sonny photos

Fossicking for Kangaroos and hopping gold at Hill End :-)

So after Orange, we arrived on dark at little historical town, Hill End ( gets dark at 5:30 here in winter now, crazy ) Next morning and the scene outside our bedroom, frost everywhere. We stayed upstairs in Hosie's old grocery store beautiful day coming up, but a cold one As it was dark when we arrived, I go for a little morning stroll before breakfast, and look what I spot on the block of land across from Hosie's
some kangaroos grazing in the morning sun trying to get closer to one of them relatively tame for a wild kangaroo church service couple more, probably enjoying the warm sun rays as much as I am Hey ! No fighting outside church


party's over off they hop big old pine tree where a church used to be, in its hey day, Hill End had some 52 pubs ( licensed and non licensed ),now only one left & well over a dozen churches and from memory, a population of up to 8000 at one stage, now just under a 100 remain After breakfast we drive up to one of the look outs,Beaufoy ( named after a local 1870's photographer ) and this is what it was all about Hawks Hill, see all the gravel on the side, there were about 20 mines along there and in the middle of that hill is where one of Australia's largest nuggets was found some 50 meters underground weighing in at close to 300kg, strike it rich the end of Hawk Hill and at the bottom of the photo, a still operating mine quite a lot of small alluvial gold is still found around these parts, so best we have a go to we got our pans and some one optimistically thought we would each need one of these jars to collect our small pieces we would find...for sure we gave it a go, but involved getting our hands wet and dirty ( dirty was not a problem ) but th water was ice cold, I think we might have to come back on a warmer day, say early autumn :-) all (cold ) hands on deck even though all is bushy, you can tell there was once a thriving community out here, judging by this old orchard
amazing blue sky day today finding lots of old artifacts, but.... after spending well over an hour here, still nothing in these little jars
we leave empty (cold) handed driving down the blue mountains, back to Sydney
"There's gold in them hills"

:-)

Lithgow glow worm tunnel

straight off the plane and out to the country we go, this time to Lithgow, the track in the national park to the glow worm tunnel, which is actually an old railway tunnel from back in the mining days
So arrived yesterday, and today in the country, love it. But sadly we were out Lithgow way for a funeral, but as it was school holidays, we turned it into a little trip for the kids as well. The dark space in the middle of those ferns is the entrance to the tunnel, its a big tunnel ( big enough for a train )it has just become very overgrown with these lush ferns leading to the entrance inside the tunnel, and yes, we saw lots and lots of glow worms, but just could not capture it on camera. I t was pretty spectacular that's 3 kids, one with a tiny torch, and the other two lit up, but alas, no glow worms captured light at the other end of the tunnel

again, very lush on the other side, feels like we arrived in the " lost Land "

Jacqui and Evan tunred back to the car, while the girls and I continue on exploring very lush out here walking along the track, so much dampness in the air ,even though it is a blue sky day. Would be nice to come back one day on a hot summer day crossing little creek on a tree branch the entrance to the tunnel on our return journey
the girls at the entrance

at the entrance still but this time, me inside looking out after 5 min in the dark, we arrived back at the start of the tunnel made it. Lithgow's Glow worm tunnel, well worth a visit, bring a torch, but not a big powerfull one, small one will do, let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you will see thouands of glow worms

Hong Kong > Sydney

Quick Shower and steamed bun and off again not familiar with Hong Kong, but I guess this must be that new airport on an island of Hong Kong still a lot of apartment buildings Discovery Bay hong kong's disney land Ap Lei Chau with Lamma Island, so if I was sitting on the left hand side I would get a great view of Hong Kong I guess Aberdeen marina, with what looks like an amusement park zoom in, yes, Hong Kong Ocean Park South China Sea



somewhere around the Phillipines or Indonesia land ahoy, that would be Australia on the right, Croker Island , just of the Northern Territory in the Arafura Sea These Islands, just near Croker Island, the big one is called Mc Cluer Isladn and the small one I can't find a name for, but anyway, thse islands, even though they are in a sea as opposed to an oceam , appear to have the possibility for surf, maybe not often, but still zoomed in, and that's definitly waves hitting the outer reef the group of Islands of Croker Island no wonder it was so hazy remote part in the north, Arnhem Land at Junction Bay woauw, and look at the path of the river :-) zoom in and a screen grab from google earth Liverpool river near West Arnhem Edward Island in the Gulf of Carpenteria
Maria Island west tip of west Island
West Island beautiful, but wary of crocodiles, also, would be lots of crabs the ridged backs of crocodiles formed million years ago in the landscape and another day draws to a close a few hours out of Sydney. At least on this flight, as opposed to all of Qantas flights now, I am arriving in the evening, and not at the un godly hour of 5 or 6 in the morning ( depending on daylight saving ) And as well as now not being mr zombie jet lag all day, I got to see some amazing australian landscapes, have some dinner and go to bed :-)

Qantas New Uniform Launch Fashion Show, Preparation, Sydney, Backstage

Exciting, Martin Grant launches the new uniform for Qantas, and what I like about it is that Qantas and Martin decided to use Qantas staff the model the new uniform in a fashion show as opposed to hiring models, so as you can imagine, there is a great vibe backstage And the M.A.C. team are doing make up today, so staff in good hands rehearsal time





J'adore
looks who's here to give a hand for their runway debut , so much positive energy, bound to rub off on the runway newbies :-) Pro hair team as well, golden treatment


Martin Grant going through the final run through

Martin illustrating the correct way to tie the scarf I like this shot of Martin I like how he is so involved in all aspects of the collection Character :-) J'Adore. Catherine Baba has been brought in to style the collection.
(click on J'adore to see Catherine's video )

Off to Melbourne

on a pre dawn flight from Sydney to Melbourne I'm doing a little presentation for the fashion students of RMIT, and then a shoot for Melbourne label SiX


looking pretty grey today in melbourne

Good use of old trucks in Bilpin

turn into a shop sign





old logger truck

Mt. Banks Look out Blue Mountains

still very misty up in the mountains today



will have to bring the girls here one day for a bush walk how's that rock shape

Wunderlite Pressed Metal Panels in Bathurst

So here I am now in Bathurst, about 3 hours west from Sydney past the Blue Mountains. To pick up my order of panels for bathroom renovations They have just been treated in these tanks ( which remind me of the old days of working at Create photo lab processing E6 Film )so they are waterproofed and can be painted The pressing machine ( thanks for letting me have a sneak peak into your factory by the way guys ) don't they look good, check them out, they have so many patterns available. Ok put these in the car and back to Avalon we go.

Early morning drive up the East Coast

left Sydney in pitch black and pouring rain, starting to clear as the sun rises near Taree I'm heading up to check up on my house on the mid north coast and check out a location at Urunga should be a nice day, compared to the rain I left behind in Sydney trucks on my ass and I'm doing 110 :-( misty aaah, 5 hours later, beloved Scotts Head, but, unlike surf forecast, flat as a pancake, no surf today damn it still pretty without the waves

panorama of backyard "my house ... in the middle of the street .." checking up on the creek we came to when ever we were up here with the kids,

Nice Sky shots while driving in peak hour traffic Sydney

reminds of driving on Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz, CA