Walking the rock (part 2)

Evidence that this has been a deeply spiritual, culturally significant place since ancient times ...

or just very, very old graffity? It's really hard to tell.

Walking the rock (part 1)

Some pictures taken during a walk around Ayers Rock.

Gooooood morning

The Rock ... rocks

It was a moonless night ...

... when I looked up to the Milky Way, explored the Southern Cross, and saw the rings of Saturn while listening to the silence of the Australian desert.

Sure, it's all part of a commercial event that anyone can book or, for some lucky bastards, can be organized by a generous employer as part of a corporate conference; but that doesn't make the experience any less awesome.

Gate Fail

Seriously, why bother?

Dog on tuckerbox

Dog on Tuckerbox monument, near Gundagai

Nine Miles from Gundagai
by Jack Moses

I've done my share of shearing sheep,
Of droving and all that;
And bogged a bullock team as well,
On a Murrumbidgee flat.
I've seen the bullock stretch and strain
And blink his bleary eye,
And the dog sit on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

I've been jilted, jarred and crossed in love,
And sand-bagged in the dark,
Till if a mountain fell on me,
I'd treat it as a lark.
It's when you've got your bullocks bogged,
That's the time you flog and cry,
And the dog sits on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

We've all got our little troubles,
In life's hard, thorny way.
Some strike them in a motor car
And others in a dray.
But when your dog and bullocks strike,
It ain't no apple pie,
And the dog sat on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

But that's all past and dead and gone,
And I've sold the team for meat,
And perhaps, some day where I was bogged,
There'll be an asphalt street,
The dog, ah! well he got a bait,
And thought he'd like to die,
So I buried him in the tuckerbox,
Nine miles from Gundagai.

Tilt Shift by Photoshop

Found a neat tutorial on how to create a tilt shift lens effect in Photoshop, and tried it on some pictures from the Columbo archives (admittedly with questionable success):


Sydney City Hall



Parramatta Ferry Wharf



Sydney Opera House


For taking photos with the explicit intent to tilt-shift them in post processing, I'd recommend

• Use a wide angle lens so you'll have plenty of "unimportant" stuff to blur (My Opera House example consists mainly of the one big object, being partly blurred itself, leading to a not-so-impressing result)


• Make sure the stuff you want to have in focus is at least close to the center of your shot (The Town Hall picture looks quite unbalanced due to the street scene (in focus) being squeezed into the lower left corner)


• Nothing emphasizes the "Looking at a miniature model impression like an elevated view point (The Ferry wharf turned out all right, but a view "from above" would definitely improve that picture)

Bargain Bin Masterpieces

Sales at the local video store. A "selected range of DVDs" reduced to $ 12.98 apiece, in conjunction with a "buy 2, get 1 free" offer! As expected, it turned out to be a very selected range, consisting mostly of truly crappy flicks I wouldn't waste my shelf space on if they were thrown at me for free.

Still, a bit of digging revealed a couple of movie history milestones that were still missing from my – admittedly humble – collection. So, with Dark City, Holy Grail, and Pulp Fiction for only $ 8.65 each, I'm now fully prepared for the next rainy weekend.

Happy Anniversary

So I'm a bit late; but hey, what's a day in 40 years? On October 5, 1969, the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus went to air, bringing to life a comedy troupe that would redefine the definition of "funny" and that is still entertaining the world long after disbanding.

Go the Eels

No more sleeps; this is the day! After a dismal start to the 2009 season, the Eels turned around just in time to scrape across the finish line. And by continuing their extraordinary run that would see them win 9 of their last 10 games, they went on to be the first team ever to make it to the Grand Final from 8th position on the ladder.

So, in just a couple of hours, the Parra Eels will take on the Melbourne Storm to win their first Grand Final since 1986.

Go The Eels!

Disclaimer: The above picture is for illustration purposes only and does not depict today's actual decoration of Parramatta Town Hall. While I would love to post some images of a town that is well and truly engulfed in blue and gold; I am at the moment photographically impaired and must resort to a photo from the Columbo archives, taken a couple of years ago.