Category Archives: Photography

There HAD To Be A Kangaroo: More Aussie P365

Now you know I couldn’t possibly post all of my Aussie photos without at least one picture of a Kangaroo. Once again we found ourselves at a small farm near my parent’s house where we could feed the rabbits and guinea pigs, collect a few still-warm eggs from the chickens and throw some bread at a couple of emus.

Sadly the kangaroo population has dropped somewhat since our first visit and this little guy was the only one who came to see us when we shook the can of food. Well, him and a few extremely-aggressive deer. I was afraid to pull put the camera without a fence to protect me, although we were able to get behind the fence and pet the animals.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, we had a great time and definitely had our fix of animals. A few of the Australian variety…

and some of your general, run-of-the-mill farm animals…

It was a fun day for my city kids, even if Samuel was a little traumatized by the experience of being surrounded by animals that towered above him, one of which stole a can of food right out of his hand.

Thankfully he’s young enough that he’ll recover and I’m sure we’ll visit the farm again on our next trip to Australia. It’s become something of a tradition, although admittedly a very smelly and dirty one. Yes, I’m a city girl too.

35.

Thirty-five. No longer in my early thirties. A whole new survey check box. (35-39? Check.) Past the prime fertility age, but not quite in the Oprah-sanctioned “confident forties”. Right where I thought I would be in some areas of my life (family), not quite there in others (um, would like to be paid more).

Older? Definitely

Wiser? Maybe…

Happier? Most days.

Excited to see what’s next? No doubt.

Easter A Few Weeks Late: Mosaic Monday

Thomas was relieved to hear that the Easter Bunny would find us all the way across the other side of the world in Australia. Until he thought about it a little and  worried that E.B. might not make it to The States in time to deliver eggs to his friends. Of course the Easter Bunny has the same magical powers as Santa Claus, so when he understood this he was comforted enough that he could relax and enjoy the feeling that comes with the promise of chocolate.

On Easter morning, the boys woke up to dusty bunny footprints peppered around the kitchen and living room. The Easter bunny was kind enough to leave a chocolate wombat for each of the boys in a basket, but they were expected to work for the rest of the booty by searching for eggs around the house.

After a quick chocolate breakfast, It was Mummy and Auntie Emma’s turn to hide some eggs in the backyard. Thomas showed his competitive side by running around and grabbing as many as possible while Samuel had to be encouraged. I’m not sure he was fully aware of what lay inside the shiny foil wrappers.

It was so wonderful that my children were able to experience an Aussie Easter, complete with sunny skies (although I remember rainy camping trips at Easter in my childhood – must be the drought), chocolate Aussie animals (instead of bunnies) and, most of all, their Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle.

Side Note: I am aware that Easter was over and done about a month ago. It’s just taking me that long to get caught up on the photos I took during our vacation. And don’t get me started on my mother’s pleas to see the pictures I took of my brother’s wedding. They’re coming soon, I promise. It’s just that with work and pre-school and daycare and Kei’s school and everything that goes in to making sure my children are fed and clothed and in a (reasonably) clean house, I haven’t had time to sit and edit photos. Or even take many, for that matter. Yes, my P365 project has skipped a few days but I figure that, with the thousands of pics I took in Australia, I am more than making up for it.

Backyard Adventures & Bigfoot? Another P365

When you tell people in Oregon that you are about the head to Australia for a few weeks, their first reaction is usually one of envy. Not just for the fact that you are heading across the other side of the world, but also because they immediately assume that you will be enjoying sunny skies during your stay. However, I am from Melbourne and, while our summers are generally sunny and hot, March/April can be a little hit or miss.

Thankfully, despite a recent breaking of the drought, the sun gods were smiling on us during most of our stay and we were able to enjoy a lot of time in the great Aussie outdoors. The kids fully embraced the 1/2 acre of grass and dirt (LOTS of dirt) at their disposal.

The colour coordination of their outfits is purely accidental. In fact I’m not even sure if I dressed them that morning.

This next one is my favourite, even though Thomas should really be in focus. Maybe that’s why I love it so much – you have to search a little for the fun part.

As soon as I saw this next photo, it reminded me of another famous picture.

It’s uncanny.

Smiles

Today’s entry for the I ♥ Faces challenge is all about smiles, so of course I went back through my photos of Australia looking for the perfect smile. The sad thing is that my children are already beyond the age of smiling when I need them to. Oh, they smile on command but it involves the word “cheese”, although I swear I never taught them how to do that. I think it’s innate, like frowning when they’re unhappy or desperately needing to talk to me suddenly every time I pick up the phone for an important call.

Oh, back to the actual smile. I caught this one of my little (now 30 year old!) brother while holding our cousin’s baby. I think this photo is so sweet and I know he is probably going to groan and wonder why on earth I posted it for all to see. It’s because you’re just too cute, Jono, and this photo cancels out every single smirk you’ve flashed me when I’ve tried to take your photo in the past. 🙂

Aussie Colour: A Monday Mosaic

I usually like to include at least four photos in my mosaic posts, but my access to the computer has been limited this weekend while Kei finishes up a project for school. It’s true, though, that sometimes the best results are forced on us and I really love how this one turned out.

