Photographic Memory

Earlier this year the Webster Groves Public Library invited me to have a solo photography show in their art gallery during the month of December. I have participated in a half dozen shows over the past couple of years, but have never done one on my own. The thing is, with a solo show your work has to carry the load of the entire exhibit. Your piece is not one of many, but rather many pieces of you. But I felt like my work from Australia and New Zealand could stand on its own, so I agreed to exhibit.

As I had come home from my trip with slightly over 3,500 photos, it was rather daunting to narrow it down to the best. Normal shows at the library contain 20-25 pieces, but I chose to show the 34 pictures that I felt best represented the two countries I had visited. Next I had to determine what size to make the prints. They needed to be large enough to show the details, but not so large that it would limit how many photos I could hang. Originally I wanted all of them to be the same size, mounted only behind an 11"x14" glass frame with no mat or wood to detract from the pictures. However, nine of the photos would not fit in that format without cutting off pertinent items such as a kangaroo's tail, for example. So in the end, I had those nine printed 10"x20" and mounted on gatorboard. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, but it worked. After I received all the prints back from the lab, I applied wire to the back of each per the library's hanging system requirement.

Jim was a godsend in helping me with my final photo selections, and providing input on the best way to display the pictures. He spent several hours with me on December 2nd hanging the show, and came up with an inventive method to level the photos when the hanging system at the library kept tilting all the images downward. I went back to the library on the 3rd to clean off any fingerprints and apply the photo labels to the wall. The show was ready to go!

Wednesday I got my hair cut, and my long time stylist, Charles, offered to have me come back on Friday so that he could style my hair for the reception at no charge. I took him up on his offer, and he would not even accept a tip from me.

The opening reception was held Friday night from 6-8. Jim and I got to the library at 5:30 to set up the tables. A surprise was awaiting, as the librarians said flowers had been delivered for me. Jim had handed me fresh flowers when he got home from work, so I knew they hadn't come from him. As it turned out, our Minnesota friends Kathy and Paul, who had joined us in New Zealand, sent a floral arrangement for the opening. How nice is that?

On one of the tables we put the wine, water, 7-Up, lemonade, ice and glasses. A second was for the cheese and sausage tray, along with a vegetable tray, crackers, grapes and a candy dish. The third was reserved for the amazing chocolate chip and cranberry white chip cookies that I had ordered from a friend. They were a huge hit, as I knew they would be!

reception tables

Through the course of the evening around 35 people came through the exhibit, including stylist Charles and three of his friends. A few were folks that I didn't know but who had read about it on the library's Facebook page or in the calendar section of the Webster-Kirkwood Times. Several neighbors, many friends and a few of my Women in Focus photography group stopped by. I was touched by how many of my pickleball ladies came as well. I was not able to take many pictures, so thanks go out to my friend Caren Libby for those below.

reception photos

Everyone complimented me on the quality of the photos as well as the way I had chosen to display them. And I even sold one that night! In the end, I'm glad I faced my insecurities and put my work out there. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own head.

Epic Vacation Wrap Up

Our return to St. Louis from Auckland went quite smoothly. The flying time from Auckland to Los Angeles was only 12 hours and 25 minutes, which seemed short compared to the 15 and a half hours we flew to get from Los Angeles to Sydney. It was a more difficult flight for me in that we left Auckland at 1:00 in the afternoon, so I wasn't a bit sleepy. The time was passed by watching movies. I will say that flying Business Class on those two long flights was the bees knees, though. It will be hard to fly in coach on overseas trips in the future. Here we are leaving Auckland, still smiling after 30 days of 24/7 togetherness.

American Airlines Business Class

Many people have asked me which country I liked better - Australia or New Zealand? It's a hard call, because the people were so very nice in both countries. But I would say Australia for the wildlife - it's hard to beat seeing kangaroos, parrots and cockatoos out of the windows of your house. New Zealand takes the win for scenery, however. I can't remember a drive where every single turn brought exclamations of, "Wow, look at that!"

Over 3,500 photographs have been downloaded onto my computer, and it is taking a while to sort through them, throwing out the ones that are bad and doing a little correction on the ones that need it. But what a fun way to relive the trip. I can't believe how much we saw, all the things that we did, and the wonderful people we met on this journey. I summarize the adventure by saying that I had really high expectations for this vacation, and they were all exceeded. You can't beat that.

two thumbs up!

