Jingle Bells

Hey everybody,

I'm sure no one is online today checking, but thought I would wish you all a very Merry Christmas any hows.

Hope you have a most excellent time with all your loved ones, and I hope to see many of you soon.


And to my family, well I hope beyond hope to be there with you next year.

Take care and be merry everyone!!

Holiday Happiness

It's here, the time is upon me ~ I skedaddled from work on Friday, and flew in the early hours of Saturday morning to Melbourne.

I came, bleary eyed, from the plane, straight into the waiting arms of the lovely lady Elinor. Right there in that moment, it felt like I was home.

It's been a crazy first few days, and despite knowing I have 2 weeks here, El and I couldn't help the feeling that on Sunday I would be getting back on a pla

ne and heading back to NZ. But of course I didn't, I'm here for holidays ~ a massive thank you to CVNZ (if they're reading) for giving me a m

uch needed breather, and some

time with my fiancée..

It's always good to be back, and I've already been cramming things into every day, yet also relaxing happily into holiday mode arising later, and not worrying if I feel like stopping for a coffee or a glass of wine ~ just doing it. Life is good.

Speaking of which I got my Christmas presents to myself of a new Life Is Good hoody (with free t-shirt) and a hunk of greenstone from back in New Zealand. Splurge..

This year I have been uber-organised, and all my presents were bought and wrapped about 10 days ago, back in NZ. They got a little battered and bruised in the hold luggage on the way through, but I think that will actually enhance the look of them to go along with my dubious wrapping skills.

So there's no last minute running around to do for me whilst I'm here. Instead I've been lapping up a little Melbourne culture, eating brekky after brekky, supping coffees in the cafes, visiting the aboriginal cultural heritage museum, and today whisking myself off down the bay to have a little look at one of my old project sites whilst working for CVA Green Corps.

I headed to Chelsea foreshore where we did some dune stability and foreshore rehabilitation plantings, as I'd heard there'd been some nasty storms which had done a lot of damage along the coast ~ I was hoping some of our work was still standing. I was actually amazed when I got down there, as not only was over half of our dune stability fence still standing, but I could see the results of it already, only a year after it was erected and despite the storms. I then went wandering in the dunes, and soon located virtually all of our guarded little saplings which were flourishing! Really good to see the work was still viable, and despite the loss of some of the fence, our efforts had not gone to waste.

Tonight, well tonight it's off to Banff ~ one of my favourite St Kilda haunts ~ for a reunion of the Summer 2007 crew who are still lingering in these parts. We should have a pretty good turnout considering it's 2 years since we all first met, and quite a few of us aren't official aussies!

Here's hoping to write again before Christmas. Be good + enjoy the holiday season.

Facebook Christmas photo album link

(will be updated as the travels continue)

A Year in Photos

Well it's been a year now that I've had my dSLR camera, and I'm happy to say that undoubtedly my photography has advanced. However there's been a few travels, thrills and spills along the way.

Here's my year in photos of New Zealand, I hope you enjoy;

January - Black headed Terns at the Rocks

February - A high country musterer

March - Atop Camp Saddle with the volunteers

April - A birthday trip to the glaciers

May - Midnight Pancake Rocks expedition

June - Grass in Ice

July - Fresh snow on the Cragieburn Ranges

August - Rainbow over Barrytown Flats

September - Queenstown with my folks and El

October - Kowhai blooming during Spring

November - Brekky with El in Cafe Roma

December - The Coast

You can also view them here

Here's hoping for a prosperous 2010 for us all.

A Real Deal

Christmas Countdown

One week until I am back on the shores of the kangaroo, the wombat, and the koala.

It's back to Australia for Christmas number III, and I simply can't wait.

I've had a hectic run in to Christmas with two 6 day weeks in the last three, including a 10 hour working day today if you include the 4.5 hour travel time. Painful, and the rewards don't quite equal/acknowledge my efforts at the moment if you ask me.

Still, 5 more working days, a drive from Punakaiki to Christchurch, and a 3.30am check-in, and I shall soon be waking up with the words 'welcome to Melbourne' over Jetstar's intercom. I'm excited.

