JUNE CAN'T COME FAST ENOUGH
As I sit here and ponder what the heck I am doing in a job I am vastly over qualified for I tell myself that it's all for a reason. That my sufference for stupid people will end in three months when I leave for my overseas adventure. But in the meantime, how do I stay sane? My friend and I were having a conversation not long ago about how the mundane and routine gets us down and I think that this is half my problem. I am so set on my trip and having my life drastically altered that I simply cannot stand to do the same thing day in and day out. Not to mention the incredible lack of respect I receive on an almost hourly basis. It's just not challenging anymore and I am incredibly bored, which ultimately leaves me sitting here unmotivated to do anything but bitch and moan about it.
So as a way of escaping this corporate hell I blog and today I think I shall prattle about one of the road trips my friend and I took last year. It was a cold and rainy sunday morning when we left and we had no intention of going any further than local limits but it turned out a tad different.
There is an old convict trail that runs through where we live and all the way up north to a place called Newcastle. I'm sure it runs further than that and starts earlier than I will mention but for the sake of the story this is the area I will concentrate on. We headed off from a place called Somersby, which is the more rural area of the Coast and one of my favourite places to photograph, especially in the autumn/winter season we took the trip in. It's a beautiful area to drive through with its pcituresque trees overhanging the roadway and the many farm animals that dot the landscape and the drive is a wonderful way to destress yourself from the evilness of corporate life.
There is one particular spot I like that boasts massive maple trees that grow along the fence line of a large property and even though I prefer people to landscapes I cannot resist shooting this scene over and over. It's just so beautiful. Wild berries grow along the roadside and the clouds just seem to group as if they know they're being photographed!
If you keep driving north you pass road side stands that sell oranges, peahces, nectarines, macadamia nuts, pumpkins, berries and whatever else the farmers grow. It's nice to see loyalty boxes instead of people manning the stands because if you were 100 kilometres south towards the city the boxes would be robbed on a daily basis and people manning the stands would be shot in drive-by's or harrassed in passing. So it's good to still see that people can live peacefully and honestly, especially considering that the trail is a big tourist weekender drive. Just passing through these towns rubs off its pace on you and suddenly you're not weaving in and out of city peak hour traffic but cruising along 10 k's under the speed limit with no one on your ass blasting their horn at you.
Further on up the trail you can stop and watch a sheep muster down in the valley or read one of the landmarks about the history of the trail and photograph remnants of old bridges and cattle crossings. Usually you'll see families or old people in their BMW's but mostly the drive is pretty easy going with not many other people around. One thing that is common is to see cows standing in the middle of the road, somehow they have managed to bypass the cattle grates and get through the barbed wire to stand stock still in the middle of the road, casually mooing to others in the herd and staring at you as you slow down to drive past. Cows are actually very photogenic and if they gather up enough courage they will sometimes venture close enough to breathe on your camera lense, making for some great shots! That is until something spooks them and they run away, mooing loudly.
Among all the sites to see is the surprisngly large amount of churches you see, both old and new and these also make for some nice shots. Whether you are a religious person or an architecture lover or just like old buidlings this is the place to see it all and most of the churches will have a written and displayed history about their sites and the regions their in. A lot of the time these places will be crowd free too which is a huge bonus if like me, you're looking to get away from it all.
You can stop and eat in one of the many gourmet cafes with their open fires, cozy country furnature and homely country persona or you can take a walk around the towns and browse through their custom made shops. Wollombi is one such place like this and it also is home to a very popular motorcycle roadhouse which sits along the main road just off from the main part of town. We spent quite a few hours in this little town and had a lot of fun photographing items in one shop that specialised in importing furniture, homewares and statues from places like India and Thailand. It's interesting because it's not the type of shop you would expect to see in the middle of the country but it did add to the towns unique character and is apparently a very popular shop. It's funny how people never seem to be happy with what they have. If they live in the city they want a country lifestyle, if they live in the country they yearn for something more exotic...
