Octopus costume

A side effect of working on a lot of projects is having six Christmas parties. One of them had the theme 'Under the Sea'. My original vision was to make an octopus costume that had legs attached to a hood with stand-up eyes. I was going to find an old hoody top, cut off the hood, sew on some eyes, and attach the legs. My final solution, mostly because I ran out of time, was to attach the legs to a neckband fastened with a press stud. I wrapped some felt strips around a headband and stuck on adhesive googly eyes. I sewed felt circles on to the legs as the suckers, and filled the legs with beanbag balls. The most satisfying thing was recycling material from a half-made skirt. I started making a dress for my year ten formal (a few years ago). The silver material was for the skirt and it looked so awful I went to my mother in tears and convinced her that she had to let me buy material for another dress. It was a big ask because we didn't have a lot of money, but my adorable mother agreed. I ended up making a stunning royal blue silk dress that I've worn several times since. The silver material has sat discarded for years, never finding a purpose until it became an octopus. I love using up existing supplies and scraps - part of my vendetta against waste :)



Christmas Lights

The City of Sydney is making a bit more effort for Christmas these days. This week I took a look at the Laneway Arts festival and the Christmas Lights displays. With a group from SPAN I walked the back alleys of Sydney, stopped to listen to the band under the Christmas tree in Martin Place, and stopped for the lights on the Hyde Park Barracks, St Marys Cathedral and Town Hall. There were only a few installations, but the idea has a lot of potential. It would be great to see Council investing a little more and attracting more pieces for display. The laneways of the central business district are perfect for displaying art, and it's a great way to see parts of the city you don't normally see (and find some interesting bars). We almost didn't see the Christmas lights, because we arrived at the Barracks just when the lights were on a break. Worth the wait though. I'll be checking this out again next year. Merry Christmas :) 



Leeches

If you're at all squeamish, you may not want to read this entry. The photo of the leech is taken from here. This story is about a leech that coulda, shoulda and did. The last two weekends I went bushwalking. On my walk to Figure 8 Pools I collected two leeches. One leech I found on my ankle. It must have only just latched on, because when I removed it I didn't bleed. The second fully engorged leech I knocked off my waist when I took my shirt off to go swimming. This leech must have put a good supply of anti-coagulant into me because I bled for about three hours. That wasn't the end of it though. The next day, the bites became really itchy. I did a bit of research and found out two things.
1. People can be allergic to leeches
2. If leeches are removed the wrong way, they regurgitate into you and cause infections.

So I'm itchy and nothing seems to be stopping the itch. I became inflamed across an area about 10cm (4 inches) wide, with the area around the wound becoming hard. After checking with a pharmacist, I treated the wound with antiseptic and took an antihistamine every day for the next week. Just one day of the antiseptic made a huge difference. You can understand then, that the following week when I went bushwalking I was quick to remove leeches as soon as they waved their way on to my shoes. I got rid of about four and my vigilance (some may call it paranoia) alerted everyone in my group to their presence. For those of you who need to know, the safest way to remove a leech is to push your fingernail under their head, detaching them slowly, then flicking them away. Of course, if you can bear it you can just leave them to have their fill and wait for them to fall off. As some have questioned my sources, I'm including a link to an Australian Museum factsheet and one to an American Health website :)

Figure 8 Pools

 

Burning palms is at the top of the beach

On Sunday I walked from Garrawarra Farm in the Royal National Park near Otford to the Figure 8 Pools and the shack community at Burning Palms. We went via the squeezeway straight down the escarpment. The track was little more than a pad at times, and I was soon wishing I'd worn long sleeves. I had long pants on, but that didn't stop the thorns sticking through. The Figure 8 pools are naturally formed by the sea rolling boulders around in soft rock. When you step into the one we swam in, the water is over your head before you touch the bottom. After relaxing on the tesselated rock platforms around the pool, we scrambled across the rocks to Burning Palms beach. Burning Palms is one of the shack communities that sprang up along the New South Wales coast during the Great Depression. Most communities are now gone, but there are still four heritage listed communities in the Royal National Park, including Garie Beach. None of them are accessible by road, meaning that all materials have to be carried in.

