Thought you knew how to eat chocolate, didn’t you?

On any given night, it’s not uncommon to see queues forming outside Chef’s Gallery… and for good reason. [Images only]

It's not often I get a chance to wander around Sydney's CBD with no time constraints and no plans other than to keep my eyes peeled for interesting photo ops. But when my fiance organised half a day's worth of bridal-related activities, it presented the perfect opportunity to take my Fuji X100S out for a spin!

26 years living in Canberra and i'm ashamed to say that i've only been out to Tidbinbilla once (well - now, twice!). as Canberrans, we're lucky to have so much wildlife and bushland surrounding the city, and for me it's definitely been the case of somewhere like Tidbinbilla being so close and accessible that means you never quite get around to getting out there.

and so with a couple of long weekends upon us, what better time to go for a bit of a bushwalk and get away from racing around town. it was a crisp ANZAC day that we started our walk from Dalsetta, through the Eliza Saddle and finally up to Gibraltar Peak for a couple of pastrami sandwiches. according to wikipedia, Gibraltar Peak is the 45th highest 'mountain' in the ACT with its lofty elevation of 1,038m, so not really worthy of peak bagging (which is something else i just discovered on wikipedia, although it sounds like it belongs more on urban dictionary...).

i only had a chance to get down to canberra's annual enlighten festival on a weeknight this year, thereby missing the weekend performances and 'extras' (such as fiers a cheval & the fire garden). however, the day i did manage to get there was the same day Sydney was throwing up some crazy weather (i think this photo says it all) so the skies here had a bit of action about them as well!

while i spent a big part of the night (unsuccessfully) trying to capture the lightning that was striking every 10 seconds or so - it didn't detract from how awesome the projections looked on canberra's most iconic buildings.

f you made me choose between living in the city or the country, i'd probably choose the city every time (although ask me again when i have the luxury of being retired and am 'fed up with the youth of today' and i might answer differently). that said, there's plenty to love about the country, and for photographers - that includes the awesome scenery that you just don't see in the city (okay... canberra).

murrumbateman has always been a fascinating area to me, and it was great to get out there without wine on the agenda - not that a riesling wouldn't have gone down nicely! as hard as we tried, and within the capabilities of my mazda 3, we couldn't get any closer to the canola field, but i'm told there's plenty more around...

a short selection of the rest of my photos. truly an amazing country - friendly people, beautiful countryside, great food, and a wicked history. can't wait to go back and see how's it all changed in 10 years...

i've recently purchased a sigma 30mm 1.4 and have been keen on taking it out for a test drive - unfortunately saturday's rain kept me confined photographing whatever was around the house... which meant a photoshoot with my watch.    

however, on sunday the skies cleared and so we took the chance to head out to the sporadically developed suburb of bonner (somewhere around here: http://goo.gl/maps/b0Zer) and look back towards canberra. it was super windy, the ground was muddy, and there were beer cans everywhere, but it was still worth a look.

for most, a visit to pialligo usually means looking at plants, terracotta pots, and ornamental gargoyles. but not for me. i remembered driving, a while ago, past an old barn selling apples, and was keen to see if it was still there.

so after a quick trip to costco and a moderate salt overdose from their $3 pizza slice, my other half and i wandered down beltana road and found the old barn - sadly it was barren and bore a 'closed for 2013' sign out the front, but was still surrounded by plenty of autumn-ness.