Callala Beach, early morning.

Blue, blue sky - just wanted to give some reference!!

Callala Beach - beautiful!

Found this on the beach!

Final Assignments

We finished the course and had our 1 day of fame by being able to hang some of our work in the ACP (Australian Centre of Photography). Well it was upstairs in the class rooms rather than the very high brow galleries downstairs!! But still, sounds good to say that we've exhibited there!!
The exhibition lasted all of a day due to the builders coming in to decorate the rooms and the staff haviung to take down our work as there was alot of dust around! Good while it lasted.
Here's comes the gallery.... sing the theme tune to "Take Hart", all those old enough to know what I'm taking about! You know who you are.

tree in blue mountains

landscape near hunter valley

reflections

layers of the city

mish mash of architecture

Photography

Here are a few shots that we've taken since doing our course. We can't post everything - I think it would overload the blogspot, and most of them wouldn't be that interesting to you!
We had our last 'lesson' yesterday. We had to take an exam! Well, it was a pretty relaxed affair, but nevertheless, it's been a while since I sat a test! We handed in our final assignment which was a selection of shots from a theme of our choice. We mounted them as they will be shown in a mini exhibition at the centre (only upstairs in the workshop rooms, not in their gallery)! We’ve had homework every week! The assignments basically give you the practice after the theory of the classroom. We feel like we’re really improving and have finally taken the camera off automatic and put it on manual!! There’s been a mix of people on the course and we've got on really well. Despite it being a beginner’s course, I did expect everyone to have more experience than me, but they hadn’t. One guy had bought his camera an hour before the first class started! So it was a nice to discover that we were all in the same boat! It's a shame it's now ended. We intend to do the next course, but not sure how many of this group will do the same.

Amazing fig tree roots

Taking city shots for our assignments.

Dean contemplating his birthday!

Beautiful colours

Coogee on Dean's birthday!

This is a school PE class??!!!!

That's a ferry going past if you couldn't work it out!

Chinatown

Our stuff is here!!

Last Thursday our things arrived – hooray!! I was very excited – it was just like Christmas, opening up all those packages! I spent all day opening up boxes and at the end of it, there was quite a mess! Not only did I have all the things from inside the boxes, but I also had the empty boxes as well. I soon became overwhelmed and started to stuff our stuff into cupboards, just to create a bit of space.
I’ve finished unpacking now and there were a few damages, which we’re not particularly happy about. So now I’ve got to sort out the insurance claim for those!!
The living and dining area are now set up and it looks more like a home. It’s a bit strange seeing our furniture in this house and it does mess with your mind a little.

From Bromley.....

...to Sydney!

Aaahhh...and...relax!!

Sailing

As you will know, we’ve been taking sailing lessons, at Rushcutter’s Bay. We’re having a fantastic time and really enjoying the lessons. I get a bit nervous before the lesson, but once I’m there, it’s great. We sail in the harbour, so have great views of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge. There are hundreds of other boats out as well, as you can imagine. Sometimes we get a little too close for comfort! Last Sunday a freighter was coming into the harbour and it was travelling at some speed I can tell you! They're huge and you feel so insignificant in comparison. Only a couple of lessons left and a theory! We’re going to continue though with more lessons, so we’ll be ready to charter a boat when our visitors come to see us!
The photos here are taken on Mikey's boat that he built himself - it's amazing!! He even made the sails, which are a work of art! We went up to see Bee and Mikey in Avalon and we went sailing on Pittwater. The weather was a real mixture - we had brilliant hot sun, clouds, rain, wind, no wind - so it was quite a practise session for us. And of course we finished the day off by having a curry!

Why did I get the yellow one, I hate yellow!

Mikey and Bee!

Ahoy there!

Mikey's gorgeous boat!

The sun's coming out!

Blue Mountains

On Friday, we (me and Dean, Phil and Bianca) drove up to the Blue Mountains to celebrate our birthdays (mine was 19th, Phil’s was 20th and Dean’s is still to come on the 28th). Thursday night rained persistently and constantly, keeping us awake. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to going if that was what the weather was going to be like! But, when we got up, although it was still overcast and damp, the rain had stopped. We’d booked accommodation in an eco lodge in the woods near Blackheath. We were only staying Friday night as me and Dean had sailing on Sunday and Phil had work (on his birthday, poor chap!). After checking in we went for a walk in the Grand Canyon, which we’d first visited 2 ½ years ago. From the name, you can guess that the walk takes you steadily down into the bottom of a canyon and then up again at the other end. As you descend, it gets gradually darker and lusher. It’s such a beautiful and undisturbed place and so peaceful. There are lots of rocks and fallen trees along the bottom, some conveniently placed as stepping stones in the water! Eventually you get to the end (unfortunately) and it’s time to climb out! The rocks start to disappear, it gets lighter and more and more trees replace them as the landscape opens up. The climb up seems longer than the one down, but it’s worth it in the end, as you’re rewarded by another spectacular view at the top, across the tree-covered mountains. The boys were desperately in need of coffee and cake, so we took off to Leura. It’s a really lovely quaint little town, with fantastic coffee and sweet shops! After that, we had a quick visit to the Three Sisters. It was getting a bit foggy by that time, but it all added to the atmosphere. We went back to Leura for pizza before retiring to the lodge and a real stove fire. It kept us very warm all night. The next morning we got up to feed the rozellas outside the lodge. They’re amazingly colourful little birds and full of chatter! It was a great start to my birthday. After some delicious breakfast, we set out for the Three Sisters again and the Scenic Railway. We set off for a walk along the mountainside, but I’m afraid it was cut short, as the track seemed to disappear and became more of a mountain hike. We didn’t really have the gear and I preferred to take it a little easier on my birthday. So we took a much less stressful walk to the bottom of a waterfall. Then it was back to Leura for another coffee and cake break before heading back to the city.