Plans include Christmas with El's family in country Victoria, some visits to old haunts, catching up with long lost hockey chums, cruising the laneways of Melbs seeking out the best the cafes and bars have to offer, outdoor cinema, live music, and hopefully a bit of a camping roadtrip round to Adelaide. Who knows where we'll end up for New Year's Eve!

I'm sure the frustrations of every day life will soon melt away, leaving me calm and relaxed like this little guy..

Welcome to Australia... the land where everything wants to kill you!

Celebrate Good Times... C'Mon!

News from afar...

Yesterday was freakin' tops, for several reasons.

Firstly, it was great to return to the 'kaiks, happiness always seems to flow through me when I make it through Arthurs Pass, over the Otira viaduct, and start cruising out into the westland vegetation of tall trees, ferns and coursing rivers. It is always nice to come home after a week away, especially a 6 day working week. I do feel this is quite homely now ~ El shall be joining me here in only a couple of months, my parents have visited, I have my own place to relax in, and I know the area and the people in it. It's good to be back.

Secondly, and more importantly, I got a text when I arrived back from the oft-spoken-about Elinor. She received her results for her Interpreting Course (one of the main reasons she stayed in Oz this year) and SHE PASSED! Hurrah!!!!!! So rather excitedly we managed a bit of a chat whilst she was at work.. just so very happy that all her hard work this year has paid off and she'll have a lot more flexibility getting jobs over here too!

Thirdly, a few little parcels were waiting for me from a few Trade Me (NZ's eBay) auctions I'd won. The most exciting of which was my new iPod and speaker system!! After losing / suffered a disappearance of my most prized old iPod video, I have been suffering from mp3 rage.. I tried one or two others but they simply are inferior. Sorry to every other mp3 manufacturer, but I just don't think they're anywhere near iPod at the moment. So, yes, I bought myself a 6th generation iPod Classic, and got a good speaker dock thrown in too. Bargain.

Fourthly, VERY happy to receive back my passport complete with several full page NZ immigration labels stating I'm a resident, I'm welcome to 'remain in NZ indefinitely'. Thank you Te Ratonga Manene!! The good thing with this is that I'm now able to take up studies over here as I mentioned in a previous post ~ so the diploma in ecotourism is the first stop, closely followed by a short course in Maori language, and hopefully a crash course in Maori culture.

It called for the opening of some bubbly, and a toast to the North West where most of you are in comparison to me.

Finally in this babble, I should add that the photography course is now coming along well; 2/3 of the way through now. The portaiture came out ok marks-wise, not quite up to scratch but I would say that's about the weakest of my areas. I was then able to enter my next assignment which was partly to do with copying styles of your favourite photographers ~ I chose an image by Stewart Nimmo (a West Coast photographer) and here's the result;

Flowering Harakeke on the West Coast

The next assignment went in shortly after this one was marked (at a better result) which was a very helpful but terribly unkind module. It was all about equipment, focusing on what camera, lenses, computers, peripherals & software you thought you would need in the coming years to get to the professional level you aimed for.

I have nailed down that I'm not interested in giving up my full-time job, so really I only aspire to being a freelance amateur-pro photographer focusing mainly on nature, landscape & travel photography. So whilst I don't intend to trade in my trusty Sony A200 dSLR in the forseeable future, I had to research all the exciting equipment which I keep telling myself 'NO' to.. sheesh it's tempting stuff. Still I think I'm pretty sorted at the moment, and thankfully my photography wont require expensive lighting rigs, studios, and I don't aspire to the client-approval land of instant jpegs flying across the highspeed internet connections around the world. Interesting assignment though!

Enough babble, be good people.

Link to updated Facebook HOME album
Link to Facebook Cragieburn Snow album
Link to Facebook Coast album

SIGN IT DAGNAMIT

Copenhagen... sure it's a lovely place for a stroll, a nice brekafast + a romantic weekend away. BUT I sincerely hope the bigwigs who head for the UN Climate Change Conference in December don't have that on their mind.

I, and many many millions around the world would like the leaders of their nations to sign a deal. Not just a loose, not too binding, "tomorrow we'll change" kinda deal, but a comprehensive action plan to lock nations into reducing our global carbon emissions. It's the only way.

Check out 350.org