365postcards

I am starting a new project called 365postcards. It basically involves me sending a postcard each and every day for 365 days. If you want to get involved and receive your very own postcard, check out the details here

The Leaning Tower of Gingin

Some days when you head is smashed full of the worries and busyness of city life, the only cure is a solo drive, with road tunes blaring through the speakers. I had no idea where I was headed as my car ate up the kilometres of bitumen, but the open spaces chilled me out and the tunes made me smile.

An hour into my drive to nowhere I came across a most peculiar and unexpected sign. Did that sign say Einstein? Did I just see the word Gravity? I was confused as the only other signs I had encountered were either noting the distances to various destinations or advertising the local tucker at the petrol stations.

As I continued to ponder, several kilometres down the road I passed the same sign and I now knew my destination. The gravity Centre and the Leaning Tower of Gingin.

Out in the middle of nowhere yet only about an hours drive north of Perth was a science centre set up to delight those visiting with many different scientific theories. Now since I am not much of a science buff, I will not bore you with the details of each of the displays but instead will just say it was great fun and you should check out their website.

Do it. It involves throwing water balloons off giant towers.

www.gravitycentre.com.au
Check the rest of the photos out HERE

Dizzy Lamb Park

Like me, many kids who grew up in Perth would find in the darkest recesses of the closets, along with boxes of mismatched lego and Care Bears, a small plush lamb with crazy looking eyes. For the girls, a red ribbon would be perched between it's lamb ears and the boys would have a more manly version sans ribbon. Mine was uninventively called Lamby and contained, within it's furry body, fond memories of a theme park called Dizzy Lamb Park. Legend tells us that the original owners father couldn't pronounce Disneyland correctly, instead saying Dizzy Lamb. So when the time came for the family to open their own mini Australian version of Disneyland, on a sprawling property in the upper stretches of Waneroo Road, the first name that popped into their heads was, of course, Dizzy Lamb Park.

I was very young, say 4 or 5 when I last visited the park, so the extent of my memories of the place is quite limited. So I was surprised when, 21 years later, driving around the perimeter of the now run down park, I found myself recognising things and getting childishly excited. The Statue of Liberty still rose out of the murky looking lake, teeming with giant fish. The old stone benches still sat, now surrounded by bush and the castle turrets peeked over the tops of the trees. A ghostly go-kart track girt by old Streets Cornetto advertising signs graced a large corner of the park and creepy looking play equipment creaked rustily in the wind.

Although it hasn't been running as a theme park for many years now, it has now been taken over by paintballing and laser skirmish company who use the left over castle and theme park infrastructure as a unique paintballing arena. They were kind enough to let us walk around and take some shots of what was left over from the memories stored within my stuffed plush lamb.

Remember this place and want to check it out? Why not go paintballing! Check out their website here. www.castleinvasion.com.au

The Mysterious Mansion

Turn off the highway , avoid the potholes as the road gets narrower and the trees more sparse and just before you hit the dirt corridor that abruptly ends the road you will find The Mysterious Mansion. A house so out of place in it's setting and unknown to even those long time local residents. A sprawling mansion, sans light fixtures and window frames, stands solidly, it's bright coloured walls clashing with the dry grass. Abandoned. Burnt. Each room revealing more, yet adding to the intrigue.

Why did the people living here have to leave?

How long ago was it?

And more importantly, how on earth did those who roamed it's empty bowels with spray cans in their hands ever manage to get the hot water system off the roof?? :)

Even though I am yet to solve the puzzle, I am happy to roam and discover some of the amazing graffiti art that graces it's walls.

Check out the rest of the series HERE

Abandoned Ascot.

I remember when I was a child the coming of Summer meant one thing. Water playgrounds. Slides combined with water. What more could a child want? Oh yeah, icecreams. They had those too. And mini golf.

Alas, when the water gets taken out of a water playground it doesn't just become a playground, it becomes a creepy overgrown patch strewn with old plastic floaties and beer bottles. Not good for the kiddies, but great for those exploring with cameras.

