The Home of Cricket's Photo of the Year Competition 2012

I have just discovered that I do not take nearly enough photos of the people around us, and the cricket itself, when we are at the cricket, all around the world! Loads of photos of us having a great time....but clearly I need to focus my lens on some more aspects of the experience!

Going through this years set of photos from the West Indies with the MCC-Wisden Photo of the Year Competition in mind, I have pulled these ones out as my best shots, but they only really capture such a small aspect of the experience of the trip!

Chirpy, the Kiddy Cricket Mascot in Barbados (above), joined the kids at lunch for a bat and a bowl, and then some general mischief on the ground at Kensington Oval. A source of much amusement as we attempted to track down our rotis and mac pie.  Those kids are the future of West Indian cricket, and they had a great stint out on the ground that day.

The photo above is the view of Queens Park, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, from the top of the opposite side of the ground to where we were sitting.  Such an amazing view - we had lunch up here to take in the mountains and play.

Capturing the excitement felt and shown by the Dominicans at the fact that they had Test Match Cricket on their island nation home, was impossible. The grins, the greetings and meetings of the locals. Having a rum with them at the bar, and talking about cricket days of old, and their love of the game.

The view from ground level of the Party Stand at Windsor Park below, also captured our hearts.  The Shillingford Stand, full of local cheers, is a sight to be seen, as play is ready under the glorious sunshine.

Which photos will you submit?  Prizes of £ and a camera will come in very handy for the back to back Ashes in 2013!

Sheilas And Blokes At The Cricket: Do It In A Dress At RADelaide

A 12 year old girl born in Sierra Leone is more likely to be sexually assaulted than to attend high school.

She is likely to be married by just 15 years of age, and pregnant well before her time, if she hasn't had a chance at schooling.

When a girl is educated she'll get married later, and have a healthier family.  This in turn will lead her to seek schooling for her children, and the positive cycle continues.  For every year she stays in school, her income will increase by at least 10%, improving her living conditions, and those of her family.

One Girl has been running a campaign to affect this cycle, one girl at a time, through their Do It In A Dress initiative.  I have been following Lou Pardi who has been wearing a school dress every day in October, and accepting all sorts of crazy dares to Do It In A Dress...and raising enough funds to send 11 African girls to school so far!  Wow!

So, inspired by all of this and the idea of making the kind of impact that could change one girl's life, her community's prosperity, and even future generations, I have put out a call to action to my cricket Sheilas and Blokes for us to get involved.

On Day 3 of the Adelaide Test Match, at Adelaide Oval, on November 24th, we will wear a school dress to the cricket.

As someone who is, well, over-educated really, the idea that there are girls who don't have full access to an education breaks something inside me.

When travelling around the world watching cricket, we see so many groups of school children, usually bought along for the day to fill the stands in the West Indies, in Sri Lanka, and in South Africa.  It is inconceivable that girls in Africa would miss out on this important foundation for their lives, and their future family life.

If we were to raise $240, one girl in Sierra Leone gets to go to school for a year.  And we have made a serious difference to her life, her community, and future generations.  This is an education scholarship for girls in rural communities, and includes her school fees, her uniform, and her books, plus a little medical insurance plan in case she gets sick during that time.

A massive start in life for one girl!

When you educate a girl, she can change her world. Help us to help a couple of girls in Africa get access to the sort of basic schooling we all take for granted.

Please pop over here to donate to the pool, and help us get at least one girl into school for a year, and have a better start in life.

(photo credit: Luke from Waving The Flag)

Rustic Grazing

In addition to the glorious food on the Saturday of the Human Brochure weekend, we were enjoying those six courses with wine in the most gorgeous of settings.

Grazing is in Gundaroo, a tiny town outside of Canberra, and is actually in New South Wales.  We were bused out there, and it took about 40 minutes to get there from Canberra itself.

I had no idea that Canberra had a wine region.  But as lunch progressed we learnt that there is good wine made here, and that the extremes of cold Winters and really hot Summers are perfect for cultivating good wine.

