From the get go of this weeks photo challenge I had a sentimental something in mind.
I took the theme ” Lost in the details” to a bit of a different place as I happen to do often.
To most people this is a photo of a happy little colourful pansy plant.
Look a little closer and you will see come cute little faces in the flowers.
And we have only just touched the surface of the details……
Firstly, this photo was taken to test my new camera which I was very excited about.
Delve deeper and I will tell you that I planted this pansy in memory of a dear friend who very tragically passed away last year.
Not to get carried off in the sadness of the loss, there is a little humour ” lost in the details”…..
My “dear departed” friend was a towering, earthy man with a cracking sense of humour. He loved nature, conversation and gardening.
He also loved to make fun of us often, as we did him.
The fragile pretty girly pansy would most likely make him thank me for the mockery of his masculineness, quickly followed by some form of abusive insult – and a lot of laughter.
“Pansies for Paul” – a nice piece of alliteration and perfectly fitting on so many levels……
A good story, like a good photo, lays in the details.
As a traveller and adventurer, roads are something I have seen a lot of. I like going places – roads generally take you places. Its a great love affair.
There are so many cliches about roads: The road less travelled, the great open road, the road to nowhere. I love all of them.
A lot of the time I enjoy the journey far more than the destination ( another cliche!), and generally speaking, that journey takes place along a road…..a paved road, gravel road, dirt roads, flooded road, one way road…..You never know where that road will lead you.
Allow me to share a few of the my favourite stretches of road.
Some local kids we encountered on our bike trip through Vietnam
Cyclists share the road to Broken Hill, NSW – Australia
That famous red dirt Australian road
The Royal National Park- NSW- Australia
Our van broke down outside of town….I would like to say this was our attempt at getting the attention of the locals so they would bring us petrol….but, alas, it was simply my friend taking advantage of the great open road while our rescuers bought us fuel to carry on our adventure !
My friends on their vespas riding through Vietnam
The road into Lightning Ridge, a small opal mining town in country NSW – Australia
The winding mountain road from Dalat to Nha Trang – Vietnam
Bridges: - I have seen bridges that are centuries old and crossed many in my time.
A lot of those times I close my eyes and hold my breath willing it to hold strong until I get across !
They really do have a large responsibility in this world. Connecting us to places we could not go without them and most importantly, staying standing.
I live in a city that hosts one of the most famous bridges in the world, Sydney with its Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it features in my gallery below. Enjoy !
Nha Trang – Vietnam
View of The Sydney Harbour Bridge from Luna Park Fun Park
Karangahake Scenic Reserve – Waihi, New Zealand
The Sydney Harbour Bridge – Australia
The one way bridge to the Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand
Just one of those bridges you leave well alone.
Somewhere in Dalat, Vietnam
I certainly held my breath crossing this one: Dorrigo, NSW
The Unesco World Heritage Stari Most, or Old Mostar Bridge – BOSNIA.
It has become almost a right of passage for young men to jump the 25 metres from the bridge to the river below.
The famous Japanese Bridge, Hoi An. VIETNAM
In search of Russell Crow, the Nana Bridge, Nana Glen, Coffs Harbour Hinterland, NSW
Running across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival
Karangahake Scenic Reserve – Waihi – New Zealand
Hoi An, Vietnam
The Sydney Harbour Bridge – Australia
A random one I wanted to through in for a giggle.
I snapped this shot from the back of a Vespa in Vietnam. It was ment to be of the boats. I ended up with a shot of a guy peeing off a bridge ( must to my amusement when I flocked through my captured photos of that day ! )
Forward: I like all things forward. I like straight forward conversation. I like facing forwards when in a car, bus, train, boat or plane. I like forward thinking. And I like generally forging forward in life.
For this weeks photo challenge I have selected a collection of photos that evoke the feeling of physically moving ( or trying in some cases) to move forward…….
Ugh, the only way forward is up these stairs, Sydney National Park, AUSTRALIA
The path forwards: Brecon Beacons, Wales
The path to the goat farm, Lorn, NSW
Cattle blocking the road forwards in New Zealand
The way forth, Brecon Beacons, Wales
I will follow that path forwards to the beach any day !
