Well, it’s that time of year, and I’m running late with dispatching my Christmas cards. I might have to find a way around my usual methods this time!
It hasn’t been a very exciting year, I must say. This time last year, I was looking forward to the “Grand Outback Photography Safari” for which I’d put down a deposit, due to depart in May 2016. About a month before I was due to depart, I received a very apologetic phone call from the company’s boss to say that unfortunately the trip wouldn’t be running in 2016. For the first time since the GFC, they didn’t get enough bookings. To say I was disappointed was an understatement! I looked for other options, but in the end cancelled the leave I’d scheduled for May, and kept my holiday dollars in my pocket!
Work has been ‘business as usual’, with occasional flurries of frantic activity. The team in which I work occasionally gets pulled into researching or analysing things at short notice. For example, when the OECD’s PISA results were released, which showed that Australia’s 15 year olds’ performance in Maths and Science had not improved since the last round of PISA in 2012 (and that we’d been overtaken by countries such as Kazakhstan and Cyprus), we were asked to investigate school funding for students in these countries and see if we could pinpoint why they’d improved. The tabloid newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, headlined its article reporting on the PISA results as “Dumb and Dumber”… not exactly politically correct!
I’ve been on leave for about 10 days – and go back to work tomorrow. My favourite singer, Keith Urban, has been touring, so I’ve had a few fanatic days going to some of his shows in Melbourne, Sydney, and even in Canberra! It’s the first time he’s played in Canberra since 2005! Keith played 2 shows in Sydney, including the opening show in the new International Convention Centre Theatre (ICC) in Darling Harbour. It’s ENORMOUS (though I thought, considering the construction cost over $1Billion, the seats were quite uncomfortable – rather thin and flimsy!) Security to get into the venue (and the rules about what you could/couldn’t take in) were very strict: no drinks (not even water), no food, no cameras (ridiculous when every second person takes photos and movies with their phones these days! I don’t see why I can’t take my DSLR in – though I accept that a 400mm zoom might impede the people around me) – bag searches and scanners. Yuk! (Though, admittedly at the other big Sydney venue, the Qudos Bank Arena at Olympic Park, they do bag searches and subject random people to body scanners). The bans on bringing in food or drinks, however, would seem to be more about increasing revenue for the venue than any security concerns! Boo hiss!
Mr Urban was in very good form, and the shows were lots of fun! It is such fun to be in a crowd where everybody seems to know the words of every songs, and we’re encouraged to sing along. I called this tour my ‘sawn-off KURT’ (Keith Urban road trip), as I “only” attended 4 shows. One of my friends, Lisa, attended 8/9 of the shows, even going to Wellington, New Zealand, for the first show of the Australasian tour. It was very hard to be at home, knowing that there were shows in Brisbane on Friday and last night, but I’m looking at the big picture! (Photos: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Canberra GIO Stadium, Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney ICC Theatre)
If I’m excited now, you can only imagine what I’ll be like in about 11 month’s time: I’m going to Antarctica for 2 weeks in late November 2017. My favourite photo safari outfit, Chris Bray Photography, have put together their first Antarctica trip and, all things going well, I’ll be going, too. (Not a cheap trip, so I’m trying to be a little frugal with concerts and things to save for it!) The trip will leave from South America, with an Australian company called Aurora Expeditions. They have a little boat called the Polar Pioneer , which was built as a research vessel in Finland, and refurbished for use as a passenger ship in 2000. The advantage in travelling on the Polar Pioneer (which is not a cruise liner – it’s rather basic) is that as a small ship (the size of a Manly Ferry), it can get into places that the liners can’t, and with a maximum of 54 passengers, everybody is allowed to go ashore at once in Antarctica. (There are limits to how many people are allowed ashore at any one time.)
Before I get to Antarctica, I’m also booked on a Tropical Queensland photography trip with Chris Bray Photography in May. One of my work colleagues and I will be travelling together and sharing accommodation. I’ve been encouraging Susan to do a CBP trip for several years: finally, everything’s fallen into place, all schedules align, the tour is booked out, so it’s all systems go!
I went for a swim at my local pool on one of my days off, and have come to the conclusion that I am really, really unfit. As I walk about 4km every work day, it came as a bit of a surprise when it took rather an effort to swim 25 metres: I am VERY unfit and have lost a lot of flexibility! (It shouldn’t have really come as a surprise, but it did. I guess I have been complacent, thinking ‘I do more walking than most people.’) It’s time for action! The intention is to start swimming on a regular basis and building up my fitness. I guess I’ll have to get used to the smell of chlorine in my hair, on my skin, and on my clothes again. Ugh!
I hope all is well. Please excuse me for the impersonal approach to Christmas letters this year (even worse than my usual form letter). I have, well and truly, run out of time.
Cheers, Jeanie
jeaneeem 