Canadian's Baseball

Anyone who has looked at this blog knows that I love the action shots. I figured since I posted photos of a cricket match for all the Canadians at home I should post some action shots of a baseball game.

My friends and I went to a Vancouver Canadians game a few weeks back. We sat in the sun, drank beer and heckled the players. Some of the boys even took time to argue politics with girls in the stands.

These shots were taken at the end of the game. Fans were leaving the game early, so we snuck down to the seats directly behind home base.

Oh, and just so you know, we are the team in red. Yes, the opposing team did hit the ball, but they didn't score any home runs. In fact we left the game soon after this. Vancouver won the game, but, really, we were all winners that night cuz we bonded and spent some quality time with just the boys.

Butterfly Coff

For Easter Weekend, me and a friend of mine went to Coff's Harbour. Coff's is famous for the Big Banana. Australia has many roadside attractions like this (ie the big prawn, the big pineapple, the big rocking horse, the big dunny and so on). A great place to go is the Butterfly farm, just outside of Coff's Harbour. The area where the butterflies are held is really humid and hot, but if you can bear the heat, it's totally worth it. With all the butterflies there, you are bound to get a good photo of one. This is one of my favourites from the day. We both had a wonderful time taking photos and sweating.

My Baby, she wrote me a letter

As most of you already know, in Newcastle I worked for a company named RISQ, as an Employment Screening Consultant. In this position, I performed employment and education verifications, reference checks, criminal history checks, and other fun stuff.

In most cases universities or businesses would fax or email us the documents needed to verify a degree or previous employment, but sometimes the university or business would "snail mail" us their response. Obviously this would take a lot longer, especially if they were sending the letter from Russia, South Africa, Malaysia, or, as in this case, Myanmar (formerly Burma). Still, this was my favourite way to receive responses because, like everyone else, I love getting mail.

These photos are of one of my last responses by mail. It came from the University of Yangon. I love how many stamps it took to get it to us. Though, I wonder if they were slightly over zealous with the stamps. Or, maybe, they had a bunch of unused stamps they wanted to get rid of. Sadly, I will never know the real reason and this will have to remain a mystery for the ages, and that is what upsets me the most.

Shades of Yellow

I have no idea what type of flowers these are. They were growing on the side of the cliff at Bar Beach. If anyone knows feel free to let me know.

Lazy Sunday

This photo was taken on the way to Dorrigo. I forget the town it is in, but what I do remember is that we were here right before a 45 minute wrong turn. I like this photo because the scene seems very Norman Rockwell to me. I liked that this family was spending a sunday together at the park. People spend so much time in the house nowadays, usually watching tv and not interacting at all, that's it's nice to see people spending time together outside.

Beer and Rugby

This is at Energy Australia Stadium, home of the Newcastle Knights. I went to see a soccer game there and found this. Attached to the back of the seats are bottle openers. I thought this was so incerdibly Australian that I had to show everyone.

Green Nobby

This is another pic of Nobby's Head. I put one up earlier, but like this one too, so I figured I would post it anyway. Besides, I miss the place so any excuse to look at it.

Newcastle at Night

Ahh... I know. It's been a while. So I won't talk much and just let you look at the photo. This is Newcastle at Night. The pic was taken from the town's obelisk. I quite like this photo, especially because you can see the stars above. Enjoy. I will post again soon.

Old Bus Sign

This is another picture you will see on the buses here in Newcastle. The series of posters are titled "Safe Travel for Seniors," as you can see. This one is my favourite because of the first tip: "ask the driver to wait until you are off the bus." What else is the driver is gonna to do? And, what do they want the drivers to wait for? These are my questions. I have spent much time on public transit pondering this. I hope to find an answer soon. 

You Too Can Help

This is what is posted on the buses now, amongst the ads above the windows. I had to have a chuckle over it, even though it's sad to think that your neighbours would report you to the "authorities" for working in the garage at 3am, fixing your car or making that spice rack your partner has been bugging you for. They even have these signs at the bus stops, replacing the movie posters. I couldn't imagine Canada posting things like this, but then I haven't been there in a while, so things may have changed. 