We were so lucky with the Autumn weather that we experienced in Australia during our visit with temperatures in the high 20s (about 80 degrees farenheit) every day and beautiful blue skies. Couple that with a broken drought that had turned the previously brown grass to a deep green, and we found ourselves enjoying Australia at its finest.

It wasn’t necessary for me to bump up the saturation on these photos – the sky and the grass truly were that colour.

Scenes from Across The Pond: Project 365

Now that my travel rant is over (read about it here, here and here), I am excited to be back to posting my P365 photos. The photos that I’ll be posting over the next few weeks have been painstakingly culled from the 1000 or so that I managed to take during our vacation in Australia. I’m sure I’ll be posting more than one for some days, so I’m think that maybe I should rename this little project “Project-the-sky’s-the-limit”. My end of year photo album is going to be the size of an encyclopedia.

First up is a photo you may have seen in one of my rant posts. Kei discovered early on in our trip that Samuel is fascinated with watching movies on the video camera. We’re lucky if he watches more than 15 minutes of Blues Clues at at a time but apparently video of himself doing… well… nothing, is absolutely fascinating. Thankfully we discovered this early in our trip and it saved our sanity more than once by the end.

Another one from our marathon trek to Aus. If you’re going to get stuck in an Airport then San Francisco is one of the better places to spend your time. Just the thought of possibly being stuck for 11 hours at LAX makes me break out in hives.

Of course we did finally make it to Australia on Saturday morning and, after shipping my kids off to spend a couple of days alone with their grandparents, Kei and I joined the Buck’s and Hen’s festivities – known as Bachelor and Bachelorette parties in my adopted home. After a five-minute emergency shoe purchase (mine were all in a bag that United airlines had sent to Brisbane), I was able to spend the evening with a wonderful group of ladies – moving from bar to restaurant to bar to 80’s dance club, until my feet and sleep-deprived body refused to cooperate and I was forced to head back to my brother’s place at around midnight.

I had such a great night with my new sister-in-law, Emma (the one in the middle), and her friends. The fact that I was without children and therefore able to sleep in the next morning was an added bonus.

On Sunday we did nothing. Oh, we tried to watch a movie on TV in the afternoon but we all fell asleep so that plan was abandoned. We did manage to drag ourselves out of bed to head out for dinner at a tasty Indian restaurant on Sydney road and I am glad we did. One of the things I miss since moving to Portland is really good Indian food.

I also miss trams. I am aware that we have similar contraptions here in Portland, and they’re great, but they’re just not the same as the original.

Monday saw us heading up to my parents house which is about a 3 hour drive north of Melbourne. 3 hours by car but about 4.5 hours by train and bus. I was actually able to read 5 chapters of a book in one sitting! Of course I missed my children but I have learned to appreciate these rare moments of peace (and alone time) when I can get them and I heard that they had a fabulous time with their grandparents. This is Southern Cross station (although I still call it Spencer Street station through force of habit).

The Flight From Hell Part 3: Serenity Now!

This is the final installment of a three-part rant about our flight from hell. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Here’s how part two ended:

One of the jetways pulled away from the plane. I looked at Sher and said “This flight is not leaving without us.” and he said “we have to close the doors at 10:30”. It was 10:20.

And that’s when I lost it. I demanded that they get us on that plane because, after all, this was not our fault but THEIRS, beginning with our delayed UNITED flight out of Portland. I cried and, yes, may have used the “f” word a couple of times. I was angry. If you ask my husband he’ll tell you how much it takes for me to lose my temper with someone in customer service. I know that most things are out of their control and I am very understanding and calm in most cases, but this was too much.

Nina proceeded to then provide excuses – how really it was Air New Zealand’s fault because they didn’t release the ticket (remember that it was a United person who transferred them in Portland) and that there was nothing that they could do. At one point when I began explaining exactly what had happened, she started  to interrupt me. I put up my had in a stop gesture and said “No! Do not interrupt me. You need to listen to what I have to say first before you give anymore excuses. Then she told me that we would likely have to buy a new ticket for Samuel.

HUH? Why would WE need to buy a new ticket? Wouldn’t you comp us the ticket? I mean we BOUGHT a ticket, I had the receipt in my hand.

And Nina replied, “no one gets anything for free.”

Yes, she actually said that to me as I stood there at 10:30pm with my husband and our two small children who had been traveling now for 8 hours, one of whom was visibly upset because he was missing the chance to see his grandparents, and as we watched our plane pull away from the gate.

It was a low moment. It got even lower when Nina began to questions me about how I purchased the tickets. Did I buy them all at the same time? Did I confirm the flight? The answer to both questions was YES and I had the confirmation in my hand to prove it (tip: always take your printed ticket confirmation). Oh, and then she proceeded to deny us any hotel vouchers because it was an Air New Zealand problem.