Passion - Assignment 4

Today I took a major step towards my passion. The last few days have been a manic see-saw ride, the logical and responsible side of me hollering things like "financial security" and "stick to what you know", the other side of me, desperate to work towards a future that i don't abhor, whispering comforting notions like that a life lived through my passions would leave me far more fulfilled than one lived purely for financial gain.

So today I quit my job that I hate and am hoping to move into a job that is more closely related to the things I love most. Writing and photography. Working full time in a job that doesn't delight or challenge you is a tiring experience. Every day I spent there, I wrote less and took less photos. I was tired. I was grumpy. And I was surrounded by other tired, grumpy people. I feel my time at uni has enabled me to explore further the things I love and given me the courage to follow my dreams.

So today was my follow your passion day. I read, alot. I wrote. I went through a bundle of photos I had taken over the weekend and edited them. I felt inspired. This is how I want to spend my days......






This blog is part of a competition, if you liked it please take a moment to vote for me here.

Wounds to the Face - NOW SHOWING AT MURDOCH!

I am a fan of story telling in all it’s formats. Books, film, theatre, even music and art. The ability to lose one’s self in someone else's story has always delighted me. I remember when I was 10, reading Tomorrow When The War Began for the first time and after many hours fascinated by the unfolding saga I took a break to make myself a sandwich. As I rummaged through the cupboards trying to find the peanut butter, I began to rush and worry that I would miss the next part of the story. I had created such a visual world in my head, each of the characters sketched with such clarity in my mind that I could recall their faces as easily as my own, that for a brief moment I had forgotten that this story was unravelling in a book, but instead thought I was watching it on TV. My rushing, I realised, was my attempt at getting the sandwich made before the ad break was over and the story began again. Although it was only for a moment, and I subsequently stopped slapping the peanut butter on the bread with such wild abandon, that has always stuck with me. That ability to put your personal reality aside for a moment and steep yourself in someone else reality is a deeply exciting and rewarding experience. Whether we do it purely for entertainment and relaxation, or to discover and explore aspects of humanity that we don’t have personal experience of, everyone loves to indulge. So when the opportunity to see Wounds to the Face, an intriguing performance being put on by students at Murdoch University came up, I jumped at the chance.

I knew nothing about what the performance was about, my cursory research not enlightening me much, so upon arriving at the Nexus Theatre I was a clean slate, no pre conceived ideas dirtying my mind. The posters didn’t illuminate me much, but served only to intrigue me further. AH HA! They have programs! Surely that will tell me everything I need! Alas, apart from showing me the faces of the many students involved in the performance, it still didn’t give me much of an idea what I was in for, but the accordion music that jolted out of the speakers made me smile (I have always had a strange attraction to accordions) and for me that was enough to know I was in for a treat.

Upon entering we were met with an assortment of characters littering the stage, some even roaming the aisles where we sat. All in their own worlds, they mostly ignored eachother, some muttering to themselves, other merely staring. The assortment of characters was compelling, the whispers of the crowd as we settled down could be heard, trying to figure out the connection all these figures had to each other. We laughed as scantily clad ladies winked at us and showed us a little leg. The lady next to me jumped slightly as a small woman at the back screamed loudly whilst grasping a small mirror. In the centre a man stood, unmoving, his face covered completely in bandages. As the crowd settled in and the whispers subsided all but one of the characters left the stage and the story telling began, the lone figure, her back to the audience, face reflected three fold in the mirrors in front of her started our journey.

For the next hour and a half we were treated to an absorbing insight into the relationships that we have with our faces. Something that most of us wouldn’t think about, but when faced with it, it’s fascinating. The story was wound together through many small interactions between the characters, each raising new questions. Would I still be me if I had a different face? Is changing our appearance through surgery the right thing to do? Why do we place so much of who we are into our appearance? I am sure each person in the audience grasped slightly different meanings of the performance, but I think that’s where it’s really successful. Along with the beautifully rhythmical script and impeccable performances the play was open for interpretation, every person was able to leave having felt they explored a different reality from their own.

The play is still running at the Nexus Theatre on the South Street campus of Murdoch University until the 7th November and I highly recommend it to others to check out. If you are interested in going and supporting some of your fellow uni students check out the following link Wounds to the Face

This blog is part of a competition, if you liked it, please take a minute out of your day to vote for me here