Roo sans Poo

As promised, here is a picture of Bella, Jackie and Jamie's baby kangaroo. She's cute. She poops. She hops and she's a beaut. In this photo bella is sucking on her toe. She sleeps in a soft, little cooler bag (or "esky" as they are called in Australia). 

Lake Macquarie Monster

Last weekend Edith and I had dinner with our Friends, Jackie and Jamie (J+J), who live close to Lake Macquarie. It's the largest inland lake in the southern hemisphere. We went for a nice sunset walk and watched Jamie throw rocks into the water for their doggy (right now her name eludes me so I will call her Lady) to chase after. I took many photos of Lady chasing after the rocks and I like this one the best, just because the doggy looks like a surfacing Lake monster.

We had a lot of fun at J+J's. Jamie cooked some wonderful BBQ, including steak, sausages, zuchinni and peppers. There was lots of wonderful conversation and we ended the evening by smoking some apple tobacco on their Hookah Pipe. Also, I can't forget to mention, we got to play with their baby kangaroo, Bella (I remembered her name. I hope Lady doesnt take this personally). She's very cute and poops a lot. I will try to find a picture to post for you - of the kangaroo, not the poop. 

Cloud Burst

Being here in Australia I am missing the perpetual rains of Vancouver. In Newcastle, we have had some rain, but nothing that compares to what you get at home. These photos are from the week before last. This is what I consider to be a typical Newcastle storm.


In Newcastle, the rain is very busy. It doesn't have time to hang around all day. Clouds quickly roll in and all of a sudden you are caught in a huge downpour. The water falls so fast that it feels like you are in the bathroom shower.


The water accumulates so quickly that in a lot of places the water on the road comes up above your ankles.


Then, sometimes as quick as 5-10 minutes later, the rain stops and the sun comes out. Most of the time, the rain bursts are quick, but you get just as much rain as in a day in Vancouver - or at least it feels that way.

I know you have been having rain for weeks on end, back at home. I thought these photos would show that the sun doesn't always shine in Australia. In fact, we had a big hail storm a few weeks back. Some of the hail stones were as big as golf balls (no joke). The cars out on the street had a lot of hail damage. Some had broken windsheilds and all had body damage. Car dealerships have been having "Hail today, gone tomorrow" Sales. On some cars you can get up to $9,000 off the tag price, just because of the hail damage done to the body.

Also, just so you know, Yesterday the temperature was 38 degrees celsius. And at 9:00pm, when Edith and I were coming home from work, the temperature was still 30. At home, in our apartment, it is really hot. Our landlord took our bug screens to be fixed - they had holes in them from the hail storm - so our windows are closed. There are too many bugs to even consider opening them. We should have the screens back in a couple weeks. Til then we will just sweat it out. 

Federal Bikers

This is another pic for Kendall. A while ago I requested a photo of mail to see on his website. I told him about the postal services here. The letter carriers deliver mail on motorbikes. A few times I have seen them travel in a pack, like the hell's angels, but with dental. Kendall, asked me to take a picture of the mailmen/women on mopeds and post it. But, since he asked, I haven't seen them together, just like public toilets and the police, they're everywhere til you need one.

I figured I would put this one up, until I snap a picture of them in a pack. I took the photo from my bedroom window - notice the window ledge in the bottom right of the photo. I crouched down in the corner and tried not to draw attention to myself. I felt like a secret-agent; it was so exciting. Anyway, this is the resulting photo.

Also, notice the piece of fabric hanging from the back of his helmet? That is so his neck doesn't get burned in the summer. Obviously it gets really hot, and the sun is very harsh here. They all wear them. 

