Life Cycles - A stickybeak into coffee powered conversations
A macchiato and a flat white please … just going around the block … managed to break my arm … you do not have any prospects … chamois cream on my face … Clydesdale cyclist … I had ridden it up the aisle of the church … grinding sound as the car was blown into the brickwork … looking like 'Solo Man' … you just nail that next corner … a milk crate on the front of my BMX … that is why my wife has just given up complaining …
We have all sat in a cafe and after overhearing a piece of an adjacent conversation, found ourselves discreetly eavesdropping to find out more. Written for Pedal Power, Life Cycles is a series of ten conversations mostly held in Canberra cafes. Our guests discuss a variety of subjects as diverse as bonsai, opera, medicine, girlfriends, horses, cyclones, sculpture and their common link - cycling. So grab a coffee and have a stickybeak into the conversation at the next table with: Libby Adamson (Veterinarian), Mark Carmody (Weather Man and Gardener), Vida Viliunas (Anaesthetist) and Rod Katz (Transport Policy Consultant), Tony Gill (Public Servant), Angela Giblin (Opera Singer), Dierdre Pearce (Scientist and Visual Artist), Dorrie Chamberlain (Special Education Teacher), Kevin Woods (Orthopaedic Surgeon), Geoff Hyde (Police Officer) and Andrew Turnbull (Accountant).
Click to download the Life Cycles booklet (1.7MB PDF)
Cycling Around Australia
Towards the end of 2007 Denise and I made the decision to start managing our projects so that we could spend 2009 away from the office.
Having made this decision, we started to think of all the things we would like to do. In mid 2008 after completing a two-week bicycle ride through the Snowy Mountains we came up with the idea to cycle around Australia.
Originally we planned to take 10 months to complete the journey but along the way we decided to stretch it out to 12 months so that we could see and experience as much as possible. The ride was unsupported with us carrying everything we needed on our bikes and BOB trailers.
Traveling in an anticlockwise direction around Australia, we visited each of the state and territory capital cities of Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney and Canberra.
For both Denise and I the 12 months away was extremely enjoyable. There were some hard days and a few low points along the way. Sometimes we found the combination of distances and head winds overwhelming and rather than being a physical challenge the journey became one requiring a strong mental will, but for the most part our time away was one big high.
Sharing Their Dreams
The Country Education Foundation of Australia is a rural based not for profit organisation that fosters educational and career opportunities for school leavers in rural Australia. The Foundation has 17 regional foundations operating in four states and since its inception has assisted over 700 school leavers start a career or further their studies. Sharing Their Dreams is a full colour booklet and Audio CD that tells the Foundation's story and profiles 5 very enthusiastic young Australians who have been assisted by the Foundation.
The task of writing and recording Sharing Their Dreams saw us driving 2125 km, visiting the New South Wales towns of Cowra, Boorowa, Murrumbateman, Yass, Harden, Murrumburrah, Cooma and Bombala. I set out to collect three sets of photographs. The first set was of the people involved in Sharing Their Dreams and the second was a set that could be used as design elements to illustrate the booklet. I also took the opportunity to slow down and observe my surroundings and collect a third set of photographs that personally interested me. The following road trip album shows a small selection of those images. A selection of images from this album was published in Desktop Magazine, Issue 225, March 2007, pp 51 - 55.
Click to download the Sharing Their Dreams Booklet (40 pages 6.0MB PDF)
Click to download the Sharing Their Dreams road trip album (2.9MB PDF)
2006 National Sheep Dog Trial Championships
Sheep dogs play an important role in rural Australia. The dogs and their owners form a unique bond, working together to muster the sheep in their care. The first sheep dog trials in Australia were held sometime in the latter half of the 19th century. The National Sheep Dog Trial Championships which started in Canberra in 1942, are now the longest running sheep dog trials in Australia. I visited the 'Nationals' for two days to get a first hand glimpse of what sheep dog trialing is all about.
Click to download the National Sheep Dog Trial story (1.3MB PDF)