Downtown Melbourne

Thursday morning we enjoyed breakfast with our hosts before taking a short tram ride to the central business district of Melbourne. The city has quite an interesting array of architectural styles, yet somehow they all manage to work together. We enjoyed learning more about the city from one of our hosts before he left for another commitment. We toured beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral, and then found a quirky little restaurant for lunch. We were told we needed to try an Aussie Pie for a meal, so we did. They were tasty, and we even liked our salads despite the fact that they had no dressing on them.

We spent the afternoon wandering through the town, and then took a walk along the Yarra River. Despite being a little overcast, it was a nice day to be out and about. We managed to catch the correct tram back to our neighborhood, and even made it to the house without getting lost!

Today we say goodbye to Australia. It has been a wonderful adventure, but we are eager to see what New Zealand holds in store for us.

Trentham and Melbourne

Tuesday morning Jim and I walked into town to have breakfast. Our waitress asked where we were from, and when we said Missouri, she asked where in Missouri. When Jim told her St. Louis, she announced, "I have cousins in St. Louis!" The world is, indeed, small. Later the two Jims were off to look at some projects, so Curtis and I took their adorable Schnoodle Penny for a long walk through the reserve and then around town. I wonder if it ever grows old to see parrots, cockatoos and kangaroos on a daily basis?

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The rest of the day was spent meeting more friends - a landscape designer who lives on 17 acres in a house made from repurposing two metal, portable classrooms. The property is entirely off the grid, which was fascinating to see. Next up was a man from Scotland and his Boston wife who live in a fabulous home on a large acreage. We wrapped up the day by having dinner with the Sinatra's grandson, his partner, and their adorable daughter, who just turned one.

Wednesday three kangaroos blessed us with their presence right in the back yard when we awoke in the morning. We had heard they will come right up near the houses, but this was the first we had seen them in the yard. The sun also decided to make its appearance after a couple gloomy days, so it was a pretty day to drive to Melbourne where we met another couple who are friends of the Sinatra's. They are letting us stay with them for a couple nights, which is so kind of them.

Following lunch, Sinatra's headed off for home, and it was very sad to say goodbye. Our host took us to the Royal Botanic Garden of Victoria, which was lovely. We also saw the Shrine of Remembrance, a war memorial. Then we enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal before turning in for the night.

Trentham Australia

First off, we did not have internet where we just stayed, so I was not able to post until now. The flight from Cairns to Melbourne was uneventful, with the exception of the crying baby across from Jim and the whining, obnoxious toddler in the row ahead of me. Thank goodness for iTunes and noise-canceling headphones. Jim and Curtis Sinatra were waiting in the baggage claim area, and Jim S. exclaimed, " They look just the same!" It was very nice of him to say so, even though we know that is not the case.

Being with them it is as if 30 plus years had not passed since we last saw each other. They left Ames with their two boys in 1981 to move to Melbourne, where Jim S. started the landscape architecture program at the University of Melbourne. They have lived in Australia since then, mostly in the Melbourne area though they did spend one year in Perth. Currently they live in Trentham, a small village a little over an hour outside of Melbourne.

Before we arrived at their house, they took us to a local pub called The Pig and Whistle. What character the place has! An added bonus was that ten or so local musicians had gathered to jam. Instruments included a violin, tin whistles, guitar, banjo, and a mandolin. They were playing a lively Irish tune, the last song of the day as it turns out. There is a strong Irish community here as potatoes grow well here. That sounds very cliche, but it is a fact.

Jim and I actually stayed two doors down from the Sinatra's at the home of friends who were in Melbourne right now. An architect by trade, the homeowner designed this house, and it it beautiful.
The houses on their street back up to a nature reserve, so kangaroos run free in the back. In fact, on the drive to the house, we had to stop to let a kangaroo cross the road. How cool is that?

After we put our luggage in the house, we went to the Sinatra's house for a delicious dinner that Curtis had prepared for us. We had salad, a stew and bread. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up.

Monday was a day of learning about Australian life and making new friends. We first stopped at a nearby farm and met a couple whose hobbies include bonsai plants and raising chooks (chickens). After enjoying a delightful tea, including homemade savory scones and date cake, we went out to meet the chooks. There were so many different breeds, each one pretty in its own way. The setting of the farm was just as beautiful.

From there we went to the home of two local artists, one a sculpture primarily working in stone, and the other a painter and author. Their work is amazing! We had lunch there, and the hours passed quickly.

We had to get back to the house as more friends were coming over, but Jim took us down a road to find some kangaroos. And find them we did - a whole mob of them. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that they wander free here just like the deer back home. It was a treat to see so many.

