camminando | An Early Morning Hike at the You Yangs

It was a quite beautiful chilly morning after the longest night of the year (talking about the southern hemisphere, of course). Joe of HikeFit led a three-hour walk at the magical You Yangs. We hiked through eucalyptus forests, leading to open breathtaking vistas of the landscape stretching between Geelong and Melbourne, including water views of the Corio Bay. In the first hour of the hike we faced the winter pale sun heading east in the East-West loop. The sky was clear and the air cool, yet comfortable. Walking in nature always brings mental clarity and comfort.

The hike leader: Joe Ma of hikefit

A June Solstice Celebration

It has been a different, yet meaningful June solstice celebration, marking the beginning of summer north of the Equator and winter in the southern hemisphere, or the longest night becoming the shortest, whatever...

Thanks Phillipa and Mike for hosting such a wonderful gathering! Although it felt unusual for me celebrating the June solstice by a fire, I felt home.

camminando | Mesmerizing Light: Dog Rocks at Batesford

Yesterday, 15 June, I experienced one of those places pervaded by a special, undefinable energy: Dog Rocks. The granite outcrops is located near the town of at Batesford (Victoria, Australia) and was believed by the Indigenous people to be haunted. I was mesmerized by the changes of light from a cloudy afternoon toward the low sun setting in this almost winter day. The place has been recorded here in chronological order from top to bottom.

camminando | Quantifying My Geospatial Self at Portarlington

My first visit to Portarlington brought memorable walks from the fishing pier to the ramp about two kilometer west from the historic town of Portarlington (early 1800).

performances | Geelong, "1984" at GPAC

A multimedia rendering of  the "1984" novel opened on Thursday at the Geelong Performing Art Center GPAC. The dystopian novel by George Orwell is yet a dark rendering of the many facets of surveillance and lost of privacy almost all of us are facing today. Even if, hopefully in a positive bright way, the connection with remote places brought by social networks, GPS, smartphones and cameras, are not far from the invasive "big brother" of 1949 novel. Food for thought, and sensory dark and obsessive feast for the eye, was brought by the towering screens in the set design, where technology of the remote video images was in contrast with the set portraying the real squalid places of the action.

Shake and Stir theater company cast portraying Winston Smith and O'Brien

camminando | Quantifying My Geospatial Self While Viewing the Sun Rising at Eastern Beach

 

Dealing with the stress created by the School of Architecture during my PhD journey has become an endurance test. Walking and enjoyment of the natural beauty of Geelong offers some comfort, especially in witnessing the sun rising after a sleepless night. I continue quantifying my geospatial presence -and related biosensing- with Google My Tracks.