jumping fun this afternoon!

A flash and a retaining wall at home.... what more could you want for the afternoon!!

couple more from the last China visit....

still working through these photos...

Zak doing some looking...

the lighthouse...

the lighthouse sitting on top of the hill... as if to say...
No matter how much turmoil is going on around, or how bad things appear to be...

"I still SEE you".

Vacation in Northern New South Wales

We went on vacation around Byron Bay and then Port Macquarie....
I was talking at the Australian Photographic Society Conference... (which I think sounds a lot more important that what it might have been!...)

We had a HUGE time!

Ruth and the Boys at the base of Protester Falls near Nimbin (the hemp capital of Australia!)

There were some vaguely warm days... but there were a few bitterly cold ones as well!  My time at BST was useful for something.... I got this really good hoodie!

Zak and Xan wakeboarding..

What we were doing at the time - cause it was REALLY cold!  (About 15 C at the time (60F))

A Koala that was spotted by Zak in the trees......

Xan being heroic and then contemplative.

stuck in hong kong....

we got on the plane, enjoyed a few glorious minutes of thinking we were leaving as we pushed off from the gate, then came back in because of a water leak....

they said that we will probably get back on the plane in 45 minutes,.... which I think means I will be a day late home.... we shall see!!

i have spent the time scouring ebay for things to spend money on - and so far doing ok....

for the sake of my bank account i hope we end up on a plane soon!

Update:  Here are the "engineers" working on the plane after we got back on there for the second time and it was all clear.... 5 hours late we got to take off....

feet....

thought it was interesting....
what do you think?

Sun through barely transparent air...

The fog/pollution/cloud/humidty/smoke has been very bad this trip....
but it does make the sun look cool!

airpot lounge

Sitting in the Qantas Club in Brisbane, boarding in half an hour or so....
China for a week.... hmmmmm....
and this time by myself with MUCH less assistance from guides and that sort of thing.  I think there is a fair chance I will live through it - but I might be skinnier at the end of it!

As a result, more China photos soon I am sure.

I found and ate a "Butterfinger" yesterday... much harder to find in Australia..... it tasted goooooooood.

random Philippines shots...

Very serious looking traffic cop...

can someone please tell me why, after I have slept in it, my hotel bed always looks like it was dropped from a helicopter?

there was a typhoon off the coast, so all the billboards were folded up so that they would not collapse on the buildings and looking something like my hotel bed.....

I do have to admit, the country side was pretty.....

the hill of trudgery.....

I cannot count the number of times we walked up this hill in the rain (or swimming through our own sweat!) to set something up or check out how it went after we tested it....

and purtly lil ol me in my nice blue hard hat.... playing with dangerous toys in the mud....

Gas safety 101

first lesson... don't do either of these things...

In the Philippines...

and it has been raining like you would not believe.
I have been doing all sorts of testing involving trudging up a hill... setting up an explosion and trudging back down... all in the rain....

been fun!

Boy's costumes.

Ruth made costumes for the boys based on Deltora and Beast Quest Characters for the book week free dress day tomorrow.

I think they all worked out pretty gosh darn well.

two views of Izak..