Happy Friday to you! I was very excited to receive a package from Kathmandu this morning. (That’s the big Australian outdoor retailer, not the capital of Nepal.) We started our Camino trekking training last weekend with a fantastic 18km round trip from The Spit to Manly. I wanted to take photos of the bzillion beautiful spots along the way, but I didn’t want to mess with our momentum. Next time.
Anyways, this walk made me realise that I need some more outdoorsy trekking gear if I want to do this thing properly. So, in the first of what I’m sure will be many, here’s a pic of something that I have bought that I never thought I’d own in this lifetime. It’s a 2 litre water bladder. So I don’t have to carry pesky water bottles and stop to drink – no way man, now I can just suck water through this tube and KEEP ON TREKKIN’.
Now I just have to work out how to fill it and make sure it doesn’t leak through my backpack…
So, Sydney was hit with a whopper of a storm on Saturday. It rained pretty much all day, usually heavily, and was super windy. I’m no weather guru, but on the scale of bring-an-umbrella to just-stay-home, I would officially classify this storm as start-building-that-ark. As the rain pelted down through the night, the wind was howling and things were banging and crashing and flying around outside. Not exactly Wizard of Oz-style, but it was definitely pretty wild in my neck of the woods.
The beginning…
I’m lucky to live in a very tree-y part of Sydney and I’m used to seeing some leaves and small branches on the grass after a windy night. When I looked out the window this morning and saw a fairly large branch on the ground outside, it seemed like a pretty big deal. And then as I went on my morning walk, a friendly lady (a) made eye contact, (b) smiled and (c) spoke. Imagine that! Anyways, she said “look out, there are huge trees down along the path – it’s pretty incredible”. I thanked her and smiled – thinking that she looked like the kind of fancy lady who would be bothered by stepping over a twig and getting her Prada sneakers dirty. Huge trees, I thought, uh huh.
Like a well-organised collection for the Council Cleanup, all along the path.
And then I got to the corner of the path and it was like a war zone. Except, instead of people, tanks and guns, there were huge trees (yep, that lady was right) split away from their trunks and fallen over the path. Lying heavily over the power lines, which were then sagging way too close to the ground. It was both incredible and a little sad to see these poor, grand old trees who had lost their battle with the ferocious winds. And then there was the water – the little creek, normally dry, was gushing and water was tumbling over rocks.
So, yeah, after this morning, I guess you could say I’m a jungle trekker.
It’s hard to get the scale in my phone photos, but that lady in red just past the tree was not a tiny pixie.
Yes, well, that makes this walk a bit trickier…Like intrepid explorers, the morning walkers will find a way…Today was a good day to be short.Ok, fine, I’ll go around then.Aha, so that’s how it’s meant to look here…And this is normally dry. So I think it’s safe to say we had a fair bit of rain.Just snapped like a twig.This was not damaged in the storm. It’s been like this for months. It used to be a normal bench, but now I’m not sure if they’re still waiting to fix it, or if it’s a modern art installation? You know, poking fun at the urban experience, man’s inhumanity to man, or something incomprehensible like that…
I’m in Melbourne for a few days and yesterday as I walked past the little City Square part of town, I noticed some brightly coloured trees. I was on my way to meet a friend though, so couldn’t stop to check them out. This morning, I went back to have a look at these amazing beauties that are brightening up the CBD – a yarn bombing initiative to draw attention to Melbourne’s urban forest plans, as far as I can work out. Whatever about the plans to preserve the city’s trees over the next 20 years (see, I did actually have a look at the website that was advertised on the trees, so their clever plan is working), these colourful tree cardigans and quilts have won me.
And it does get quite cold here in the winter, so I hope that they leave them on for a while – am sure the trees will feel quite naked without them. Good job, city of Melbourne – your razzle dazzle urban forest attention-grabber is fabulous!
A yarn-bombed City Square, Melbourne.A bizarre rainbow of woolly trees…A blue granny tree blanket at the tram and bus stop.Keeping it green.Sure brightens up this part of the CBD, with lots of trees wrapped down the street.
Last year I was part of a group of bloggers who posted about Hope and what it meant to them. Amongst the pictures that I included in my post was a picture of my herb garden in its infancy – I had hope that the teeny tiny basil, parsley and coriander plants would grow into impressive market gardens. Well, the coriander got knocked over and eaten by a possum or bush rat or some other weasel-type character in a daring night-time raid on my balcony and that was the end of that.
But I am pleased to report that, largely due to the herb-sitting efforts of my lovely folks and sister-in-law Jo, I now have a basil tree and a parsley patch. I have even become the herb providore to my ancient neighbours – I may soon open a roadside stall, EverydayHerbs. Life on the land is very satisfying, so I wanted to share it with you – hopes and dreams can come true, my friends!
The way they were, back in the day…The Basil Tree.The Parsley Patch.
And I don’t actually really like coriander anyway, so HA HA HA to that thieving possum / bush rat / weasel.
Happy New Year to you, my blog buddy. I hope that you and yours have a fantastic year ahead, full of lots of everyday sparks! Now, back to me. I would like to state for the record that I have gone for a run every day this year. And done my physio-prescribed stretches every day this year. And blogged every day this year. And drunk lots of water every day this year. It’s a great feeling – now, to keep it up for the rest of 2013…
It was a swell party, Sydney.
I am very lucky to live near a public park with a pretty good view of the fireworks, so it was very crowded yesterday on what was a beautifully sunny New Year’s Eve day in Sydney and a night that was perfect for fireworks. It’s always a great people-watching opportunity as the human traffic gathers on the grass – old people, young people; skinny people, fat people; people dressed in very little, people dressed strangely for arctic conditions; party poppers, party poopers; sober people, drunk people; super-organised-tent-and-catered-food people, super-chillaxed-chips-and-beach-towel people.
Portaloos and bins, the foundation of any good public party.
A guy was selling glow sticks, it was meant to be an alcohol-free zone and there were lots of families around – an excited buzz grew in the leadup to the 9pm family fireworks and then most of the people seemed to stick around for the midnight show. With the exception of a pretty scary incident with a group of swearing, drunk teenagers outside at 3.30am, which had me and the poor guy next door calling the police as a lunatic jumped the fence and started smashing things, it was a really nice night and a great way to see in the new year. Except for the lunatic bit, I guess. But I did get to watch that from the safety of my kitchen in my pyjamas, so it wasn’t too bad.
Yes, a whole bus for police. The kids round ‘ere had glow sticks and were prepared to use them.
When I went for my run this morning, it felt like the city had a hangover. There were hardly any people out and about at 7am, but those that were on the running track were full of smiles – probably feeling smug that they too have run every day this year and have kept all of their 2013 resolutions. The park area was a different story – it looked like a cyclone had torn through a rubbish dump. Along with the usual types of rubbish, there were full champagne glasses, shoes, clothes, metal chairs, tents and of course party hats, poppers and horns that had seen a better day back in 2012.
People sleeping amongst the rubbish. Ah, this is the life.And a good time was had by all.
So, here are some pics from my morning to mark the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 – thanks to those who will come this morning and make this area beautiful again, thanks to those who visited and enjoyed NYE in Sydney, thanks to the brilliant Foti Fireworks people who keep coming up with innovations that can make gunpowder magic. Happy new year – may 2013 bring lots of fun, laughter and good times with your families and friends.
everydaysparks 