When planning my trip to Sydney, I was originally scheduled to only work until Friday and return on Saturday. However, I asked if I could stay an additional day just so that I could have 1 whole day to do a bit of sight-seeing before my return to Tokyo.

It was approved… but later turned out that I had to go in to work on Saturday anyway. Honestly, I wasn't too terribly surprised – it happens often enough if you work in IT. I started at 8AM Saturday morning, and managed to finish around 1PM, so I at least had the whole of the afternoon off.

Since I didn't want to stay out too late (I had to leave for the airport at 6AM and still hadn't packed), my friend suggested a quick trip to Taronga zoo. Normally I'm not too keen on zoos since the animals always tend to look rather depressed in their cages, but I have to say that Taronga zoo is pretty nicely designed. One of the highlights of the visit was a bird display, and I got a shot of this cool hawk(?). He demonstrated how his wild relatives would smash eggs to get at the contents inside.

I have more shots from the zoo, but those will be uploaded to another album when I have more time. For now, this will do for my #creative366project shot of that day. 🙂

Good night from Tokyo!

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 25, 2012 – The littlest griffin

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Australia has some spectacular sunrises and sunsets. I remember as my plane was getting ready to touch down on Monday morning, looking across the aisle out the windows, and having my jaw literally drop as I took in the view of the sunrise. It was simply breath-taking, and I really wished I had reserved a window seat instead of the aisle.

On the 24th, I went with my friend to the Sydney Tower after work to get a birds-eye view of the city, and while it wasn't quite as stunning as the view from the plane, it was still pretty awesome. 🙂

#creative366project

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 24, 2012 – Sunset Moonrise

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I went to see my first opera with my friend on the 23rd at the Sydney Opera House. It was a performance of the Magic Flute and actually quite fun. I'd always imagined operas to be rather boring, but it was quite humorous and I enjoyed it very much – though I admit I was glad for the subtitles during the singing portions!

After the show, as I was heading back to the hotel, I wanted to grab a shot of some of the pillars, but instead started shooting the people walking through. I'm glad I did as I rather liked the way this turned out.

It's far too late in Tokyo now, so I'm ending this and saying goodnight!

#creative366project

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 23, 2012 – Caught in the moment

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On Wednesday after work, I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in over 5 years. It was good to catch up, and thanks to her I was motivated enough to at least walk around the city a bit (otherwise, I feel sure I would have slept the evenings away at the hotel).
As we were walking around trying to figure out where we would eat, I saw this off in the distance and for a few moments was horrified that some terrible accident had taken place. As we drew closer though, I realized it was actually a sculpture/artwork.

I don't quite know what it's supposed to signify (boulders and cars make for an ill-fated pair?), but it certainly drew my eye and ended up being my #creative366project photo of the day 🙂

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 22, 2012 – Totaled

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After sleeping a solid 9 hours on Monday night, I felt recharged enough to assemble my tripod and head out for a walk after work on Tuesday. What I had intended to only be a short 1-2 hour walk ended up lasting for 5+ hours as I walked along the ferry piers, across the Harbour Bridge (and back again), before finally heading back to the hotel around 11PM.

Halfway across the Harbour Bridge, it suddenly started to sprinkle and while I was staying huddled under the lookout point with a few other strangers, fireworks started going off on the side of the bridge! Due to the wind and rain it was quite hard to grab good photos, and honestly most of them didn't turn out well at all.

This was one of the only decent firework shots of that night, and I figured it was good enough for the day's #creative366project entry.

Need to crash as I feel a bit of a tickle in my throat and hope to avoid coming down with anything serious.

Goodnight from Tokyo!

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 21, 2012 – Fireworks over the Sydney Opera House

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This was the only shot I took on February 20th – in fact, I almost missed taking a shot altogether on that day…

My flight landed in Sydney a little before 8AM, I took a taxi to the hotel to check my luggage in and immediately after that I headed straight to the office. Since I don't sleep well (if at all) on flights, by the time afternoon came around, I was falling asleep at my office desk. I packed it in around 17:30, headed back to the hotel, and collapsed on my bed, falling asleep instantly.

I woke up around 9PM since I was sprawled out rather uncomfortably (I hadn't even gotten out of my work clothes!) and realized that I still had to take a photo!

Peeking out the window, I saw that it had started raining and honestly, I was still too tired to even contemplate going outside. I wasn't even hungry, all I wanted to do was sleep.

In the end, I just put my camera to the window, fired off a few shots (you can see the smears of water from the rain on the window), changed out of my work clothes, and went back to bed.

At least I got a shot for my #creative366project album, even if it isn't the most creative (^^;

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 20, 2012 – Sydney GPO clock tower

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I just got back to Tokyo tonight after a week-long business trip to Sydney. Lots of catching up to do in terms of email and G+, but I did manage to take a daily photo.

I wasn't able to post anything during my trip though, simply because 1) after 12-hr workdays I wasn't keen on going back to the hotel simply to sit down in front of a computer again, and b) even if I had been inclined to try posting, wifi/lan access wasn't free at the hotel and I was definitely not about to pay 20 dollars a day for an hour or two of internet access.

I'll write more about the trip to Sydney as I catch up with my #creative366project photos, but for now I'm just putting up the photo I took on the 19th, as I was on my way to Narita airport.

As I'm quite wiped out, and I have to be up to go to work in about 6hrs, I'll say goodnight here.

In album Creative 366 Project (1 photo)

February 19, 2012 – Travel

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