Photo Life

The Museum of Sydney is currently running an exhibit entitled Rockabilly: Living the 50s about modern-day Sydneysiders who happen to style their lives as though we were still living in the fifties. I suggest you click through to see the fab cat-eye glasses sported by two lovely park-going locals. Not long after seeing a preview in the Herald I walked by this lovely powder-blue beauty and had to stop and snap it.

As well, my favorite Sydney gallery is running an photography show documenting the earliest days of one of Australia's most famous bands. AC/DC Exposed! is meant to coincide with Bon Scott's July 9th birthday (he being the original lead singer, now sadly deceased).

Lastly, I have recently acquired an underwater housing for my Fisheye. Fittingly, it's called the Fisheye Submarine. Watch this space for underwater shots!

(Image courtesy www.zippos.com)

Night Swim

A few nights ago I went for a swim in the Fairlight saltwater pool after I got home from work. I knew it was going to be cold as the sun had been down for a few hours already and night lows were hovering in the single digits. I chose the full wetsuit instead of the short-arms, short-legs spring suit, and I brought along the swim cap and goggles.
I hopped in as quick as I could and starting swimming. My hands and feet tingled as I kicked through the water. My face felt like I had gone and stuck it in a bucket of ice-water.

The pool itself was lit by a streetlight that hangs over one side of the water, illuminating half the pool lengthwise and leaving the other side, the nearer to the ocean side, in darkness. Despite that, I could see the bottom perfectly and the water was crystal clear. In the summer, or any time at high tide when the pool is battered by waves, the water is cloudy from sediment and turbulence. Last night it was calm and I could see shells and sand settled on the uneven rocky floor.
But, my hands and feet began to go numb and I started to imagine sharks lurking in the far dark corners, so I popped out. And today my suspicious were confirmed-no, not about the sharks-it looks like ocean temps have dropped another degree or so. Winter has truly hit Sydney.

(Pool stairs)

Like Ships That Pass in the Day

Lots of ship action in the harbour this week.

Yesterday on the way to work I saw a black helicopter land on a navy ship not far from the ferry windows in the harbour. I'm not sure if it is the HMAS Leeuwin because the Navy website offers only a few pictures, but anyway here's a link.

Today I saw two tug boats waiting near the harbour heads for an incoming cargo ship. And, as we got farther along in the harbour, I saw another cargo ship called the British Harmony just sitting about with a tug nearby. So, I Googled it (the ship not the tug). Turns out you can find out a whole bunch of information about ships on the internet.

For example British Harmony was near Indonesia in March and her call sign in MHMZ8. I also found a shipspotters webpage with pictures of the ship in Wellington, NZ. Apparently British Harmony is a British tanker built in Korea with one propeller (single screw) and a max speed of 15 knots. I also found out thanks to the Sydney Ports vessel movements schedules that good ol' BH arrived at 07:36 this morning, is scheduled to depart at 16:30 this afternoon for Singapore, and that she's carrying inert gas.

Besides vessel movements, Sydney Ports also has a cruise ship arrivals listing for the next 18 months. Some of these ships have great names like Silver Whisper, Rhapsody of the Seas, Pacific Venus and Crystal Serenity. The floating apartment block that is The World is schedule to arrive in Sydney on Tuesday, December 22 at 10:00am and departs on December 26th from Circular Quay. It will cost the World $275 an hour plus GST to dock at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay for roughly a period of 96 hours, making it about $26,400 dollars including GST. Note to self: own a harbour one day, charge lots of money to access.

Full Moon Night

Going to the Footy

Went to the footy match on Saturday, the Sydney Swans vs. St. Kilda something-or-others (St. Kilda is a Melbourne suburb). The game was held at the Sydney Cricket Oval. Footy is okay, but mostly you spend time trying to see where the ball is because there are literally fifty people on/nearly on the field at a time.

Do the math:

Players, 2 teams x 18 =36
Linesmen and referees =7
Waterboys =6 (at least)
Directions kids =2 (at least)

Total 51

Yeah, a bit much wouldn't you say? The directions kids probably have real names, but as far as I can tell their sole job is to wear fluoro, run on the field, whisper in a player's ear and run off again.

