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1 January 2011

2011 Highlights

Teaching, photographing Sydney and trips to the Central Coast and The Great Ocean Road



Priceless Moments


New friends met this year




2011 in more detail


Trips

Without doubt, the biggest highlight of 2011 was my two week road trip in October to The Great Ocean Road.  What an amazing place it is - not just the spectacular rock formations of The 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge, but also the gorgeous waterfalls and lush forests of  The Great Otway National Park, the old lighthouses along the coast and some very quaint, historic villages.  I was also delighted to see wild koalas, something which is on my life list.  All in all, an amazing trip.

In June, I went on a one week trip to the New South Wales Central Coast (with Mack) including Gosford, Terrigal, Forresters and Sheathers Warf.  This was my second visit to the amazing Forresters Beach with it's fantastic sculptured rocks which Mack very obligingly posed on.

In December, I made a trip to Glen Davis to photograph the abandoned shale mine there.  What an adventure it was!


Photographing Sydney

This year, I decided to make the most of the beautiful city I live in and photograph her well known and lesser known places.

Photographic highlights included  Cockatoo Island with it's huge sheds and rusty old cranes and the incredible graffiti in the old abandoned tram sheds in Glebe and the abandoned Dunlop Factory in Alexandria.  Other lesser known places I photographed were the enormous Rookwood Cemetary and the old mental asylum of Callum Park.

Better known photo destinations included West Head, the Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout, Watson's Bay, the Anzac Bridge and Le Perouse.

I also attended several of Sydney's events like the street art festival at Cockatoo Island, the Sydney Vivid Lights festival which seems to get bigger and better every year and The Bondi Sculptures by the Sea.  I was very disappointed when my camera gave up the ghost at the 2011 Mardis Gras so I didn't get great photos, but I did manage to take some at the earlier Mardis Gras Fair.

I also did some exploring of the beautiful nooks and crannies around where I live and took photos at Berry Island, Larkin outlook and Ball's Head.

Earlier in the year, I went on an outing with the Mosman Camera Club to the Taralga Rodeo where I got some great action shots and luckily my camera survived the intense dust clouds caused by bucking bulls.


Hiking

I did some wonderful hikes this year.  In January, I hiked in the Blue Mountains.  Hanging Rock was the highlight, a huge sandstone rock that is over 150 metres high and has become detached from the main cliff.  So beautiful, it's not surprising it has featured in many calendars and climbing photos.  I spent New Year's eve in the blue gum forests of Govett's Leap and I also hiked The Canyon.  Other hikes during the year included hikes to waterfalls in the Great Otway National Park, a hike to Flint and Steel Beach in the Kuring Gai National Park and Two Creeks Hike in the Garigal National Park.  Then, I finished off the year with more hiking in The Blue Mountains, when I went in search of waterfalls.


Sanjay comes to visit

In January, my good friend Sanjay visited Sydney from the UK.  We had a fantastic time.  Highlights included a rainy hike in the Blue Mountains and  having a dinner party for Lizzy and Kelly.  Sanjay proved to be an excellent cook and showed me how to prepare some delicious Indian dishes.


Learning new things

This year, I did two courses.  Early in the year, I did a cooking course, where each week we made different dishes from all over the world.  Having a sweet tooth, I focussed especially hard on the desserts and became known as the dessert king.  It was great fun with wonderful people and the undoubted highlight was getting to eat our handiwork at the end of the evening.

Later in the year, I did a massage course which is something I've always wanted to do.  I learned the art of effleurage and kneading and cupping and enjoyed it a lot, especially being practised on.


Family

I didn't get to see the family this year and missed them a lot.  Sam turned  turned 11 this year and Matt turned 8.  Sam did extremely well in her exams at the end of the year and we are all very proud of her.  Jo, Ant and the family went on a nice holiday in Durban and went to Bloemfontein twice.  Mum and Mike moved house which was a stressful time, but they love their new place.  I'm so looking forward to seeing them in February next year.  Mike travelled to Amsterdam this year to see his family and mum and Mike visited the Kruger National Park which they really enjoyed.


Friends

Brendan and Eva had a tumultuous year, what with a new baby and building a new home.  They look exhausted but their new home is wonderful and I am sure they will be very happy there.

The Schneiders are also very happy with their new home and they built a wonderful deck this year.  I visited them several times this year, including an Easter lunch and at Clontarf  Beach.  I also did a photo shoot for them late in the year which was fun but challenging making the kiddies smile at the same time.

I went camping with Doug and Claudia at Lake St Clair early in the year.

I got new house mates this year after Craig left.  A lovely couple, Sue is from Peru and Alex is from Liechtenstein.  They are staying in my old bedroom and I moved upstairs which is nice and private.

Early in the year, I spent a lot of time with Lizzy watching lots of movie and plays and picnics. We also did a fun kayak tour in the harbour.

I also attended a doggie party down at the park where Mack tucked into a big birthday cake made just for dogs!


Teaching

I continued to do teaching this year.  The highlight was our Kaplan Murder mystery Xmas party where we all got to act and dress up in costumes.  A lot of fun and laughs.  As was the annual Melbourne Cup event.  But the highlight were my two desk buddies, Steve and Rachel, who I got on really well with and got to share lots of teaching ideas and lesson plans.


