Oh Canada...

We recently spent two weeks in Canada. Aside from coming down with two separate gastro-style illnesses while there and wasting 3 of my 14 days being bedridden, it was still a fun trip.

We stayed with the delightful Newluks clan, where my cousin's 21-month-old daughter promptly fell in love with my husband, and he earned the new nickname of 'Tinton', as she called him. Also, I experienced what -30 degrees celsius feels like. The answer, for those who don't know, is 'face-meltingly cold.'

Here are some of the highlights of our trip, in words and pictures.

Adelaide, aged 21 months

These signs sort of speak for themselves, really. In Dawson City, 530km north of the capital city Whitehorse

Aurora borealis activity seen outside of Dawson

Faux stone edifice, actually made of wood. Dawson City (sorry, don't know how to rotate the image!)

What you wear when you go out aurora-watching at midnight in -26 degrees: from top to toe - 2 pairs socks, ugg boots, overboots. Thermal long-johns and ski pants. Two thermals, a possum-fur-and-silk cardigan, and a down jacket. A scarf and a facewarmer. Earwarmers, a beanie, and the hood of said down jacket. Thermal gloves and down mitts. Also, don't forget the chemical hand-warmers, which you see me holding there!

 

 

 

 

Pretty sure this would look better if it was oriented properly, but I'm gonna include it anyway!

Winter wonderland!

Clinton trying snowshoeing, in a pair of snowshoes that he nicked from the local historical society (not really, but they ARE old school!)

View of Fish Lake. What you can't tell from this photo is how numb my toes were, and how freaking cold the wind above the tree-line was!

-30 degrees celsius! It's probably worth pointing out here that the day I left Perth it was 35 degrees.

And this is what -30 looks like if you go out in it!

Hoar frost on the Yukon River

Moose skull

It's a snowflake!

C and I under an aurora sky - absolutely magic!

Twenty years in the planning...

Aurora borealis - our first encounter above the frozen waters of the Yukon River in Dawson City. To the naked eye it looked like a white streak of cloud, but showed up with colours on a long exposure photo (around 25 seconds, hence the light bleed from the town's lights)

Ever since I first heard of the Northern Lights (probably as a kid watching the TV show Northern Exposure) I have wanted to see them. In January of the year 2000, a group of friends and I went to the Sydney Observatory for a night-time viewing to celebrate a friend's birthday. I mentioned to one of the astronomers that I wanted to see the aurora borealis, and he said that 2012 was going to be the year - that the activity goes in 12-year cycles, and that the next peak period was 2012.

Ever since then, I have had 'Northern Lights 2012' as a sort of mantra in my mind. When I ended up in Canada in 2011 for my cousin's wedding I thought it would be unlikely that I'd be able to make the trip again so soon. However, thanks to Air Canada providing me with no food on the London-Vancouver flight on that trip, my subsequent email of complaint, and their conciliatory offer of a 15% discount on any return fare, it was able to become a reality this (northern) spring, in time to catch the peak period of the cycle.

Our second encounter, outside Dawson City and away from the lights of town. A bit more colour visible to the naked eye, though still more impressive captured on a long exposure photograph (this one around 15 seconds)

I have just returned from 2 weeks in the Yukon, where I was able to see the northern lights on 3 occasions, the final one truly spectacular, and everything I could have dreamed of. It was freaking amazing!

I hardly know what to do with myself now that I have achieved this adult-lifelong goal!

The spectacular display we saw, this time outside of Whitehorse. The green was visible to the naked eye, and they rippled and danced in the most incredible way! Here I was shooting at around 5-8 second exposures.

I made this

It was something I'd been aiming for since I started working at the Prison, and the process has been in train for a year. It took me eight months of solid work; developing guidelines, battling delays, recruiting volunteer staff, and overcoming unceasing 'technical difficulties', but finally, FINALLY I have managed to get the Freo Prison Collection into the digital age, aka the 21st century.

While I can't be blamed for the design or the interface, I still feel an incredible sense of achievement in getting the first 750-odd items from the Collection, as well as related Subject records, online.

You can search the Collection here.

This is the first major thing I have achieved since my Dad died, and the fact that he's not here for me to share it with him has made me feel his loss more keenly in recent days. I suppose it's not that odd when you think about it.

