Sunday, May 26, 2013



a sunday stroll. this afternoon we kicked and crunches leaves all the way into town. we had decided to take the whole day off, from chores and in tony's case, painting and marking uni assignments so we could spend the whole day together. we jokingly referred to it as love day.

we walked everywhere, which was a lot of fun in itself, tried to visit shops that were closed and had a long lunch in town. tony's been drawing portraits on his iPad so we struck a deal where he'd draw me after lunch while I read. I chose asterios polyp for my sitting, a graphic novel one of tony's friends recommended and finished it in an afternoon. I wasn't sure about it at first and contemplated giving up when I reached the halfway mark but by the end, I was really sad that it was over.





^^ here's my favourite car in town, a cute shiny black ute that's usually parked a block or two from our house.


we made a stop at the art gallery on the way home, where I saw this really lovely artwork by kayo yokoyama, called homeland series - 108 houses. each glass house contained a tiny surprisingly familiar object or collection of objects, like some novelty balloons, a tube of toothpaste and a towel or a pizza.

this weekend was one of the happiest and most relaxing in some time. wagga wagga is really beautiful in autumn and I finally feel like I've settled back into my routine at home.

tomorrow I'm off to griffith to work on a video with some siblings who came to australia as refugees from afghanistan. we started filming last year and I can't wait to work with them again. we'll be working on subtitling what we've already shot and hopefully, doing a bit more filming.

and being griffith, there's also always the promise of buying cookies by the kilo to take home.

have a great week!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013


afternoon off. I left work a couple of hours early today, last week's long days had taken their toll and so I decided to give myself a break, in an attempt to be more joyful in everything I do.

it was lovely to leave while the sun was still out and really bright.

I went home, tried to make crumpets (sadly I was a little too impatient and they're not quite right, they're also giant), had some toast and tea and listened to a podcast.

we've been keenly listening to the new daft punk album at home and in the car. tony even hosted a special screening of the interstellar 5555 animation at uni yesterday, and I watched the movie for the first time. I don't know why I was so hesitant to watch it, it was excellent and full of colour.

Sunday, May 19, 2013






crossing the border. early on wednesday morning I drove to victoria to meet a work mate in wodonga and continue onto bright. the original plan was to film across two days in and around the town, only on the first day it rained constantly.






I checked my phone constantly for weather updates and we persevered, dashing out to try and film little bits while the rain was light or had briefly stopped. it was minus 1 for the bulk of our shoot and by the end of it, I could hardly feel my feet. but our surroundings were so beautiful and the bright yellow leaf litter was especially impressive.

the food in bright was amazing, after a few hours in the elements, we ate at this lovely little cafe called ginger baker. we must've looked really cold because they brought us thick black blankets to rug up at our table. I had a grilled eggplant half covered in a buttermilk, lemon and parsley topping and took a lemon and coconut slice home for tony, which I managed to eat half of despite it being a gift.

after a long break from driving, it was really nice to be back on the road again. I didn't realise how much I'd missed it. my eyes are always wide open when I visit country victoria, it's the extra novelty of being outside of my region that makes me notice more things and want to photograph everything.

here's a photo of a bus shelter that is anonymously and seasonally decorated by some locals in everton. I also spotted this really goofy bright pink letterbox, with a cartoon nose and a pipe just outside bright but both times I spotted it too late to stop.

I've come home with a small cold and am feeling a bit tired this weekend. I've realised that I've only been home in wagga for two of the last six weeks so I'm glad to be back home with only day trips planned for the coming month.

Sunday, May 12, 2013





chocolate cake & side projects. want to know something kind of strange? seeing photos of good cakes on the internet makes me really happy. here are my four favourites:


this afternoon I made a chocolate fudge cake fit for a kid's birthday party, complete with icing and sprinkles. it was great and I love going to work on a monday knowing there's a slice of cake waiting for me at the end of the day.

last week a friend of mine had a really hard week of work. I was really glad that we could catch up and chat. we talked about what had happened and how she was feeling and we also talked about the importance of having a few different interests and projects going at any one time. we both really love what we do for work and sometimes, it's easy to concentrate our efforts there. but we talked about other things we liked that we knew made us happy.

I walked away from our meet up and my fortnight in sydney with a small resolution to tackle small fun projects most of the time. when I was at uni I found so much enjoyment out of running the matchbox project and later tackling the semi-ridiculous task of hand decorating 1000 coffee cups for my favourite cafe and one year, making a zine/care-package for people with the flu. back then I looked at little projects as a way to escape something else in my life that wasn't totally satisfying and for the past years I've felt pretty happy and challenged, so I haven't really thought to do anything extra.

but now I want to do something just for me and just for fun, because silly projects like creative cakes, always bring me lots of joy.

I already have something in mind which I'm excited about and I hope to start getting it off the ground soon.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013




back in the big smoke. it's been close to two weeks since I left wagga and I definitely miss home. even though I grew up here, there are lots of things I've forgotten about since relocating two and a bit years ago. commuting is one of them.

it has been really nice to spend some extra time with my family, I've been staying with my parents and eating with them most nights. living in a different town really makes me appreciate all of the incidental contact. I've fallen back into some nice old habits too, like helping my teenage brother find a mother's day present and visiting my favourite cake shops on my way home from work.








my days here have been really busy, varied and interesting. for starters I've been working out of my own editing suite, a little soundproof booth with fancy audio gear, vintage speakers and lights you can dim. I've learnt a lot this last fortnight, a new audio editing program, how to illustrate a story using sound effects, how to tell whether a recording of parrots is of parrots in a cage or parrots in the wild.

this last monday, I sat in a recording studio while an audio engineer worked on one of my stories. that was pretty cool and I sneakily took this photo.

there has been plenty of time for city food too. during my stay I ate yummy dumplings with my sister at the new shanghai cafe in lemongrove, chatswood. good dumplings are hard to come by in wagga wagga so I was especially grateful for our lunch. and on tuesday, my work friend sean led a special expedition to malibu sandwich in surry hills. years ago I used to work with a guy who would take orders for malibu sandwich and bring giant lunches to artamon but I had no idea where the shop was. the expedition was strategic, the shop is notoriously busy and there was a very specific way to order. we all walked away with football sized sandwiches, with combos like chicken schnitzel, mayo, tomato and potato salad. working that afternoon was difficult.






the other day a girlfriend emailed to ask whether I'd moved back to sydney as I've been around a lot in the last month and it was a good reminder to pack my bags and go home to wagga.

I feel content to be leaving now, being in wagga after my aunt passed away left me feeling restless. in lots of ways I didn't believe that she had gone. but being here and spending time with my family has helped me understand that she is no longer with us, and start to feel a little bit okay about how we'll go on without her.

p.s - I've listened to two great podcasts in the last week, this powerful teenage audio diary made by a high school student from punchbowl, sydney and this episode from this american life, around the theme of images.