We could have kept on drivingbut eventually time got the better of us and before we knew it we were heading way too far north and had to turn around and come home. Wouldn't it be nice if people got paid for doing what they love? Maybe then I would be travelling around taking photos and not sitting behind this desk wanting to throw my stapler at every moron who thinks they are king shit.
CRAZY THINGS I RECOMMEND DOING TO ENRICH YOUR INNER CHILD
Go down to your local haunt to have dinner with a friend, get drunk and return home in a shopping trolley via a trip around your block... at 12am. Yes, the neighbours will look out the window thinking you are the local hoodlums intending to yell and scream at you, but then close the blinds in silent shock when they realise it is their own.. adult.. neighbours!!
Walk on the top of someone else's brick fence every now and then instead of the footpath.
Run through a neighbour's sprinkler on a cold day and complain their water isn't hot enough for you to shower properly.
Have a girls night, get drunk, go to the local playground at 3am and bare your butts for the camera!
Approach a group of tough looking Bikey women to take their photo and convince them to pose by telling them they all look beautiful.
Hitch a ride on your shopping trolley down Isle 2 of your local supermarket and do it as though everyone does it and it is quite normal.
While waiting for the pedestrian lights to turn green complain that it's "your turn now" and when they finally DO turn green cry out "GREEN MEANS GO"!
While walking in a crowd casually veer off the side into your friend and tell them to watch where they're going. OR... push them into someone walking past...
Believe it or not... I've actually done all of these.... quite fun.
IT'S MARCH!!!
And I don't like green so I'm going back to purple.
Oh wait... green and purple don't really go... **thinks about it for a second**... mah... I could re-name it gurple!
I thought I would tell you about the time I tried to run down my sister with the car!
I am well known to have violent (but friendly) outbursts that MAY or may not involve horsey bites. This particular incident did not involve one's hand slapped to someone's un-prepared bare thigh.. lucky for her.. because they HURT like a beatch and leave behind a nice imprint of my hand.. sort of like a human signature!
So anyhoo, Kait and I had gotten into the routine where upon returning from wherever it was we had been, slimlined with me pulling in the driveway and idling, her getting out to open the garage door, Griffey (her insane Corgy) barking madly for leaving him behind in the house, Kait getting back in the car, and us driving in the garage and closing the door behind us. One day however, I decided to have a little fun. As kait had her back to the car to open the garage door I started to slowly creep up behind her and then when she turned around I revved the crap outta that sucker and scared her half to death. The look on her face was priceless but the scream was even better because it was coupled with a run towards the garage!!! LMOL.. Sorry Kait.... you know it's funny...
If you keep driving north you pass road side stands that sell oranges, peahces, nectarines, macadamia nuts, pumpkins, berries and whatever else the farmers grow. It's nice to see loyalty boxes instead of people manning the stands because if you were 100 kilometres south towards the city the boxes would be robbed on a daily basis and people manning the stands would be shot in drive-by's or harrassed in passing. So it's good to still see that people can live peacefully and honestly, especially considering that the trail is a big tourist weekender drive. Just passing through these towns rubs off its pace on you and suddenly you're not weaving in and out of city peak hour traffic but cruising along 10 k's under the speed limit with no one on your ass blasting their horn at you. 
You can stop and eat in one of the many gourmet cafes with their open fires, cozy country furnature and homely country persona or you can take a walk around the towns and browse through their custom made shops. Wollombi is one such place like this and it also is home to a very popular motorcycle roadhouse which sits along the main road just off from the main part of town. We spent quite a few hours in this little town and had a lot of fun photographing items in one shop that specialised in importing furniture, homewares and statues from places like India and Thailand. It's interesting because it's not the type of shop you would expect to see in the middle of the country but it did add to the towns unique character and is apparently a very popular shop. It's funny how people never seem to be happy with what they have. If they live in the city they want a country lifestyle, if they live in the country they yearn for something more exotic...