Thankfully one of the men behind the counter (I think was ground control because he was wearing an orange vest) was kind and understanding. He listened to what I had to say and he empathized with our situation. When I expressed disgust at the fact that we might have to buy another ticket, he said that if they gave tickets to everyone who experienced a problem then they would be giving away tickets all the time. I understand that is reasonable for weather problems, acts of god etc., but not for tickets that we have actually purchased and then were sabotaged by the airline itself. Nevertheless, he listened, and at this point that was what I needed more than anything because this screw up was not our fault and yet here I stood at the mercy of these people who were blaming everyone but themselves.

The same man also said to us (in front of Nina) that of course we would receive a hotel voucher and some food vouchers – though we only received three. Samuel still didn’t count because, well, he didn’t exist despite the fact that he was running around the gate lounge with a bad case of exhaustion-induced loopiness. I think this man may have saved Nina’s life.

There was nothing we could do at that point except ensure that we had at least three seats on the following night’s flight (the next Air New Zealand flight wasn’t for two days). I insisted on a row with a spare seat in the middle – I figured we deserved at least that and apparently complementary upgrades are not their policy.

And so we headed back to the hotel with instructions to check in the next day at around 5pm to see if the situation was resolved or if we’d be on the hook for a new infant ticket. Worst case was that we had to buy another ticket but we’d still be flying out the next day. I couldn’t help thinking that it would have been good to have known that before the plane left. We may have been able to make it after all.

Our hotel was the Doubletree in beautiful Burlingame. We finally fell into bed at about midnight and had a restless sleep until 9am. Our late check out meant that we could make the best of the buffet breakfast, including saving a few pieces of fruit and other goodies for the day ahead. The waitress at the hotel restaurant took pity on us and looked the other way as we stashed a few bananas and peanut butter sandwiches into our bags.

At 1pm we checked out and headed back to the airport – a full 9.5 hours before our flight was due to leave. To look on the bright side, if you’re going to be stuck in an airport for that length of time then you want it to be an airport like SF. They have fishtanks, a MOMA store and even a museum to help pass the time. It could have been worse – we could have been stuck at LAX.

At 4pm I went up to the United check in counter where they told me that they had been trying to rectify the problem with Air New Zealand for a couple of hours without any luck. It seemed we would have to buy a ticket after all. Of course  getting a price on a ticket would take another 20 minutes, in addition to the time they had spent trying to obtain a price the previous evening. If United staff can’t get what they need from their own customer service then what chance do actual customers have.

Grand total out of pocket: $150. Not as much as I had expected but still $150 more than we should have had to pay and something that could have been rectified the night before if they had been able to determine the problem more quickly.

We managed to board the plane that evening at 10:30pm without extra drama except for the screams of an overly- drunk Australian at a neighboring gate who freaked out when the dogs sniffed at his bag and was then handcuffed and taken away by police. Thankfully it had no impact on our flight.

After a very uncomfortable flight and a quick layover in Sydney, we arrived in Melbourne at 10:30am on Saturday morning – a full 24 hours after we were due to arrive.

We proceeded through immigration but there was to be one last burn. Somehow United had managed to misplace one of our bags and it happened to be the one that contained all of my and Kei’s clothes. So there I was in Melbourne, standing at a desk just on the other side of the doors to my family who had no way of knowing what was happening, with the prospect of continuing to wear the same clothes that I had now been wearing for 48 hours. Oh, and Kei and I had the Hen’s and Buck’s (Bachelor and Bachelorette) parties to attend that evening.

As it turned out, Kei had packed just one pair of my jeans in the kids’ bag and I had a shirt in the suit bag so all I needed was a pair of shoes which I bought in a quick 5 minute shopping trip on our way out for the evening. Kei borrowed some clothes from my younger brother – not really his style but he looked good nonetheless. I ended up bowing out of the festivities early due to exhaustion but was proud of myself for making it to 11pm.

On Sunday I made a number of phone calls and our bag was finally located in Brisbane and returned to Melbourne by 4pm. It seems that the person who checked our bags and transferred us to the United flight in Portland had failed to change the tickets on our bags correctly. If you’ll remember, she made a point of telling us how she would have to do it by hand. I guess she became distracted on the walk down and missed one.

Our flight home on Air New Zealand was fairly uneventful (and much more comfortable) except for the fact that the United flight leaving on the same day was cancelled and so our plane was completely booked thanks to the extra passengers they picked up. Seems United had to have the last laugh.

At the end of the day, though, we had a great, busy, fun visit. I will have some more photos to share of visits to wineries, easter egg hunts and of course a wedding in the coming days. I’m sure you’ll need some lighter entertainment after this rant, but thanks for letting me get it off my chest. I start the official letter-writing this week.

A Quick Interlude

Before I continue with my “Flight From Hell” rant, I present this small moment of peace from our trip (spoiler alert: we did finally make it there) and my entry for this week’s I ♥ Faces collage challenge. One of the key things I learned from this trip is that I should ALWAYS make time to stop at a store and buy chalk. This activity kept the boys  occupied for hours and my parents were able to enjoy a constantly changing piece of artwork on their concrete driveway for our entire stay, dominated by Star Wars scenes/characters and a full airport blueprint. It seems my children are now more familiar with airports than ever.

Part 2 of the “Flight From Hell” coming tomorrow.