Blues Point Road McMahon’s Point

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D and I went to try out a new little restaurant today down on Blues Point Road called Blue Ginger. The food at Blue Ginger has had some good feedback and having tasted just our entrees I can see why. They do take their own sweet time to prepare the dishes but when it hits the table its ready to tantalise your taste buds. We had the Palak Patha Chaat and it left us wanting more! For mains we shared the Goanese Prawn Malibu which is prawns marinated in ginger, garlic simmered in coconut milk finished with a shot of Malibu, I love my Goat baaa — so there, we had Goat curry (tender goat on the bone cooked with North Indian recipe) with Basmati saffron rice and Roti(flattened bread made with whole meal flour). We were also up for Pistachio Kulfi and Masala tea but service was hard to come by, yeah you guessed it, service was average to poor. But that wouldn’t stop us going there for the food was to die for! Literally.

We went down for a little walk to Lavender Bay with all that Goat, Prawn, Malibu tucked in and shot some photos along the way. Such a pleasant evening.

D at Blue’s Pt Road, the light behind is from a little café called Delicado
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 1/25 sec, f/2.8, 55mm, ISO 1600, Bias: +1/3 EV

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Queensland Floods

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Our hearts go out to all our friends and loved ones in Queensland. As you prepare for the floods peaking today please take care and stay safe and look to reach for higher grounds.

It was only a few weeks back we caught up with Kel and Mark and went to Lamington National Park and had such a ball. All those lovely areas we drove through would now be under water and cut off from the rest of the living world. Brisbane is facing its worst ever flooding in more than 100 years, with officials warning almost 20,000 homes in the Brisbane city alone will be flooded by early tomorrow morning. Our thoughts and well wishes are with you and those you love.

Queensland Flooding Report from BOM

Lamington National Park Slideshow

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Little update on Lightly Toasted lovely people, I’ve had problems with my web hosting for a little while now. Long story short I’ve finally moved through two abysmal web hosting companies and found one that I like. Thanks Doug for your help. Life will get normal again… or so I hope.

Below is the start of a slide show of a few photos from our O’Reilly’s Mountain Villa retreat in the lap of nature. If the link doesn’t work in email or RSS please visit this link. Hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Wireless

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Birds on a wireless wire

A friend just sent this to me… and I was in stitches. Just couldn’t resist the temptation :) Thanks M. :)

Ref: Morten Ingemann

Lamington National Park

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Two sleeps to go before we jump on the plane and head up north to O’Reilly’s in the majestic Lamington National Park with our friends Kelly and Mark. Very excited and really looking forward to it.

We’ve been as far up into the hinterland as Mt Warning, Uki and Chillingham and parts of the Springbrook National Park on the New South Wales and Queensland border but Lamington would sure be further inland in the deep seated rain forest of lower Queensland and O’Reilly’s is known to provide a piece of heaven in the lap of the that emerald green. Eco friendly, serene, nature trail that any city lover would dream of. Can’t wait for the weekend to begin. If you’ve been to this part of the world don’t be shy to leave your comment about must dos around the area. :)

Lamington National Park
O’Reilly’s, here we come!

Offspring

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What a great roller-coaster Channel 10′s ‘Offspring‘ has been. I love it. And now having seen the season final last night I miss it already. Who doesn’t like a good family drama. And don’t we all go through our own, growing up, and even when grown up :) . We all have a little drama queen in us waiting to leap out in all glory at the weakest of times. Offspring catches these juxtaposed raw tender moments of truth impeccably well with striking highs and lows in a somewhat hilarious and awkward moments of family faux pas concocting a labyrinth of twists and turns. Who said life was meant to be simple.

What made it special even more is the fact that we’ve been to a few of the cafés and walked those very spots when in Melbourne with Robyn and D a few times. Who ever knew they’d be make a movie trailing our path…. but jokes aside I have come to love the Offsprings technique of story-telling… the psycho-analysis of Nina’s fantasy world, Billie’s high combustion character looking for minimal oxygen to explode yet with a huge heart for her sister and family — probably my favourite character… oh I could go on but much rather you see the real thing. I’ve really enjoyed the show… very satisfying to watch something that’s directed so beautifully and choreographed with passion. Or maybe just the thought of enjoying another family go through emotional hell from the comfort of our cosy lounge. Now thats pure evil but you know it makes smokin’ telly!

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The Special Board App

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Its past midnight and I should be in bed but am stalking the App Store for new apps :) and suddenly I run into this semi-gorgeous (in my opinion the user-interface can be a little nicer) little app thats uses your Phone GPS to display promotions and vouchers for restaurants, bars, Cafes near you. Yay! Great idea! The app is called The Special Board and its free. You can of course browse offers by category and bookmark them and view venues right on the map in relation to your current co-ordinates. How clever is that? If you are an iPhone user and in Sydney I suggest you give it a whirl.