We were seated out on the patio, under a canopy, and with the perfect sky and sun blazing, Australian Capital Tourism could not have asked for any better on their weekend to show off what Canberra had to offer!

There was actually a wedding being set up inside the restaurant whilst we were there, and I went in to have a peak.  Such a beautiful place for it, Grazing has the option to have the ceremony out in the garden, too.  Imagine the photos!

Between courses, many of us went for a walk through the garden, checking out the Chef's Garden, which just added to the appreciation of the meal, and provided that rustic, homely feel to the amazing meal and the setting.

This post is part of the #humanbrochure weekend to showcase Canberra as a destination, which I attended as a Plus One, with Carly Findlay.  We were part of the Food and Wine Stream, in the Australian Capital Territory Tourism initiative. 

Melbourne Laneway Cutie

She's tucked away in this grotty elcove, minding her own business, oblivious to the goings on around her.  So cute!  This is a CBD laneway, off Little Collins Street, right in the heart of the city.

"Middle Aged" Introspection

Turning a year older this year seemed to go by in a blur last weekend, which was perfect.  I had been getting some preemptive anxiety about the number, and the notion that by now I should have a clue about what I want to be when I grow up.

Hell, I think I am supposed to be a grown up by now! Although both the thought of that expectation, and the knowledge that I thought I would at least have all the middle aged trimmings in place by now, and clearly don't, makes me want to put myself into a brace position every now and then.  The kind when there is no seat in front of you.  But then the idea of being settled into things like Marriage, Mortgage and Maternity make me even more anxious, and frankly, nauseous! Scary stuff indeed!

The idea that I would be homeless and jobless, single and a little aimless at this age is staggering - imagine if I told my 15 year old self that!

A conversation last month with one of my longest and most impact-ful friends (in terms of spurring on considerations, decisions, and life directions in each other), had raised this very thought...what would my 20-years-younger self think of myself now. We talked about the crazy decisions we made when we were younger, and whether this has set us back in years, in terms of the path we want now.

When I was in High School, and picking my subjects for the all important final VCE years, all I wanted to be when I grew up with the doctor at the Hawthorn Football Club.  Wow, that makes me laugh now!!

I would love to tell that 15 year old self that she should pick the subjects that she likes and is good at, instead of the fruitless map for medicine.  That a change in that decision may well have fast-tracked where I am now gives me pause.  I mean, would I have ended up on this current path at all if I had stuck with Humanities!? Who knows.

Although, at the same time, I do believe that all decisions are stepping stones to get you where you are now, and where you will be in the future.  If I didn't pick all of those science subjects, I would not have gotten into Melbourne Uni for that first year, would not have moved out of Ballarat and into Medley Hall, and met some amazing people.  If I didn't fail Chemistry in that first year, as I was more focused on learning how to drink beer than attending class, I would not have searched for something else, and stumbled upon the Disability Studies course at Deakin...and so on, and so on!

The idea that a blog post I stumbled upon three years ago would set me on my current study plan blows my mind!  I am staring down the barrel of finishing my second Masters now, and feel like I have so very many options to move forward to.

Maybe too many options, because I am now have having trouble narrowing down a direction!  But a luxury indeed!

I have worked in the corporate world for the last 6 years, and finally broke free of that, knowing that it is not for me, that it did not make me happy, nor feel like it was somewhere I belonged. I mean, it served it's purpose with sorting out my post-UK travel finances, gave me some solid mental health work skills and experience, set me up for some amazing travels, and allowed me the luxury of not having to work this year since April in order to complete my MSW placement (and overseas at that). I am taking my time to finish these final subjects, and recover from the near burn-out of my old job...ready for the next adventure, whatever that may be!

I would really love to tell my 15 year old self not to worry about things, that great things fall into place.  That she will work from that age to now, earning every awesome thing and experience that comes her way in the next 20 years, and that she will do some seriously amazing things over those years.  That in 20 years time she will be pretty content, despite the absence of all the things people think she should be or have - and so she really needs to stop listening to people!