We had another swim on Burning Palms beach in water that was brisk but refreshing on a hot day. We soon warmed up again as we headed up the hill back to Garrawarra Farm. The whole walk was a pretty easy eight kilometres, and even easier if you skip the bash down the hill, walking to and from Burning Palms via the direct track.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition



Giant beachcomber, Thomas P Peschak (South Africa/Germany)

I went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian Museum last Saturday. It was an impressive collection of photos, but didn't strike me as much as last year's exhibition. Of course, last year's exhibition attracted a lot of media attention because of the debate about the use of a trained wolf in the winning photo. The photos that stood out the most for me this year all fit broadly into the category of photojournalism. There were some stirring photos showing environmental vandalism and how humans impact on the endangered species of the world. You couldn't have a better location either. The Australian Museum is a grand sandstone building that opened as a museum in May 1857. It sits next to the gorgeous Hyde Park and the mecca of church wedding venues in Sydney, St Mary's Cathedral. The exhibition runs until 13 March 2011.

Gorge swing

If you look closely at this photo you'll see I'm not exactly happy. I had just jumped backwards off a cliff near Victoria Falls in Zambia. When I could bear to open my eyes, all I could see was the cliff falling away in front of me. I don't remember screaming, but according to this photo I did - unless it was one of those soundless screams. The swing at the end of the freefall was great and a couple of minutes later I had a huge grin on my face. After the climb back up the hill I had a red face. I had one go on my own, and one with a partner. I don't recommend sharing the swing - the jerk at the end of your freefall is pretty bad. You can fall off backwards (for the faint-hearted) or step off forwards, facing the gorge. I don't know whether it would be worse to watch the world fall away or step into a void. Despite still being scared the second time, I was determined to keep my eyes open. The compromise? I screamed my lungs out. And I remember that.

Pulling teeth

This is such an obvious pun, but removing my wisdom teeth has been like pulling teeth. In 2008 a dentist told me I needed to remove them just as I was about to move to England. I went to England as a student, so I decided to try my luck with the NHS. This became a lot more urgent when one of my wisdom teeth broke. I went to a dental hospital in Newcastle, England and got an emergency filling. I was told to get a referral from a dentist, but my appointment two weeks later was cancelled as I was ten minutes late. Under duress, they gave me an emergency appointment a week later and I got the referral I needed, back to the dental hospital. The hospital didn't have the facilities to read a digital x-ray, so took another one. I then had to wait another month to come back for an examination with the x-ray. Despite thinking my next appointment would remove my teeth, it was another examination! By this time I only had three weeks left in the country, and figured it was a lost cause. Back in Australia my health fund made me wait a year until they would cover teeth extractions. So finally two years later, I had another appointment for an x-ray, another appointment to look at said x-ray and then I had all four teeth removed at once. The top two took about two minutes each to pull, the one on my left took about five minutes, and the one on my right took ten minutes. All those appointments for twenty minutes work. After getting my teeth removed, I had a deep clean. One of the needles shot adrenaline straight into my blood stream. It gave me pins and needles down my arms and heart palpitations that sped up my breathing and made me cry. I can't believe people take drugs like that willingly! So after ten appointments (not including the two for the deep clean) I'm no longer wise. I'm trying not to think about the cost...

Blonde

Well I've been threatening to do it for ages and I've finally done it. What a shock to the system! It's amazing how comfortable you get with the way you look. Then you change one detail and suddenly you don't recognise yourself any more. For the first couple of days I was taking a second look in mirrors and wishing that I could wear a hat to work. None of my clothes seemed to match any more, and I wasn't sure about my makeup either. People I work with every day didn't recognise me at first, and people that I work with occasionally walk straight past me and look uncertain when I smile and nod. The copper in it helps the colour to blend with my eyebrows - I'll just have to wait and see how I go with the regrowth.

