2015

2015 was a very classic year and it is best summarised in images....only 100 can sum it up sufficiently. 

The year started with a fireworks display from nearby Straits Quay. Nikki and Neal were with us at the time.

Later in January the colourful Thaipusam celebration was again the centre of attention.

Nikki took a year off her medical studies and spent the time in Okinawa where Neal was doing a PhD. Nikki also took to the lab to do research towards an MSc degree. They both enjoy SCUBA diving in their spare time.

In March Singapore lost it's founding father Lee Kuan Yew. It warrants a mention since Helen and I spent a third of our lives in Singapore and it is where the girls were born and much of Singapore's direction was modelled after LKY's visions.

In March also Helen and I, together with John and Baby and Nick and Sophia spent a pleasant three days on Langkawi. We enjoyed the ambience and the wildlife.

In April Helen and I travelled to Adelaide and to the Barossa Valley for a reunion of the wonderful  friends that were part of a great period in my life. Old photograph albums were brought out to incriminate or remember fondly.

Helen and I then crossed Bass Strait to Northern Tasmania where we stayed with Ron and Georgie. We explored the beautiful country around Cradle Mountain and visited Launceston and Hobart. We were both loved the Mona Art Gallery with it's different touches and eccentricities.

We were also introduced to some iconic flora and fauna in the arboretum near to Ron and Georgie's place.

On the way back to Penang we stopped over in Singapore and caught up with the art pieces along Orchard Road.

June was etched in our diaries as the month when Dani graduated from Cambridge University. We decided to optimise our trip to Europe by visiting Maureen, our ex-housemate, and her husband Edwin in their beautiful home near Utrecht in Holland. We ate gourmet food and walked the countryside to exercise their two Labradors and explored the nearby city of Amersfoort where an outdoor music festival was taking place in several locations. 

The next port of call was Bothwell, near Glasgow where we stayed with Ann (Helen's sister) and Gerry and enjoyed their wonderful hospitality. We visited the impressive Kelpies, the engineering marvel of the Falkirk Wheel and the Rosslyn Chapel made famous in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'.

From Glasgow we hired a car and travelled down the East coast of Northern England. The first stop was at Seahouses from where the Farne islands can be reached. The Farne Islands is the location of the legendary rescue by Grace Darling and the home of many seabirds especially the photogenic Atlantic Puffins.

From Seahouses we met up with Dani at Durham and journeyed  to Whitby, the one-time base of Captain James Cook.

We stayed several days in York,  a city we enjoyed especially York Minster, The Shambles and the nude cyclists.

We had one night in King's Lynn before arriving in Cambridge. We stayed a few nights at Churchill College and enjoyed the sights and history of Cambridge including the wonderful art. Graduation days were assigned to various colleges and the Senate building was constantly busy.

The day of Churchill College's graduation arrived and the skies were blue. Ann and Gerry came down from Glasgow for the occasion and it was a great day....one notably significant in the lives of parents as well as the graduands. Ann and Gerry are the assigned UK parents.

The graduation ceremony was carried out in the Senate House and the official cap tossing took place soon after....including Lawrence's legendary 'no-return' toss. His cap can just be seen settling into its lofty resting place. It was rescued later.

Dani later successfully completed the London Marathon and met Noah...Eve and Craig's new baby. After working in a number of part-time jobs she took on a new position.The job is Projects Officer (events) for Living Sport. They are a charity based in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough which aim to encourage participation of sports in the community. 

Bird and wildlife photography inevitably took place during most of the year. I enjoyed shooting several times with an Indian student. I made two trips to Fraser's Hill during the year and stayed at Stephen's place both times. It is a great location and much needed in the area.

Elsewhere I followed the Chestnut-headed and Blue-throated Bee-eaters nesting and the resident White-throated Kingfishers going through a breeding cycle.

Earlier in the year a pair of Coppersmith Barbets raised a family in a dead tree along a very busy city lane in George Town. The brood consisted originally of 2 chicks but one died in the early stages. Fortunately the remaining chick fledged successfully.

Later another Barbet pair (Red-throated Barbets) raised a family in a dead tree near Taiping. I made three trips to record the feeding

I have only entered the prestigious BBC wildlife competition once before. I had three images shortlisted this year but unfortunately none of them got into the final selection.

My very good friend Kari from Adelaide and his wife Kathy visited us in July. They first went to Langkawi and enjoyed an International Golf Course and the wildlife there before arriving in Penang. They enjoyed the pub-quiz, the cuisine and some of Penang's golf courses before going back home via KL.