Imagine being able to see up to the minute special offers from restaurants, bars and cafes near you, simply by looking at your mobile phone? The Special Board app is currently available for iPhone users but will soon be available on inferior technologies like Android, Blackberry and other smart phones. :)

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Sydney AMP Tower

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AMP Tower
CentrePoint Tower, also known as AMP Tpwer from Market Street, Sydney CBD

Thats famous Sydney tower again. This view was from Market Street at the start of the day. I was lucky to get a bird in flight while shooting this.

Incense black & white challenge

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Smoke rising up in black and white
Smoke rising up in black and white
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 1/250 sec, f/3.2, 85mm, ISO 400, Bias: +1/3 EV

This is part of the Photo 5 EOS challenge from Canon Australia and New Zealand. Brief number 3 is Incense black & white challenge. This is a moody brief. It is not just about shooting the smoke but capturing the essence of black and while photography in a dramatic way.

Here is the smoke I captured around our kitchen window this afternoon. And below is the colour version.

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Eye dropper challenge

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Water drops from Sydney on marble studded with semi-precious stones from Agra
Water drops from Sydney on marble studded with semi-precious stones from Agra

This is part of the Photo 5 EOS challenge from Canon Australia and New Zealand. I’m taking part in the Photo challenge this year even though I never win anything :) This brief was to look closer using the eye dropper and place drops of liquid in any arrangement. So here goes:

Water drops from Sydney on marble studded with semi-precious stones from Agra :)

www.canon.com.au/worldofeos/photo5/home/

Foto Riesel Foto Rally

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Looks like I’m finally in, after all that would I, should I, Could I that was hovering in my mind. Thanks Chris for twisting my arm :) Looking forward to it now and hopefully I’ll have some creative juices flowing tomorrow…


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Here is a bit about the Foto Riesel Foto Rally

What is the Foto Riesel Foto Rally?

The Foto Riesel Foto Rally is a one-day photography event in which participants are encouraged to explore their creativity and photographic skill whilst completing a series of photographic challenges which are unknown to them until the event commences.

The event takes place in inner Sydney along a route that will be revealed on the day.

Following the event, participants will be invited to submit their images to a dedicated gallery-type website where representatives of Foto Riesel, The Australian Centre for Photography and a guest photographer will judge the submitted images against pre-determined criteria and award prizes across a number of categories.

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Leura Gardens Festival slideshow

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Here are some photos from our trip to the Leura Garden Festival 2010. I suggest using a decent browser like Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome. You’d need the free Flash Player for the slideshow.

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Leura Gardens Festival

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UPDATE: Here are some photos from our trip to the Leura Garden Festival 2010. I suggest using a decent browser like Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome.

Leura Gardens LogoThis weekend we’re heading off to the lovely Blue Mountains, well more precisely to the Leura Gardens Festival. This year its being held from the 2nd of October to the 10th. For the benefit of others who may not know where Leura is — the gardens of Leura is situated in the Blue Mountains approximately 100 kms west of Sydney and are famous for their magnificent displays of Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Dogwoods and Camellias, as well as flowering annuals, perennials and bulbs. The blaze of springtime colour in the gardens attracts visitors from all parts of Australia and overseas. There are big gardens and small gardens in the Festival and each garden has its own distinctive character. Link on the the following links to have a read on thes individual gardens. The list includes Shenstone, The Braes, Rustlins, Brabourne, Tandella, Greenheys, Elouera, Abbotsford, Everglades and Illion. We’ll be run off our feet literally, trying to do all that in a day, but it’d such be a welcome change.

A bit of history — The Leura Gardens Festival is a registered charity, the objective is to provide funds for medical equipment and patient care at the Blue Mountains District Memorial Hospital. There is more history to be found here. The proceeds go for a very worthy cause while promoting tourism and economy for this beautiful ecofriendly area. Heres hoping I’ll have one or 2 decent photos to share with you that do the lovely mountains justice.

Pink Martini at the State Theatre

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If the YouTube video doesn’t come through in your email subscription please play the video here.

Very excited… in fact very very excited that we’re going to see Pink Martini live again at the beautiful State Theatre Only this time the lovely D got us front row seats!! Yippie!

Pink Martini is one of our all time favourites. China Forbes is an amazing singer and her band is equally amazing! They draw inspiration from the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and 50s with a global perspective. Close your eyes and listen to Pink Martini and I promise China Forbes would truly take you away to a dreamland where everything is happy and just… their songs are very comforting and soulful. Their band being so diverse and multicultural it makes them very unique! I won’t be at peace till we are seated and watch them blow our minds away one more time. Bring on Friday arvo! :)