For the sake of comparison I've included the photo of my last haircut where my colour was all-natural. I never thought this would be the case, but I think the blonde hair colour has taken some of the red tones out of my skin. Anyway, it's interesting to compare them. I get my haircut and coloured at Surry Cutters in Surry Hills. It takes a long time to go blonde, so I spent a fun afternoon chatting with the crew and playing with the resident poodles. There's a caramel pup and two white girls, one with purple dreadlocks and a purple tail and the other has pink ears and tail. Last time I went to get my haircut, there were four caramel cocker spaniels camped under the hair wash chairs. I knew I would love the salon because I usually get on with anyone that likes dogs!

Puzzling

I'd forgotten how much I loved puzzles until I went to visit my mum for her birthday and discovered a 2000 piece puzzle spread out and beckoning to be tinkered with. It's funny how people can't walk past a puzzle without at least attempting to fit one piece. Apparantly it's a puzzling tradition to pass on a puzzle once you're finished with it. I imagine this has stemmed from people having little desire to repeat the puzzle themselves. So my mum's house guests gave me a puzzle they had completed earlier. Once I finish it, it will be my responsibility to pass it on to another puzzle-lover. I really like this kind of thing. Sharing the joy and saving on the expense, and you get to do so many more of them. So if you're a puzzler, let me know, because I'd love to start up a puzzling exchange! Oh yeh, I'm a wild one...

Pleated necklace

When I first bought these beads I wasn't inspired to make anything. I tried them out with all sorts of other beads, but they worked best on their own. I'd only bought 20 at first, ten of the glossy black, and ten of the silver-plated, which wasn't enough for a necklace. I was messing around with some petersham ribbon I'd bought to line headbands with, and suddenly hit on a new idea. But I needed more beads. It wasn't convenient to go back to the original store, and wouldn't you know it - the store I went to had all sorts of beads in 15mm and 12mm but barely a thing in 14mm. I finally chanced on some matte black beads after half an hour of searching through bottles of beads of all shapes and colours. Lucky! After that it was a simple matter of sewing it all together. The only thing I'm disatisfied with is that the necklace doesn't sit flat around your neck all day. It tends to roll up at the nape of your neck, showing the ribbon backing. I'm not quite sure how to fix this, but as it isn't a significant problem (the whole necklace doesn't twist around), I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about it.

Stand-up paddle boarding

If you're looking for a sport that will give you an all-over body workout, stand-up paddle boarding is it. On Sunday Northbridge Kayaks took my group out on the shallow backwater behind Northbridge Baths, where the only danger on falling off is the oyster shells cutting your feet. Kneeling on the board gave us time to get the feel for it and helped us pass safely through the marina. Once we stood up it didn't feel like my body was having to do much, but after half an hour my legs started shaking. There is a big cumulative impact from the tiny adjustments required to maintain your balance on the board. On top of that, we had to use a long paddle to propel us through the water, which exercised our shoulders, triceps, back muscles and core. We had a one-hour lesson, with reasonably windy conditions. Considering I have pretty bad balance, I was very proud that I managed to finish the hour without falling off my board. Of the ten of us from my outdoors club SPAN, one person fell off constantly and only three of us stayed dry. They led us through some stretches when we finished, but that didn't save me from sore legs for the next two days. This is definitely a workout I'm going to do again. Who knows, one day I may even conquer waves! Check out this great video of a guy paddle-surfing with his dog.
 

Worms



Photo taken from http://bartholomeuszkirwan.sobox.com.au/
2010/09/22/compost-and-worm-farm-workshops-come-to-brisbane/

 No, this isn't going to be an entry about how I've got worms, or what it was like when my dog had worms. I don't have them and my dog hasn't had them for ages and the time he did was embarrassing and I'd rather not discuss it.

Every now and then the little greeny inside me sneaks out, clobbers me over the head and drags me off to learn how to do my bit for the environment. Some time ago when walking through Newtown, I stopped in at The Watershed. This shopfront is an initiative of the City of Sydney, and educates people how to use less energy and water and create less waste. I'm already a pretty conservative user of water and energy. I grew up in an underground house that had solar-heated water, with gravity fed water from a tank up the hill. This meant lukewarm (or cold) showers with no pressure. I could compensate for my childhood by having long hot showers, but the little greeny inside says no. I've also got more interesting things to do than stand around in a shower. I had Energy Australia install a new meter for my flat, which means energy prices vary according to the time of day. I now run my washing machine and dishwasher (when I use it) after 10pm, and I try not to spend too much time at home between 2pm and 8pm (peak period). It's much harder to make significant inroads into the amount of waste I create. I use non-woven fabric bags for my shopping to reduce the amount of plastic I use, but reducing green waste is hard when I live in an apartment.