It has been nine months since he died. I'm sure he would have been proud, and I know he would have enjoyed browsing through the objects and reading the background info. I really, really wish he could have lived to see it.

Things I like about Perth

In the spirit of the new year, and keeping shit POSITIVE, I'd like to tell you about some of the stuff that I actually like about where I live now:

1. The firetrucks are red. Which is as things should be, only in Canberra they were yellow. Which is an abomination.

2. The dog beaches. They have awesome dog beaches here - not just the piece-of-crap seaweed-infested, goes-under-water-at-high-tide beaches that no-one else wants to swim at, but actual decent beaches where you can enjoy a paddle with your pooch. Win!

3. Street signage. At pretty much all intersections of any consequence there are signs before you reach them, telling you what street is coming up next. Genius for those who are new in town and trying to navigate their way around without a GPS. Yep, that's me - keeping it old skool and using a map!

4. Winter. It's great here in winter - it gets cold enough overnight to feel like you've had a change in season, but it's not so cold that you can't bring yourself to leave the house. And the days are glorious, because sometimes they are rainy and cosy, and other times they are sunny and warm. Also, the scraping of the ice off the windscreens in the mornings only happens occasionally.

Mmmm, winter. It's still a long way off, but I'm dreaming of it now. Especially since it's forecast to be 41 degrees for the next 3 days in a row, argh! But you know, staying positive, so better sign off there!

2 years ago...

This time two years ago I made a short trip to WA because one of my best friends was here. She'd just had a baby, and it was her birthday, so I thought it would be great to visit her.

I stayed at a friend of my Mum's place in South Fremantle and enjoyed walking to the beach and the cafes every day. Basically, it was an awesome little holiday, and made me go "I want to move to Fremantle!" There was Clancy's Fish Pub, there was Little Creatures Brewery, there was the beach. I loved it!

The next month I saw a job being advertised at Fremantle Prison, which I'd visited while I was over. I applied. I got it. It felt like fate.

Geez that seems like such a long time ago, but also like hardly any time at all.

Life is weird like that!

A strange and unusual feeling

Yesterday evening, as I was driving to derby training, I felt a strange and unusual feeling come across me. I felt... happy. And hopeful.

I was actually looking forward to derby training (it's been ages since I've felt that way - even though I mostly enjoyed training once I was there I usually spent most of the day not feeling like going), and, even more shocking, I felt hopeful about my future at my job.

It felt weird. And I was scared to let myself feel it, coz what if everything turns to shit and I go back to being unhappy again?

I guess if that happens then it's good to have had this period of hope. Better to anticipate good things and occasionally be disapointed than to anticipate bad things, and, even if they never show up, feel scared of hope for the rest of my life!

Roller Derby: The return!

After almost 5 months off the flat track I have returned to derby training with the new year. I was really hesitant about this, knowing I was going to be starting my PhD, and recalling the terrible commute, which, when you add it to the training timetable, means I'm not eating dinner until 10:30pm two nights a week. But in spite of all this I went back for the first training session of the year last week, and - surprise, surprise! - I enjoyed it.

I have to pass my Level 4 test (again!), which is scheduled for the end of the month. PRD have rolled into the new year with two sessions with Texas skater Smarty Pants, which has been a great opportunity for me to start over with the basics - crossovers, stops, etc. A great way to re-enter the sport, and I feel that the time off means perhaps I am a bit more of a blank canvas, and can take on board new techniques. I haven't gotten back into proper scrimmage yet, though the couple of scrimmage-based drills I've engaged in have felt so chaotic! Reminds me once again of the first time we scrimmaged, when it felt like I had NO IDEA of what was going on and I imagined I was completely all over the place. I also have to learn the new rule set, which has some pretty big changes, especially applying to penalties.

I'm honestly not sure what this year holds for me in terms of derby. I think last year the big mistake I made was placing too much emphasis on it, as an alternative avenue of satisfaction to work. Of course I didn't stop dedicating myself to my job, despite saying that I was going to (ha!), and what with a couple of injuries, derby did not provide the fulfillment I had hoped it would. I didn't have a lot in me last year, but hopefully this year will be different. At least, I'm doing everything in my power to make it so!