It was wrong of me not to post about my time staying at Phil & Kristin’s over the last month. I guess I was thinking about the places I went out to, rather than thinking about the awesome thing it was to be able to come back to somewhere during my travels.
It’s a great thing to have siblings who look after you, and always an encouragement when your inlaw siblings prove to be as generous in spirit as the flesh and blood ones!
Of course, I also treasure any chance I have to spend time with my little Charlotte too! Of course, now I have to be careful, since I have two 2 year old Charlottes (courtesy of Shona’s sister & Bro-in-law Maret & Tim) that I get to dote on. Twice as cute….
Well, our photos for the evening have nothing to do with what I am posting about.
No.1 I meant to put up some time ago. Here is my sis, her husband & their three kids, plus me real dad! (I insert the term “real” to aid the possible confusion of those who might remember previously posted pictures of a bearded guy, who is also my Dad…). This shot was taken just before Christmas. It was good to see that Dad’s youngest grandchild took to him like a duck to water!
The second pic is… well, it’s just a tree… Do I need a reason?
Currently enjoying 1) Black and White, and 2) vignetting…..

So last night I met up with Dave Mac to take some photos. We met on top of the Gladesville Bridge to take some city shots but got denied by the protective fence that keeps people from jumping & photographers from getting their lenses pointed at the city. In the end I was balancing on top of the barrier that separated me and 7 lanes of angry 7:30pm traffic just so I could get something near a decent shot. The picture of the city below is the best I could do, and even then it needed a fair bit of cropping work to make it come together.

Best viewed large on Black.
After that, we headed to a place on Parramatta Rd. that D-Mac claimed was the best place in Sydney for Doner Kebabs. Now, I consider myself a bit of a kebab connoisseur, so this was a bold claim, but D-Mac was vindicated! The right amount of hummus, good quality tabouli, great meat… It took me to my special place! To top it off, on our way out the owner gave D-Mac & I a bit of seasoned lamb shoulder that he had been cooking over coals. Oh dude… cooked shishkebab style, this thing was so tender and tasty that it would have brought a tear to a glass eye!
Lets just say that ye-olde Goldydawg will be heading back to try it again when in it’s complete glory as an “Adana kebab”.
On from there to take pictures of ANZAC bridge (a bit of an old faithful), then all of a sudden we realised it was quarter to 11 so we called it a night & headed home.
I definately need to spend more time taking photos. Maybe in 2008 when I am done with college?

The footbridge at the Western foot of the ANZAC Bridge

I wonder how long it takes before I get a comment from Shona….
You’d think I would be marrying someone who liked having their photo taken….

I couldn’t begin to fill you in on all the stories that I have experiences between my last post & this. Driving back from Wagga, Preaching Christmas Eve, Kids talk Christmas morning, Christmas day with the Craigs, Boxing day with the Fam, the following week on camp, followed up by two weddings (one as a groomsman) and finally, a move to Lakemba, where I am house sitting for the month!
I’m not going to bother even starting. Instead, I think I will see if I can post every day (or maybe two 😉 ) this week, delivering a photo or two for your enjoyment.
To start off the account, here is my gorgeous niece. Tell me she isn’t a treasure and I’ll call you a liar!

Here’s a little montage of the “best of the best” photos I’ve taken over the last little while.
Christmas for Timbos.
24th: Get up earlyish, put my gear together, visit Matty & Lisa (and my lovely Godsons Tom & Will), drive to Church, do sermon prep all day, Preach @ 7pm service (we have a 5,7 & 10:30), hang with JT in the evening, go to 10:30 then head home & crash.
25th: 9:30am service, do a kids talk (should be a hoot! I got to help sew in my prep for this one!), drive home & pack the car, drive to the Craig’s house for Christmas with Shona & Co., then drive up to the Hunter Valley for Christmas dinner with my family.
Busy days, but good times. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning & also to camp which happens straight afterward.
We’ll see how many blogs happen over the next week. No promises…