So I jumped at the Watershed course. We spent an hour talking about how to maintain a compost bin, how to use the final product, and how it benefits the soil. We spent another hour talking about worm farms, how to feed the worms, what you can and can't put in a worm farm, and how to use the worm castings and worm juice produced. The course was interesting and as it was held in a community garden, it was hands on. Residents in the City of Sydney get to take home a free compost bin or worm farm. It's perfect for an apartment because I can keep it on my balcony and I don't need dry material like mulch or grass clippings to mix with the food scraps. Worms happily live on food scraps alone. Reducing green waste is something I can now achieve and I had a lovely time learning how to do it :)

Cycle Wisemans Ferry

It's not often you can ride for a weekend near Sydney and manage to avoid riding on a major road. A week ago, I spent the weekend riding from Narara near Gosford, to Windsor via Wiseman's Ferry. The ride is convenient because you start and finish at a train station, and there's also little baggage required if you stay at accommodation in Wiseman's Ferry.

The first day was 73km. One kilometre into the ride from Narara, we came to the bottom of a hill with a steeper gradient than those in the Tour de France. Rather than gain 100m over one kilometre on our bikes, we walked - a rather inglorious start to the 'ride'. After this hill the going was far more pleasant. We steadily gained height over undulating ground to be rewarded with a break at the top of Mangrove Mountain, where there is a store and outdoor seating. The best thing about this rest point is the following 6km of freewheeling down to Mangrove Creek. The rest of the day was an enjoyable trip following the creek and then the Hawkesbury River. Spencer provided a scenic lunch stop, with a well stocked shop/cafe to provide supplies. All day we just missed the rain, often riding on wet roads, but never getting wet. With only seven kilometres to go, the rain caught us. It was a wet trip to the ferry, then a quick dash from the ferry to the pub for a shower, nap, a few drinks and a good feed.

The second day was 57km and started with a lovely dawdle along the Hawkesbury River. There is a short hill before the Sackville ferry that was manageable and made lunch at the Tizzana Winery all the more satisfying. We had lunch shaded from the sunshine by a trellis covered in grape vines, with an excellent Aleatico Rose to complement the antipasto and cheese platter. Despite the temptation to stay longer, we got back on our bikes and rode through Wilberforce on what became a very hot and humid afternoon, to arrive at the pub in Windsor with a well-deserved thirst. From there it was only a short cut across town to Windsor Station. This is definitely the best weekend cycle tour I've done so far around Sydney!

Burns

Okay, so this is something I coulda, shouldn’t, but did anyway. I have the kind of skin that doesn’t repair well. It only takes a scratch from a thorn to end up with a faint white line that becomes a lingering memory of the past. I don’t help the situation much. I’m often found bashing through the scrub, surviving incidents with horses and bicycles, and cooking with stoves, ovens, camping gas stoves, and open fires. I also seem to be curiously attractive to mosquitoes, resulting in irritating lumps that I couldn't resist scratching as a child. The worst offender would have to be burns. I added to my collection last night by burning my arm on an oven tray. It possibly wasn’t the best idea to use the oven while drinking champagne with friends... Some of my most significant scars are from burns. There’s one on my arm about 3cm long and 5mm wide from cooking a cake; a scar the size of a 50cent piece (about 3cm diameter) between my thumb and index finger (also from cooking); and then there’s the scar on my calf muscle that’s about 5cm diameter, stupidly obtained from my motorbike exhaust and completely avoidable if I hadn’t been wearing shorts. I was a student at the time, and now in my conservative old age wouldn’t even contemplate wearing shorts on a motorbike – especially with a scar to remind me of the consequences. So after all this I’m sensing I need to prepare a safe work method statement around preventing burns to my person. First step, don’t drink and use the oven at the same time. That’s what take-out is for!

