Burrill Lake Fires, August 2009

Last weekend I was called away to the shoalhaven, where some large bushfires were burning out of control, here are some of the photos taken while i was there.

Snow!

We got snow in Jindabyne overnight, just a light dusting, but enough to make this morning interesting going to work.

Our deck chairs. A bit snowy!

The snowdrift in front of the bridge to perisher.

Front Valley 6:30 Am

Snowdrift outside Aldo's Pizzeria - 60cm deep!

Jindabyne again!

Well its the time of the year for me to head back to Jindabyne. Life’s been good, just trying to figure out how to get things rolling at the moment.

I’m currently living here, we moved into our place almost a week ago now, and its going very well. I’m living in Jindabyne with Luke and Dylan, with Fiona to come join us in few weeks when uni wraps up.

Our apartment isnt huge, but its about right for the four of us, and has an amazing view of the lake

The view from our balcony over the lake and the town

See? Its very relaxing. Plus we get all the nice lights from town at night – see below

Night Lights of Jindabyne

Our first day we were exceptionally lazy, aside from a quite cool session down near the lake, paying our respects to the local boulders. Once we’d knocked over the ones set in the guidebook (colourfully named – such as ’sex scandal with a garden gnome’), we found a new set of runs, and managed to name us a few – Gollum and Spidey. I’ve also picked up some new lenses for my camera – just add-ons, seeing as the stock lens cannot be removed from the F5700 – I scored a wide angle/fisheye and a telephoto, along with a UV, Polarising and … rosecoloured? filter set. I took these down with me, and these are the results – I’m happy so far!

Random hard V2 that we couldnt break

The crux of Gollum - tricky!!

Topping out on spidey

Trying to get the leg-up out of gollums cave - intense!

The signiture hold on Spidey

Finished for the day at The Yard - two new routes!

Work has started well, training and a bit of cleanup, refresher from last year.
Our uniforms are the same as last year, just the new logo sewn on over the top, but at least they’re warm!
Work will be very quiet over the next few weeks, perisher is very quiet, not much snow and guests are scarce, so hours will be short for everyone.

Anyway, that wraps up this post, but I’ll put up the pictures from perisher at the moment in a day or so when I get a chance.

The last leg.

Well, its all starting to come together now. I’ve moved out of 4/76 Tintern, my home for the last 6 months and now i’m back in gerringong, starting to get the feel for a new change, but sometimes its a bit daunting, and I feel like this season I have something to prove anew, to try and re-do all that I missed out on last year.

Sam is still in sydney for the time being, finishing off the last few weeks of work at eIntellego before he too moves back to the south coast to take up the uni course I decided not to do. Dan is still working at RWTS, which seems to suit him well. These guys were pretty awesome to live with. We had our differences, some more major than others, but i think in the end we made a pretty decent effort of it all.

Over the last few weeks plenty has happened, so I’ll run through it and give a short summary;

Dinner and drinks at lowenbrau in the city – Awesome awesome fun with some really cool people, drank waay too much, spent wayy too much, was sick wayy too much. All round successful night

Climbing – Managed to get tim completely hooked, and talked him into spending plenty of money on a sweet new harness and shoes (ok, so I didnt have to do much talking!)

More Climbing – South Nowra at Thompsons Pt – I didnt climb much because i was borrowing other peoples harnesses, but the climb that I did do (in the fading light of the afternoon) was amazing, a completely different style of climbing to indoors, and pretty exhilerating as well. I’m not ashamed to say I crapped bricks the whole way up and the whole way down, so i felt quite pleased i managed it >.>

Saturday Night Sober Clubbing – Yes this is as boring as it sounds. Actually, it wasnt bad, but its never amazing if you’re sober. The night was mainly a good chance to catch up with a few friends I havnt seen for months

Packing and unpacking multiple times. – this has been the most frustrating.

Photos to come soon when i’m not half asleep.

Hope you’re all well, i’ll see you soon!

Closer and closer to the snowy precipice.

Well, its now 5 weeks till my first day of work, 13 days of work left in Sydney before I have to leave it all behind, and as the excitement rises, so does the tension.

