Orchids

Moroccan rose

Shiny things

Lake sunset

Farewell beach (for now)

Went to the beach this evening. It was so much cooler than inland and the water was somewhat bracing. But it made a nice change. However, it was really gloomy. It's been a humid sort of day and a misty sort of haze had really set in before sunset. It made the beach visit quite different somehow. Less frolic-y, more sedate wandering.

Took lots of photos, but the lighting just wasn't as amazing as the previous visit (see further down the page). But it was still the beach. And I'm not going to complain about that at all. It just made for a different set of photos. Another positive was that there weren't piles of jellyfish like last time, so it was fine to just wander around in the water and not have to watch for stingy things.

I really like watching the constant ebb and flow of the ocean. When you're looking down at the sea's foam dancing around your feet, it feels so small and intimate. But when you look up and see the water disappearing into the distance and enormous cargo ships on the horizon looking like tiny toys, you feel the immense power and pull of the water. You're just one tiny, relatively insignificant element of everything that's combined to be there at that moment in time.

It's really very relaxing.

Then watching the moon peek out from the clouds to cast a silver eye over the waters as they blend with the sky to a pale twilight blue, you head home. Saltwater drying on your legs, sand still between your toes, feeling sleepily content in the car. Beachy perfect.

Progression

Slightly gloomy

Rock patterns

Caves Beach on a hazy evening

Gardens

I do love sales

Oroton has a sale on at the moment, so I indulged.

When I was in uni, I used to attack the op shops before vintage got ultra-popular and all of the good stuff was cleaned out/prices went up/etc. The ones near uni had a lot of vintage items - actually, you could usually tell when an elderly member of the community had passed away because there was an influx of really nice things. Some of my favourite things included Glo-Mesh handbags and old jewellery. I also discovered Oroton handbags there and liked them on the principle that they were vintage and looked kind of awesome (especially the bubbly sort of mesh bags).

Then things got expensive (by op shop standards), the stores were picked over and I kinda gave up on the op shopping thing. The most I had to do with op shops was taking things down there when trying to cull my clothes and accessories (especially before moving).

Fast forward to a few years later and living in Victoria, my DFO shopping partner in crime against bank accounts and I discover Brand Smart in Nunawading. They have an Oroton outlet. And excellent sales/discounts on really nice things. So since "meeting" Oroton again, I've actually only bought three handbags. All Oroton. Oddly enough, it actually saves money because I'd buy a number of handbags otherwise and cheap things add up when you get enough of them. That's how I rationalise it at least :-p

*ponders*

Okay, that's starting to sound like an ad for Oroton. But I don't mean it like that. I just really like their products, the quality and getting things on sale ;) Plus it's nice to have some little luxuries now and then in life. Just need to stop buying them for a while now, though. The lack of a job being just a touch of an issue.

Will think about all of that once I'm back from New Zealand.

Froggy!

More flowers

Magical

^ Since taking this photo in February with my IXUS60 point-and-shoot, I've taken another 2300 or so photos with it. Additional spare time seems to be a genuine inspiration for taking additional photos...

And yet, the spare time hasn't really been all that magical. I'm still dealing with insurance stuff. Well, I think I am, although I haven't heard a thing from them for quite some time. Guess I should call them. I also need to send off the complaint letter to the removal company and some removalist ombudsman thing. So I should do that too.

Plus there's been all the stuff with Centrelink.

I thought it was bad enough back in Victoria when I was there in January or whenever it was with the insanely long lines and waiting time and deeply disturbing customers (including a woman with children who tried their best to trash the joint, someone whose two little daughters were practicing French kissing on each other, a guy in very tight leopard-print flares with a fluffy red jumper, an ancient crusty man hitting on the young mother in front of him in the queue and a whole lot of other things that made me want to run out screaming).

But that's just warming you up for the main action, which is being told different, contradictory things by Centrelinke people every single time you go in. So after five attempts, I think it may be sorted out now. Possibly. But I won't hold my breath and I'm sure they'll come up with other things that I should have brought in to show them before they can process anything, although no-one ever said anything about those things in the previous visit (you know, things like the potential names of your firstborn, whether you have recurring dreams about anything, the name of the person you sat next to in Year 3 at Primary School, etc).

The highlight of the most recent Centrelink visit? Discovering I actually have a jobseeker number. A jobseeker number that was approved about two months ago. And that they've only NOW told me about. Fantastic. Great. Thanks. Yeah, don't want to rush telling people about these things in case they find that the government's jobsearch site has a job on there they could have applied for in the PAST TWO MONTHS. Y'know, they're only looking for work... It's not like it's really that important.

I do wonder if it's part of a bigger Centrelink plan to make you give up, go away and not bother them again.

Although at least the visits to the Centrelink offices have not been dull. The previous visit's entertainment was the heroin-addicted couple soap opera action, complete with skanktacular outfits and an elderly lady related to the guy who declared "It's not their f**kin' fault!" to other elderly female relatives who were disgusted with the drug addiction stuff. Some other people who were waiting laughed so hard that one of them nearly fell off their chair.

BUT...

All the dramas aside, it's been good spending time with family. And being able to relax a little after a particularly crazy past 18 months. And see people I've not seen for ages. Oh, and go to the beach on the odd occasion - I love the beach! :)

Oh, it's so very good

Crested pigeon ballet

^ And if you look closely, you can see all the spots on the sensor on the Canon 1000D. It's away being fixed at the moment (well, hopefully... Canon, please tell me you honour warranties!). Dropped it off yesterday at a collection point for it and it'll be away for a couple weeks. I miss it already.

Various things

Sunset tree

Flowers

^ Again, the new camera.

An older photo with the new camera

A random assortment

In the past month-and-a-bit, I've:

> Gotten past the first anniversary of Black Saturday. I was going to blog about it, but just couldn't find the words.

> Sold my precious little house in the Yarra Valley, which was the first home I bought and I loved it dearly. That also meant I had to leave Devil Kitty behind, mostly because he didn't actually belong to me and it'd be mean to catnap him. I miss the life I had there (and all of the gorgeous things to photograph) and actually miss being a Victorian. Am I the first former South Australian to ever say that??

> Moved to NSW.

> Theeeeeeen... One working day before settlement and when I was in NSW already, the people had complaints about the place they wanted sorted out. These complaints included there being rubbish. In the rubbish bins. I know! It's a total scandal! Rubbish in a bin! Absolutely the end of the world! Thankfully managed to get a garden guy to go in and fix some bits up on the morning of settlement. He did an excellent job and everything sorted itself out. But really, rubbish. Bins. HA!

> Had to wrangle with insurance due to the removal company damaging almost every item of furniture. And it's still going on, so hopefully an end will come to that whole saga soon (in a satisfactory way!). I might post the letter I'm going to send the removal company on here once things are sorted out.

> Been to the beach more times in the past month than I had in the past seven years or so. It's been a good tonic after all of the stuff relating to my ex-work (and I figure ex-work is a good name for a former workplace - it's like an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend or whatever).

> Had a barrage of medical tests, all of which turned out okay. Apart from having slightly low B12 levels, which means the doctor has prescribed an increase in dairy product consumption. What's not to love about that! :D

> Caught up with friends I haven't seen for a while. It's been nice.

> Still not totally fixed the problem with the new camera of awesomeness. Must work on that soon, though, because my little point-and-shoot Canon IXUS60 is genuinely dying.

> Seen a train derailment. Thankfully only a coal train, rather than a passenger one! Was still a bit of a surprise, though.

Flagging

Jelly

Rockpools

Caves Beach