While waiting for the sun to set I stood on the balcony and took in the city…from the buzz and boom, beeps and bangs of the traffic below, to the hustling bustling ferries that hurried around the harbour in front of me, to the whistling wind swirling around the 27th floor where I stood…from the bloody sunset in the east over the hazy Blue Mountains to a thunder and lightning storm in the moody clouds out over the Pacific beyond the Heads to the west…this city has a certain energy that I am loving…

Sydney has some of the worst traffic I have encountered, and a motorbike is definitely the preferable (and by far the quickest) way to get around it, but the comforts and security of everything being dry and warm after 6 months of carrying camera gear in all weather cannot be underestimated…

It has been one of the coldest and wettest mid winters in recorded history in Eastern Australia. After 13000kms and 6 months on the bike, I finally got fed up with riding in the rain for work and I bought a metal box..

The Buick Sail, Chevrolet Corsa, Holden Barina, Opel Vita and Vauxhall Corsa are all the same car sold in different parts of the world…

I bought a slightly worn out old cheap blue Holden Barina for excursions and work days when I just cant be dealing with the bike…hope she is good to me:)

Not been shooting much other than property recently so reached the 13000km mark since the end of january as well as visiting a ton more suburbs…

After the hottest november in 150 years in Sydney, it has got VERY cold the last few day…

“Sydney has shivered through its coldest June day in 27 years, with the mercury plummeting to 4.7 degrees in the city.

Not since 1983 has a colder June temperature been recorded according to the Bureau of Meteorology.”

Rest of report here.

We braved a snorkle for some exercise and I actually thought the water wasnt too bad…turns out it was 16 degrees, a good 8-10 degrees warmer than the air temperature!

The southern hemisphere winter snow season has begun this weekend at resorts in Australia and New Zealand, with both having pretty good opening days… We are planning a trip down to the Aussie resorts although I dont have high expectations as the resorts are not very high and apparently get VERY busy…they have also had the highest average lift prices in the world for the last few years…

This was opening day 2009 – View from the top of Cardrona looking towards Wanaka:

Vivid Festival June 2010 from Luke Phillips on Vimeo.