Work has been stressful to say the least. It seems weekly now, that one client or anothers sky begins to fall, and we all run around picking up the pieces until it all totters back into place. Today Blake got to experience some balmy 33c temperatures in one of our server rooms which was happily overheating.

I was looking through my photos today, after remembering the bike tour Dad and I took when I was younger – 11, perhaps? As I flicked through the series of photos of the drive to jindabyne, I realised just how much I am looking forward to going to the snow again this year. The excitement still rumbles in the pit of my stomach, and I cant think of anything I want to do more right now. However, after some thought about how last season panned out, I’m determined to make this year better in so many ways.

I don’t know (and I don’t particularly care) if certain people are reading this, and I strongly doubt that they would, by the way they speak about me when they think no-one is watching, but if they are, then they better watch out this season. As immature as I probably was last season, and as inexperienced in the whole game of living somewhere new, this season is going to be very different. Lead me, follow me, walk with me, or get the hell out of my way. I realise that last season, I probably didn’t endear myself to a few people, and these people have made their best efforts to ensure that the great friends I do have left over from last season think less of me because of who I am.

To those of you who know me, I’ve changed a lot since then, for the better. To those of you who don’t, make up your own mind once you have met me. Listen to what others have to say about me at your own peril, and feel free to go jump in the river if you believe a damn thing they say. To the few of you who I am talking about, go jump in the river anyway. I have nothing more to say to you.

I think the past six months in Sydney has changed a lot about the way I am. I know when to shut my mouth now, and I think I’ve become a lot more humble in the way I approach things, but I have also learnt to stand my ground, and make my opinions and positions clear. I don’t mean to say that I’m free game to be walked all over, or that I’m going to deck the first person I get in an argument with, but working and living with the people I have been, has taught me a lot about when I need to shut up, and when my opinion or experience is actually worth a damn.

Someone I hold as a good friend asked me last season why I cared so much about other people’s opinions of me, and why I was so quick to submit to them, and my answer then was that I didn’t want to piss people off. It was easier for me to roll over and let them have their way, to give them what they wanted, and to play along with their side, than to endure the problems that come with conflict.
After six months, I looked back on this on the drive home from work this afternoon, and I realised that I’ve come 180 degrees from who I was last season. I like to give people what they want, and I like to make people happy when I can, but no longer am I going to be walked upon, or used.

This post has probably either made you think that I’m ready to pick a fight with the first idiot who crosses my path, or that I’m going to rock up in skinny jeans and black eyeliner. I’m not. I’m still who I have been for the last 19 years, none of that has changed, and it certainly hasnt happened overnight.

On a happier (and for those who are reading, probably a damn sight more interesting) note, I’ve got a bunch of pictures here from various outings

Anyway, now I’ve vented, I’m going to leave it at that, and I’ll post more soon when I have more interesting things to say than general whining about how much my life sucks

Hope you’re all well,

Pip

Another week. Snow, Money, Movies, Music, Work and Mates.

Well, its been almost a week since I’ve made a proper post here, So its high time I did again.

Life has been very interesting for me, last week I received my job offer for Perisher 2009. After some deliberation, I decided to leave Daraco Services and head back to the snowies for another year. I knew this was coming, but the particular circumstances I found myself in over the past month have made this a very difficult decision. I have found it a lot easier since a week or so ago deciding to move there with Luke and Fiona, who I met and worked with last season.

Enough about that, there’ll be plenty more to come soon enough from all that.
The first BOM prediction of snow was issued the other day, 5% chance (which never turned out) but it shows they’re starting to get temperatures that might be conducive to good snowfalls for the early season. This is all heresy if you talk to the die hards, theres no such thing as ‘cooling the ground’, and predictions two months out mean diddly squat,  but it certainly gets the imagination going and doing the work for you!

In other matters, I’m trying to keep my interest in photography going. I’ve recently fallen in love with a movie put together by Ross Ching called “Eclectic 3.0″. It is the third in a series of time-lapse photography movies he has put together for various projects. Using a tilt-shift lens (google them!), he achieves some of the most stunning photography I have seen in my life. Throw in a powerful, yet understated soundtrack, and you have the makings of a fantastic movie. The movies are all made of sequenced photographs, allowing him to shoot in anything up to 1080p and above, meaning the clarity and definition in these shots is to such a quality, they could have been done with a hundred thousand dollar cinecam. Sweeping landscapes in south western USA are captured in fifteen seconds of footage, clouds scudding across a dark sky, headlights zipping past like rockets. Long exposures allowed Ross to light even the darkest of landscapes, just with starlight and reflection, bringing the nocturnal world of the great plains and the grand canyon to life. I would highly recommend anyone with even a passing interest in photography take a look at his projects, at www.rossching.com.

