Two pics taken from Lesmurdie Falls at the weekend

I took a few and as you see I need to improve with exposure and tint. My camera has the 'Happy Birthday' frame function as pictured and a couple of other frame options.

The best most clear pic of the day was of two random houses where the sky colour and all was awesome and vivid. The angle was different but I feel silly just posting pics of random houses.

Last week I attended another Camera Club workshop. The basis of the evening was being shown the basics of 'Light Room 3'. It's an advanced photo editing programme one can buy. We were shown how an average shot with low exposure was transformed into a $1000 winning shot! Absolutely amazing! Parts of pics can be deleted. Any parts of pics can be lit up or down, exposure can be changed, cropping can be done amongst lots more technical stuff. We were informed the 'Light Room 3' program costs just short of $400 unless we can give true strict evidence we are students and unemployed I gather. Photoshop costs about $1200 I believe. I was advised Light Room 3 would prob be the best investment if I was to buy one product to enhance photos!

Anyway I have been playing and editing photos I've been taking on 'Windows Live Pictures' which came installed in this laptop. It's really basic but I can crop, straighten horizons, remove small blemishes or small unwanted bits of photos, change the exposure and tint. So am starting to learn new stuff :-)

A few things about me........to any new followers!

G'day,

I have the feeling I may have a few new people who may glance at this blog from time to time about the place. This includes NZ relatives. I just therefore thought I'd share a little more current but general info about me. Here goes with a few basics.

Current age: 31

Eye colour: Hazel

Birth Town: Invercargill, NZ, (Grew up in Southland with 3.5 years of my childhood in Otago)

Current Home: Lesmurdie, Perth Hills, WA. I live with my boyfriend in his home.

Employment: Cafe/catering/bakery full time employee at one of the leading franchise chains within this field in Perth ;-)

Big Personal Aspiration: To visit different countries and new regions and undertake a mix of active adrenalin rush type of activities along with some serious chillout type of activities with some awesome photos and albums to document these experiences over the next few years!

For example I love completing half marathons and gruelling triathlons or awesome long hard hikes, bikerides, tough trips etc. The harder the challenge and the tougher the conditions are enroute........the bigger the end accomplishment feels, particularly if I learnt new stuff during the activity or preparation! And if I hated a tough trip/activity while I did it..........once it's done I love the thought of having have completed it! In saying all this I love my wine, fresh food, spas, socialising, sleeping and even massage etc as a real treat to look forward to after achieving the more gruelling stuff!

I'm not sure if I could be like my best mate who recently summitted Mt Kilamanjaro but after hitting the summit after a few hard days, it was -15 degrees celcius up the top which isn't the type of weather where one can sit down, relax and enjoy the view sipping a quality wine! My hat goes off to her big time though and I'm sure there's time for relaxing when back at base!

My Biggest Feelings of Accomplishment: It's hard to come up with one or even a handful when thinking about it. Things like passing school, passing tertiary, getting a job in Perth, - for me getting my practical drivers licence actually rates pretty high, (cause I'm a nervous driver)! Completing Outward Bound in NZ, any new fitness and race PBs, learning of new skills and knowledge and reaching small financial targets along with completing any tasks which are of real help or benefit to others rate right up there. I'm glad I even made a speech at Granny's funeral last year as if I didn't, - I'd regret it now.

Active Hobbies: beginner level triathlons, kayaking, hiking, outdoor recreation activities, * Would like to get into playing netball again and enjoyed skiing when I tried it, Dancing if I ever go clubbing!

Relaxing Hobbies: photography, making photo albums, cooking new dishes and presenting them well, weeding gardens with ipod on, blog surfing, facebook surfing, wine tasting and drinking and learning about it, watching documentaries, indulging in cleansing, moisturising, make up and skincare general regimes, socialising over coffee or wine or even water. One day would like to join a beginners painting class using oil or acrylic paints as I am inspired by Grandma who is very skilled at professional painting of pictures and photos amongst lots else!

Favourite colour: aqua Blue or turquoise. I love all those types of blue shades however I like most colours!

Favourite food: Am big on all fresh veg, fruit, lean seafood, chicken, lean meat, oats, natural museli, avocado, natural yoghurt, freshly squeezed lemons. However if I get into the mode of the less than healthy stuff I'd have to say hot caramel sauce, rich chocolate or caramel flavoured gelato, all chocolate and choc flavoured stuff in general, russian crystallized fudge and tasty hard cheese, or seafood or vegetarian gourmet pizza.

Fav drink: Number one is chilled water........followed equal by NZ Sauv Blanc and some dry sparkling wines with third place going to a well made skinny flat white coffee! Have to say the temptation for wine would mostly trumps water though!

Fave music: Anything lively with a great beat!

Countries or notable places visited: NZ, (most of South Island, limited North Island travel), Australia, (have seen a good bit but still have lots more to see), Fiji, main island Tahiti, Nassau in Bahamas, LA airport, Orlando in Florida, A pub in a city in Texas for a few hours cause of an unexpected plane delay.

