I’ve hurt my lower back in the past, and it’s a pretty uncomfortable thing to have happen. I hurt it again today. I wasn’t actually doing anything strenuous at the time at all; I had just opened the back of the car and started leaning forward to take something out when I had a massive stabbing pain in my lower back. Having hurt it in the past I can confidently say it has never been this bad. It was so painful and so sudden I dropped to the ground.
Lisa took me to the phsyio a few hours later, and I’m going back tomorrow, so hopefully I can recover quickly. I’m dosed up on painkillers and anti inflammatories and spending a lot of time lying on the couch in whatever position I can find that’s comfortable. Not happy.
I know I’m overweight and have a particularly bad posture and I have to fix both those things. It’s a pure coincidence that I turned 43 yesterday, but I’m clearly not getting any younger and I’m starting to feel it.
I took the day off work today (considering it marks the end of my 43rd year on the planet) so the Kids and I over to Castlemaine to have lunch with my parents. We also dovetailed in a visit to two of the gold mining heritage areas that are in nearby Chewton.
The first was the Forest Creek Gold Diggings. This is a walking trail around a few hectares of bush that still has lots of remnants of gold processing machinery. There were a few interesting things to see there. We only saw one piece of casting that had its origin embossed on it, and that was from the Sirocco company in Belfast, Ireland.
After lunch we went over to the site of the Garfield Water Wheel. I have to admit that I’d never even heard of this until Mum showed me an old photo of it a week or two back. The wheel itself is long gone, but the stone foundations that it stood on are still there. They are huge.
You can see from the curved markings on the inside of the right support just how large this thing was. It was 70 feet in diameter – around 22 meters – and when it was operating it could be heard from Castlemaine, which is almost 10km away. The wheel was fed from an overhead wooden flume and was used to run a series of stamps that crushed the ore.
The kids had a great day with their grandparents, and we all enjoyed wandering around the gold diggings. As Mum commented, it’s just so peaceful being out in the bush. At the site of the water wheel you can’t hear anything except a bit of wind in the trees and lots and lots of birds.
I’ve got a more extensive photo set up on flickr.
Having revisited my photos from last weekend’s photowalk through Maryborough I think these two are probably my favourites.
They’re vastly different, but they both capture the essence of the railway in Maryborough.
One tells the story of a grand old station that’s 120 years old this year. Mark Twain visited Maryborough in 1895 and remarked that it was “A railway station with a town attached”. The station is indeed a magnificent building. There are lots of local rumours and legends about why it’s such an ornate structure, and I’m not sure which I believe.
The other explores the idea of distance and a vast land tied together by rail. During wheat harvest season, rail still forms a vital link between farms and ports. Large parts of Victoria (particularly the Wimmera and The Mallee) are all about railway lines going to the horizon and every small town being dominated by silos.
Lisa and the kids have been making sausage rolls for dinner.
I know 2,500 pales in comparison to many other flickr users, but it’s a nice round number anyway. Took this photo of Big Girl taking a photo of her own shadow on the croquet lawn near the station on yesterday’s photowalk.
A small group of us did a 3 hour photowalk through Maryborough today. Lisa, Karen, Nadine and I wandered the streets shooting majestic vistas and trivial details of the town.
We kicked off at the railway station, wandered down past Crameri’s hay store on Tuaggra Street, drifted up Nolan Street and dropped into Maggie’s Cafe for a short break.
We then kicked off again by heading down Alma Street and across into Phillips Gardens. We then wound our way back to the station via the old Flour Mill.
It would have been good to have a few more people turn up, but it was a good walk regardless.
As Lisa pointed out, one of the great things about a photowalk is being able to see the same subject matter shot by different people with a different perspective and interpretation.
I’ve posted a set to flickr, and so has Lisa.
Lisa has wanted to organise a photowalk for a while now, and she’s decided that this Saturday is as good a time as any. The weather should be good in the morning, and the flower show is on this weekend, so there should be a bunch of stuff to shoot.
Meet at the Railway Station in Maryborough at 10am.
Any camera will do, whether it’s a 1930 vintage film camera or a Nikon D3X with 37 different lenses. As far as camera gear goes, a photowalk is a judgement free zone.
Bring sensible walking shoes, a bottle of water or two and a desire to spend a few hours with fellow photographers taking photos of our town.
Everyone/anyone welcome.
There’s an article in the online edition of the The Age about how the new West Gate/M1/City Link interchange is causing all sorts of confusion among motorists.
Looking at the aerial image they’ve provided, I cannot imagine why.
I had to navigate this yesterday by the seat of my pants (Lisa had the sat nav) and I had to think twice about which way I was going.
Had dinner with Mum and Dad tonight, and spent a bit of time afterward taking a few photos. I had the lighting gear with me (brollies, remotes, light stand, etc) so we had a bit of a mini photo session in the lounge room.
I saw this on the eternally wonderful Boing Boing. Didn’t quite see where it was going, then laughed so hard I can’t actually see the screen. Gold.
Who said what?