Manta Rays

When does a fin not belong to a shark? When it's a Manta Ray. But check anyway, especially when you're a long way from the shore!

At the end of September I was lucky enough to spend a week on Lady Elliot Island snorkelling and diving. The highlight of the week was seeing Manta Rays for the first time. And I got to see them twice. I nearly missed them the first time. While snorkelling, I swam through water full of red floating particles and invisible biting things. This was all forgotten when during a short break at the surface, I saw a fin pass by. I freaked out and looked below the surface to see what was there.That didn't help much because I was faced with a sea creature I hadn’t seen before. Manta Rays are enormous. The one in front of me had a wing-span of about three metres and a stinger about 1.5 metres long. This is small on the scale for Mantas - they have been spotted to over 7m wide. The dirty water I was swimming in was actually a cloud of plankton that had attracted the filter-feeding Manta. I was a little nervous when the Manta swam straight for me with its mouth open. We swam with them for about 15 minutes, but with a sudden thrust of their wings, they were away and soon lost in the gloom.

The second time I got to see Manta Rays was on a dive. We saw three at once, and as you can see from the photo, one was the typical colouring of black on top and white underneath (far right side). The other two were mostly black, which is rare on this island. They were all swimming around a cleaning station manned by Wrasse, where the dive leaders said they were regular visitors. It was unbelievable swimming with these giants, and I can't wait to go back to Lady Elliot to see them again.

Resin jewellery

I seem to be running with an adornment theme at the moment. Last weekend I did a resin jewellery workshop with BQueen, held at the Barnes store on King St, Newtown. The main surprise was how easy it was. I thought that working with resin involved noxious fumes, the need to work outside and a fair amount of mess. It's none of those. You can make resin jewellery at your kitchen table with a couple of plastic cups and a mould. We used a special type of resin that can only be used for jewellery. It sets in 15-20 minutes and dries to a champagne colour, however it's easy enough to add pigments. A different and more difficult to use resin is required for bowls and when you want a clear product. The course was three hours long, and gave us enough time to make two bracelets and two rings (or more if you had spare resin). We worked with two batches, so had two opportunities to try out different effects. We then had time to sand back one bracelet before finishing. The sanding isn't much fun, but doesn't take too long. I'm looking forward to trying it at home and being a bit more adventurous with the dyes. We were also shown how to make our own moulds, which was fortunate as most of the standard moulds didn't fit my 'man-hands' (at least not without rearranging my bones). The main thing I didn't like, which I hope I can improve on, was the tiny bubbles in the resin, especially where you pour, and the slightly dull finish. Apparently the clear resin gives you a much better finish, but it also takes several hours to set. Overall pretty happy and I'll definitely try it at again at home.

Fascinating headband

As a nod to the Melbourne Cup, I decided to wear a headpiece to work for the Melbourne Cup today. Not that I'll get to see it. I have a meeting that goes straight across the race, organised by someone who clearly doesn't know what a horse is. I may have to step out to go to the bathroom for 15 minutes! Fortunately I'm not a lead person at the meeting :) My choice for the headband had to be conservative, so I chose muted colours. I found a supplier of plastic headbands (Wholesale Hair Clips) and ordered a supply. I created a sleeve for the headband out of some spare black material. This was probably the hardest step! Getting it the correct size, turning it inside out (always my least favourite task when making spaghetti straps for dresses), then closing off the ends, all took about three times as long as decorating it. I then sewed the two bunches of feathers (guinea fowl and ostrich) to the band. Finally I sewed some sequins and beads onto a small piece of felt. I glued the felt piece to the front of the feathers and the headband, used an extra piece of felt across the back (secured with glue), and then sewed a few stitches for extra hold. Just wish I could be at the race: I rock a pair of gumboots!

