Monday, March 24, 2008

More Toys
Well, due to a series of circumstances mostly out of my control, I ended up buying this little guy last week. I was really wanting the D40, but my colleague bought the D40X. And if we both got the same thing, we would get a better deal. And blah, blah, blah. So I caved. We splurged on the 18-135mm lens, but now I'm going to end up forking out more dosh for an external flash, methinks.

I took it with us up on our glorious mountain holiday this past weekend but left it on auto the whole time, because I didn't have the time to go through the manual and mess with the menus. I haven't touched my Minolta SLR in years. (I believe the film that's in there is from my first visit to Australia, in fact.) So it's taking a bit of reacclimating to the options and overall girth.

The Mountains Win Again
Good Friday and "Easter Monday" are both public holidays here. So we took off for a little place I found on the internet with Dan & Lisa. The destination was a surprise for them, so I wanted to be creative with how to guide them up there. Because it looked like the place had an Eastern feel to it, I put each stage of the directions on a little slip of paper with a quote about relaxation on the back. And then I put each paper into a fortune cookie that I made myself. I made fortune cookies, people. It was pretty darn easy too; I highly recommend giving that recipe a try. They were tasty as well.

The house we stayed in was just perfect. Lots of verandah space to look out over the view. We played cards and watched movies and cooked tons of food. I even took a swim in the saltwater pool yesterday... unheard of!

On Saturday, we went up to Montville for lunch. We also had to look in all the cute shops, and we couldn't go away without buying some fudge.

Then we made a quick stopover at the Little Morgue Winery. It may not have met expectations from a decor standpoint, but the owner is such a delightful character. It was worth a visit just to meet him. We took home bottles of Eternal Flame, Rest in Peace, Supreme After Life, & Redomortis.

Since we were in the area, I finally got to experience the legendary Big Pineapple. It seems everyone in Brisbane visited the Big Pineapple at some point in their youth. Sadly, it seems to be better left in hazy memory and faded photo albums, as today it is just a stinky (seriously smelled like urine), fiberglass pineapple with dusty displays of how the pineapple plantation works.

We did get parfaits at the restaurant. (Even they didn't stand up to Hans's memory.) But I had a pineapple parfait, as I felt any other fruit just wouldn't be appropriate. The pineapple was really nice, but I could have given or taken the rest.

And now we're home. The cat seems relieved. The chicken has doubled in size. The laundry is overflowing. And Erin is STILL with child. (Though one could argue that they'll be "with child" for another 18ish years, but I meant that in the "overly pregnant" sort of way.) Now I've got some LOTRO to do.

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4 Comments:

Mar 24 2008, 04:23 pm
Yay for your new D40! After I bought my Canon, I spent two afternoons reading the manual. Feeling good about the quality time I invested, I figured I didn't have to refresh my memory on taking action night shots. Thus, resulting in the bad photos of Ben Folds.and..it was hard to hold still and not sing/dance! Better luck to you my friend!

10:12 PM  

Mar 24 2008, 04:24 pm
wooohoooo!! Welcome to the Nikon family Yay

xxoo

10:12 PM  

Mar 24 2008, 06:11 pm
hehe, i was saying as we left erin's house yesterday, "that's the last time i'll see her with child," but then i had the same thought...she'll be with child for quite some time, won't she? (sorry for the reminder, ernie...we love you!)
sounds like you had an amazing trip! i'll surely check out your links after i get finished with working out...i have to force myself to go now or i won't do it. ugh.
LOVE YOU!
(can't wait to see more pictures of your darling little chicken!)

10:12 PM  

Mar 25 2008, 03:36 pm
Yay for you and your new camera! I am slightly biased toward Nikon, having a D70 myself. And I'm glad you splurged on a good lens.

I hope to upgrade to a D80 at some point this year...

And as for our little "bun", he'll be here tomorrow!!

LOVE!

10:13 PM  

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