Life Trove: 2016 Highlights

Home renovations, visits from Jo and Russell, farm with Brendan, Yogi friendship, Eckhart Group hikes, Cape Town

Priceless moments

Spending New Year's Eve at the Ashram especially the fire ceremony and tribal yoga.
A fun morning kayaking with Chris.
A great hike to Mount Solitary with the Hiking Gang.
Jo coming to visit me in Sydney and doing lots of walking and hiking, especially our walk from Waverton to Lady Macquarie's Chair, photographing all the major Sydney landmarks.
A visit to the Blue Mountains hiking with Jo - hiking, staying at the backpackers and buying a rug.
Amazing Thai food at Khao Pla with Brendan and Eva, especially the sticky rice dessert.
Exploring The Chinese Garden for the first time with Jo.
Russell visiting and doing some great hikes, especially the The Coastal Track hike where we leapt into the Figure of 8 Pool and had a swamp wallaby get close and personal with us at the camp-sight.
Introducing Russell to my hiking friends by doing The Canyon and Hanging Rock hikes.
Manly Scenic Walk 3 times with Jo, JC and co and my Eckhart Group.
Hiking with my Eckhart Group - Lane Cove, Muogamarra Nature Reserve and Manly Scenic Walk.
Some lovely times with Sharon - watching "Awake", Barry Long DVD and a walk at Ball's Head.
Special outings with Yogi including a walk Walk to Gore Cove. walking at La Perouse and Sculptures by The Sea.
Inspiring Yogi to get an iphone 7 and his delight with it; especially Siri.
With Sue, a wonderful lecture on Frank Hurley and Shackleton. So inspiring. It was photographer Hurley to thank for making the heroic journey so famous.
Discovering that sweet, shy Dennis, who works at our local IGA, is a heavy metal vocalist and going to listen to him perform. We had to put toilet paper in our ears!
Doing portraits for Shushann and Lydia and especially Lydia's delight with the results.
Two great evenings of Kirtan with my Eckhart Group, and a stroll on the beach at night.
Photographing beautiful children at Gavin's book launch . What a year for him. Soon he'll have three books published.
Birthdays at the Botanica for the Four Musketeers: Aimee, Chris, Me, and Yogi.
Many lunches (yummy Ape Crepe, Malaysian toast and quiche) and coffees at The Botanica with Yogi where we solved the existential issues of the universe to the refrain of "We've solved it again!"
Exploring spiritual matters with Louise, on such a high.
Doing meditation group with Nic again and adorable little Gaia always so happy to see me.
A roadtrip to Sedgefield with Jo, especially stopping off for a game drive on the way.
Photography outings with Jo: Chapman's Peak and Muizenberg to Kalk Bay walk.
A fun New Year's Eve with Jo at Blouberg.

... and especially, completing my home renovations project:

Creating a trellis for the courtyards.
Laying the floors.
After running out of floors and discovering they had been discontinued, my elation when the manufacturer found some.
Choosing my favourite photos and having them printed and framed to put on the wall.
Shopping at IKEA and Spotlight, buying new furniture and curtains, including with Jo.
The watering system installed, working great.
Matt moving out and Srini moving in.
Earning an extra $1400 a month by renting out my spare room to Sharmista.
My beautiful courtyards and balcony (including my Buddha statue) ; a flowering oasis of plants.
Srini managing to get the E&Y job, partly thanks to my help with his CV and interview questions.
Suntanning on the balcony, enjoying the plants.

Less happy moments

Discovering a human body on a hike in the Glenbrook National Park with Geoff and Lydia.
Russell banging his leg so hard on the Mermaid Falls hike that he needed surgery when he got back to London.
The potential of a 4 storey development next door and doing all we could to stop it.
Losing Jilly's car keys; then finding them on the roof (!) after I'd been driving a few days with ones made.
The Boting's house getting burgled.
Bashing my nose on a rock when diving in at Silvermine.