Market and Mountain

At the Capital Region Farmers' Market in Canberra I was debating whith myself whether 10am was too early for a hot spiced cider, when they sold out - so obviously not, then!

After the morning walking around the markets, we walked up Black Mountain, dominated by the Tower. It was a beautiful winter's day and the birds were squawking in the trees beneath the deep blue sky.

The park is full of scribbly gum trees, and these marks on the bark are made by the larvae of the scribbly gum moth - they seem somewhat confused about their direction in life.

Sculptures by the Lake

We were riding around Lake Burley Griffin when we came across this sculpture of the Angel of the North by Antony Gormley. It is a life-size maquette from 1996 and number four of five. It was kind of comforting to see it down here. 


The Angel of the North (life-size maquette) by Antony Gormley

As above, with Him Outdoors

This work is called Witness by Dadang Christanto and was commissioned by the ANU in 2004. The artist has nailed sculptured sheets of aluminium to a dead tree in the grounds of the Australian National University. The shapes are meant to represent birds clustering on the branches,and in their abstract forms they resemble aboriginal depictions.

They shine and clatter in the breeze and the sun/showers of winter, paradoxically like a scarecrow, but I noticed a couple of magpies who weren't to be intimidated perching alongside their gleaming counterparts!



Witness by Dadang Christanto



Spot the imposters

Goorooyaroo

Goorooyaroo Nature Reserve is five minutes drive from our house. So we went for a walk and I continued to be captivated by the bouncing locals.



Crimson rosella

In-flight entertainment

Mother and child

Mt Ainslie

At the weekend we went for a walk up Mt Ainslie; a hill on the edge of Canberra. Clearly I will never be a 'fair dinkum' Aussie as I thnk these Eastern Grey Kangaroos are really cute and I have no desire to kill them or think they are vermin. They, in turn, are quite happy to watch us walk by.

I think this creature is pretty cute too!

The view of Canberra from Mt Ainslie

Canberra CBD

Square Rock

A walk in Namadgi National Park to Square Rock. It's not overtly square, but it is a big rock, with commanding views. So here are some photos of it.

The bushfires of 2003 caused devastation to the ACT's forests, pastures and nature parks - you can see the blackened trees in these pictures; scary stuff.

Dodgy rock 'art'

Being observed by the locals

Helm Wines

One of our recent weekend trips was out to Murumbateman, Yass and the regional wineries. We had tastings and food at a couple, but had to share these photos of Helm Wines. Is this the best use off an old school building ever? Between being a school and a winery, it was home to the temperance society. This story just gets better and better... and the wine's not bad either.

Cat Naps

Well, he hasn't featured for a while, so I guess it's time for Chester! Here he is 'relaxing' in his new environment. And before you ask, yes, we did buy the sheets specifically to match his colouring.