Our Expat Life in PP

The work I did in Phnom Penh, 10 years ago, could be pretty confronting, but the life we lived as expatriates certainly balancing things out.  It was, socially, one of the best times I can remember.

Four of us lived in this house, for my first few months in Cambodia.  This house was ridiculous - 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms.  It was all marble and tile downstairs, and In the neighbourhood the Khmers call "NGO land", our big house was within our stipend budget and surrounded by many well known development agencies, housed in buildings not too unlike our house.

We could walk to a local market, and most importantly to a cafe where we spent a hell of a lot of time!

We developed some pretty regular patterns during the week, with many of us finding our favourite weekend brunch spot across the road from the harrowing Tuol Sleng, but also finding happy hour on a Friday night after work at the Elephant Bar at Raffles and then at the FCCC.

It will be interesting to get back to PP and check what's new, and what is still the same of our old haunts.

Everyday at work, I would eat lunch with the girls and the expat staff onsite.  The Centre had several French staff members, a Sri Lankan, and would have the occasional group of volunteers passing through who taught French or English.  We would all sit at the tabled in the courtyard of the Centre, and share lunch.

The kitchen staff would have prepared the lunch meal for much of the morning, from the market supplies bought each week.  I would spend a lot of time with the women as they cooked, and helped with food handling training and anything else that was needed.

Getting around PP was mostly on the back of motorbikes.  I employed a day driver in addition to finding my night driver, to take me to and from work every day, from one side of Phnom Penh to the other.  My driver would weave us through the traffic, and the fumes and grit, every day.  As we left for the day, he would take me wherever I wanted to go - often caught in the regular torrential rains right on time as we had just left the shelter of the Centre!

Just a couple of windows into the life we lead over there, working as volunteers in Cambodia, all those years ago.

This post is part of a series marking 10 years since I travelled to Cambodia to work as a volunteer.

The National Gallery of Australia

Full of amazing food and wine, our next stop on our weekend in Canberra as part of the Human Brochure initiative was the National Gallery of Australia.

We took in the pieces outside, including Diamonds above the bus, the collection of pears and the big silver ball with Indigenous animal symbols depicted on it.

Once inside, we were immediately impressed with the vast interior.  Our group was split into two, and Carly and I were led with half of the group on a thorough guided walk through of the Indigenous collection.

First up was the very confronting and moving walk through the Aboriginal Memorial, which is a path through 200 hollow log coffins.  Symbolising the number of Indigenous deaths since colonial occupation from 1788 and 1988, with each pole representing a year of those dates.  43 artists contributed to this work, and being among those burial pieces is powerful.

Our guide was passionate and so informed about the art work she pointed out to us - clearly someone who loves her job.  She took us through the collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.  This is right through from paint on bark sections, to contemporary sculpture and interpretive, contemporary and political pieces.

In the next half of our tour of the Gallery, we were taken into the European and American Art Collection, and shown Jackson Pollock's controversial and NGA's expensive acquisition, Blue Poles.

From this point of the Gallery, I wandered to take in Andy Warhol's Elvis and Electric Chair, and Monet's Waterlilies.  Highlights of an extensive collection, rooms of exploration! Sadly, much more time than we had is needed here for the pieces and rooms on display.  Next time!

Part of our visit included the opportunity to see the current exhibit of Sydney Long's work.  These rooms depicted Long's vast array of works - with the room of dreamy Flamingos stand outs for me, in addition to his fantasy-like Art Nouveau pieces.

The decoration Sadder than a single star.... is one I lingered a little longer in front of - just gorgeous!

This collection also included some very early landscapes of the streets of Sydney, as well as paintings showing a canal of Bruges, and Collins Street in Melbourne. So many of his Art Nouveau paintings had a moon positioned in the middle, so magical.

The Sydney Long exhibit is on until November 11, and well worth the small additional entry fee.

This post is part of the #humanbrochure weekend to showcase Canberra as a destination, which I attended as a Plus One, with Carly Findlay.  We were part of the Food and Wine Stream, in the Australian Capital Territory Tourism initiative.