Snow (kind of)

Not a lot of snow on the mountains yet. Almost none in fact. No matter.  There was just enough for a bit of tobogganing and a quick snowball fight before we packed it in and had snacks in the sun.

Weekend-ing

I (we) survived a week of me flying solo. Hurrah! In the midst of the week there were two, yes two, sleeps through the whole night. I will not say it loudly but I do believe we may, perhaps, if we are very, very lucky getting semi-close to E feeling safe and secure enough to go it alone between the hours of eight and six. It has been a long journey but she is an impressionable lady and the suggestion that she might be able to sleep through the whole night - just like Otto (her cousin) - seems to have worked where the thousands of other methods we've implemented over the last two years have failed.

So buoyed by two nights solid sleep, M's return and some beautiful winter weather, we ventured to the Zoo and the beach.  Not a bad way to spend a weekend really.

Cranbourne

I went on a school excursion to Cranbourne Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago. I was a little sceptical at first - Cranbourne doesn't exactly spring to mind when you think about beauty or adventures of a photography kind - but it turned out to be wonderful. The gardens are new, the last section was only opened last year, and they still have a bit of growing to do before becoming properly established but even now they showcase Australian flora in a way that I haven't seen before and it it's really quite wonderful. 

The structures of the garden are supposed to take you on a journey from the outback to the coastal inlets and out to the sea. Personally I didn't really buy into all that, I just enjoyed wandering around and discovering what was around the next corner.  All of the plants have been carefully selected to represent the different parts of Australia and yet none (none!) have the ability to seed at become weeds in the surround bush. This in itself is an amazing ecological feet.  If you're Melbourne based, the gardens really aren't so very far away and they're well worth a visit. I'm already looking forward to my next trip back when the trees have grown just that little bit more.

Back in Oz

So, yes. We've moved back to Australia. It's something that I've been dreaming about for such a long time but I was never quite sure it was going to be possible. There seemed to be so many obstacles; jobs needed to be found and visas applied for, not to mention the uneviable task of finding a new house and the logistical challenges of moving across the world with a 4 month old baby.  It all just seemed too hard. And then it happened. Just. Like. That. 

Well that's how it seemed anyway. In truth it was many months in the making. Matthias and I actually applied for our jobs way back when I was still pregnant. But these things always take longer than you think and we sat around wondering whether it was going to become a reality until the end of October. And then we were offered jobs and a few days later Matthias' visa came through and we looked at our diaries and said, "Well, really, the most logical thing is to be in Australia in three weeks". Yes, we really did say that. And truthfully even if it was not the most logical choice there is something to be said for doing these things fast. Moving is never fun and perhaps if we'd had more time we would have procastinated more and had boxes and endless 'to do' lists floating around for ages. When you move in two weeks there's no time to 'umm and ahh' about whether you keep your sister's ex-boyfriend's crappy birthday gift (it got ditched) or your 'Boston winter coat' (kept). You make decisions fast. You pack up and you leave.

And now we're here. Temporarily calling my parent's spare bedroom home.

In case you're wondering, Emilia coped splendedly with the flight right up until about the 18 hour mark. Like almost everyone she'd had enough. She screamed pretty much solidly for the next six hours with intermittent bouts of sleeping on my shoulder, whimpering as she slept. One week on she's still jetlagged. If anyone has any tips on curing baby jetlag I'd love to hear them.

Four months

A lot can happen in a month...

You can find your hands.
You can take a big breath and turn something you've been dreaming about into a reality.
You can learn to stick fingers in mouths and laugh when you make yourself choke.
You can pack up a house.
You can buy flights and hope that your little girl will be a good traveller.
You can find your voice and delight your parents with your 'talking'.
You can say goodbye to two years of memories, two years of friends and a European winter.
You can meet two aunties for the first time.
You can spend 30 hours in airports and airplanes and fall, jetlagged, into the arms of a waiting family.
You can say Hello Australia!.. Home for the next little while.

Yep, it's been a big month. Too big for blogging. Too many decisions and plans and then boxes and suitcases and goodbyes and hellos and in amongst it all our little girl has been growing into a big baby with a voice and hands and a strong personality bursting to get out.

I've missed this space. I'll be back. Soon.

Australia: Part V

So these photos are really meant to be part of my Australia post from yesterday, which wasn't meant to be 'published' until today, but Blogger got ahead of me so - ahem - please feel free to scan back to those photos to understand where I was and what I was up to when they were taken.

Central Australia has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time. It's perhaps somewhat ironic that I had to be living away from Australia and visiting as a tourist to make it to Alice, but there you go. After a very luxurious week in South Australia with my family we flew into Alice Springs hired a 4WD and drove across the MacDonnell Ranges, down to Kings Canyon and then across to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta.  The distances were huge and it was hot.  But incredibly beautiful.

You can't help but feel incredibly insignificant and dependent in the desert, clinging to your car full of litres of water, food, air-conditioning, sun-screen... makes you feel small - I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this train of thought - but overall it was a wonderful and incredibly humbling experience.

And now because I'm feeling brave about posting 'me' on my blog, here's a couple of images to show you that even a little bit of editing can make a world of difference to how you feel about a photo. Below is the unedited  (SOOC) version of the photo above of Matthias and I at the top of Kings Canyon.  It was close to 40 degrees (104F) and we'd just walked up the ridge to get to the top of the Canyon. We'd also "slept" under the stars the night before (our one attempt at camping) but got completely spooked by the Dingoes walking around the campsite, not to mention the mosquitoes, crickets and other flying insects who decided to pay us a visit. Safe to say we were not feeling particularly photogenic.  To top it all off the camera has 'exposed' for the cloudy sky and not us. Pretty huh?

