Posted 20 February 2010 in Oz Experience 2009, Photography, Writing
Previously: Part IV: Sydney
Now, what self respecting photographer would travel to the other side of the world, and not get in the presence of kangaroos with their camera? Cliche as it is, I wanted to get it done. I did my research, and took the early morning train from Sydney Central into the Blue Mountains national park.
At a little past 5 a.m., I found myself in the small town of Glenbrook. Following the street lights, and then the dim light of my phone, I made my way to the park’s entrance. From there, I watched the stars in their final hours, waiting for the first glimpse of dawn.
Once it was light enough, I began on an hour long walk through the woodland and creeks. It was strikingly beautiful: the morning’s golden light touched the tips of the trees, and breathed life into the morning mist.
After a cautious descent down a rocky decline in the path, I arrived in a grassy opening. I surveyed the area – only to have my gaze met by a pair of grey-furred kangaroos grazing at the foot of the path. I had arrived at Euroka Clearing, a park campsite known for it’s wildlife population.
I spent the morning following the family of kangaroos through the clearing, shooting video, and practicing my bush-call with some local campers. As late morning arrived, so did the tourists: this area of the park was too difficult for coaches to access, so rather, a series of small mini-busses and camper vans flooded onto the campground. Knowing my communing time had come to an end, I headed back through the park to the station, heading to Karoomba to visit the local
landmarks.
And that concludes my trip to Australia. Thank you to all the friends and family that supported my fundraising; it was the trip of a lifetime.
Check back for your regularly scheduled programming!
This series of posts document The Joshua Foundation’s 2009 trip to Australia, as part of their Oz Experience fundraising program. They include a sample of photographs and text from my book documenting the trip, available as a paperback and free PDF at Lulu.com.
Posted 7 February 2010 in Oz Experience 2009, Photography, Writing
Previously: Part III: Conservation Volunteers Australia
The Sydney Tower was our first chance for both teams to meet up together, with the superb chance to see the Sydney cityscape by night. The buffet style dining was a chance for the group to help themselves to a great selection of food, and the chance to try more exotic dishes like roast kangaroo and octopus.
As a special thank-you to the group, both the Skippies and Koalas were taken on a boat dinner from Sydney harbour. It was a chance to talk about the happenings of the past few weeks, and for most, a final night out before the big return journey.
The alarm clock rang at 7 a.m., in our dorm at the Sydney YHA. It was the morning everyone had to pack their bags, and go our separate ways.
As the afternoon came around, the Skippies and Koalas began shuffling down the stairs, and down the elevators, dragging their cases behind. In the lobby, people exchanged last hugs and a sometimes tearful goodbye, before boarding the airport coach.
And thus, the end to an amazing trip with some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Or at least, the part that involves The Joshua Foundation… Check back for the final instalment: Part V: Blue Mountains National Park.
Thanks guys, it was an amazing summer.
This series of posts document The Joshua Foundation’s 2009 trip to Australia, as part of their Oz Experience fundraising program. They include a sample of photographs and text from my book documenting the trip, available as a paperback and free PDF at Lulu.com.
Posted 24 October 2009 in Oz Experience 2009, Photography, Writing
Previously: Part I: Singapore
Our first stop in Melbourne was the Royal Children’s Hospital, a large medical centre exclusively for the treatment of child patients. In the drowsy early hours after our flight, it was our first attempt of navigating the city, and its suburbs.
The visit was a very meaningful one for the group, as it was a chance for the group to visit the hospital’s oncology ward. For most, it was the first time they would meet the children that The Joshua Foundation’s work supports. It was an emotional experience for everyone.
A relatively short flight from Singapore left us in downtown Melbourne, a wonderfully vibrant city, its slanting streets intersecting in a criss-cross alongside the Yarra River.
As part of our stay in Melbourne, we had a morning tour of the Neighbours studio, including the real location of Ramsay Street. Jonny and Liam were less excited…
On the way back to the hostel, I took some portraits of The A Team (as our little group was known). I like how they turned out!
Check back later this week for Part III: Conservation Volunteers Australia!
This series of posts document The Joshua Foundation’s 2009 trip to Australia, as part of their Oz Experience fundraising program. They include a sample of photographs and text from my book documenting the trip, available as a paperback and free PDF at Lulu.com.
Posted 18 October 2009 in Oz Experience 2009, Photography, Writing
It was one of the glorious sunny days of Spring the day I left for Australia. As I shuffled my suitcases into Heathrow’s international terminal, I wondered if there would be any sunshine left by the time I returned…
It’s been years in the making, months in the writing (and weeks in the proofreading), but at long last, my book documenting my trip to Australia with Cardiff-based cancer charity The Joshua Foundation is up for sale.
As I promised, those photos and more are making their way online, starting with the first part of the story: our stopover in Singapore.
Stepping off the plane, the air seemed humid but cool. It wasn’t until we stepped outside, however, that we discovered the airport had air conditioning set to the max. Outside was hot, wet, and on our bus trip to the hotel, there was a monsoon of rain. It was an interesting way to begin our time at one of the hottest and most modern places on earth.
As the group made their way past security, I noticed something peculiar about the stretch of hallway which led into the duty-free shopping area.
By the side of the hallway, donning white gowns and face masks, were a group of staff crowded around a monitor. Beside the monitor was something that looked like a CCTV camera, set up to watch the passing foot traffic.
As I passed the setup, I turned to look at the screen: it was a heat-map, the passing travellers appearing as blue-and-yellow blobs on a black backdrop. With the recent swine flu scare, Singapore airport was taking no chances, pulling people with a fever aside to be examined.
Continue to Part II: Melbourne.
This series of posts document The Joshua Foundation’s 2009 trip to Australia, as part of their Oz Experience fundraising program. They include a sample of photographs and text from my book documenting the trip, available as a paperback and free PDF at Lulu.com.
Posted 23 May 2009 in Software, Writing
In an effort to start tracking my daily word count, I wrote this script. It checks in a folder for changes to the word count of text files since it was last updated. I have the script update the word count nightly, using a cron job.
Get It
The script can be found on pastebin, or as a zipped Python file here.
Usage
In the first few lines of the script, two variables are set:
default_path: Set this to the path to check for updates. The script recurses into sub-directories.default_threshold: This classifies what is deemed ‘recent’, and by default is within the last day (timedelta(day=1)). This is defined as a Python timedelta object, which is documented here. You can replace day=1 with other arguments, like day=2 or week=1. The script currently works with dates, not times, so things like hour=1 will not work properly.
Once configured, the current word count of recent files (within default_threshold), compared to any previous record (created using the update command), can be found by running wc.py with no arguments. A simple number-only output can be achieved by running wc.py raw.
The word count can be “updated” by running wc.py update. This makes a record of the word count of any recently modified files, in a file called .wordcount, in the default directory. It makes sense to set up a cron job or task to do this in line with the default_threshold value.
It is also important to note that the script will only perform word counts on text files (.txt). It theoretically supports any other plain-text files, but currently filters by file extension.
I hope this first version of the script is at the least a useful example of Python’s simpler operations, as well as Pickle, the module which allows objects to be written as binary files.