I guess I have a sort of love/hate relationship with road trips. I do enjoy having open road in front of me, knowing that there is unlimited potential lying there. Who knows what’s going to be in front of me? On the other hand, I occasionally struggle, because I usually when I am travelling, I am trying to get somewhere & when there is a destination that is in my mind, then the exciting stuff that I might pass on the way can loose a little of it’s lustre.
It is hard for travelling stuff to maintain a shine when the destination is my sister’s place in Wagga Wagga. Amy and Andrew (Sis & Bro in Law) are heaps of fun to hang out with, all three of the kids are gorgeous & this time my Dad is down here to boot!
So my travel tales over the 6 hour period are pretty minimal. I listened to test cricket for almost the whole time on the way down (Australia won the “Ashes”, Yay!!!!), and I only really stopped for a bit of petrol & some lunch, then for a couple of happy snaps of a hill.
And now when I think about it, I am not sure I am building too many stories here, or at least ones I want to share. It is great just to hang with the kids (they grow so fast!) chat to Amy & Dad, and watch episodes of “firefly” at night (A&A’s current obsession, and possibly a future one of mine!).
So meanwhile, you’ll have to make do with a couple of pictures. One old, a couple new.

Here is a pic that I took when I went out with Jodi Mac the other week. Love Sydney!

A pretty tree on the way to Wagga. (Best viewed large)

More road shots…

Big props to Maccentric in Chatswood. I emailed them & outlined the problem with my computer & I got an email back inside 24 hours, saying essentially “It sounds like a problem that could be fixed without us. Check out these websites that tell you how to do it so you don’t have to pay $125 an hour to get me to do it for you!”.
48 hours and a reinstall of my operating system later, things are working again. There are little bits & pieces of stuff that I have lost & will have to fix, but basically everything is up & running again.
OK, so it is almost 1am here, but I just HAVE to celebrate by posting a couple of pictures from the two weddings I have been photographer for over the last couple of weeks.
I’m back baby! All I have to do is work out how to make my computer access the net from Phil’s house & it will be 100% go!!!!

Check out the sweet “Quadruple Magnum” look from the 4 little Zoolanders. Elaine & Matt (Bride & Groom in the center) Janet & I (The two photographers for the day). This was from the 2nd of Dec.

A fish-eye shot from Colin & Cath’s (Kath?… I always forget) wedding that was on the 9th.
One more to go on the 16th, then I am free & clear!

There will be Pictures To Come in the near future. I have some great night shots that I took with Jodi, and I could also give you a couple of teasers from yesterday’s wedding of Elaine & Matt, but it will all have to wait till I have my computer running again.
Meanwhile, I considered starting a story for you, but instead I think I might go to bed.

Ok, there is so much to catch up on. I don’t know why I haven’t been blogging. I just haven’t…
Exams have been finished. The subject I was most worried about I have passed, so everything else should be just fine! In the week following exams, we have had end-of-year dinner (which I missed because I feel strongly about being at Youth Group on friday nights) and the Grad Service (after which people all go to the pub & hang, but I missed out because I had church on & then I was too trashed after a long day).
I started a new job last Wednesday working for Anglicare, driving a van for the “Toys & Tucker” appeal. It is good fun, I get to see a lot of Sydney, I got to listen to the first Ashes Test on the radio while driving (Non-Australian/English would not understand the true importance of this iconing sporting event… Summer has truly arrived when the cricket is on ABC radio!), and I get some free exercise moving literally tonnes of canned food & toys each day!
Today, however, was not ideal! It started by getting a fine for having my car parked facing wrong direction. I am usually a stickler for this, but I was scared of having to reverse park the 1 tonne van I’m driving, so I parked it outside Shona’s parents place for the night. Of course, we aren’t even talking about some piddly little fine. $128 for a dodgy direction! Crikey!
OK, round two is just that my back is starting to hurt a little because of all the lifting that I have been doing. I try to follow good lifting practice, but when the van you are around it not tall enough to stand straight in, you really can’t lift properly all the time.
Part three, the big kahuna is that my computer crashes every time I boot it up. I had a minor panic, but then my little bro (whose house I am staying at) showed me how to get it to boot up on “safe mode”. It booted up then, so that gives me hope, since it doesn’t seem to be a fatal error. Hopefully I can save the beastie. Thankfully, I have lots of stuff backed up.
So there you go… I have been slack in writing recently, but fear not, I have a couple of ideas stocked up for posts, so look forward to such articles as “the toilet & a good book: a modern love affair”.
(P.S. This post is dedicated to Bec. I hope it provides a couple of minutes of procrastination for you!)

I’d like one of these little fellas guarding my door!
(He’s from ‘Sculpture by the sea’. I went a couple of weeks ago with Joel Mc.)