Wildflowers.

I remember being particularly proud of these photos, taken in 1999 in Western Australia, and I think they've stood the test of time. If anyone can help me identify them, that would be lovely! The only one I remember is the enamel orchid, the shiny bright purple one.

1st August, 1999.

Yesterday, I forgot to write so I'm doing it now. Yesterday, Mum, Dad, Toby and I went to François Péron National Park. David stayed at caravan cos he was "too tired" (hah!) We had lunch looking over the Indian Ocean... the contrast between the red sand and the blue sea was beautiful...

At the Francois Peron Homestead, there was a very hot hot tub, and Mum and Toby went in it, they said it was lovely!!

25th July, 1999.

Today we went to an old town near Greenough. It was very interesting. There was churches and a court house. Toby especially liked the courthouse. It was hot and humid today. We also went to Ellendale Pool, it was nice but a bit crowded. It would be nice to swim in on a hot day. There was a playground.

We went to Lucy's Beach , there was a funny looking scarecrow there. I took some photos of it and the waves 'exploding' through the rocks.

15th July, 1999.

Yesterday, we left the caravan at Cocklebiddy and we went to the Eyre Bird Observatory.  It is looked after by some people called Alex and Rob.  Alex took me and mum and David and Toby for a walk down to the beach for a walk, and we found a Dolphin backbone.  Mum and I went on the rope walk.  Mum and Toby went on a long walk this morning.  There are some swallows in the toilet.

13th July, 1999.

13th July 1999.

We're staying in a roadhouse called Cocklebiddy. We went to the old Eucla telegraph station. There was a house that was nearly burried in sand. There was a huge sand mountin that Toby and David slid down. I saw 3 emus and lots of cockatoos. Tomorrow we are going to the Eyre Bird Observatory. I have to write more about Eucla... the whole town was burried in the sand and the sand dunes were very big. At a place we stopped there was a camel and a emu and a pig.

Vintage.

Let's take a trip back in time.

It was 1999, I was 14, and my family were travelling around Western Australia in a caravan.

I'm going to be posting photos that I took back then, accompanied by excerpts from the diary I kept.

The photos are of varying quality - taken on slide film 10 years ago, they've deteriorated somewhat, but that's OK!  It just makes it more interesting!

Enjoy!  xxx

Torquay.

We went to the beach!

Pentax memories.

I was inspired this morning by Anna to share with you some old photos, taken with my beloved Pentax K-1000 camera.  It was the first camera I ever learnt to use, and originally belonged to my father, but he passed it down to me a couple of years ago.



I don't use it as often as I would like, because of the cost of getting film developed in a shop, but as soon as I'm settled in my new city and have some spare time and spare money, I'm going to invest in some basic darkroom equipment so I can develop my own black and white negatives at home.



These pictures are old, taken over the summer of 2007/08, (and was that really two years ago??) and I only got them developed fairly recently, so seeing them brought back memories of living in that house, and being in love with that guy, and that time we all went to the beach and saw a starfish!  Photos are like that, though, right?



Memories.

Goodbyes.

Over the past few days I've been gradually bidding my friends farewell, and last night I caught up with Jhana for beer and pizza.  A lovely night, but all the beer made it difficult to get up at 4.30am for work today!

Phở.

My dear friend Thao made me phở. The other day she presented me with a phở pack, with broth, raw sliced beef, rice noodles, bean shoots, herbs, chilli, spring onion, lime, soy sauce and instructions.



So today, I simmered the broth, dropped in the beef and noodles, then served it with all the garnishes.



Delicious, and just what I needed on this hot day!

With friends like Thao here in Melbourne, I'm seriously reconsidering my impending interstate move...