The little red barina has seen a lot in her life until now, and I dare say, with me as her driver she’ll see a lot more. That said, I’ve had her at the mechanics for three days now getting a new gearbox put in. Unfortunately a bearing (or several) popped their runners, which are the pieces of metal or plastic that hold the bearings in place. This lead to a sound at one point which I can only describe as that of a duck screaming, followed by a regular and worsening knock in the driveshaft. In human terms, try chewing a few pearls, and you’ll understand what I mean. One new gearbox later, she should be ready to pick up.

I’m actually on the train writing most of this, on my way to Gerringong again for the night. I’m picking up my car, and then going to do some work for a client at Stanwell Tops tomorrow. Should be only a few hours with much luck, but these things have a tendancy to creep up, until its suddenly a full days work.  The usual jokes have followed my resignation from Daraco, which should be effective from the 15th of May, but I give as good as I get, so there’s no complaints to be had. Overall, everyone has been very understanding, however I am painfully aware of the strain the company is already under with regards to work. I think with luck there will be plenty of good people to fill my position, even if they aren’t very big shoes to fill.

I have found increasingly last week and this, that I struggle somewhat making headway on major projects. I have been developing a backup solution for a client, and I now find myself having to turn to others for help, which is irritating because they have just as much and more work as I do, simply slowing them down. I’m going to try ‘owning’ the project a little more, whereas until now I’ve only been roughly keeping it in check. It is very interesting, and highly satisfying to see the business picking up more clients all the time. In the current financial climate, I think Daraco will have very few issues growing the business if they continue to provide high quality, personal and professional service.

Money has also been a very interesting problem I have faced since moving to sydney. I knew it would always be tight, but this has been almost comical. Savings each week seem to be snapped up by unexpected purchases, fuel price hikes and car repairs. I find myself increasingly relying on the $900 stimulus the government is handing out. This will be paying my way to Jindabyne, which is a blessed thing, because without it, I would be well and truly up shit creek. I have applied for a second job in Jindabyne this year, at the Brumby Bar and Bistro, which is conveniently just down from the apartment we have organised to live in. I intend to live and pay rent from my Perisher pay, which will be plenty to keep me alive, and use the money from the bar to pay for my flights to Canada at the end of the year.

Another segue here, Canada!
I’m determined to make it to Canada after the season. I’ve sat in sunny, warm Australia for six months now, watching and hearing the lives and stories of friends who have moved to Canada and are now working their various jobs there. Some serious jealousy later, I’ve gone hunting, and after the recommendation of a few people who have been there before, I’m more and more keen on getting a job there also. Fernie looks like a pretty awesome place for me at the moment, but I know I would also really enjoy somewhere like Whistler. I think I’ll take what I can get, but if I have a choice, thats when the guidebooks really come out.

The housing arrangements in Sydney at the moment have a pendulum effect, frustrating me sometimes, and being perfect for me others. I’m probably a huge hypocrite, I can be painful when it comes to certain things, but when it comes to cleaning my room, I get the “its not too bad” effect going. Dan and Sam are great guys to live with, we’ve all got our differences of opinions on various things (woolworths opening hours, choice of TV channel, choice of pizza shop, to name a few), but in most cases we agree with each other. I know I’m becoming more independent since I have moved out, and with a little effort, I have found myself settling into a routine of life, which is both relaxing and depressing at the same time.

