Wentworth Falls - Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains is region just outside of Sydney and approximately 2 hours away by train. My highschool friends and I travelled to Wentworth Falls for some bushwalking through various tracks in the area. This summer, the weather has been a bit temperamental - raining for weeks on end and having moderately warm temperatures for the rest. However, yesterday was a gorgeous sunny but relatively cool day which was perfect for bushwalking. We first started walking on the Charles Darwin Walk which was fairly easy path. It followed the Jamison creek and eventually we reached the top of Wentworth Falls. The look down was breathtaking and also scary as I am a little scared of heights. Despite the lovely weather, it had rained probably the night - if not day - before and hence the steps carved from rock were very wet and possibly slippery. walking down those incredibly steep stairs were a little scary, especially as you would be looking directly down at the trees hundreds of metres below.






The view from the bottom of Wentworth Falls was breathtaking and the spray of water was very refreshing after the steep descent.



This is probably my favourite shot from the entire day. For some reason, it reminds me a little of a scene from The Land Before Time




We then followed the National Pass and saw waterfalls such as Lodore Falls, Empress Falls and Sylvia Falls in the Valley of Waters. For our lunch break after a difficult climb, we took a break at one of the lookouts and there, I saw a Leura Water Skink.





After our break, we took a shorcut back to Charles Darwin Walk and went to the Weeping Rock. There we took off our shoes and waded in the water for over 30 minutes. The day was relaxing and provided a much needed break from Sydney and the life back there.

35mm Film

For the past few months, I have had two rolls of 35mm film sitting on top of my bookshelf. Finally I brought myself down to the local store to develop them. I had used two different cameras, my trusty and yet bulky Minolta Dynax 300si (or α-101si as I have the Japanese version) and trialing the compact Olympus Trip 35mm.

Olympus Trip 35mm










Minolta Dynax 300si









Evident from the batch that I developed, the quality from my Minolta is far superior (as to be expected) however it is simply too bulky to bring out with me. The film that I used was relatively cheap; rather than purchasing on higher quality film from Ebay, I settled for the only brand sold at the supermarket. As I do not develop the photos myself, film photography is an expensive hobby. Yet in those first moments after receiving the package from the photo lab, the anticipation and excitement of 'discovering' those captures is an experience unlike any other.

The End of Summer

For the duration of the summer break, I have been interning at my university's law centre and they are now drawing to a close. Despite my incessant complaints, this experience has been worthwhile; it has opened my eyes to the alternative paths that a law degree may offer. After three months of exposure to such an environment, I believe that it has confirmed my belief that this path is probably not one that I would pursue. I suppose it is in my nature to be pragmatic and cynical - although that may have been exacerabated due to the degree that I am studying- hence my discovery.

With only 2 weeks until university semester starts again, the summer has definitely gone by too fast. However I plan on spending it out next week and to visit places that I still have remaining on my 'to-do' list for summer 2011-2012.



However, for the remainder of this week I shall be spending it in front of my laptop, rewatching season 1 of House and doodling in my empty diary. In the end, I decided not to purchase a Moleskine and I regret it to a degree. The diary's paper is too thin as the ink from my favourite type of pen bleeds through the pages.

Twilight Parade

Twilight Chinese New Year Parade
On Sunday night, my friends and I went down to the city to watch the Twilight parade. The road was completely blocked off and my friend and I were unable to cross to the other side where our other friends were waiting for us. After walking for 30 minutes we finally managed to find a route that was accessible and we stood right next to the metal gate.









Overall, the parade was very disappointing with too many random Chinese/ Australian groups that were more often than not, completely unenthused to be participating in the parade. It was also very random that there were groups which included members that were pulling along their luggage. The best group was the pandas on unicycles since they were unexpected.

Calligraphy

I am in love with calligraphy; I think it is absolutely gorgeous. Many many years ago, my sister bought the starter pack for calligraphy from the newsagency and recently I discovered it in our stationery cupboard. A calligraphy dip pen is something I have always wanted to master and judging from my poor attempts earlier today, it is still something I need to improve on. The photo below illustrates my less than stellar attempt - blotting and writing in a manner that was not appropriate for the size of my nib. It is a quote from my favourite TV show and is hardly legible.



I do believe that I need a finer nib - which I shall purchase in due course- and an eye dropper for greater precision when putting in the ink.

Kayaking

This morning my friends and I went kayaking at Middle Harbour in double plastic kayaks. The weather was gorgeous and perfect for kayaking as it was warm and yet not hot due to the slight wind. I was paired with the girl who I first met at kayaking three years ago and who - embarrassingly- saved me as I had struggled to swim ashore due to my sand-bogged trainers. This time however, that did not happen as there was no one around to capsize our kayak. With the help of a local kayak-er, he gave us a map and told us to travel under the bridge and to a small hidden bay. In hindsight, it was a little ambitious as we were 3/4 of the way there and realised that we would not have gotten there and back within our 2 hour time slot. I didn't bring my camera for fear that I would have gotten it wet and hence I do not have photos of the gorgeous houses, staircases and overall scenic view that we saw. One of the best part was floating next to the pelicans; I never realised how beady their black eyes were.

Photos from NYE

Spelling your name out with a sparkler is a lot harder than I thought it would be and yet a lot of fun at the same time.


Earlier in the evening we had attended the fireworks at one of my local beaches. The following photos are not taken by me but by S.

2011 Diary

I am the sort of person who likes to document my life, whether that be in the form of photographs to writing in my journal as I feel it is important to have the opportunity in the not too distant future to remember all the little details. This year, I made my own diary/planner using the large squareed Moleskine notebook, jotting down all my daily to-do lists, to rewriting my favourite quotes or scrawling little notes to myself in the pages at the back. Looking back, it was evident which weeks were better than others; they were more colourful and filled with quotes whereas the busier weeks were simply filled with scrawled lists. Earlier today I purchased a diary for 2012 as I couldn't resist a 30% discount. However, having both diaries in my hands I am somewhat discontent with the purchase and though I wouldn't return it (I have already taken off the sticker from the cover) I am unsure if it is what I would like to use next year. That being said, having a 'proper' diary would mean that it is a lot neater than drawing it up myself. However, the convenience of always having spare paper was always a bonus.