WINTER
The Stegastein Viewpoint. 5° air temperature. Sun slowly descending over the cliffs rising up from the Nærøyfjord. Numb fingers trying to spoon fruit and nut muesli into my mouth. Windproof jacket, fingerless gloves, pants, woollen socks.

SPRING
The Flåm Valley so green and saturated that it looks Photoshopped. Walking the route of the railway. Tulips growing on the side of the road. The sun warm on the face, but breeze bringing pollen and a slight chill on the return to the fjord. Shorts, hiking boots, pullover, hat and sunglasses.

SUMMER
Post-nap fresh strawberries and yoghurt on the patio in Aurland. Water shimmering reflecting the clearest of skies. Shorts, tshirt, bare feet on the grass to take in the view.

AUTUMN
What it is at my house. I took this photo of a red tree to round out this post.

This slip of the tongue has stuck with me since it was misspoken at the start of a webinar some months back, another life.

In early April, booking accommodations and scrutinising ferry schedules, Norway felt much more imminent than it did two days ago.

Work deadlines, life events, upcoming holidays, a moment to sit on the couch. Everything was happening in these parallel layers of time which felt unquestionably persistent.

The present was constantly becoming the past, so was the future. Memories of old houses, old exercises (side planks!), old injuries, old feelings. All mixing in with the new.

I haven't had a smoothie for months. I used to drink ten a week. I've been eating almonds almost daily, after forsaking them based on a blood test in 2023. I'm nothing but living echoes. My house is no longer mine. Driving around my old neighbourhood and GI tract I see new shops and changed roads. You move on, but time persists.

The biggest difference between present day and the eighteenth century is probably just the sheer volume of humans on the planet. In 1776 the population of the planet was less than 10% of 2024. When I read about history what stands out most is how connected to each other everybody was.

Cook's Third Voyage around the world started with a mission to return Omai, an orphan of an inter-island war in Tahiti, back to his island. Omai spent two years in London, met the king, working on his goals of bringing gunpowder back to his home, and being a card playing socialite. Eventually he was put on to the ship with Cook by none other than the guy who invented the sandwich.

To get back to Tahiti, Cook and Omai visited Tenerife, South Africa, Antarctic Islands, Tasmania, and New Zealand. It was the fifth time Cook sailed a bunch of wood and nails into New Zealand... I've been there about ten times but only by plane.

Omai actually made it back to his home island, and according to the books, even managed to win a battle against the Bora Borans with his English armour and his gunpowder. He died a few years later, and Hampton Sides - author of A Wide Wide Sea - gave me the impression that he found this sort of tragic, that his time in England before being left in the Pacific was a negative thing. I felt the opposite. How many common humans lived their whole life in one place compared to those adventures. Cook made it to Hawaii, Oregon, Canada, Alaska, Russia and then - unfortunately for him - back to Hawaii again. That was just one of his voyages. Truly incredible what humans could do with the technology they had, both Europeans in ships and Polynesians carrying pigs and dogs across the sea in canoes. It is a big world and a small one. There's not a lot left to discover, but I'm still keen to explore it. Even more after reading that book.

The dictionary definition of a "bay" is "a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inwards". But Watsons Bay, as a Sydney locality, is kind of the inverse. A head on the eastern suburbs like a broad outlet of land where the sea curves outwards.

On a holiday, this means...

Sunrise by the Sea.

Breakfast by the Sea.

Birds by the Sea.

Trees by the Sea.

Paddleboarding by the Sea.

Post Paddleboarding Beer by the Sea.

Naps by the Sea.

Walking by the Sea.

Sculptures by the Sea.

Sunset by the Sea.

Basically, the Sea by the Sea

I'm mostly responsible when it comes to sunscreen, but my legs tend to be neglected probably more than they should. It's a combination of their surface area, the hairiness, plus the effort of bending down. But, expecting a decent amount of outdoor activity today I creamed up both legs. It immediately commenced raining, was cloudy the entire day, and the UV peaked at 4.

We started our morning with a walk to Lady Bay and to the lighthouse, then back for buffet breakfast and I ate three types of pastries. Then another walk around the South Head cliffs and another coffee before taking the ferry to Manly.

The rain drizzled for most of the following hours, but it didn't stop us from strolling up the Corso, along the water to Shelly Beach, to some rainforests and great views along the North Head walking trails and across more sand in the rain.

After all that walking we had lunch at a Lebanese restaurant by the water and the Lamb Shawarma came with five mini pitas. So I effectively ate four yiros. Then I had a beer at Felons before we rode the ferry back for some long awaited shoe removal.

Note to self: Add feature to include daily step count on journal entries.

I have finished reviewing the photos I took in Europe in 2023 (for 2024 at least, I might go back one day).

This last batch are all from Paris and didn't feature in my journal entries from the week I spent there last June.

Let's get this one out the way early. View from atop Arc de Triomphe.

What a place to enjoy a beer on a Friday night in summer.

Let's get this one out the way early. Crêpes...

Sunset on the Seine glows through the roof of the Grand Palais.

I just enjoyed the architecture, well at least the façades.

View from atop Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre.

What a place to enjoy a picnic with friends on a Wednesday night in summer.

I spent some of my holidays processing more Europe 2023 photos. I also spent some of it walking around in the sunshine with Nash, drinking good coffee and admiring flowers without a care in the world.

We only visited Switzerland for three nights last year, but I seem to have taken more good photos there than I did in Italy over two weeks. Noting that my opinion of good photos seems to be strongly corelated with "has a nice mountain in them". I do like a nice mountain.

Early morning in Venice

Dog walkers in Milan

First view of Kriens

Sunset cows on the way back from dinner.

A lone drone pilot and the Swiss Alps.

Pilatus at sunset.

Pilatus in morning light.

Somewhere halfway up Pilatus, in morning light.

Switchbacks and cogwheel train routes up the south face of Pilatus.

Cogwheel train descends down Pilatus (I would ride it myself later).

Swiss houses featuring a barn with a massive solar panel, off Lake Lucerne.

Sunrise over Emmen

Lucerne from the Männliturm.

In winter 2023 I went to Europe for a month and took lots of photos. A holiday I am reminded of constantly by being cold and unignorably not in Europe at times in winter 2024.

Despite posting a lot of photos during my trip, I had hundreds more to edit since then and the proportion of time I spent photographing in Europe has not been matched by the time I've spent posting them since.

So what better way to reminisce than to actually post some photos from 2023 in 2024.

This is part one.

Birds over Rome, just before sunrise. Thanks jetlag. View from Terrazza del Pincio. Not pictured - Vanessa eating an apple.

Castello Aragonese d'Ischia. You can walk up there and there's like five churches, some nice gardens and at least two places to buy a coffee.

Chiostro maiolicato (Cloister of Saint Clair). A contrast to the surrounding city of Napoli. Lots of cool artwork on tiles in a nice garden.

Lemon plantations on the stairs/hike up from Amalfi towards the forest.

One of the old paper mills near Amalfi on the way through Valle delle Ferriere.

More ruins between waterfalls in Valle delle Ferriere (Valley of the Mills).

Hiking on the path of the gods.

Positano from above, descending from path of the gods down to the sea of humanity.

Amalfi and Atrani seen from the ferry to Salerno. I hiked to basically every corner of this photo. Was one of the best weekends of my life.

Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, with Tuscany Hills in the background, taken from the top of the Duomo.

Interior view of the Duomo's painting.

Grand Canal, I think near Ponte di Rialto.

Piazza San Marco in the background, taken from the eastern tip of Dorsoduro

View from my favourite bridge in Venice, Ponte dell'Accademia.

Same outlook, featuring a gondola.