Catch up

I didn't get a chance to catch up on my weekend so will do that now.

Ok Sat - so we went to the Taronga Zoo, we caught the ferry over - I mean how cool is that to catch the ferry over Sydney harbour to the zoo? It was perfect day to be out & about. It took us bit longer than planed to get packed up & out so we didn't have as much time in the zoo as we'd have liked but it was still a great day.

What stole the show for me was the chimps, they were hilarious. They had two young chimps & honestly they were exactly like children, playing & messing about. Then you'd have an adult get up & give them a swipe to stop. Then one would start showing off by doing rolls for the crowd. It was so funny. I took some pics - promise promise promise will have them up this week.

I have to say I got totally freaked by the amount of spiders in the trees, they were huge. But I have to assume not poisonous since they were everywhere. They had these huge webs built up in the trees over where the paths were so you had to walk under them & I was convinced it was going to drop on me. Sad but true what can I say I' don't like spiders. Having said that I did take few pics of them too.

We had out picnic on a little stretch of beach beside the zoo, it was lovely especially cos we were starving by that time. Really nice relaxing day.

Sunday - got up early (whats that about on a Sunday?? ha ha) to go to the photography class in Centennial park. It went really well. I had been a bit frustrated with it cos I wasn't getting the whole exposure/aperture/shutter speed thing to do what I wanted. I would see something & want to get it captured the way I was seeing it but it wasn't working so I was getting bit frustrated with the whole thing. I was beginning to think I'd never get the hang of it. I had tried it out loads at the zoo too but wasn't exactly the picture I wanted so I was really glad we had the class today so i could ask the questions while they were still fresh in my head.

So he explained some stuff to me so think its finally sinking in. He brought his three dogs with him as models. We were practising movement shots & that. He'd set up situation with the dogs & tell us what we should be looking for etc & then go around & see how we got on & explain why some worked & the problems with others & more importantly (for me anyway) how to correct them.

So my faith in myself is restored & I'll keep trying to get it right. I'm not a good learner, I'm very impatient with myself i want to know how to do it 'now'.

So after that we headed down to Picton to met up friends up from Melbourne. It was great seeing them again. The competitions actually didn't start til Monday they were all just training but that was still good to watch. So I registered, got my rig all checked out & got my drop zone brief & I was all set. Shane (my husband) had jumped there before so he'd gotten that done already. We chatted for a bit with our mates & caught up with all the news.

After a bit Shane says 'so come on we'll go jump'. So sucked it up & said Ok. Kate said she'd jump with us, we would do a three-way. Like I said I haven't jumped since Oct so was bit nervous. I knew I'd be fine once the door opened & you're out its all good its the initial nerves get you when you're not current (ie haven't jumped in awhile). After all you are jumping out of a plane. :o)

But it went brilliant it was such a beautiful day & it was so warm up there & you could see the coastline. We jumped at 13,000 feet we managed one point before breakaway. Sweet opening & no problems so headed back to DZ. There is nothing like being under canopy 1000feet in the air, it is THE most peaceful feeling in the world. Awwhh sigh! It was great the views up there were AMAZING. I really would recommend it to everyone, it should be something everyone does once in their life. And I even stood up my landing! yeah me!. I have a perchance on landing on my ass as I'm still learning but all good, I was proud of me.

So after that headed out for food with John & Kate(our friends) & about 10 other skydivers. Went to a really nice little restaurant near the train station in Picton & had fab dinner, good laugh too. We headed home after that. It wasn't too late when we got home about 11.15pm but it had been a long day. So we literally unpacked the car, dumped the stuff & fell into bed.

I have to say its been the best weekend I've had in awhile. A good for the soul kind of weekend.