Was sagst du? 樣樣都德

The Yarra River traverses through Melbourne and is a major landmark of this city. Even tourists will be familiar with the downstream sections of the river as many would take a stroll on its banks in the city or travel on a boat cruise to take in the city views. 雅拉河貫穿墨爾本，是墨市的一大地標，就算是遊客，大多都會曾經沿河漫步甚至坐觀光船欣賞雅拉河下游市區的河景。 This Christmas break, my wife and I tried a relatively new alternative of touring the city section of the river, namely on an electric boat. 這個聖誕假期，我和太太用一個較新穎的方式遊市區段的雅拉河——開電動艇。 The operation of the electric boat was not too complicated, via a tiller to control both the speed and the direction. But with a consistently strong breeze and current the boat needed constant steering every 10 to 30 seconds. I was hoping for a relaxing sailing and looking forward to a pause in a scenic spot, but within a minute the boat drifted from the middle of the water to one of the banks, and with the wind blowing the food over it was a challenging juggle between controlling the boat and finishin

在澳洲中菜早已站穩住腳，成為很多澳洲人（不只華人）飲食的一部份。除傳統的炒飯、小炒外，澳洲人愛吃餃子已有多年，近幾年又愛上了刈包，英文簡稱bao，有時亦戲稱為Chinese hamburger，可能是這個原因所以打響名堂，甚至出現在很多酒吧的菜單上。 最近的聖誕聚餐，在海邊的西餐廳舉行，席上竟然也有中菜上桌！北京烤鴨對很多外國人早已不陌生，而且可以自己動手捲薄餅是挺好玩的，倒是那道「Pork and chives wonton with Szechuan chilli oil」令我意想不到，連紅油抄手也能浩蕩登上正式場合，看來餃子真的已深入澳洲民心了！ 餐廳的無敵海景 紅油抄手和北京烤鴨 除了餃子和刈包，近兩三年也興起了火煱（尤其是麻辣，不過我倆no thanks），對港人來說，茶餐廳越開越多也是佳音，而且水準不錯，特別是其中一家號稱自己奪得香港的金茶王獎，我倆一試過其奶茶和駌鴦，即被其正宗的味道俘虜了我倆的心。 傳統的港式早餐，在澳洲也吃到真的感恩！ 另一家茶餐廳的港式小吃 茶餐廳不只味道像，環境也像香港老家，牆上的佈置不計，但見狹小的店面，桌擠得滿滿的，座無虛席，而且還有一半顧客是講普通話的，要是連透明屏風也安裝了則跟香港遊客區的小型茶餐廳並無二致！ 在家中要嗜到香港的味道也越來越容易，相比幾年前，本地連鎖超市的「亞洲食品部」擴張了不少，食品選擇日益多元，港人熟悉的品牌和食品也陸續亮相，每次發現新品都讓我倆驚喜。也許本地超市也意識到中式乃至亞洲食品在澳洲社區普遍都有需求，而且不是每個人都逛亞洲超市，所以便推出越來越多的亞洲食品滿足大眾，不讓亞洲超市專美吧。 臨到農曆年超市亞洲食品部張燈結綵 港人移民澳洲潮剛起，隨着中式甚至港式飲食選擇趨多，想一吃解鄉愁越來越容易，有意移民者大可少一重顧慮了。

The lead-up to Christmas in Australia is a rather quiet affair. 習慣了香港聖誕的五光十色的聖誕（今年聖誕前還新增一場「五光十色」的選舉），澳洲的聖誕真的平淡得多。 For a start, Christmas music is in short supply in public places as most places still stick to selections of pop songs from 10 to 30 years ago. Perhaps not having a separate playlist makes shop owners' lives easier! 這個時候香港到處播聖誕（和某鏡團12人及個別隊員）歌，也許大家已聽得耳熟能詳甚至生厭，要是聽厭了，建議你馬上來澳洲，保證馬上耳根清靜，因為商店就算播音樂，大多會播近10至30年的英文流行曲，聽不懂或沒興趣的大可當作耳邊風。 Christmas decorations are also on the simple side or even lacking - even in shopping centres in the middle of town like Melbourne Central. Perhaps the protracted lockdown has reduced revenues so much that there is really no money or mood to be festive. 澳洲的聖誕裝飾，絕對沒有香港或歐洲那種琳琅滿目，甚至連市中心的黃金地段也會欠奉，例如墨爾本市中心的Melbourne Central商場今年一丁點裝飾都沒有，也許是因為今年封城大久影響收入所以沒錢也沒心思搞氣氛吧！ A rare elaborate Christmas display in a shopping centre  少數較有亮點的高商場佈置 There are still some spots in Melbourne's city centre where the Christmas feels alive. The windows of the Myer

Melbourne's winter days are generally dull and grey, and even when it's sunny the day is short and it gets dark early. That's when I particularly miss the days of watching sunset. 墨爾本的冬天，普遍陰陰沉沉，就算整天出太陽，晝短夜長，甫下班天色便轉黑，所以便會想念看日落的日子。 There's a simple reason for my fascination with sunsets: it's actually a rare commodity in Melbourne! Contrary to the popular impression of a sun-drenched country, Melbourne's weather tends more towards the cloudy side, and strings of sunny days only occur about 5 to 6 times in the second half of the year. Better runs of weather can be found in the first half of the year, spanning a good part of summer (January to early March) and autumn (mid-March to end of May), and when the weather condition looks right it stokes my interest to catch the sunset. 在墨爾本特別喜歡看日落的原因，簡而言之是物以罕為貴：有別於一般人對澳洲陽光充沛的印象，墨爾本天色偏陰，尤其是想找一連幾天放晴的日子，下半年大概只有五六次左右吧。待上半年入夏（1至3月初）及秋天（3月中至5月底）天氣一般較好，有興緻時便會想去海邊看日落。 Half Moon Bay, Black Rock Mordi