15 July 2003 After my morning session in Melbourne I started my drive to the Victorian country town of Camperdown. Joined the freeway at Blackburn Road and followed it all the way into the city, through the Balmain Tunnel and over the West Gate Bridge. I was still on the Princess Highway when Geelong came into sight. About an hour later I arrived at the pre-booked Budget motel. The lady at the reception started up a lengthy conversation about children and we only stopped talking when her phone rang. There was a light rain falling as I unpacked my car. Two [View Full Entry]

---

---

23-24 September 2002 Another eight hour drive, this time to the nations capital city of Canberra. The weather started fine but as the kilometers passed it started to rain. When I came to the suburbs of Canberra, blue skies shone down. Seven photographers from our company are working in the suburbs this week. When I met up with them, they were discussing where to eat that night. With so many different personalities it always seem hard to agree. In the end three of us went one place, the others went somewhere else. I chose to eat alone for the rest of [View Full Entry]

---

---

16 September 2002 Ever since returning from Wahgunyah I’ve been suffering from a bad back. The cause, lugging my equipment in and out of centres. I hope this is not a prelude to an early retirement. Last month I turned fifty and I wonder how many more years I can keep crawling around on my hands and knees getting children to say “monkeys” so I can get a smiling face. It’s not a thing I want to be doing when I’m sixty. This morning I left home about 8.30. The weather was wet as I drove to Yea where I branched [View Full Entry]

---

---

11 September 2002 For most of August I didn’t take any photographs in Kindergartens or Daycare Centres, instead I was working for another photographer. He had commissioned me to get group photos of school bands, after they played on stage at Monash University. It was a welcome break from the stress of getting the required number of photos of children in a limited time span. Instead I watched the school orchestras play for about thirty minutes. For about fifteen minutes an adjudicators would get up on stage with the children and help improve their performance. At the end of that it [View Full Entry]

---

---

7-8 August 2002 Last week I was working on the south coast of NSW, this week I’m back in Melbourne. Staying in my hometown allows me the opportunity to spend time with my girlfriend. I find myself thinking how my life has changed for the better since meeting her. There are not a lot of partners who accept being apart from their loved ones, because they are always working in the country or interstate. For two days I’ve been working in Cranbourne and now I’m in the country town of Newstead. I have driven through this town before but it’s one [View Full Entry]

---

---

2 July 2003 The trip to the ACT yesterday was over more back roads through the town of Cookardinia. At an intersection that leads to Holbrook I found an old abandoned homestead, I decided to get the video out and capture the building on tape. This is the first time I have been back to Canberra since the summer bushfires, as yet I haven’t seen any devastation, although I must admit I don’t plan going sight seeing of peoples hardships. It was a busy unorganised centre I worked in today. Three rooms, starting with the babies by time I arrived in [View Full Entry]

---

---

1 July 2003 It was seven forty-five when I drove out of the motel in Culcairn and continued my way north along the Olympic Highway. It had been raining most of the night and the paddocks looked water logged. I’m not prepared to say the drought has broken in this part of the state but the locals tell me that they are getting more of this weather. Found the Pre-School in Henty, but nobody was home. I drove around the back to see if there was a car parked but there wasn’t. I waited in front of the centre until it [View Full Entry]

---

---

30 June 2003 It was raining when I got up and had to make a quick dash to the dinning room for breakfast, which was very filling. Paid for my accommodation then made my way up the street to the kindergarten. It was a nine-thirty start and found the staff friendly and helpful. I’m starting to like wet weather because I can talk the staff into having the outside shots undercover and organised. I left Adelong about eleven-thirty and arrived in a town called Culairn via some back roads that I had never driven on before. I chose to save the [View Full Entry]

---

---

28 June 2003 Decided not to drive back to Melbourne but headed to the next town where I was booked to work on Monday. I left Temora and followed the southern road to Junee. It’s a large town with many grand buildings. I was only passing through and zigzagged my way through the main shopping area and continued southeast until I saw a sign indicating the direction to reach Wantabadgery. I was now on one of the back roads of New South Wales. To the left and right lay green paddocks with flocks of grazing sheep. I followed a narrow road [View Full Entry]

---

---

29 July 2002 After a drive of eight-hundred and fifty kilometres I arrived in Sanctuary Point on the coast, south of Sydney. I managed to book into a motel across the road to the centre I was to work in for the next few days. My room looks out onto the local golf course and from my window I noticed a small mob of kangaroos grazing on one of the fairways. After a nice meal at the bowling club I walked back to the motel. Just outside the gate a large kangaroo bounded along the street in front of me then [View Full Entry]

---

---