The ‘Broome List’

Before heading to my next destination to find work again, I plan to experience Broome to the fullest, for the next 5 months. I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to do this. I find myself as a strange combination of a traveller, with some local knowledge and that most definitely inspires me to make the absolute most out of this time. I’ve been doing a lot of research into different things to do and see – there are plenty of day-to-day experiences that I will be doing regularly – walking on Cable Beach, coffee at the General Store, visiting the Mango Place for a mango smoothie, watching the tides change at Streeters Jetty. That and enjoying the weather, the pool and the laid back lifestyle that makes me feel like I am on holiday..(well sort of)..

I’m all about balance. I am a Libran. I do it badly, but I strive for it always in my life, so the next 5 months will be trying to achieve some balance between work, future work and experiences. That’s the hard bit. The easier bit for me though, is coming up with my list of the 12 things on my Broome List.

I have prepared my list. 10 are brand new experiences and 2 are repeats from previous visits, that I would love to do again. There is one spot that is ‘flexible’ because I may not be able to financially achieve the option I have chosen for this spot. So here is a question for my readers. Do you have an item for me to add to the list as Number 12 – something the arm-chair readers would like to see – a view, a challenge or an experience? Add them to the comments if you do.

Pleasingly, I have ticked off 2 items already in May, so you will hear about them very soon in upcoming May blog posts. The rest I will have to start planning on when to do them and I will then reveal them in the blog over the next few months. Can’t wait!

MS Walk and Fun Run – Sun 30th April

For a number of years now, I have tried to challenge myself and raise money in the process for various causes. From the mega-Moonwalk in London through to some smaller 5k or 10k walks, the challenge each time is to be active, prepare and enjoy a morning, afternoon or evening in the outdoors.

This year, I decided to do the MS Walk, for the second time. A meaningful cause for me and this year it the walk is around the beautiful Sydney harbour. I will put a badge up if any blog readers fancy sponsoring me for this event, which is in 3 weeks time.

Thankyou 🙂

https://www.mswalk.org.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=8684

Promises promises

Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to deliver on my promise of images this year. And my wave project has yet to get off the ground! It seems there is just too much going on in this little brain of mine and I haven’t been able to focus on anything really. But, there is still time, and I feel the winter at the beach will provide some great opportunities in the coming months.

On the writing front, I start my 10 month mentoring and novel writing course in 2 weeks. Super excited, but also a little apprehensive about being able to get the head straight and get started on this amazing challenge. Its such a great opportunity, I know that I just need to relax into it and enjoy….

In the meantime, I have been doing a bit of photography browsing and have selected a wave from the 2016 road-trip. This was from the Head of the Bight on the Nullarbor, one of the really cool wave watching and photographing locations we visited. A great spot!

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Ebb and Flow

In the last 8 years, my life has been a serious of journeys. From travel, to photography to writing. From living overseas to returning to and exploring my homeland. It has evolved through the people I have met and the places I have been from a somewhat static life a decade ago, to one which is rich in experiences and growth. Since returning from our 4wd road-trip in October, I have immediately begun to focus on the next steps for me. I almost didn’t miss a beat and it is quite interesting and a little surprising just how motivated and focused I have become about many things that I would have procrastinated on for ages a decade ago. Maybe its my 40’s, the body getting older and complains more, the brain getting wiser or maybe it is just a series of journeys that I have had to take to get to the next step along. Who knows, but its my journey.

I have repositioned and renamed this blog to develop it much more over the coming year. The next big project is one which is quite different for me. It will involve travelling to exotic countries, meeting amazing and interesting people, trying new things, falling in love, facing challenges and most likely much much more, BUT this time I will be in the comfort of my home by the sea and I will be creating an adventure for (hopefully) others to share. You see next year I am progressing my writing dream in a big way, with a 10 month novel and script first draft course with the Writer’s Studio. I will be doing this on-line, working with a mentor and it will a challenging and amazing year I am sure.

I will be posting snippets of writing up, as well as some photography projects I am hoping to develop as well as any travel that can fit into the year. So, if you want to keep up with my creative pursuits, this is the place to be.
I came up with the name Ebb and Flow as I was doing a daily walk down to the beach while I was recently job hunting. It was the name on a building, but I thought at the time that it describes me quite well I think. Just like the tide and the ocean, I have times of intense excitement, travel and then times where I bunker down to earn money and do the small things. The ebb and flow of my life. Keeps me interested anyway! Hope you will join me on this latest journey and feel free to comments or ask questions along the way.