Tagua nut necklace

I pulled out my jewellery-making box on Sunday and got creative. I bought these tagua nut buttons from Etelage in Newtown ages ago, but hadn't used them. Tagua nuts come from a palm tree found in the Andes in South America, and are used as an elephant ivory substitute. They dye well and I was lucky to be able to choose from a large range of colours. I wove together the buttons with waxed cotton, tying a knot after the last button. I then twisted the two strands before closing them with a crimp end and a clasp. The buttons aren't cheap at $3.95 each. The materials for this necklace cost me about $65.

Cycle Gerringong

Lesson learned. Before you get too carried away with how green the grass is, think a little about what made it green and how close it might be! As you can see by the stormy sky, my bike ride around Gerringong, Shoalhaven Heads and Berry on the weekend wasn't all blue skies and sunshine. Just mostly. The 60km ride varied from undulating hills to long flat sections through Seven Mile Beach National Park. The worst part of the ride is 8-10km of road with no shoulder and regular traffic, but this is far outweighed by a stop at Shoalhaven Heads to take a walk on Seven Mile Beach, sampling wine at Coolangatta Estate Winery and Two Figs Winery, and cafes and shops full of interior decorations in Berry. You may not get the most out of this ride if you're the type focused on riding from point A to point B. There are enough hills to keep the heart pumping and the muscles working, but I like my rides to be scenic as well, and the area between Seven Mile Beach and Berry has that in spades. After a quality breakfast and coffee at the Gerringong Cafe and Deli, two friends and I started the ride in sunshine. It suddenly became humid while we were tasting wine at Coolangatta Estate, and then the big drops started falling. We thought the rain was going around us, but no such luck. We took a ten minute break under a tree to sit out a heavy downpour and then we were back on the road. No more rain, and stunning skies for photos. A late lunch at the Hedgehog Cafe in Berry, a spot of window shopping, and then the prettiest part of the ride following Toolijoa Road. Great ride. Free tip - you can really feel a bottle of wine in your pannier when you hit the hills.

Mudgee Wine Festival

Last weekend I went to the Mudgee Wine Festival... in Manly. For those of you who don't know Sydney, they're two places separated by 280km, a mountain range and a cultural divide. Mudgee is an attractive town in the country, north-west of Lithgow. Manly is a beach suburb on a peninsula at the mouth of Sydney Harbour and a mecca for backpackers. Mudgee is a well-known wine region, and because of it's historic buildings, great pubs and even better local produce, it's a popular place to go for weekends away. But Mudgee also comes to the city for a day or two each year. With the help of two friends on a gorgeous sunny day, I sampled over twenty wines - the benefit of going with friends. $25 buys you a wine glass and ten tasting tickets which allow you to sample the wares from numerous marquees spread out on the lawns of Manly's 'castle'. Worth a look on any day, the St Patricks College grounds are open to the public. The building now houses a hospitality school, but once served as a seminary for the Catholic church. There were whites and reds, dessert wines and some great Rose's. I couldn't resist a Temperanillo from Optimiste, a Merlot Rose from Burrundulla, and a Cabernet Rose from Robert Stein, and also fell victim to a caramelized balsamic vinegar from Noble House Fine Foods. Keep an eye out for the event next year, or go to the real thing held during the month of September in Mudgee. 

Mountain Biking

Oh the rattling, eyeball shaking, shoulder tensing, dust creating, rock sliding fun of it all! Tip: it's probably best not to attempt mountain biking for the first time on a hybrid that has slicks and nooo suspension. Apart from my morbid fear that the combination of vibration and lack of vision might throw me from my bike, this was a most enjoyable first. In September I went with my club (SPAN Outdoors) to do a 40km ride along the Kings Tableland Road from Wentworth Falls to Mc Mahon’s Point lookout and return. This is an undulating cliff top dirt road, with stunning views over Lake Burragorang from the lookout. It's pretty easy as cycles go; there are no killer hills and the surface is pretty good. I'd always put off trying mountain biking because I disliked losing traction. And losing traction in sand was probably the only thing on the ride that I really disliked. I’m told this is easily improved by having knobbly's on your bike. The attraction is definitely the much broader range of tours I can now consider. I may have to buy a mountain bike though…

Latte art

I learnt how to stretch last weekend. I haven't got a personal trainer, I've just learnt how to make a coffee. I can't drink a lot of it myself, as I get the shakes, but I still love it and wanted to get over my fear of coffee machines. I got a half-price deal on a one-day course at the Sydney Coffee School and on a sunny Saturday, headed to school. The Sydney Coffee School provides training for baristas wanting to work professionally, and for people like me who just want to make their own. Everyone gets their own coffee machine and an endless supply of milk and coffee. I got the hang of making espressos pretty quickly, but I admit to trouble with 'stretching' the milk.

