescope
After that, we went around the city as it was the only place that was opened during the public holiday. :( We were surprised to see a large crowd of protestors marching their way in to Forrest Place to make themselves heard during this crucial CHOGM period. Apparently, there were 60 Malaysians demanding for fair elections too, but we didn't see them.
Bubble!! :)
The next day, on Saturday, was the Big Aussie BBQ, held to farewell the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh before they make their way back to London. The BBQ in Esplanade and Langley Park started at 9 am but we started queuing ourselves to enter the "arena" at 7 am. We were pretty lucky and satisfied with our spot, right in front of the stage and next to the barricade, where the royal couple will walk and receive flowers from the public before they leave. The royal car was scheduled to leave Government House at 11 am so it was a long 5 hour wait in the scorching burning HOT sun! But it was all worth it! :) There were some performances on stage and because we were standing in the front row, our faces were captured on the screen THRICE! Hahaha. 2nd time appearing on the camera (my colleague said she saw me in the news queuing up for the iPhone 4S!) By 9 am, the Esplanade park was full and no one was allowed to enter anymore.
No, Lord Mayer, Lisa Scaffidi, the flowers aren't meant for you. :P
We had live footage on the screen in front of us. As soon as the royal car left Government House, everyone started to scream. We watched on the TV screen as the royal car paraded its way to Esplanade Park. When Her Majesty and His Royal Highness finally arrived on stage, there were lots of people cheering and waving their flags. I think it was a pretty sight for the Queen and she must be really touched to see all of us. :) On the other hand, I really couldn't believe my eyes that I was actually seeing her myself; no longer on a TV screen!!! :)
The VIPs standing for the Australian anthem
She looks grumpy in here. :P
WA Premier, Colin Barnett, welcoming the Queen and the Duke of Edinburg
The Queen giving her speech
After the Queen gave her speech, the royal couple made their way along the barricades to meet and greet the public. Unfortunately, the Queen decided to walk on the right, while Prince Phillip walked on the left. That meant that we, who queued up to get inside the arena, were on the wrong side, while the people who didn't have to queue but were outside the arena, got to meet her face to face! It was even more annoying that the media was following her so closely so we could get very few good shots of her. Well, at least we had good shots of Prince Phillip! LOL. :P
The Duke of Edinburg receiving Kangaroo Paws from a Bunbury family who woke up at 2 am and drove all the way to Perth to meet the royal family. Kangaroo Paws is an Australian wildflower.
I love this picture best! Prince Phillip smelling the scent of flowers and appreciating it. Oh, so natural! :)
The Queen asking about the sausages for BBQ
It was indeed a good farewell for the royal couple and I'm happy that the Queen and CHOGM has put Perth on the map (not many know where Perth is and those who know Perth think that it's a small boring place. Well, not anymore! :P).
The next day, on Sunday, we were invited to have BBQ lunch with our Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in Burswood Park. I think the BBQ lunch was an idea to replicate the Big Aussie BBQ but I think it wasn't very successful. The service was very slow (which reminds me of my home country) and there was a long bee-line just waiting for the food! The food given were all small portions but it was free, although we had to give the people who were serving us, our coupons, before we were given our plates. We waited for the Prime Minister and his wife to come for a good hour, but they didn't appear because they were apparently at a meeting, so we left after the free lunch, not seeing them. LOL. Makes me wonder why the royal couple could be punctual at their scheduled events but not the Prime Minister. Hmm.....
The long queue to get food! Seriously?!
Chin Fei waiting impatiently for his food. Haha.
It was indeed a good long weekend break that went past so quickly. Can't wait to fly home this weekend! Yipee!! :)
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