Trees

There obviously wasn't going to be much of a sunset tonight so a series of trees in various lights seemed a good option.

Overcast sky.



Broken cloud.

Standing sentinel in the sunlight.











Is there a pot of gold?





Cockatoos closer to heaven.

.... AND then I turned around .....

New Business Venture???

You could certainly be forgiven for thinking we have gone into the business of selling soil. Except for the darker soil in the foreground, left over from the lawns, and a small heap of white sand, all of this material was dug out from under the deck or removed with the weedy grass from the bare areas, and sifted into various grades of gravel and soil. All of it will be used in the formation of new garden beds in this area and further around the back.

(I apologise for the smudge in the middle of the photos. It was on the lens and after I cleaned it off it was too cold to go out and take any more photos.)

View from the top of the driveway.




The indefatigable gardener at work.


View from the 'bottom of the garden'. (I didn't see any fairies down there.)


This is only the first of the new beds, the shaping of which has already generated some 'animated discussion'.

I just can't help myself!

No prizes for guessing what time of day I've begun taking my daily walk. The challenge is to walk where I may be able to get the best photos, and also time it right.

The lesson I learned today was: NEVER go chasing sunsets with an almost full Memory Card. Whilst you are wasting precious minutes standing still erasing photos individually, because you've already taken some and don't want to erase the lot, the sunset is changing rapidly on the other side of the hill. By the time I got to the other side of the hill, I found myself running (okay, fast walk) to try and find the spaces between the trees to capture mountains trimmed in gold.

The beauty of a sunset is seen not only in the western sky. This was the northern view at the beginning of my walk.


The sky in the east was still much lighter, with the clouds lightly rose tinted.


Looking southward towards Black Mountain.


Walking fast to make up for lost time and heading south-west.


Finally made it to the west as the sun disappears below the horizon.

Teamates and Friends

Just over 8 months ago Sara arrived in the Netherlands to take up a contract to play field hockey with a team in Amsterdam. She's had a few little challenges in that time - travelling overseas on her own for the first time, coping with homesickness, adjusting to a foreign language (though fortunately most people over there also speak English), learning a different style of play, coaching a number of teams, learning to balance her money and how to live in a new country, living through winter whilst knowing that it was warm and sunny at home, and finding her way around a strange city on her bicycle have been a few things for her to deal with, as well as being on the other side of the world from her family, friends and boyfriend.

However, all in all she has enjoyed her time over there, not least for the fact that many of her teamates have become good friends and the team had a very successful season. They finished as runners-up in Second Division which qualified them to play 6 additional games in the past two weeks in an attempt to gain promotion into First Division. If they had lost the first two matches, it would have been all over then. However, it wasn't until the sixth match, which they sadly lost 1-0, that their season ended.

Sara is now very excited about spending a few weeks travelling Europe with her boyfriend, who is really looking forward to his first visit to the Continent, and no doubt, seeing Sara again!

Below is Sara's hockey team. She is 4th from the left, front row, orange stick (next to the girl with the blue leg.) (Click on photo for larger view.)

Stormy skies and seas.

We had a very relaxing few days at the coast. In fact, on Tuesday there was little else to do but relax as 108mm (over 4 inches) of rain fell in less than 24 hours. What bliss - warm and cozy, a good book and listening to the rain on the roof. These photos were taken the next morning. The seas weren't as high as I have seen them, but they still looked a bit ominous thanks to the dark clouds.

Tomakin.




View towards Mossy Point.




Broulee Island in the distance.


Can you see the rainbow?

Coastal Sunset

I'm sorry if you are tired of sunsets, because I'm not. On Wednesday evening I glanced out of the window, saw a little colour in the sky and grabbed the camera in case there was something worth taking. For the next few minutes I ran around madly between blocks of units to try and get the best views, all the while wondering if I had time to get in the car and drive to the nearest lookout. I'm glad I didn't go because the colours firstly became deeper and deeper and then faded entirely, all in a matter of minutes.








Sunset clouds reflected in the water.