The last couple we met was a man who is a wood carver who makes fine crafted furniture. His friend is a nurse who is visiting from America as well. We enjoyed some nice wine and conversation. The whole day gave us a peek into this small community that is jam-packed with intelligent, creative souls.

Heading to Melbourne

We have checked out of our apartment and are currently sitting in the Qantas club lounge at the airport in Cairns. We almost didn't get in as the lady at the desk said we had the wrong card for entrance. We explained that our credit card entitles us to entrance at all American Airlines Admirals Clubs as well as the clubs of all airlines in the One World Alliance, of which Qantas is a member. Our card wasn't in her book, so she said she couldn't let us in. We held firm, and she finally relented and said she would make an exception. The Qantas club in Sydney let us right in with no questions asked. We are flying on Qantas, for crying out loud!

It is raining here today, so we picked a good time to leave. The weather will be much cooler in Melbourne as we are traveling south. I hope it will be less humid. Cairns definitely feels very tropical. My final thoughts on this city - again the people are very friendly, many things and activities are free, and the townspeople are very much aware that the tourists are the bread and butter of their community, so they endeavor to ensure you are having a good time. You can have a laid-back urban experience, visit the rainforest or explore the Reef all in the same day. The biggest surprise was that things are nearly as expensive here as they are in Sydney. Let's see what Melbourne brings.

Cairns May 5-6

We got back to the apartment too late for me to write a post last night, so I'll combine yesterday with today's activities. First off, yesterday morning our AirBNB host offered us an upgrade to a one bedroom apartment. We had been staying in a studio, and it was a little cramped for two people. Even though it was a hassle to move, we jumped on the opportunity to have a unit with a kitchen and in-unit laundry facilities. I'm doing laundry as I type this since we are leaving in the morning. We are in a corner apartment on the 10th floor, and this place is nice!

After our move, we went for lunch while we waited to hear from a man that Jim Sinatra (Jim's professor when he was at Iowa State) had put us in contact with. Also a landscape architecture graduate, Lachy was going to spend Friday afternoon with us. When he said he was taking us to a local watering hole, we thought he meant a bar. But then he told us to bring our swimmers, so we realized he literally meant a watering hole.

Lachy arrived around 2:00, and first took us to see the Cairns Botanic Garden. It also has no admission fee to get in. I am amazed by how much is free here. It was quite lovely, though we did move rather quickly through it. Next we stopped at a local indoor market, and it was fun to see the different fruits and vegetables that are sold here. From there we went to his house, where we met his wife (who is French) and his two boys. Oh, and their beautiful dog, Maggie. Below is a picture of the view across the road from them. The crop that looks like brown mounds towards the front is peanuts, and beyond those are sugar cane.

 

After a refreshing drink of homemade lemonade (with lemons picked fresh from the orchard next door), we piled in two cars to go to the watering hole, which ended up to be a creek. We drove up a tractor path and got out of the cars, and all I could think of were the different spiders and snakes that could kill me. Due to the recent rain, the creek was high, and we had to walk through two streams to get to the actual creek. Luckily I had brought my water shoes along, as had Jim. The water was cold, so Lachy was the only one brave enough to go for a swim. The rest of us had light refreshments on a blanket. As it grew dark, we made our way cautiously across the two rocky streams to the cars. We ended the evening with dinner at a restaurant in Cairns. They are a wonderful family, and we are so grateful we had the chance to get to know them.

At 7:30 this morning the Skyrail bus picked us up outside our apartment to take us to the Freshwater Railway Station to catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway Train. Construction of the railway began in 1886, but passenger service didn't begin until 1891. Fifteen hand-dug tunnels and 37 bridges were built to climb from sea level to 328 meters up the Macalister Range. After a 1.5 hour ride, the Railway ends at the village of Kuranda, a touristy small village. We had an hour to kill before boarding our next form of transportation, the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

We opted for the gondola with the glass bottom, which ended up to be a bit scary for me. It didn't help that the winds had picked up, so the car was swaying more than normal. We had the car to ourselves, although it holds 5.  The cableway travels over the Macalister Range, the rain forest and Barron Gorge. It also takes about 1.5 hours to get back down to sea level. It can carry 600 passengers per hour in each direction, though it was not very busy today.  While we had been warned that today's activities were a tad touristy, we thought the excursions were well worth the time we spent there. And a nice way to wrap up our time in the Cairns area. Tomorrow we are off to Melbourne, where Jim and Curtis Sinatra will meet us at the airport.