I’ve been listening to more music recently. I’ve moved away from a few styles I used to really enjoy, and I find myself looking for new songs constantly. I used to really get into Hilltop Hoods, but now I find them a little too tight for my tastes. I have enourmous respect for the crew, and I will always have my favourite songs, and tracks which really speak to me, but I am moving away gradually. I’ve picked up Bliss n Eso’s latest album, and quite honestly, there isnt a track on there that I don’t like. The album is neatly and cleverly put together, with appropriate breaks between songs for skits and commentary. The tracks and lyrical style are much more relaxed than hilltop, with many of these almost being songs. Eye of the Storm, and The Sea is Rising are truly standout tracks, powerful messages delivered with neat rhythm and lyrics. I don’t think there’s a single word in the whole album I haven’t sung, and know. Again, anyone looking for something to listen to, with mellow beats mixed with cheeky lyrics and clear messages, Flying Colours by Bliss n Eso comes highly recommended.

My mates mean a lot to me, but I worry more and more these days that I’m walking away from these friendships sometimes. Then a night like last Saturday comes along, and I realise that time and distance can mean very little when it comes to having true mates. Luke, Grover and myself decided to catch the train to Wollongong for a night on the town, and it was possibly the most fun I have had in many months. I ended up being quite smashed, but the memories will always be worth it. The same weekend, on Sunday afternoon, I went to the Foxground Get-together, hosted by my Rural Fire Brigade. It was probably the best turnout I’ve seen there in about three years of attendance, and it was a fantastic demonstration of how communities are still strong in rural Australia. I think without this sense of belonging, and some measure of inclusivity in the events that affect your life, you lose touch after a while, and become isolated. It was great to see people there who I haven’t talked to in months, or even years, to stand and have a beer with old friends, and sit and eat with new ones.
Back to my own mates, I hope that even if we end up on opposite sides of the globe, we will still be able to sit together and just hang out from time to time. – Back to Bliss n Eso – I don’t know why the sky is blue, I don’t know why I write these tunes, but with a vibe like this, I’m gonna climb these cliffs so I’ll be there for you.

Well, I’m 1700 words into this now, and although I don’t need to cap my thoughts to a certain length, I’m sure you’re all beginning to grow bored so I’ll tail off now.

Hope you’re all well and enjoying life still.

Pip

2007 Photos

Digging through my old collections this afternoon, I found these photos from august 2007, the Kiama Highschool Ski Trip.
So, without further going on, here they are -

Easter and Mad Preparations

Well, easter is upon us again, I’m back home with my family, after a fairly busy week at work again. Rockclimbing is going well at the moment, conquered another route the other night that I havnt been able to do before.
I scored some good photos as well – mainly of luke and the others climbing, but the other two guys there were happy to be shot, so theres a few in there of them.

Jump, grab, and hope like hell you hang on!

a far reach for an interesting red

holyyy crap!

Spiderman

Luke hauling himself up a tricky red.

Making it look way too easy!

My foot goes where?!

More to come soon – I’ll put up another post tonight with some other thoughts.

Pip

A fast update and some kickass nachos.

Ok, well, this afternoon, went climbing again, with Luke, Fiona, Sam, Tim and Dan. Many a good climb were had, and I think we were all pretty buggered by the afternoon. After we left it was pouring rain, so we headed home and after a quick trip to woolies made some of the most awesome nachos ever. These were made in the drip tray from the griller – who said young people these days arent inventive! Top with cheese and taco sauce, serve with sour cream and you have something amazing.
Now I feel like I’m about to explode, but oh, it was worth it!

A fast note to people reading – if you want your comments to show up right away, please use a standard username and email.. everytime a new combination of either of these appears on the blog, it means I have to authorise it, and depending on whats going on, it could mean a few days before I even realise it needs doing (its not an obvious alert)

Cheers
Pip

Around Sydney

Yesterday I decided to spend the day in sydney, trying to bring out some of that skill with a camera I pretend to have. I started at Wynyard station, generally taking photos of anything and everything I could see that looked interesting.
This photo I thought kinda made a funny combination of olden innovation and modern necessity.

Moving on, I wandered towards the westpac bank, where i was quickly asked to move on by the security guard. Evidently the tree pictured below was my secret way into the bank.

After taking more deep and meaningful photos I ended up in Hyde park, watching tourists taking photos of the fountain. I tried several times through the day to take decent photos of people, and i ended up making a funny observation – as soon as I began using a flash again, people became defensive, and clearly didnt want to be photographed. This lead to me turning it off, which made people relax – I only got a few worried “Is he a pervert” stares without the flash. I caught this nice photo in the boulevard in Hyde Park.

