Event highlights (2008)

Work

• Leave Blackglass (March)
• Work at Ogilvy for month
• Contract work for Blackglass

Sydney life

• Farmer's Market
• Moving into 43B King Street

Photography

• Sydney arial photos

Trips

• Uluru, Kakadu, Litchfield National Park
• New Zealand
• Tasmania

Priceless moments (2008)

Sydney life

• Farmer's Market
• Moving into Waverton

Photography

• Sydney arial photos
• Photo editing

Trips

• Uluru
• Rock pools at Litchfield National Park
• Hot water baths (New Zealand)
• Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain
• 11 Tasmanian bird endemics

Movies

Progress (2008)

Photography

• Start getting to know Lightroom
• Working on images

Home

• Buy 43B King Street

More

• Financial projections in excel (for Warren)

Gratitude (2008)

King Street

• Got gazumped on Neutral Bay, so got King Street
• Buying our house when we did (before prices started to rise fast beyond our budget)
• Mum's generosity

Home life

• Getting Mack
• Andreas and Ingrid in our lives

Travel

• Uluru
• New Zealand
• Tasmania

Connect (2008)

Visits

• Mum and Mike visit Sydney
• Jo's visit to Sydney

More

• Andreas and Ingrid arrive
• Mack into my life
• 5th birthday for blog (Ally cake)

Challenges (2008)

Work

• The end at Blackglass
• Grugen: resigning after first day
• Brain freeze during web design interview (question re project management)
• Contract work for Blackglass
• Month at Ogilvy

Depression

• New Zealand - sleep, sleep, sleep
• Sleep whole day, no future
• Looking for work and dreading finding it

Other

• Ally putting on weight (Xmas)
• Bed bugs experience in Blues Point
• Left my expensive tripod and gimble at the beach

Affirmation (2008)

Work

• Financial projections in excel (for Warren)
• Warren: "Extremely professional"

2008 Highlights

Showing Sydney to Jo, Mum & Mike, buying a house, getting Mack, and trips to New Zealand, Tasmania and the Northern Territories

Best images for 2008
Best family photos for 2008

Priceless Moments

• A wonderful time exploring Tasmania and seeing 9 of the 11 endemic birds there.  The towering trees in Mount Field National Park and walking around Dove Lake were great highlights.
• Exploring New Zealand's North Island with mum and Mike, especially lazing in freshly dug holes at Hot Water Beach (Hahei) and hiking the amazing Tongariro Crossing.
• Proudly showing Sydney to mum and Mike, especially Palm Beach, Wattamolla Lagoon in the Royal National Park and Manly.
• Andreas, Ingrid and Sebastian arriving in Sydney.
• The excitement of finding, buying and moving into our beautiful new home at 43B Kings Street.
• Setting up all our furniture and unpacking our boxes in our new home.
• Our house warming party and our first dinner party at our new home with our new dining room table.
• The sight of Uluru at dawn, glowing bright red.
• A wonderful boat trip at  Kakadu and getting beautiful photos of kingfishers and other birds.
• The amazing red cliffs of King's Canyon.
• Swimming in the beautiful river pools and frolicking in waterfalls at Litchfield National Park.
• Falling in love at first sight and falling totally under adorable Mack's spell.  So great to have a family dog again.
• Jo's visit to Sydney and proudly showing off out new home and Mack.
• A relaxing weekend at Jervis Bay with Jo.
• A camping weekend away at Jervis Bay with Katarin and Charles.
• Doing a wonderful canooing trip down Kangaroo Valley.
• The beautiful spring flowers at the Muogamarra Nature Reserve.
• A spectacular two day hike in the Royal National Park with Bruce.
• Photographing some of Sydney's most beautiful beaches at dawn including Narrabeen, Long Reef and Monavale 
• The beautiful Sydney Opera House at sunrise.  
• My first ever Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi.  What a spectacular backdrop to a sculpture exhibition!
• Flying over Sydney and doing arial photography. 
• Doing a landscape photography course with a fun outing to the Royal National Park.

