Bush!

Righto,

So a couple weeks back Sophie, Jeroen and I went out on an expedition. We left Newman in search of a spot called Three Pools.

The last few months have been pretty hot (40-45 degrees). So we decided we needed a swim. Seeing as we are over 450kms from the nearest beach we decided to check out one of the rock pool sites closer to town. That site was Three Pools.

Around Newman there are many rock pools that are either seasonal (filled by rain water) or spring fed permanent pools. These include Kalgan Pool, Three Pools, Eagle Rock Falls and others. All are listed on the visitors map that is available from the Visitor Informations Centre. The map is very helpful and lists each site and it's 4WD terrain difficulty.

We have already been to Kalgan Pool, and Eagle Rock is listed as a "Difficult 4WD" track so we decided on Three Pools. I have done some 4 Wheel Driving but not enough to consider myself up to the task of "Difficult". Especially since there is no guarantee that there will be much in the way of help on these dusty tracks. If your spare goes flat (alot of people carry two spares around here) there aren't many other options other than the heel-toe express.

The track wasnt too bad. There was the odd bottom out, and front end suspension "BANG" but they were few and far between. For the most part is was smooth driving. It's amazing how alone and isolated you (and your group) are just 1 hour from town. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to cover 76kms. Not bad considering in some streches our spedometer didnt even register that we were moving.

Finally there we were, Three Pools......well 2 pools. There hasn't been much in the way of seasonal rain this summer so alot of the rock pools are below what they would normally be. This could be seen at the edges of Three Pools as well. The ground is rich in disolved solids (like: calcuim, salt, etc) so the water leaves a mark at each point it has been.

But there was enough water to swim, and swim we did. Living in the semi-desert makes you realize how awesome swimming is when you finally get into the water. Especially with the heat (it was only 38 or 39 that day) it's really refreshing.

We had been swimming for a while when I noticed alot of bugs floating in the water. They had been there a while. So long that they looked like they were made of glass. Totally transparent and full of water... but that wasn't all they were full of.

I fished one out of the water to have a better look only to see leeches pour out of it. Out of the water I got.

Anyway Jeroen took some good photos of the pools. Here are some of my favorites.

Stoked part 2

For the past year or so I have gotten more and more interested in photography. All kinds really, landscape, street, etc. I find myself reading magazine after magazine learning new tricks, I can't get enough of it.

I am a subscriber to Australian Photography Magazine. Part of the reason I subscribed is to be able to enter the various competitions they hold each month. The first one (only one) I entered was for "Your best shot" with the theme of liquids. I had an idea of what I wanted to send in and I was pretty confident I could get the image I was after.

It involved a black setting and backdrop, a glass of milk and (what I would find out) a whole lot of patience. I ended up needing a whole lot of milk too! I went through glass after glass trying to get the spill pattern I was after. But it was worth it, 2 hours and 1.5 litres of milk later. I had my image, and guess what? I got published!

Take a look.

Stoked!!!!

Ok so as you can imagine the winter olympics dont recieve heaps of attention here in Australia.... or so one would think. But I must say I was impressed by this years coverage.

Since Sophie and I are living WAAYYYYY out in the middle of nowhere, we dont have access to basic cable tv as I had back in Canada. We have a total of 2.5 channels (I say .5 because the one channel is pretty fuzzy and you're lucky to get reception half of the time.....yes I said "reception" we roll old school, rabbit ears propped up on the window ledge....the way to have it!). Of these 2.5 channels we get WIN, GWN, and some of ABC (the australian equivalent of the BBC). Now WIN got the rights to the winter games, something I was very excited about because WIN is out clearest channel!

The games were well covered considering I didnt have pay tv and I'm living in the Outback. Coverage included highlights from the days events and medal ceremonies. One thing I didnt count on was coverage of the mens or womens ice hockey. However, WIN didnt dissapoint. I was (reluctantly) able to watch the Canadian mens team lose 5-3 to the Americans and breeze by Germany in the preliminary matches, as well as catch the quarter, semi, and gold medal games in full. This was something I wasn't expecting. The reason for this is this: Australia doesn't do hockey as Canada does. They don't even call it "Hockey", for "Hockey" as they know it is what Canadians would call "Field Hockey". Here it's known as "Ice Hockey". Now this would be obvious as their most popular sport is either cricket or Australian Football (a great game if you get a chance to watch it, much faster than American Football (0r "Gridiron" as they call it) with less protective equipment) depending on the time of year. But this winter games the Aussies (or the network) embraced it. Covering every game Canada played in full. Albeit the games were on at 9 am and they broadcasted the 3rd and overtime periods of the gold medal game first (because it was still live) and then proceeded to show the full game again immediately after that, at least they were "on".

So lucky for me I had the day off on monday since it was Labour Day (we are at the end of Summer, while Canada is at the end of winter). I got up early (monday morning in Western Australia is sunday night in Vancouver) and was able to watch the 3rd and overtime frames and then watch the whole game again!

I will be honest and say it wasnt the same. I would rather have been at home watching the game with my family, or at the pub watching the game with my second (a close second mind you) family, my best mates. I didn't have any Molson Canadian, I didnt have any Tim Hortons coffee, and there wasn't any snow (Vancouver didn't have any either), but there was the game, and for a couple hours I was back home.

Here's a photo of my post game celerbration. Yes that's me raving like an idiot and yes I was sober, but also proud. I think the reason was that I was the only proud one around. I know of only one other Canadian that lives in Newman. And I take great pride in the fact that when we see each other and "talk hockey" no one around us has a clue what we're on about.

Way to go Canada.