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

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

Thoughts and sensations.

Well here we are again, in the last moments of summer, preparing myself for another winter to come. The weather is starting to turn now, with colder mornings, and a sun that finds every opportunity to blind me as I drive to work.
I’ve found it difficult to find a lot of momentum and motivation when it comes to this blog – it might be a case of general laziness, but I like to think my life is varied enough without having to tell everyone about it, but it seems not, so I’m going to make hollow promises again, and say that I’ll update this more, and take photos more, and so on.

I need to buy myself a new tripod – my last one was left to Charlie D’Amico in the rain-frenzied packup of the last gig I worked with him on – it wasnt an expensive one at all, and It’s no loss, but it does put a pinch on my photography when I have to cut through the caffeine shakes for a few moments to frame a long exposure.
I’m experimenting more with my photos recently – trying to go outside my usual haunts of long exposure and nature shots – playing more with time lapse and the likes now – i have a new ‘rig’ I’ve been reccomended to try – a rubber band and a shirt button to hold the shutter release down, keeping the camera in ‘continuous shooting’ mode.. should prove interesting at least – I might be able to put some action sequences together, which would be an interesting way to waste a few hours.

Work is interesting and varied at the moment – I find myself increasingly bored on weekends when theres no-one around the house. I need to spend more time at home, but the time and cost can be prohibitive, especially close to the end of a pay cycle.
I’m bludging internet off McDonalds in the QVB/George St Mall Food Court at the moment, while eating especially good sushi… mmm…
I’ve got a new love for sushi, especially the really good ones – I must admit I’m still pretty uncultured when it comes to it though – I tend to go for the chicken and ‘cooked’ sorts, however recently I’m forcing myself to eat more of the true sushi variants. Todays offering was a decent salmon roll, good stuff indeed. That said, the chicken and rice was a bit salty which i usually like, but it was an odd combination on flavours. (A reflection on this – this is most likely to do with my very boring way of soaking everything in soy sauce!)

I’m writing all this babble courtesy of my new laptop battery – bought with an arm and a leg at the apple store last night. Its amazingly good not to have to panic about taking my laptop places, and its actually a little like getting a new one altogether – finally I can use it for what it was intended! I’m also driving again now, the RTA having seen fit to give me my licence back – there may be some method to their madness, it means they can screw more fines out of me, but i’ve actually found that my time without has made me a far more careful driver.

Well, Back to work for me now – I’ll try and keep my hollow promises – even if it doesnt turn out.
- Pip

New Years Celebrations.