Stretching milk is the process of adding foam and texture to your milk while heating it. The secret is to keep the steam wand at the right depth for the type of coffee you're making. For a cappuccino you want your milk to have some froth, whereas for a latte, the milk should stay more substantial. If you're doing latte art, the milk has to be perfect, especially for a layered drink or to do etching. It took me a while to get the hang of stretching the milk. I was okay at latte milk, but my cappacino milk was either too thin or became meringue. The photo is of my mocha. I started with the milk pour, then added the chocolate sauce, which sank to the bottom. We then poured the espresso over the back of a teaspoon, and then decorated the top. If your milk isn't right, the chocolate sauce decoration sinks straight away. I also had a pretty good go at etching, basically drawing designs on the top of the coffee with a skewer and chocolate sauce (which I personally think would ruin the taste, and they couldn't give me any real alternative - I suspect you can do it with crema). I was really bad at pouring art. It must take so much practice to get it right. By that stage of the day I had the milk worked out, but then my hands just wouldn't cooperate and I ended up with something that looked roughly like clouds! I wouldn't hire me yet, but if you have a coffee machine and you're willing to be a guinea pig, I'm willing to practice :)

Cutting off the curls

I've always had so many reasons for not cutting my hair short. My past boyfriends preferred I didn’t, or I thought it might affect my chances on online dating sites. I'm sure most men can look past a hairstyle, but the photo counts for so much on an online dating site. I once tested how many responses I got first with a photo with my hair curly, and secondly with straight hair. Curly hair lost. Then there's the wierd mohawk you wake up with in the morning. However, short hair does wonders for my face, bringing out my eyes and exposing my neck. I can show off my jewellery and I don’t have to decide how to do my hair in the morning. I’m saving money because I need less hair product, and I’m saving the planet because I need less water to wash out said hair product. I’ve put off cutting my hair for years, and I’m ecstatic that I’ve finally done it. Now that it’s short, a dramatic colour change isn’t such a risky option. Thus I replace one quandary with another. Pink or blonde?

New huts and Mt Jagungal

Cesjacks

O'Keefes

   

The following weekend (28 August) I met up with a few people from SPAN Outdoors for a backcountry ski trip. I got to see four huts on this trip I hadn’t seen before: Wallaces, Cesjacks, O’Keefes (new version) and Mackays. I’m slowly working my way through the Snowy Mountain Huts, and was lucky enough to see a few before they were lost in the bushfires of 2003. Dad took me to O’Keefes one summer when I was about 17, so I’d seen the original version, and it was great to see the replacement built in 2009. As a member of the Kosciuszko Huts Association, Dad was a proud member of the working party that rebuilt the hut. They did a great job, using recycled and aged materials and lining the hut with newspapers from the 1930’s. Unfortunately they didn’t finish covering the lining with plastic, so a lot of the papers are being damaged and you have to leave the door slightly open when the fire is lit to prevent asphyxiation from smoke (very authentic). Cesjacks was packed to the brim with a working party. There must have been about twenty people crowded into it cooking their dinner. A crowd always means a more social night! Mackeys is a little more isolated and so was quieter. I’d like to head back to it at some stage to explore the area between the hut and the Happy Jacks Plains. It was a big moment to ski to the top of Mt Jagungal. My father has asked that when he dies I throw his ashes from this majestic mountain at the northern end of Kosciuszko National Park. As one of the true areas of wilderness in the Snowy Mountains, I have to applaud his choice.