This is a quote that recently came up on my writing course and I think it sums me up right now

“Nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say“. And this is where my story will begin…

Photo memories – South Australia

Today, I have started the mammoth task of slowly working through my catalogue of nearly 20,000 image files from the road-trip, in an attempt to feature a few memories each week, as well as find a few of my favourite images. I took quite a bit of kit with me in the end including my Canon 5DM3 and 5 lenses, my new Olympus OMD10 with 2 lenses as well as an old infrared camera and of course my IPhone. It would be fair to say that they didn’t all get used as frequently as each other. The Olympus, mainly due to weight was my camera of choice on walks or when we were mobile and travelling. It was a fantastic travel camera and the kit lenses were pretty good for coverage. I will be planning some upgrades in the future now doubt. My main camera, the Canon I used for all the low light shoots, sunsets and sunrises and I also tried out my last lens purchase, just prior to the trip, which is a 100-400. It was mainly purchased for wildlife, for opportunities on the trip but also beyond. Needless to say it was perfect for that but I also discovered it to be an excellent wave lense when the location was right. I will always remember standing atop the cliffs on the Nullarbor or on the beaches, trying to capture that perfect curl in the wave.

But back to the wildlife, this image was the very first trial of the lense at Seal Bay in Kangaroo Island. It was a lovely spot, where in guided groups we could go down on to the beach and actually get pretty close to some of the seals basking, but the longer lens meant I could try and focus on a few of the ones a bit further away and witness some of their natural behaviours just a little closer. I have wanted to process one of my images from Seal Bay right from the start, but decided to keep all the processing until I returned. I have a few favourites, but this one reflects the sense of family as we saw lots of mothers and cubs together on the beach, chilling out and watching the waves.

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What…when…where

I’ve blinked, and its over! How did that happen. Last I knew I was on the Great Ocean Road, today I am sitting in my Stayz apartment in Sydney, on the hunt for jobs and getting ready to move into a new apartment lease next week! That’s just the crazy, quick way that this journey ended last week.

On the Great Ocean Road we saw some great scenery, but were a little thwarted by school holidays, so had to stay about a 45min drive away from the coast and also rain…rain and more rain. It made it hard to get around and due to some road closures there was a small part of the road we didn’t even get to see. I don’t think the GOR was the highlight for any of us really, but it was rather lovely watching the coast unfold and also seeing some more of the inland landscapes/rainforests. I also had a lovely birthday enjoying cake and chocolate with a bit of coastal scenery thrown in.

From Victoria, we decided to head towards Jindabyne and the snowy mountains. We joked about how amazing it would be to see a bit of snow on the mountains, just to finish off the trip in a special way, and add to the variety of weather conditions we had experienced. Well, fate took its path and we ended up driving through the snowy mountains, while it was snowing, quite hard as well as getting to do a trip to the Thredbo snowfields and take the chairlift up to the highest spot where there had been recent snowfalls. It is actually the first time I have seen snow in Australia. My very first time ever was NZ and from there a number of amazing experiences overseas, so it was a rather special event in my home country.

We then headed to Canberra, with the main focus being the Floriade exhibition, and to celebrate Kath’s birthday. We stayed a bit out of Canberra, actually in NSW so kept crossing borders. Enjoyed the flower displays, before we headed back to Sydney and Kathy’s flight home last Tuesday. Its taken me a while to get my head around it as it has been a whirlwind of househunting and also starting to try and find work. There are lots of memories and photos to process so I am thinking of giving myself a ‘project’ to try and work on them before it all becomes a faded memory.

It has been, one of the most amazing trips of my life, not doubt about it and I have, as per usual no plans to stop travelling and exploring the landscapes of this amazing planet. Stay tuned, if you dare, for the next adventure 🙂

Dodging rain in the South West

After spending just over a week in Perth with family or friends, we set off again yesterday for the South West region. The rain has been pretty persistant and aside from a couple of clear days hung around most of our time in Perth! We did get a lovely day to visit Rottnest Island however, over on the ferry and a day on the hop on hop off bus, and also a few sunny hours in Kings Park for lunch and a walk through the gardens, so lucky on that front.

We are now staying in Busselton for 6 nights in accommodation rather than camping to see out some of the remaining winter.
Aside from the obvious food and wine opportunities in the nearby Margaret River region, their are many scenic spots to expore with the cameras. Today we went down to the famous Busselton Jetty and walked down to the end, the underwater observatory unfortunately not open for business during the winter months but the impending rain clouds made for some nice moody skies.

Shark Bay

Ever since I was a small child, I have wanted to visit the area of Shark Bay and to see the dolphins of Monkey Mia. After a couple of days exploring the area and visiting some of the great beaches we got up early to head down to Monke Mia to arrive for the first feeding. Watched from the jetty at the same time watched a few swimming around and loved the experience of seeing them in the wild doing their thing. Second feeding watched from the shoreline as the rangers gave us lots of information.

After some brunch in the restaurant a bit of shopping and a walk along the beach we then did a 3 hour cruise where we spotted plenty more dolphins and turtles and sea birds and enjoyed some sun and salt air. Fab day which ended with a lovely sunset which I watched over our local beach.