Aren't I popular?!

Bad hair day!

Phil didn't have time for a shower at home!

Getting dark!

Lush!

The bottom

Practicing movement shots!

Fast waterfall (sorry, private joke)!

Nice!

Fairy tale steps

Ah, trees!

Gorgeous!

Three Sisters

Taronga Zoo

Another glorious Saturday morning, so we decided to go to the Zoo, as Dean had been wanting to go for ages. So we equipped ourselves with the appropriate summer gear - shorts, flip-flops, sunglasses, suncream and cameras. We got the ferry from Circular Quay which took us straight over to Taronga. The views back to the city were fantastic, but the zoo was even higher up, so we headed straight there.
We're not particularly fans of zoos and didn't know what to expect. The setting is lovely, perched on a hillside with lots of greenery. I think this made it seem more attractive straight away - not as much concrete as you get in the UK. The Chimps were great. There was a lot of play fighting and general noise-making!! Their enclosure had lots for them to do and they really seemed to enjoy themselves. They were fed while we were there with huge chunks of melon - that kept them quiet! There were some sad scenes of despondent, lonely animals like the elephant and rhino. However, the zoo is working hard to improve this by developing part of the site. They are going to create an Elephant Rainforest and introduce some Asian elephants that were born in captivity as well as some other endangered species. The zoo does a lot of conservation work with many places around the world and seems to be doing a lot behind the scenes. It's just a shame that you're not immediately aware of this when you're just ambling around.
The day soon sped by and it was time to go. We noticed the sky get gradually darker and just as we were ready to get on the bus to take us to the wharf, it chucked it down! We got back to the city OK, but then what to do? We weren't really dressed suitably for rain, with no jackets and not even a brolly! We had some exciting times running from one shelter to another, skidding around in our flip flops - they're incredibly lethal in rain! So we just had to go and get a coffee and cake until it subsided. It did eventually and we even made it back to Glebe, but as soon as we got off the bus, the heavens opened again. We hid under the post office porch for 10 minutes, but decided we were going to have to get wet in the end. I'm starting to learn that it's hard to avoid the rain, even when you are prepared. You may as well just surrender yourself to it and enjoy it!!

Should I swim for it, d'ya think?

Its a hard life!

Big Daddy

Hanging around

Our anniversary!

12th February - our 14th anniversary!
So we thought we'd spend it somewhere special. We first visited this beach two and a bit years ago on our first trip to Australia. Our friends Phil and Bee took us and it's not far from where they lived - lucky devils!
We still had our hire car so we packed up with our picnic stuff, using our brand new Esky (that's a cool-bag, the original cool-bag, for those who're not in the know)! We also had a picnic rug, beach towels, suncream, swimmers (another Aussie term meaning cossies/trunks) and of course the cameras. We parked the car and unloaded all our gear. We forgot how long & rugged the trek was to the beach - it must have taken 30 minutes to get down, and with all our stuff! But it was still lovely - we were among trees, at last!
To our great annoyance, there were already some people enjoying themselves on 'our' beach!! Yes, it is a bit much to expect to have it all to ourselves, but we were so used to seeing completely deserted beaches. There was actually very little shade and the people that were there already (all 2 couples) had bagged the shady bits! We struggled on with our stuff and set up near the edge of the sand, where it starts to get grassy. We just got our sarnies and olives out and realised that we were about to share it with an army of ants (in all shapes, colours and sizes). I managed to take a few bites, but then had to give up. I persuaded Dean to pack up and move and we went across to the other side of the beach and set up in the shade of a huge rock (no ants, spiders or any other creepy crawlies). A monitor lizard did amble by (the one in the photo), but completely ignored us!!
There were some lads in the water messing around, playing 'throw the dog' (no animals were harmed during this)! Eventually they took off in their little motor boat. That was one lot gone - how could we get the others to go?!!
We ate some food, drank some water (lovely & cold, thanks to our mini, bottle esky)! And after a while the rest of them drifted off, as if they could read our minds! So we stripped off to our swimmers and went into the sea. Boy it was cold to start with. Dean just jumped in and urged me to do the same, but once again my irritating asthmatic reaction to the cold was leaving me literally breathless. I wasn't going to let it get the better of me, so I pressed on, slowly lowering myself into the water. It was a bit more unsettling than at Shark Beach, as there were no nets and no life guards. Needless to say we didn't venture very far - we made sure we could still touch the sandy bottom!! The gentle waves are so soothing and relaxing. We could feel the sun start to bake us, so we forced ourselves out and picked our way through the rock pools to our spot.
That's when I saw the pelicans circling around. They were over the trees at the far side and I couldn't tell what they were at first. Then they made their way over to us and one landed just on the shoreline. They are lovely, gigantic birds! Unfortunately, some bloke on a jetski decided to come in to the beach creating much noise. The pelican, obviously offended by this, promptly took off. I managed to capture it's take off on the video camera though, just before the batteries ran out!
It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We polished it off by going for a posh curry in Glebe! Gorgeous!!

The bay

Flint and Steel Beach

Weathered rock

Pelican

Pelican landing

Monitor lizard

Tree top

Blood gum