 



Mackeys

Wallaces at dawn (private)



Camping and kangaroos in the snow

I camped at Thredbo Diggings in my dad’s campervan on my own for a few days after my beginners weekend. I fell in love with this luxurious style of camping but think that my social life could take a critical dive if I were to buy one. Skiing on the tops wasn’t an attractive option in a heavy blizzard and gale-force winds, so I decided to relax in my camper. During my idyll I took a walk through light snow cover and nearly walked straight past a large male eastern grey kangaroo, the first one I've seen in the snow. He was stretched out in the sun and wasn’t bothered at all when I sat only two metres away to take photos. I was ready to run, particularly when he started flexing his claws. His only concern was my walking past him to leave, at which point he growled at me. After another day of heavy snowfalls, I even managed to ski at Thredbo Diggings – rare indeed.

Teaching cross-country skiing

Teaching someone to ski is sooo different from just skiing. The masochist in me decided that I should contribute to my outdoors club by running a ski trip for beginners. My first ever trip as a leader and I organise a three day trip a long distance from home, for beginners. As soon as I volunteered and it was in the club program, I was terrified and started reading every tip I could find on the web about teaching skiing. There were only two absolute beginners on the trip, but that was well and truly enough to keep me busy. They might have appreciated a few more though – I think I overwhelmed them with my helpfulness and advice :S  They would have laughed if they’d seen me the following weekend. Put a pack on my back and suddenly I’ve lost control of my skis. It didn’t help that due to the ten degree days the snow had a really bad crust on it late in the day. Not easy skiing. I had one of my funniest falls ever on this trip. I fell on my face, with the tips of my skis into the snow, my stocks and hands locked under my chest and my pack forward and resting on my head. I couldn’t move. The guy that came to help couldn’t tell if I was crying out in pain so despite being tempted he didn't stop to take a photo. Shame is I was actually laughing and would have loved the photo! He had to remove my skis and lift me up by my pack. Back to the beginners and the thing I had most trouble with was getting them to go with the glide of their ski – they tended to pull back once the ski started sliding. Anyway, I was really proud that the group managed a 15km ski from Perisher to Charlotte’s Pass and back, and stayed in good spirits, and improved by the end of the weekend. After being tempted many times to cancel the trip, I’m glad it went ahead because it was really satisfying. I may even do it again next year.

Cheesemaking

You’re doing well if you escape the Haute-Savoie region of France without developing a love for cheese. When I lived there in 2006, the supermarket had two aisles of cheese and goat’s cheese was so cheap I ate it on a daily basis. It was heaven. I returned to Australia and to paying upwards of $40 a kilo for specialty cheeses. So imagine my interest when I discovered that it was possible to make cheese at home. I bought a kit to try at home, but couldn’t make head or tail of it. In August this year I found a course run by Graham of Cheesemaking, held at The Essential Ingredient in Rozelle, Sydney, NSW, Australia. They have a purpose-built training kitchen in the shop. We made quark, greek feta, chabachou, stabilised camembert, traditional camembert, cheddar, milk ricotta, and whey ricotta. The biggest challenge was working out how to get my cheese home! Being a confirmed cyclist meant I had to strap a full-sized esky to the rear rack on my bike. It must have been a funny sight. I now feel completely confident I can make cheese at home. You don’t need much special equipment, and nothing can beat being able to say that a specialty product is home-made. I made my quark into a German cheesecake, my whey ricotta into pancakes (yum!), the milk ricotta was thrown together with peas and chicken in a light and delicious pasta, and I turned the chabachou into marinated Persian feta. Last Thursday I sampled the camembert with friends, and it was creamy and full of flavour – nothing like the supermarket. The worst bit is I still have to wait at least seven more months to try my cheddar!

Blogging

It seems a logical place to start doesn't it? I've always wanted to write for others and I've finally been inspired to start by my friend Wendy, whose fantastic blog Le Franco Phoney discusses (in her words) "all things French as seen by an outsider". So here I am. This blog will be about my first attempts. I succeed, I spend a lot of money, I fail. I'm not too worried if I fail because I'd rather fail than be stuck with 'what if?'. I have no regrets, and everything I've tried has helped me to grow. Hopefully I've got something interesting to say ... stay posted :)