Night Traffic

I realize this photo doesn't have any technical merit, but I am putting it up anyway. Mainly for the simple fact that I like the lights from the cars in it. When I was taking the photo a car came down the street and decided to turn right (notice how the light starts in the left lane - that's Australia). Then another car started coming from the side street. So, the camera captured the lights, and not the cars. I think that's neat. Plus, to me, it looks like a scene from Tron was put into the photo. That's why I like it.

Actually, I just wanted an excuse to tell everyone to go look at Kendall's way better, and so much more professional night-time photo. So, go look at it, and see how night photos are supposed to look.

Just so ya know. This was taken on my street. Our apartment is on the corner, where the headlights begin on the right. I took it on the way home from work tonight. 

Bar Blues.

This is the view from the exercise yard at the Lock-up in Newcastle. This is what the inmates got to see when they went out into the exercise yard. I liked this photo because I couldn't imagine what it would be like if this was the only view of the sky I could see. The building on the right is one of the old government buildings from the 1860s, built when Newcastle stopped being a convict settlement. I think it's the old courthouse.

I took the photo last week. I have been working on a small publication with the Hunter Writer's Centre on the cell wall scratchings. We were down in the cells re-shooting some of the photos. The project is close to completion. We have laid out the book and written all the text for it. Now we need to find a cover, and a printer.

Nobby's Head

This the beach at Nobby's Head. It's one of the main beaches in Newcastle. It's a very nice beach. The sand is nice, the water is cool and the waves are strong, real strong. We were actually really surprised at their power. I was suprised some of the parents weren't more concerned about their kids; the waves could easily knock you over if you aren't paying attention.

I decided to post this picture because it has been 36 degree celsius for the last few days. I wanted to go to the beach, as a reprieve from the heat, but Edith has been doing homework all weekend. I thought looking at pictures of the beach would help, but it has only increased my yearning to visit it. On a side note, today it was 20 degrees celsius, a normal temperature for this time of year. Apparently the last few days were a "freak heat wave" they are blaming on La Ninia. I just hope this isn't an omen of the summer to come, though it probably is. 

The pigeon market.

This is from our trip to Melbourne (pronounced "melban"). We were at Victoria Market, which is a a big open market where you can buy everything form vegetables to clothes to tools and everything in between. It is very famous here. Edith was happy because it is just like the markets in Romania.

At the market you could actually buy pigeons. Judging from the price, they aren't a huge seller. What would you use them for? When I was there, a group of teenagers bought them just to let them go. I figure that is a good money making scheme. Pay the local kids to run around and catch the city pigeons. Then sell them to naive tourists and teenagers to set free. And then, have the kids go out again and bring the pigeons back. I bet there's a metaphor for life in there somewhere. 

Opera from the Bridge

Alright! Here it is. The obligatory photo of the Sydney Opera House. This was taken from the harbour bridge. We wanted to take a picture that was further down the bridge, where you would have gotten a better profile shot. Unfortunately, when you get to the middle of the bridge, fencing blocks the view. A huge, thick fence runs from the cement to right above you, making it feel like you are walking through a tunnel. I guess it's meant to keep people from jumping. They even have security guards that walk the length of the bridge. They must be a deterrant for jumpers too. Seems like a lot of people want to jump. I think, if so many people want to jump off the bridge, they should set up a bungee jumping program for the emotionally unstable. They could call it: "Jump to Happiness - Jump Down and Turn That Frown Upside Down."

Art of Picasso

This is my attempt at being artistic. We went to Melbourne in July and saw Fiddler on the Roof, with Topol, who played the lead in the film. While we were there the art gallery had a collection of Picasso's works on display. It was too expensive to get in, so I took this photo instead. The windows of the Gallery have water streaming down them, giving this weird reflection of the outside sign.

We enjoyed our time in Melbourne, it's a great city. The play was wonderful. We sat in the 5th and 6th rows, those were the only seats left and they weren't together. Luckily, they were the same seat numbers. So being the gentleman I am, I let edith sit in the 5th row, while I peered over her head from the sixth row. The seating arrangement wasn't ideal, but we will remember it forever becasue of our seats and the great play.