Going to The Birds

1. Cockatoo
2. Manly at Night
3. Bondi

Dolphins in Real Time

On Saturday I went for a surf with my flatmate, although we ended up at opposite ends of the beach. But we both saw the dolphins that came into the bay, chasing a school of fish. I had been sulking on the beach since I had hit myself in the foot with my surfboard fin (which freaking hurts and left me limping, even though it is just a piece of plastic) and had a calf cramp in the other leg. I decided to give it one last go and hobbled back to the water. I had just paddled out and was sitting up when about fifteen feet in front of me a pod of dolphins leapt out of the water. I think there were about six or so, grey and shiny. A few jumped out of the water, showing off. They continued on down the beach after the fish, fins slicing through the chop.

Moral of the story: Stop sulking on the beach and get back in the water.

Splish Splash

Last week Sydney got hit with massive south-east swell with high winds and pelting rains which made the commute to work more like a thrill ride on the high seas. The ferry captain, when passing by the harbour heads, steers the ferry into the incoming waves, out towards the open ocean, makes a quick crossing across the gap while the waves hit broadside and then turns the ship in again to ride the crests back in towards the city. As the ferry plows through the waves, it hits the troughs of the swell and massive amounts of spray cover the deck. The boat shudders when it lands at the bottom of these troughs, and creaks and leans.

During the day it is all very exciting and thrilling and some foolhardy individuals like to go out on the foredeck, watching the swell and pretending they are pirate captains of yore, on the way to plunder and pillage some unsuspecting village. A few men (of course they were men) went out on the deck last week, feeling quite macho, when a giant plume of spray rose up and soaked them all, causing the rest of the ferry to laugh at them. This video is from that morning, although you can't see the men all huddled in the doorway.

During the night however, the crossing feels dangerous and eerie. The night before I took this video I came home in a wild swell. Dense cloud cover meant the night was utterly black by five-thirty. On the ferry, the door to the foredeck was banging open, and there was just enough light to see massive waves, not plumes of spray but white walls of water smashing across the deck. The passengers were strangely quiet, as though listening for the next big one. We landed at the bottom of a deep trough with a giant shudder and the boat began to lean very far to the side, causing people to gasp and shout. And these people are Aussies, remember, they don't gasp easily. The girl next to me sputtered out that she'd never been on a ferry ride this bad in her life. Faces were grim. The possibility of capsizing crossed more than a few minds. Her and I held on tight to our seats, otherwise we'd have been thrown across the floor. There were nervous smiles exchanged. I began to realize what it feels like to be stuck at sea in a storm and how difficult it was to get to Australia when ships were the only option. And then it was over. Once we passed the headland, the rolling eased and our hands began to unclench. We arrived at Manly as though nothing much had happened, but I had to wait a bit of time for my stomach to catch up.

A Horse is a Horse

This shot is from a while back when I went on a trip up the coast avec mon amie Joy and we stopped in at a petting zoo.
I tried to save money when I processed this roll by getting prints instead of scans, and turns out I didn't save any dough and then had to scan this in and colour-correct by hand. As a result, this photo is super-saturated and maybe looks better than the original or maybe just looks a bit fake depending on how you feel. And white borders! What was I thinking?
Anyway, there are some sweet shots of goats on the same roll, but by the time I've scanned and colour-corrected, it could be some time before they see the light of the interweb.

Bye-Bye Banana

Bananas are dying. The fruit that was selected into existence by man is being selected out of existence by nature. See here, here and here. This article is even claming no more bananas by 2013!
No more banana bread, no more banana chocolate chip cookies post-ski/snowboard (my fav) no more banana cereal, no more bananas!

Unfortunately the demise of the banana does not mean the demise of banana republics in general, or Banana Republic specifically. And Banana Republic (the store) has always puzzled me with its name choice. It's like naming a store Shoddy Dictatorship or Communist Regime. And speaking of banana republics, if there are no bananas being grown in countries with governments propped up by fruit conglomerates, will there be a change in labelling? Will they become pineapple republics? Mango republics? Avocado republics?

In the meantime, I suggest enjoying as much banana-y goodness as possible. Don't forget to purchase your handy banana case. It prevents your banana from becoming bruised when you bring it into work for lunch.