Cairns

Yesterday was a travel day, so I didn't write a post. Plus I picked up a bug the day before yesterday that stayed with me through this morning, so I wasn't up to writing. Yesterday's experience at the Sydney airport is worth mentioning. We were dropped off by a taxi at the domestic Qantas terminal, our scheduled airline to Cairns. As in America, we approached a self-service check-in kiosk to get our printed boarding passes and tags for the bags we would be checking. But there the similarity to flying back home ends. We proceeded to a self-check baggage monitor, where a machine scanned each boarding pass, asked us to place our bag on a scale to be weighed, and then to lay the bag flat so the conveyor could read the baggage tag we had secured at the other kiosk. After that, the conveyor took the bag away. No one asked to see our identification at all.

Next we went to security, and again no one checked for ID or even to see if we had a boarding pass for a flight. No need to take off your coat, your shoes, no liquids needed to come out of carry on luggage, and there was no X-ray machine that we had to walk through. The carry on bags were screened, however. I didn't know whether to be impressed or appalled! Certainly a terrorist could walk right into this airport and onto a plane. 

As Admirals Club members with America Airlines, we are allowed to use the clubs of One World Alliance airlines, so we went to the Qantas Club to wait until it was time to board our flight. When I asked the lady at the counter about the whole ID thing, she said, "God forbid we should ask an Aussie to show an ID!" Obviously they haven't had the terrorist attacks like we have in the US to warrant the extreme measures travelers in the states have to go through.

The Qantas flight was great, with the seats in the "cattle call section" as we like to call it seeming more comfortable and a bit larger than American Airlines seats. Plus we got a meal, which doesn't happen on a three hour flight back home. Not that I ate it. In fact, the smell of food was not a good thing for me. Thank goodness for the hot tea on board! The next surprise came after we landed. While the front of the plane was being emptied, they opened a back door for those of us in the cheap seats. We had to walk down an outside flight of steps and across the tarmac to the terminal, but there was sunshine and palm trees, so who cares?

There was free wifi at the Cains airport, which was great as it enabled me to let our AirBNB host know we were on our way. By taxi it took us less than fifteen minutes to get to our scheduled meeting place. Our accommodations here are right on the Esplanade, the boardwalk that runs along the water, so there are many places to eat and shop within walking distance. A view of the water and the harbour from the balcony is a bonus. The unit is only a studio, but we have a decent sized refrigerator so we can keep beverages and food cold. 

Today we have been checking out the town, starting with breakfast next door overlooking the Esplanade. As we walked afterwards we came across the swimming pool pictured below. There is not a swimming beach in Cairns, so the city built the next best thing - it is free and open to the public, as is the town's free wifi! We found Woolworths, which is a major grocery store not to be confused with our old five and dime stores. We were able to pick up some items for lunch, and a light breakfast for the morning. It is sunny with a nice breeze, and in the low 80's. As more of that is predicted for tomorrow, we booked our excursion to the outer barrier reef leaving at 8:00 a.m. We can't wait!

Sydney Day 6

This was our last full day in Sydney, and we started it with breakfast along the harbour. These beautiful birds invited themselves along. One sat on the table and began to drink out of my water glass, cheeky as you please. I was so stunned I didn't even get a photo of it. I snapped the picture below as the birds were looking for a handout at the next table.

Following breakfast we went on a tour of the Opera House. It was fantastic, made all the more so by our wonderful guide, Steve. The building really is an architectural marvel. When construction began in 1957, it was supposed to take 3 years and a $2 million to build. When it was finally completed in 1973, the final cost was over $100 million and the architect, Jorn Utson, had been replaced.

After the hour plus long tour, we came back to the hotel room to change into shorts as the high was predicted to be 75. Then we walked up to Hyde Park, where we saw some old churches and the war memorial. We grabbed lunch at a Korean restaurant, and then continued on to the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It was quite a hike from where we were. The garden is quite lovely, and a surprise within the confines of the city. Modeled on the typical private gardens of the Ming Dynasty, the  garden opened in 1988 and symbolizes the relationship between Australia and China.

Evidently we took a circuitous route back, because it took us a longtime to get back to our side of town. The bonus was that we caught some nice light on the Opera House. It was a fitting end to our time in Sydney. My wrap-up of our visit is that Sydney is a beautiful and vibrant city filled with friendly people. It is very international, and while expensive, is an easy place to be a tourist. We have very much enjoyed our visit, but are ready to see more of this fascinating country.