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2008 in more detail

Well, 2008 is nearly over. It's been a great year for family and trips away and house hunting.


Tasmania

The first highlight of the year was exploring Tasmania.  Our best experiences were spending New Year on Bruny Island, walking around the gorgeous Dove Lake, eating till we dropped at the Hobart Food Festival and downing dozens of oysters at a local oyster farm depot.


Mum and Mike's visit
The second highlight was meeting Mum and Mike in New Zealand (in early March) and spending two weeks with them exploring New Zealand's North Island.  Our best experiences were lazing in hot puddles (which we dug ourselves) at the Hot Water Beach and hiking the Tongariro Crossing with Mike.  Not bad for someone close to 70!

Then Mum and Mike returned to Sydney with us where we proudly showed them our apartment with it's views of the Opera House and Bridge.  We also had great fun showing them Sydney, especially Palm Beach, Wattamolla Lagoon in the Royal National Park and Manly.  They particularly loved Manly which they visited three times.


Andreas and Ingrid Arrive
The next highlight was Andreas, Ingrid and Sebastian arriving in Sydney.   Andreas is a really good friend from Volvo days and we are so excited to have them here. We look forward to creating many happy memories together in Sydney.


Our new home
The third highlight was finding our beautiful new home at 43B Kings Street.  It's perfect for us, just two minutes downhill to the station and right on a gorgeous, green park.  We had spent over a year searching for a  suitable house within our budget and this included the heartbreak of getting gazumped on a previous property, so it was a great relief and joy finally finding the right place.

Our most exciting moments were setting up all our furniture and unpacking our boxes, buying new plants, buying our bed, getting our guest bed ready for Jo, putting up out Peruvian Art,  our first dinner party with our new dining room table and our housewarming party, followed by a Xmas party.


Uluru and The Northern Territories
The next highlight was flying to Alice Springs in July and exploring Uluru, followed by a drive to The Northern Territories  where we visited Kakadu and the beautiful Litchfield National Park.  Kakadu has been on my life list for a while but was a little disappointing.   Litchfield, on the other hand, blew us away.  What a hidden treasure.  The best moments were swimming in the beautiful rock pools with surprisingly warm water and playing in the waterfalls.


Woof!
Having a house right on a park with a dog flap already in place made Ally hungry to get a dog.  I wasn't so sure because I was worried it would get in the way of travel and weekend trips.  But when Kerri's colleague suddenly needed to get rid of their little Jack Russell, I agreed to have him over on a trial basis for a weekend.  What a mistake!  It was love at first sight and by the end of the weekend, we were totally under adorable Mack's spell.


Jo comes to visit
The final highlight was Jo's visit to Sydney.  We proudly showed off out new home and Mack.  She loved the independence of finding her way around and we spent a great weekend at Jervis Bay and visited places like Bondi beach and Watson's Bay.  It was wonderful that Jo was also able to be part of our house warming party.


Weekend Excursions
Ally and I also did some fun weekend excursions.  This included a camping weekend away at Jervis Bay with Katarin and Charles, a wonderful canooing trip down Kangaroo Valley and spring flowers at the Muogamarra Nature Reserve.  Then I also went on a two day hike in the Royal National Park with Bruce.


Photography
I went on many photographic excursions this year, many with very early pre-dawn get ups.  The most memorable and rewarding were Bobbin Head, Royal National Park, Circular Quay, Luna Park, Narrabeen, Long Reef, Opera House sunrise, Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Luna Park, Monavale and Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi.

The photographic highlight, though, was doing arial photography of Sydney with the North Sydney Camera Club.  I also did a landscape photography course with an outing to the Royal National Park.


Family
On the family front this year, there were some important mile stones.  Mike had his 70th birthday and Trish celebrated her 60th birthday.  Jo and Anthony and the kids had a wonderful family holiday to Mauritius in April.   They also had a good time at Blanco Farm in July.