Forward footsteps, Ha’api Islands, TONGA
The boat forging forward in search of whales ( not hunting, playing!) TONGA
Pilgrims forging forward to their temple, Bali
Facing forward on that tiny 18 seater pencil plane !
Worshippers face forward in church, Foa, TONGA
The track forward to our fales on the beach, Foa, TONGA
In a new post specifically created for this challenge, share a picture that says FORWARD to you.
Perhaps it’s a path you yourself have taken, the building where you’re starting a great new job, or the curve of your partner’s pregnant belly. It could be an image that shows a physical move, or something that evokes a major life change. We look forward (ha!) to your interpretations.
Every so often I get a craving for adventure. I like to grab my camera, well these days my phone, and head off into the city for a street safari of sorts. I am known to go ” get lost” and walk for hours on end. It is no wonder I wear through a couple of pairs of Brazilian havaianna thongs a year.
I once walked for 22 km’s (a half marathon if I were running), through the Inner West of Sydney. It is fun and exciting, and I certainly get lost and find some wonderful places.
When I lived in London, we used to do this a lot. Go on walks, find new places, and often discover that what we believed was a far distance to actually be just ’round the corner – thanks to being caught up in the abyss that is the ” London Underground” train system. I loved wandering about, exploring new areas, connecting suburbs, and the realisation that things were not as I had imagined.
With the suggestion of markets, exhibitions and dumplings for the Chinese new year, I was excited for a day on the “streets”. Sydney is filled with so many things to do and see !
Starting our day out at Central Station, the main train station hub in Sydney, we head on foot towards Newtown.
Continuing down the road towards Broadway, we take a left onto Shepherd Street. Home to art and photography galleries, NGO offices, uber cool graffiti, coffee shops, yoga studios and the Rose of Chippingdale pub, it is one of the most visually exciting streets in the area.
A quick stop at a colourful funky coffee house which my friend proclaims she would like to “live in” (and whom she also states do a damn fine coffee) we head off in the direction of Carriageworks – Darlington, home of Eveleigh Farmers’ Markets.
Further up the road we encounter a terrace adorned with tissue paper flowers which grabs my attention. A sticker plastered on the front door reads ” Hipsters use the back door“. This gives me a giggle. Considering themselves to be the new cool kids, mainly found in the Eastern Suburb suburb of Bondi, a sub culture called ” hipsters” lives strong in Sydney – and these types cop a bit of flack……….
It is a very tropical day in Sydney. Hot and humid with sudden downpours of rain. Arriving at Carriageworks I notice the fence surrounding the complex is graffiti-ed with cool ” skipping girls”. Too cute.
Eveleigh Markets is buzzing with people. As the rain pops onto the tin roof like rocks, Farmers call out to us to entice us over to try their food. Before long we encounter a crowd gathered around one stall. I notice a bright red banner hanging behind it that reads ” Billy Kwong”. Excited, my eyes quickly move to the people serving, knowing this is a restaurant owned by one of my favourite all times chefs. There is a lady that looks rather like Kylie Kwong serving up her famous fare. Slightly star struck, I snap a stalker style happy snap from a distance, although I later realise she is not wearing her signature black framed glasses, so am not convinced it was in fact her. You can decide that one ……
Moving through the exciting market we sample olive oil, panneforte, tawny port ( boozy breakfast – delightful, and a great selling tool ! ) and some strange yet tasty tropical fruit that originated in South America: ” Its got a seed” the man repeats as he hands one to each customer, before we scoff it down in one bite and potentially choke on said seed.
We purchase a very delicious looking (and tasting) cinammon scroll from the famous Senoma bakery before dashing through the rain to the Carriageworks studios, giggling at the little boy happily sat in the middle of an enormous puddle in the pouring rain !
Next stop: The “Song Dong Waste Not” exhibition. An amazing exhibition of over 30,000 pieces collected from the house of a Chinese artist showcasing his Mothers grief after the death of his father. It is quite fascinating what she had collected and kept in her grieving process……..