So that's a bit about me, till next time :-)

New Slow Cooker!!!

This is my new slow cooker in which I received for my birthday from my BF! It's a Sunbeam 5.5L and I've already cooked in it 3 times! Had a delicious chicken breast, potato, sweet potato, carrot, onion, garlic, rosemary sprig, mushroom dish tonight cooked with a can of whole peeled tomatoes! Served it with steamed spinach, cherry tomatoes, some avocado and did up some basmati as well and evidence of the food porn is on FB. However there are prob enough carbs in the dish to do without the rice! Think I may have some fun with this one!

Quick News Snippets

Firstly I have paid a 6 month membership of $15 to join a Camera Club! They meet up at 7.30pm the last Wednesday of every month and sometimes once or twice during the month as well. I think the idea is to turn up when able. So this week will be my first visit. They run competitions, give some direction on skill and have links and compete with other camera clubs overseas. The aim is to go, exhibit other peoples pics, enter any conversations if I can and see if I can meet some new great people and learn new skills over time. If I like it I will join up again next year of course. Am also looking at doing the online diploma of Photography. I have lots to learn!

Next running event is 'City to Surf' 12km run on Sunday 28 August.
Then over this summer I intend to do at least 3 triathlons with at least 1 being the full sprint distance of 750m swim, 20km ride, 5km run.

I've just started gearing up my training again to consist of for next few weeks:
Mon, - at least 30 mins on turbo going hard enough to get good sweat up.
Tue, - 15 min resistance training, (ideally am). 5-6km run after work pushing reasonably fast.
Wed, - 9.6km 'Bridges' Run one lap.
Thur, - Swim of at least 1.5km focusing on technique then speed.
Fri, - Day off
Sat, - 15 min resistance training again with body weight, 1.5km swim focusing on technique then speed.
Sun, - Hills run at least one 9.1km lap but working toward increasing this overtime to a 20km run.

Eventually may drop one run for a bike ride but at my current status am happy with this training plan.

A Few Tidbits toward end of holiday.....

Pic of the camera is my newbie, - birthday pressie to myself. I bought it at Christchurch airport Duty Free for on special for AU $480. I mentioned it was my birthday and 'ummed and arred' about the price so the sales chick offered to throw in a new 4G memory card for free. It was this, - or an entry level SLR that I was considering but for now went with this one!

The painting is one Grandma did and it sits in her lounge on the wall and I think it's amazing! She is a very talented at painting and does lots of many different arts and crafts!

The big platter is the work of my younger sis, - in preparation for Mum and Dad's Ruby Wedding anniversary dinner! I just took the photo!

I decided on some coffee and chai latte 'porn'. Younger sis and I are at a yummy cafe in Queenstown for brekkie, (and I'm awaiting my brekkie)!

Pic of me here is the morning of my 31st birthday, - at my Aunty and Uncle's home near Christchurch. This is not long before leaving to fly back to Perth. I took this pic.

The family went out to tea one night, - umm I indeed have dessert here in front of me as my older sis said she would like a taste. Tia Maria dessert infact with champs of course!

This is younger sis driving me up to Queenstown in her and her hubby's ute not long after the sun came up for the day! We are between localities of Edendale and Mataura I think.

Kayaking Day departing from Shute Harbour!

Today I did a half day or 6km kayak all up. We had another awesome lot of guides and great group of people. Most people came on the trip with mates or partners so they were paired up. With coming alone and there were an odd number in the group meant I was lucky enough to get a single kayak so I could do everything myself which I loved! We kayaked above some reefs, looked for turtles. At the half way point we arrived at a rock, (as it was too small to be named an island). We could go for a swim, snorkel or climb up the rock. I did the rock climbing and swimming. It was a magical day, awesome weather and calm waters.

Apologies for the pic in the red top. That was a few days prior at my hotel on the Gold Coast and it was accidentally uploaded and I can't get rid of it!

Jetskiing day!

These pics are from our day jetskiing. A group of us were picked up in a bus from Airlie township as we were all staying there. We were taken to a secluded bay about a 40 min drive from Airlie township. All people on this tour were awesomely friendly. That included the other travellers, driver and guides! First part of the tour was a delicous lunch at Monte's bar. Then time to get into wetsuits, onto the jetskis, then out for a 3-4 hour trip. It was magical. I was paired up with my Uncle and we took turns at driving. (It was my first time on a jetski and it took me a while to work up courage to give it some speed!) I saw a crocodile and just hoped that wasn't gonna be the time I tipped it over! Luckily I was fine!

As for pics one is back of the bus with the other travellers, (great looking biceps there Daz!) There are a couple of me with the pink bikini top, one of my sis and me, another of Daz, (my sis's hubby) and her on a jetski. The other pic is looking into Monte's bar/restaurant.

There are a couple of pics of me on jetski out in middle of Whitsundays! The other is my Uncle and I with a beer at Monte's bar after the jetskiing. Bummer pics uploaded in the wrong order.

Pip :-)