Photo Post

So we're back in Canberra and the weather is dreadful. Really happy we did the drive yesterday as opposed to today. Currently it's just pouring down, yuck. Makes me want to put on PJs and watch a movie...which is what I just might do after this. After the longstanding saga of Simon not finding a good barber he's finally found one and is getting his haircut now. I'll try to take pictures when he gets back.
This morning was Market Day, which meant that all of the clubs and societies had booths out asking for people to get involved. There were a few I signed up for and a few needed a membership fee in order to sign up, so I wanted to wait to see which ones I thought would be worth it. I checked out the recreation facilities too, which were not all that exciting. There are a few fitness classes that I'm interested in though.
We went on a search for a barber to the suburb of Belconnen, which is sort of on the other side of Black Mountain. I found another charity shop where I got a few more things, so we're pretty much set now apart from food, which we're going on a mission for tomorrow morning with a few girls from the residence here.
Anyway, here are pictures, as promised, from the last few days.

Saturday evening down at the multicultural festival. Polish beer at the Polish booth = wonderful!

Kind of an idea of what the festival looked like. I don't think this picture does it justice about how many people there were though, it was packed!

One of the dance acts that I saw, they were so good!

Fancy shot of Simon's bike wheel while walking home Saturday night.

Kel F showed me a site where a photographer has documented the birds in and around Canberra. So I figured I should start at least capturing the ones I see around here. These are the first two. I have no idea what they are, but I'm sure it would be easy to look up.

Naturally when I said I was trying to get a picture of them Simon thought it best to chase them til they took flight!

This is the Magpie we're supposed to be wary of come September.

These pictures are back in Culburra. We left a day early because the weather was horrible, but I got some good photos (and we got a swim) in before we left! I *think* this may be the rainbow parrot, but Les you'll have to verify this. Course the colours aren't great, I need to learn how to adjust the settings quickly next time!

My favs, the rainbow lorikeats, were back again. I love those guys!

And I love this photo too. Cockatoo vs Lorikeats. I think the Cockatoo won this one!

This image was rotated in iPhoto, not sure why it isn't here. These were all taken on Valentines Day and I guess the birds must've known since they were all in pairs. Check out the lorikeats hanging out on the railing.

Yep, I need to stop taking pictures of them, I think!

Gah, not sure how to rotate these, sorry. At first these guys look like cockatoos, but I don't think they are. These are the same birds that make all of the racket outside our dorm at twilight each night. Not sure what they're called, will have to look them up too!

Simon was an awesome Valentine and finally indulged me in a few games of crib. I had to document this so Les could see that it actually happened! We tied 1-1, so I'm going to ask for a rematch sometime soon :-)

These photos are from the drive home from Culburra. We spend about half the time on windy roads going North West, those go over 'mountains' and through valleys, then about half the time is spent on the highway going South West to Canberra. This photo is headed up into one of the 'mountains' we had to climb.

These next two are to give you an idea of what the terrain was like. Mom, Grandma and I did a nailbiter of a journey around the North end of Maui last winter, and though I don't think anything will ever be that bad again, I had the same white knuckles during parts of this drive! Mind you the way back was drier so it was actually pretty and sort of fun to drive. Not to mention we knew what we were getting ourselves into!

This is a pretty typical view of what we saw driving until the highway. Lots of grass and farmland.

On the way home we decided to be a little more adventurous and stopped a few places. This is Kangaroo Valley, and I should have taken more pictures there than I did. The valley was between the two switchback mountain adventures, and it was a tiny little place. We ate at this place, which was good, and got the sense that tourism and fishing keep the town alive.

This was a really cool one lane bridge heading out of Kangaroo Valley.

And there you go! We didn't take many pictures once we hit the highway because there wasn't much to take them of. Plus this weather is super uninspiring! I think Simon and I must've brought it with us :-) Here's hoping next time I write the forecast will be blue skies for days!!