Walking from the Sydney Hospital towards wynyard again, I came across a war memorial with some flowers left for soldiers who had recently been killed in action. Only one set had a card with it, which I have added below.


After this, I ended up walking through George St Mall for a moment, bought a copy of the big issue off a man on a street corner, who was obviously trying to make a go of his situation. I’ve not got a lot of money myself at the moment, but what I do have left these days increasingly goes towards things that are probably more worthy than random computer junk.
From here, i went to Mountain Designs (not to be confused with ‘mountain equipment’ a few doors down) and visited Luke, whom I’ll be moving in with in jindabyne. After looking at all the goodies I could blow my next pay on, I wandered in the direction of Darling Harbour, where the Greek festival was on. Gorgeous girls and handsome guys all dressed in immaculate blue and white were all over the place, and having a great time of it clearly.
I’ll include some photos here of the parade I managed to catch.

This guy was obviously keen enough to have his photo taken, he waved earlier to get my attention, and as I lined up the shot, he flashed me a quick thumbs up.

After another short walk, I ended back up at the inverted fountain – something which has captivated me for some time.
I stood here a while, and ended up watching some little children play ‘king of the hill’ on the dome in the center.

There was another performer blowing HUGE bubbles with many kids clustered around. At first they were trying to pop them, but soon the game changed to ‘avoid the bubbles’ when he started blowing bubbles almost two meters long, snaking in the air towards the crowd.

After watching this for a few minutes, I went to visit Scott who works in EB Games at Darling Harbour. After watching him get swamped by customers, I bought lunch, which was $17, and paid in 50c pieces. Poor cashier girl kinda had a ‘what the eff’ look on her face when I poured them on the counter. Afterwards I walked back over the other side, past the aquarium and up past the piers, back towards sydney, and came across this fantastic building. I love the design here, and this photo kinda struck me as one of the ‘artist impressions’ you find in architecture firms. I think there must have been a very happy architect at the end of all this, the building looks fantastic, and definitely the sort of place I’d want to put a business office.

Across the street from this building was another similarly artistic building, in tones of grey and black, with vivid orange highlights. I really liked this building, mainly because its a simple and clever way of bringing together these clashing colours and putting brightness and light back into a dark structure.

I really liked this courtyard, it looked like it had been built from a scrambled lego box, with alternating patterns and colours.

Further into the city again now, nearing wynyard station for the second time, I wandered past an alleyway, and of course, alleyways being the backstreets of the city, I thought I’d be adventurous and wander down to see what i could see.

I found this photo while stepping over a dead rat which had been crushed by a passing car, while holding my breath from the stench of urine.
So, I thought, this is it, the peak of my photograpic career. Standing in rat guts, in an alleyway stinking of piss, taking photos of bricks and windows.
The subject itself interests me – its an old building which has been overgrown by a modern building, a brick and mortar original dwarfed by a cement facaded monster.
The lighting here was also very interesting. Being the afternoon, the sun was coming from the west, so this wall (on the easterly side of the building) was only lit by dappled reflections which had bounced from window to window to come to rest at the bottom of the alleyway.

From here I walked back to circular quay, watching street performers along the way, people playing didgeridoo to a dance beat, an infectious, catchy tune, to a young boy playing fantastic guitar and softly singing, who had a pile of coins in front of him (which I ended up adding to – he was that good), to my favourite act of the day, a performer swallowing a balloon, then a sword, all while juggling flaming torches five meters up in the air. Extraordinary stuff, and looking at his donations bag at the end of the show he cleaned up the crowds wallets too by the look of it! Another young man playing classical guitar – very serious, very careful and very very skilled. From here I dared not to head to the Rocks, because although its one of sydneys oldest areas, I also find it a little too overdone. I knew that I’d be pushing my imagination here to take good photos, so I preferred to come back another day with the express purpose of shooting the area.
Back to the Queen Victoria Building to bludge more internet off McDonalds, before catching a train home late in the afternoon.
I’ll Upload the entire set of photos here in a while as a gallery, each has its own story, but too many and to long to talk about each here.

For now
– Keeping the hollow promises -
Pip