As we are walking out of the exhibition this sign gives me another giggle:
Our next stop on the street adventure was Enmore Road, Newtown to check out some of the Op Shops. My friend remembers an artwork on a house in the back streets of Newtown that is quite well known in the area, so we take a detour to check it out. It turns out it is the image of the ” black power” or “human rights” political statement made at the 1968 Mexican Olympic games by three African American Athletes. It is a very famous event in history.
Sadly when we arrive at Enmore Road, we find the shop we had planned to visit gone. We venture up the road a little more to explore before deciding to take a back street detour to King Street and make our way back to the newly re-opened Newtown Hotel for a break – we had been walking a while by this stage.
Whilst en route to the Newtown Hotel we realise the time. Our hopes of a Chinese New Year dumpling feast dashed by the fact it was now mid afternoon as we had been on foot for 4 hours ! Nevermind. Plan B: Lunch at the new “Animal” restaurant at the Newtown Hotel. I had heard great things about the greek feasts offered, and we were not to be disappointed.
Their restaurant is called “The Animal” and it is home to amazing service, wine on tap, and a menu that leaves you literally drooling.
Weary and starving, I collapse into my seat, and proceed to want to order everything on the menu. We end up ordering what we feel is a rather random and carby feast, albeit a delicious one: Dish by dish arrives at our table. Suckling pig that has been freshly roasting on a spit, vegetables stuffed with raisins and pine nuts, taramasalata (say that one after a few wines !) served with amazing flatbread, and some heavenly seasoned chips of perfection !
Around two hours later – we finish our incredible feast. I feel paralysed by fullness and would be very happy now with an offer of something I could lay down on for an afternoon nap ! Some of the best food I have had in a very long time.
We fill in our feedback card with comments like ” too full to write” , ” amazing” and ” DavidBowiesenttold usaboutyou” and slowly hobble away stoned and satisfied by fullness.
And that ladies and gentleman, is how you end a Sydney Street Adventure !
Kissing or kiss: Touch with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, reverence, or greeting.
The Moari’s of New Zealand call it a “hongi” and kiss by rubbing noses.
Ask for a ” scouse kiss” and you will get a head-butt from a Liverpool local in the United Kingdom.
The Africaaners of South Africa like to kiss anyone and everyone on the lips.
The Europeans can give you anywhere between one and four kisses in grand lavish greetings and farewells.
And your dog likes to kiss you by licking your face !
The below photo is of a massive larger than life statue called ” The Lovers” which I took in Mireflores, a coastal suburb in Lima, Peru some 12 years ago.
” We are Inca, children of the sun….. our father the sun, our lord the sun.…. “
This is a line in a song I was taught as young girl at primary school in Sydney Australia.
We performed it as part of the combined schools choir at the Sydney Opera House. I remember how exciting it was listening to hundreds of voices singing that line, chanting it over and over, getting louder and louder as it echoed off the walls of the concert hall and built in momentum. It sent chills down your spine.
At the time, Inca to me were some mythical magical creatures, not a real lost civilisation to be found in South America.
Many years later I set off to find this lost civilisation, trekking the famous Camino Inka, to the City of the lost Incas.
This is a place that is mountain after mountain after mountain, and I was climbing them, one after the other after the other.
One mountain was very appropriately named ” Dead Woman’s Pass“, found at a cool (literally) 4,200 metres above sea level. This is the summit reached on day 2 of the trek. It is imposing as all hell, it’s steep, the air is thin, and to get there you literally shuffle up that mountain, stopping constantly for “air” or to catch your breath.
It really was breathtaking on more than one level, as the scenery changed from rainforest, to cloud forest to alpine. Stunning natural beauty.
I am having some serious flashbacks to that time. It was an extraordinary experience !
* Sorry for the dodgy photos taken with the best “point and shoot” camera in those days
A 25-year-old Nashville native had every intention of buying a house in the city, then turned around and bought a plane ticket instead. I quit my day job and am currently on a three month excursion in Switzerland. This is an open letter about my journey; this is an open invitation to join me. Welcome.
This is a blog started with a 'reboot your life' 3 day challenge and has developed into random posts about family, travel, food, life and other adventures
