I had a great Christmas day getting together with Tyson, Nico and Jake on Tyson and Nico’s rooftop over in Flinders Lane. The boys recently moved in with a BBQ so it was a great opportunity to try it out and for once Melbourne stayed warm and dry for the day. My first attempt at making a pavlova was a huge success. Though it was just a matter of adding cream and fruit to a huge merangue bought at the supermarket. We had music, a huge inflated Santa Claus and a Santa pinyata to be smashed after lunch. It really was a fun day.
Category: This Week In The Loft
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Canon 7D for Christmas!
Must have been good this year. Santa left me a Canon 7D with a 17-55mm f2.8 constant appeture lens this morning when I woke up. I’m spending Christmas day with Tyson, Nico and Jake over on their rooftop having a BBQ. So there should be plenty of great photos to share tonight.
Merry Christmas!
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Best Dressed Christmas Desk
I didn’t even know there was a competition when I won the first prize for the best decorated desk for Christmas at the office this year. Late one night Chris and I went into the office and wrapped my desk and the surrounding furniture in Christmas wrapping paper. It took a while to do but the results look great!
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Luna Park St Kilda turns 98
I was really surprised to read the papers this morning and learn that Luna Park in my old suburb of St Kilda turned 98 years old today. It’s pretty amazing that it has been around for that long. It seems to have had a long and chequered history too. This article even blames Luna Park for bringing the seedy sex trade to this idyllic beachside suburb of Melbourne. I lived just a few blocks from here and loved every minute of the life there.
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Oprah in Australia
It was pretty cool seeing Oprah just 1 block from the Loft today. She is doing a whirlwind tour of Australia and spent 10 minutes on stage with the Prime Minister of Australia this afternoon. Now she is holding a cocktail party a couple of blocks away in a small shopping arcade. This week Australia has gone a little Oprah crazy.
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New Residents in Melbourne
I am pretty excited about Tyson and Nico moving to Melbourne. And even more so that they are going to be living in Loft 1. I really hope they like living there as much as I did. Tyson is arriving tonite followed by a truck with all their gear tomorrow. I feel a house warming party coming on.
I am at home for a few days now recovering from my second hip operation. The first operation back in March didn’t quite fix the problem correctly so the surgeon wanted another go at it. So I slipped in to hospital a few days ago where my hip with pulled out again. The surgeon reckons he’s fixed it now. I just have to put up with crutches for a little while now and get back to physio again. Hopefully I’ll be running and jumping again by Christmas.
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The Sun Shines in Melbourne
I was so happy to see the sun come out this weekend. When we got off the plane earlier this week I was sad to see that it was still cold in Melbourne. But I think that was just Melbourne’s weather misbehaving. I have been dying to get back into taking photos outside, so Brad popped in today to model for me on the rooftop. I want to pick up my photography more now and hopefully work more on my blogging and photography next year. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo book deal this year, but the publishers in Germany are still interested in working with me.
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Berlin in Autumn
It’s actually my last day in Europe today so I thought I’d quickly update my blogs before I make the journey south to Thailand.
The first thing you will notice when you leave Tegal Airport in Berlin this month is the beautiful trees. The autumn colours are amazing! The air is very cool and fresh. Just the day before we arrived in Berlin the weather forecasted the possibility of snow. So here I am in Tier Garden, one of the most beautiful inner city parks in the world. We walked from Zoo Station to the Brandenburg Gate, which is pretty much the entire 7km length of it. We spotted a lot of wild life in the park…. and not just of the animal kind!
I thought Berlin was going to be about a lot of clubbing, but on this visit we actually spent most of it touring, shopping and eating. This is my 5th visit to Berlin and I will never get sick of coming here. I’ve found a great little guesthouse in Schoneberg where I can stay for very little money. I would like to come back when the snow is falling here.
Here you can rent the vehicles that were once only ever found in East Berlin.
A myth? Under this residential courtyard is where Hitler’s bunker was built and where he later died. The position of this children’s playground is where the body was taken and burned. Pretty grim stuff. My travelling buddy Chris is very sceptical.
I’ve become a Ka De We department store food court frequent flyer on this visit to Berlin. Ka De We dedicates it’s 2 top floors to food and wine from all over the world. I could spend a day there alone sampling the yummy food.
Here I am with Kylie in an east Berlin flea market on a brisk Sunday afternoon. It is not far from here that we found a long stretch of the Berlin wall still standing.