Blogging

Amazing to think  I've been blogging now for close to 8 years.  My blog has taken on a life of its own, an enormous scrapbook to look back on when I'm old.  This year, I redesigned my blog with a new look and feel.  The most important change was making the photos larger.  It was a time consuming process to go through all 1350 posts and enlarge the photos, but worth it I feel.  I also migrated all my comments back to blogger which entailed copying and pasting over 1000 comments.  Lastly, I categorised my posts so that, for example, you can see all my posts to do with fun, travel or adventure.

I also created a blog for my wonderful friend, Susan, to which I uploaded all her best travel photos.  It's a private blog so not available for viewing, but she was absolutely delighted with it, and may have friends who want one too.  I've created a site to market my services in this regard.


Best films watched this year
  • Limitless
  • Rango
  • Source Code
  • The Black Swan
  • 127 Hours
  • True Grit
  • Let Me In


Shows
  • The Jersey Boys




2011 Index of Links


Family


Hiking


Photography Outings


Teaching


Social 


Related


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The Three Sisters (Blue Mountains)

I have done it before but it's such a beautiful sight, I decided to do it again - to watch and photograph dusk settling onto The Three Sisters at Katoomba.  As the sun sets, the Three Sisters glow orange in the light and then the shadows gradually engulf them until there is just light on the upper parts.






There were also some nice cloud effects over Solitary Mountain as dusk approached.




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Trying out teaching

One of the highlights this year was discovering I loved teaching.  I did a CELTA course from October to December 2009 to learn how to teach English as a secondary language.  The main thing that attracted me to teaching English was the fact that it was a change from the corporate world for a while and it would allow me to travel and work at the same time.  When I returned to Sydney after Cape Town, I decided to try it out in Sydney and see if I would enjoy it or not.  And I soon discovered that I had a passion for it.

Here are some of the things I loved about teaching this year:
  • teaching adults who are extremely eager and motivated to learn
  • meeting students from all over the world - the classroom is a veritable melting pot
  • really feeling like I am contributing to people achieving their life dreams.  For most, being able to speak and write English provides a gateway to all sorts of opportunities back home 
  • receiving some positive feedback from students that really touched me
  • the other teachers in the school - I have never worked with a nicer bunch of people, except maybe for Volvo.  The teachers at Kaplan come from an amazingly diverse range of different backgrounds and they are all happy to share ideas and experiences
  • the creativity that English teaching afforded me in being able to create my own materials and class content including special themed lessons for the Melbourne Cup and Halloween as well as my own written stories (including stories with a twist, stories from school and stories re Mack)
  • having a captive audience to photograph including student portraits and class portraits
  • the ability to experiment with the use of the Internet in teaching - including the use of a class blog
  • creating my own site for teachers which provides access to information and resources I would have loved to have when I started teaching
  • some hilarious studentisms
The only real drawback to teaching is that the pay is very low and for that reason, it's not a viable long term career.  But it has opened my eye to the fact that I love teaching and training, so I can start to look at other rewarding options like corporate training, for example.
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31 December 2010

The Canyon Hike (Blue Mountains)

This is a fantastic three hour hike along the top of a canyon, followed by a steep descent into the canyon itself and a walk along the river, followed by an inevitable steep walk out.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and the canyon itself, with its shady glens and ferns and lush vegetation, provides respite from the heat of the day.

It was very difficult to capture the essence of this hike in photographs. The canyon itself was quite dark and the sun above was very bright so there was too much contrast.  So, I focused more on enjoying the hike. But below are some of the photos I did take.

Here is a view out of the narrow canyon from the river bed below.


The river was gorgeous, in parts filled with colourful pebbles and rocks.



Here you can see some debris deposited by the river.  This place must be scary when the river rises in a storm.  In the photo, you can see the canyon walls in the background.


There were some lovely trees too.



This bright red parrot was enjoying the sun and feeding on the floor as I came out of the canyon.


The canyon hike culminates at Evan's Lookout which provides lovely views out across the Grose Valley.


I met this couple gazing out at the view.  The photo doesn't show it but they both held a glass of champaign.  That's the way to enjoy a view!

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Event highlights (2010)


South Africa

  • Cape Town with family (taboggen, photography) - 6 weeks
  • Trip to Garden Route
  • Singapore Botanical Garden


Teaching (from April)

  • Academy of English
  • Kaplan


Sydney life

  • Aussie citizen
  • Port Stephens with camera club
  • Mack ran away - Liza arrives into our lives
  • Bark in The Park


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29 December 2010

Playing around with Craig's fish eye lens

Another great picture for Russell's dating profile!



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28 December 2010

Reliving our childhood

Reliving our childhood, playing original arcade games on Craig's arcade game emulator on his computer. The system even comes equipped with the original joysticks.  Way retro cool.

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27 December 2010

On the way to work










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26 December 2010

Xmas in the Sydney CBD

See no evil

This is a pub close to where I work.  The Xmas hats are a nice touch on an already cool sign.



Xmas morph suits

Who says you shouldn't suffer for your art?



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End of year picnic at the park

Friendly teachers...





Happy students...



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Farewell party with my Intermediate class

Some of of my Intermediate students I have been teaching for 15 weeks and I'll miss them.  It looks like I'll be teaching an elementary class next.  That should be a new challenge!




 

 

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Boxing day with Doug and Claudia and Lucus

I went to Doug and Claudia for lunch today and it was yet another day of lots of good food.  They cooked a huge ham with pineapple and glazed cherries and it was divine.  It was followed by Xmas pudding and brandy butter.  Yum!  Lucus is growing up very fast and is as photogenic as always.  The family has adopted Claudia's mum's dog, Cricket, who is very sweet natured and cute as you can see from the photo below.




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