Days 142 - 144, 21 - 23 May 2012: Canberra

Hello!

I traveled to Canberra for work this week. It was a bit chilly down there. I survived. Lucky I own a woolen overcoat.

On my flight down, I saw this:

It was late afternoon. The clouds were very interesting for the whole trip. I loved these wispy ones. This was getting close to Canberra and I was about to switch my phone off again.

Driving from the airport to my hotel, I saw this:

It was such a pretty sunset. When we drove past the Australian War Memorial, I saw about 10 photographers lined up on the steps with their cameras looking back towards Parliament House. They would have got some awesome shots this evening, the light was magical.

Day 142, 21 May 2012 - Where I stand
Where I stood was in my hotel room, out of my shoes, and about to unpack my bag.

Day 143, 22 May, the theme was PINK. There wasn't any pink to be found this day. I was in a work conference all day and at a work dinner all night.  What I did find was FROST, on the car, in the morning.

That slowed us down getting out of the carpark on our way to breakfast. :-) It was about 2 degrees celcius (35F) by 8am.

Day 144, 23 May 2012 - Technology
Before I get to my technology shot, here is a little view of Civic in Canberra.

I love these buildings. They have such straight lines and feel so ultra-modern, stark almost. But the streets are clean and quiet, and there are trees. In summer they have gorgeous flower pots hanging along the street.

Most of the trees had lost most of their leaves already. Winter is only a few days away!

And here is my technology photo, at the airport on my way home.

The tarmac. Oh, the sunset was gorgeous. I was itching to get outside and check it out, but I would have missed my plane!

And here is a tiny taste of the awesome sunset. Unedited pic from my iPhone.

Those two little specks of light are the moon (above) and Venus. Pretty hard to capture on an iPhone, and my camera couldn't cope with the reflections on the plane window. I had my phone pressed against the window to get this one. That line at the bottom of the picture is the plane engine.

I hope you enjoyed my little work trip.

:-)
Michelle

Day 44 to 46 - 13 to 15 February - Canberra

Hello!

I had to travel for work this week. I went to Canberra. I didn't take my camera, so I was reduced to using my iPhone as my photographic tool.  I'll put it all into the one post so that you don't have to suffer my terrible photography for too long, LOL!

Day 44 - 13 February
I arrived in Canberra (Australia's capital) in the afternoon, in the middle of "peak hour" traffic... well the Canberra version of it. Canberra is a reasonably small city with clever roads that don't seem to clog. :-) Driving into Canberra from the airport you see the Black Mountain Communications Tower (I think that's what it's called) sitting on top of a hill. This is a well-known landmark, and something you see on Canberra postcards.

And here is a bit of a shot of the traffic.

We drove by the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House so fast that I didn't get to click a photo before we'd passed them. I must go back some day and do a proper photographic tour of the city.

Day 45 - 14 February
Yes, that's right folks, I was away from my love on Valentines Day. I was treated to a lovely gentle sunrise, though.

I stayed at the Aria Hotel. It's quite nice. Very new, very clean, comfy bed, but no restaurant and extremely limited room service for dinner. It is walking distance to the office (about 1.5km away), so convenient.

I found a fantastic cafe for breakfast. If you are ever in Canberra and looking for great coffee and delicious food, go to Cream in Civic. I wish Cream was in Brisbane, because I would go there all the time. I took some photos there, but they don't do the venue justice. It is architecturally beautiful to look at.

Day 46 - 15 February
Flying home day. After working all day, I caught a flight home in the evening. The clouds were amazing. My phone didn't do them justice.

We flew directly over Surfers Paradise, but by then we'd been asked to turn off our phones again. I WISH I'd been able to take a picture, it was pretty spectacular to be so close overhead.

Back in Brisbane. The sun was setting as we landed. The colours over the city were wonderful.

So happy to be home with my family.

:-)
Michelle