I had been booked for several years to speak at the Australian Photographic Society's annual convention. This year it was held at Tweed Heads in Southern Queensland/North New South Wales and I used the trip initially to spend time with Glen and Debbie and their family. It is a busy family these days..Glen is a mining consultant working for himself and spends some time on site. Debbie was completing her nursing training and was working either night shift or day shifts at a post-surgical ward. Nathan was balancing school work with basketball and working at Hungry Jacks. He plays in a team in the weekend as well as coaching a team with a friend. (shown below...Nathan is on the left with hand on hip). Haley was involved with several things including sleeping rough one night is a cardboard box....a guides venture and not a red card from the family house. Phoebe was either in the pool playing with Murphy, the family labrador, or getting face-painted to go trick or treating for Halloween.

The convention lasted for 5 days and it was very enjoyable. I gave a workshop and two talks which seemingly went down well.

The hotel I was staying at in Coolangatta was close to the beach. It was fun to be out with the surfers at sunrise and to record the action. The sun was at a very favourable angle at this stage of the morning. There were migrating whales not far offshore and it was great in the afternoon watching the tails beating the water or witnessing breaching.

After the conference I set out to repeat my wanderings in a small van that I started further North last year. My first target was O'Reillys in the Lamington National Park. the weather never properly behaved but I was able to add to my collection of Bowerbirds and other species.

My shooting program was interrupted by the final of the Rugby World Cup which was a 'must see event'. I drove back to Brisbane and kept Glen company in the middle of the night and we were both pleased with the result.

I was able to watch the 2015 Melbourne Cup in a country pub and rubbed shoulders with the tattooed gentry. The race was won by the rank outsider Prince of Penzance ridden for by  Michelle Payne, who became the first female jockey to win the prestigious race. The pub was deathly quiet after the winner crossed the finishing line with only the sound of tickets being ripped up.

Shooting resumed afterwards and centred on three more locations; Binna Burra...also in the Lamington Ranges, Mount Clunie, further inland and Warrengeen in the Granite Belt.....some three and a half hours from Brisbane. The latter location was relatively dry but it is always good to be outdoors.

While I was away I was invited to talk in Singapore a week after I returned from Australia. I had to hastily prepare a talk and I spent 2 days back in Singapore where I also caught up with Nick Baker.

October and November saw a rugby rollercoaster. First the All Blacks deservedly won the World Cup final which was the last game for New Zealand for a number of stalwarts including Ritchie McCaw, Dan Carter and Ma'a Nonu. We waited for Ritchie to officially announce his retirement and it was slated for the 19th of November. Suddenly and unfortunately it was announced 2 days earlier that the irrepressible Jonah Lomu had passed away at the age of just 40. He had a history of kidney problems and had a donated organ rejected but the cause of his demise appeared to be a large blood clot on a lung.

Jonah was much loved by all rugby followers and his passing was best expressed by the cover of an Irish newspaper where a leaf from the silver fern had morphed to a teardrop.

Back home at the ranch we replaced our troublesome water feature for some plain grass and were able to celebrate the graduation of both our daughters. A new lounge suite replaced a deteriorating one that we purchased prior to out arrival here. We also completed the roofing of the third floor and consequently a troublesome leak has gone away. 

Helen continued with her many activities and has a  band of students who she teaches English to on a regular basis. Before I set off south Helen enjoyed some time with Nikki on Okinawa and then both North (briefly) and South Korea.

We have now run the house as a bed and breakfast under AirBnB for 3 years. This year started slowly but by the time the year closed we were ahead of our last years tally of guests.

We made a planted a number of shrubs to attract some of the local bird-life and have hosted nearly 20 different species of birds and are entertained intermittently by Bob the energetic Tree Shrew.

While walking or running on the Promenade we always keep an eye out for the Smooth-coated Otters and are rewarded often by sightings or sometimes interactions

The Pub Quiz at Healy Macs has become a regular social event for us and we have our turn at winning or getting a silver or bronze medal (equivalents)...we also have had a plethora of 4th placings.

At the start of December son Glen and Debbie joined us for a week to sample some of the things that Penang has to offer. Debbie graduated as a nurse a day after she got back home.

Last but not least our small Poodle continued to entertain us. She wants to play a regular game of football with her starring as a goalie and did not seemed impressed when I tried to introduce her to lawn bowling. She still gets more mentions than Helen or I from guest evaluations.