Teaching, photographing Sydney and trips to the Central Coast and The Great Ocean Road
Priceless Moments
- Hiking through The Canyon in The Blue Mountains.
- Camping in the sacred Blue Gum Forests of The Blue Mountains.
- The sublime beauty of Hanging Rock and camping there overnight to photograph it at dawn.
- Wonderful Sanjay coming to Sydney and a rainy but fun hike in the Blue Mountains.
- Sanjay and I cooking up an Indian banquet feast to share with Lizzy and Kelly.
- Camping with Doug and Claudia at Lake St Clair.
- Photographing bucking bulls at the Taralga Rodeo.
- Fun times with Lizzy in our relationship; watching movies, breakfasts of luxury yoghurt, visiting the Mardis Gras Fair and seeing the musical, Jersey Boys.
- Doing a cooking course with Lizzy, especially learning to make delicious desserts and getting to eat our masterpieces at the end.
- Going to a doggie party at my local park.
- Doing a fun kayak tour on the harbour with Lizzy.
- Exploring and photographing Le Perouse with James.
- Photographing old cranes and buildings at Cockatoo Island as well as the street art festival.
- The sun rising over over the sculptured rocks of Forrester Beach.
- Exploring and photographing the old tram shed at Glebe and the sight of the trams, covered completely in beautiful graffiti.
- Creating a Wiki for English Teaching and impressing the socks off Lauren, the head of the school.
- Exploring and photographing the abandoned Dunlop Factory and its amazing graffiti.
- Doing the lovely Two Creeks Hike in the Garigal National Park.
- Hiking to Flint and Steel Beach in the Kuring Gai National Park.
- Boulder hopping to Canyon X in Narrabeen.
- Photographing the gorgeous waterfalls of The Great Otway National Park.
- Exploring the Great Ocean Road, especially photographing The Twelve Apostles and at different times of the day and seeing them from the air.
- The sun setting over Gibson's Steps, such a beautiful sight, and meeting some lovely people.
- Seeing my first koala in the wild.
- Photographing the beautiful lighthouses along The Great Ocean Road.
- The beauty of The Bay of Islands, Lord Lord Ard Gorge and the secluded Chinder's Cove.
- Redesigning my blog.
- Doing a presentation to the Mosman Camera Club on editing photos and using Lightroom that was very well received.
- Sue's great delight when I creating a blog for her of her travel photos.
- Doing a photography shoot for the Schneiders and trying to get both kids to smile at the same time!
- Photographing the Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi and being thrilled with my photos.
- Scanning all teaching materials so I was able to prepare and print my lessons in less than 30 minutes each day, freeing me up to do lots of other things.
- A fun Murder mystery evening with my work mates at Kaplan.
- Exploring the abandoned shale mine at Glen Davis and feeling a bit like Indiana Jones amongst the ruins.
- Photographing the gorgeous waterfalls of Valley of 1000 Waters and Victoria Falls.
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
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
2011 Index of Links
Family
Hiking
Photography Outings
Teaching
Social
Related