I can't exactly remember what I did, but I slightly over-exposed the photo and then adjusted our skin tones a little using a curves adjustment. I then worked on removing some of the red blotchiness from our skin and the bags under our eyes - in hindsight I actually think I went a little far on this, but anyway - still learning. I think I then added some yellowish tones to the photo to warm the overall photo up, by which point I had something that looked like this.

The sky is now completely blown-out, so I just added back the original sky - it's still white, but it was slightly overcast and in the final picture you can just see the blue peeking through the clouds.

Better!

Australia III

Today I'm taking a break from my Christmas preparations for a little more from my trip back to Australia.  So many photos, so many things to share but it seemed apt to share my week in MacLaren Vale with you today as it ties in so nicely with the prompt over at Mortal Muses today which is 'family'.

Every year since I was 18, my family has spent two weeks of the summer renting a small house on Wilunga Hill.  Wineries at your door and the beach a short drive away for afternoon swims after lazy, long lunches. It is the perfect spot for our food-loving, wine drinking family to de-bunk for a week or two of relaxation. When it was decided that I'd be coming back to Australia in November plans were rearranged to fit in a week at our favourite spot. Perfect family time just before Christmas!

Australia II

I'm a city girl really.  I'd miss good coffee, the theatre, music and restaurants too much if I ever up and moved to a farm.  But every now and then I like to imagine that I would be happy to live miles from anywhere and tend my chickens and swim in the dam and wake up smelling the gum trees. Thankfully my parents have a place where I can do just that.



Oh, and my new favourite black and white processing is something called "heartland" from Pinoneer Woman's Actions. Works well on any super-saturated shots.

Back in Berlin

Back in Berlin after a magical trip home which went far too quickly. I scheduled some posts, let my mobile go flat, turned off my computer and soaked up the Australian sun. No phone calls, no internet, no blogs (!).  I didn't take a photo everyday and I didn't feel guilty. I slept a lot. Played with my nephews, went to the beach and ate yummy food.  We visited the rock and then reluctantly I got back on the plane and came back home. 

I'm only just getting up to date with all the lovely comments everyone wrote over the last month - thank-you to everyone who stopped by, your comments have made the transition back to Berlin a little easier.

More later.

I am almost positive my sister will not be too keen on being posted like this - but, the opportunity was too good to miss.  High on a day of shopping and a late lunch at Movida I asked her to pose for a few photos in the alley and she responded with some fairly amusing 'model' shots.

My great grand-father made this car.  Somewhere amongst the hundreds of photos that are piled up in my parents house there's a photo of my sister and I sitting in almost the exact same position - so much fun on a sunny afternoon.

home

Image from weheartit: JeanJeanie

Yesterday I was homesick.  It snuck up on my while I wasn't looking and completely suprised me.  Nearly bowled me over in a shower of tears at a meeting at work.  Not a great look really.  I had to excuse myself to the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror and talk myself out of bursting into tears.  I've never done that before (stand in front of a mirror and talk to myself.).  I felt like I was in a movie. Except I wasn't.

All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a longing to be back in Australia.  I think it was a picture I saw on someone's blog - that, and an email from home.  I love winter in Australia.  It's almost my favourite time of the year.  The crisp mornings, the dampness under foot, the light that is gentle and kind with a faint glint of warmness.  I miss the colours of Australia - the silver greys, olive greens and muted browns.  When I first visited Europe I can remember thinking of the old european masters "that's why they painted everything so green".  Because it is over here. I miss my friends and my family.  I miss seeing my nephews grow from babies into little boys.  I miss weddings and births and birthday celebrations.  And mostly this doesn't bother me too much because I love Berlin and my life here is great.  But yesterday it did.

But thankfully these days don't last very long and today when I rode my bike to work I looked to my left and saw the TV tower and thought - wow, I'm in Berlin. How cool is that?

Image: weheartit, widescape

I still haven't really found a remedy for homesickness and I don't think talking to your reflection is necessarily the best answer.  I'm interested, what do you do when you miss home?

Australia Day

Image from: Dean (Flickr)

Image from: V--ster (Flickr)

'My' Australia is a lot more like the images above, than the sterotype you see on TV of the outback and the beach. And when I think of Australia, I think of long, flat roads through the wheat-belt between Melbourne and Adelaide; summer hats, sunscreen and beaches. I think of a warm winter sun, and a vicious summer sun. I think of suburbs and cars and beers with friends. Good coffee, seafood, chilli, coriander and a fusion of tastes and smells that comes when cultures merge. I miss being able to order my Ciabatta bread with a Tandori Chicken filling and my Barramundi with a Thai-inspired chilli, ginger marrinade. And while I am proud that today Australian's celebrate Australia Day in a way that I didn't as a child, it makes me sad to think that perhaps, maybe, our flag and this day is being used to mask a xenophobic nationalism that I not only don't understand but find abhorent. But enough said.

Happy Australia Day everyone!
Hope you enjoyed your BBQs and beer,
your Lamb and Pavlova.
I hope the Cricket was on, with the sound turned down
and with tripleJs Hottest 100 turned-up.

Image: Here