Favourite Books

• Jack Reacher novels
• The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Favourite Movies

• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Dark Knight
• Spooks (TV series)
• Rome (TV series)
• The Notebook

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2008 Index of Links


Our New Home

• First peek inside
• Photos of our neighbourhood
• Floorplan
• Arial photos
• Moving in (Jul)
• Buying new plants
• Our bed arrives
• Getting our guest bed ready for Jo
• Peruvian Art
• Our first dinner party with our new dining room table (Sep)
• Housewarming Party (Oct)
• Our adorable new dog, Mack (Nov)
• Getting our barbecue (Nov)
• Xmas in our new home (Dec)

.Family

• Matthew's 5th birthday party with a pirate theme (Jan)
• Sam's 8th birthday (Apr)
• Ally's birthday party picnic at Mc Mahons Point with all our friends (Jan)
• Mum and Mike visit us in Sydney (Mar 2008)
• Family's holiday to Mauritious (Apr)
• Family holiday at Blanco Farm (Jul)
• Mike's 70th birthday (Jul)
• Trish's 60th birthday (Jul)
• Jo comes to stay with us in Sydney (Sep)
• Mike visits Amsterdam (Oct)

.

Friends

• Bruce and Kristy's wedding (Feb)
• Andreas, Ingrid and Sebastian arrive in Sydney (Apr)
• Fondu evening with Yvonne and Holga (May)
• North Sydney Food Market with Andreas, Ingrid and Sebastian (May)
• Nicola and John visit Sydney (May)
• Fish barbecue with Katarin and Charles (May)
• Chilling with Baby Lucas (Jun)
• Holga's birthday (Jun)
• Photographing Sebastian (Jun)
• Playing in the park with Ella and Brendan (Jul)
• Playing with Sebastian in the park (Jul)
• More photos of baby Lucas (Jul)
• Cycle in Centennial Park with Doug (Aug)
• Ella's special persons concert (Aug)
• Centennial Park with Andreas, Ingrid and Sebastian (Sep)
• Ingrid's 40th birthday in the park (Oct)
• Colleen gives birth (Oct)
• Xmas with friends (Dec)

Trips and Travel

• Exploring Tasmania (Jan)
• Camping at Jervis Bay with Katarin and Charles (Jan)
• Trip to New Zealand (Mar)
• Exploring Sydney with Mum and Mike (Apr)
• Strolling around Manly (May)
• Trip to Northern Territory and Uluru (Jun)
• Muogamarra Nature Reserve (Aug)
• Hawkesbury River (Aug)
• Bondi Beach with Jo (Sep)
• Jervis Bay with Jo (Sep)
• Watson's Bay with Jo (Sep)
• Canooing down Kangaroo Valley (Nov)
• Hiking in the Royal National Park with Bruce (Nov)

Photographic Outings

• Botanical Gardens (Apr)
• Bobbin Head (Apr)
• Bobbin Head (Apr)
• The Fish Market (Apr)
• Royal National Park (May)
• Circular Quay (May)
• Tarronga Zoo (May)
• Luna Park (Jun)
• Narrabeen (Jul)
• Sydney skyline (Jul)
• Dusk at Macquaries Chair (Jul)
• Narrabeen sunrise (Jul)
• Longreef sunrise (Jul)
• Pope visits Sydney (Jul)
• Manly sunrise (Jul)
• Sydney Opera House at sunrise (Jul)
• Luna Park (Jul)
• Opera House sunrise (Jul)
• Macquarie's Chair
• Opera House competition (Jul)
• Harbour Bridge (Jul)
• Opera House and Luna Park (Jul)
• Royal National Park with photography course (Aug)
• Sydney from the Air with the photography club (Aug)
• Monavale Pool (Aug)
• Birds at Bobbin Head (Aug)
• Narrabeen (Aug)
• Pelicans at sunrise (Aug)
• Monavale Rock Pool (Aug)
• Photoprocessing workshop (Aug)
• Sculptures by the Sea (Bondi) (Oct)

Related

• Spiritual journey (2008)