Italy IV - Chia and Conference

Didn't get that many photos on the business end of this trip, was indoors most days listening to talks at the conference. At least I only had one day to spend fretting about my presentation.

I'm beginning to feel that travel photography is frustrating. It becomes a case of opportunity and luck rather than creating an opportunity or pursuing a photo. Yes, I know all about capturing a moment etc, but some of these photos, I just wish I had more time to compose or had more time to wait for better light. As it is, most of the photos shown here are at noon or early afternoon and everything looks flat with too much contrast. Anyway enough belly aching!

We managed a stop at an archaeological site at Nora, not far from where we were staying for the conference. Little did I know but we would be visiting the site again for our conference field trip... pity as archaeological sites are interesting only once.











I also discovered something very strange and disturbing printed on the coke cans in Italy. I'm not sure if it's a marketing ploy or if I'm committing cultural subterfuge by drinking coke in Italy.



Over the week we manage several other sites and on a windy day we spotted some kites on the horizon and went to investigate and discovered the mother of all kite surfing beaches!





I also made a day trip into Cagliari to have a walk around the town. My first real European city!





I got distracted by flowers too







The sun setting over the hills always reminds me of Brisbane



next post - Return of the Gio blogs and PISA!

Italy III - Cala Gonone - Coffees and Pebble beaches

On our way from Stintino, we decided we'd head over to the East coast which is said to be much more rugged. We took our poor Lancia off the beaten track, exploring the mountains. The rental company would have had conniptions!







And I am really getting into the coffee here, especially when you only have to pay 1 euro for something like this!







We found this photo near a wharf, I think it's something to do with making sure you use your parking brake



I realised I am not a big fan of pebble beaches once the novelty wears off, they are just damn uncomfortable. At least the water was clear and there seemed to be a whole heap of younger, germanic and french tourist/rockclimbers all smoking dope at this particular beach we were at. Probably to take their minds off the discomfort of the pebbles.



Whilst we were in Cala Gonone we heard of a beautiful isolated beach that was only accessible by foot (1.5 hour hike across the ridges) or by boat. We rose close to sunrise the following day and set out to the beach on foot. When we got there it was pristine with not a soul on the beach.







1 hour later we were distressed that a boat laden with people was motoring towards the jetty at the beach... and it was packed with noise children we could hear well off shore! Sure enough they landed at our beach, apparently the local schools organise beach cleaning weekends for the kids in return for a free boat ride. Still not happy Jan! So we hiked back (for an hour) and headed south for our conference



Next post - Chia and Domus Santa Maria

Italy II - Sardinia - My introduction to European topless bathing

Okay, Clare R and Myself eventually got to Alghero and after several abortive attempts to find accommodation we managed to score a choice place by the name of the Aloe B&B, named thus for its abundance of Aloe Vera plants. Alas we had to share a bed again, why is it that a male and female travelling together is instantly thought of as a couple. At least the bed was larger this time, and we got individual bathroom, sweet!

This was somewhat spoilt by two male Americans joining us on the second night. They were obviously a couple, and mischievously yelled at me across the balcony that adjoined our bedrooms, "hope your girlfriend doesn't mind naked men running around!" Oh how I wished Clare R was my girlfriend right there and then. I'm no homophobe, far from it, but I did feel it necessary to close the door lest their frivolity should wake Clare from her slumber



We had dinner in the old quarter of Alghero, with narrow streets and dimly light alley ways. This puppy was fed a diet of leftover dinners from our restaurant! Mmmm tasty seafood pasta!



The next day had in store a most beautiful location called Stintino Beach, which I have shown a previous picture of. It is complete with it's own sentinel nuraghe. We climbed the nearby hilltop which would have had some of beach goers wondering what crack those tourists were on.













Stintino was my first encounter with European topless bathing. These ladies don't hide behind sunglasses whilst lying face down on the beach all coy like us Aussies. They make eye contact with you and dare you to stare at them. Needless to say I didn't know where to look! Maybe it's my conservative Australian sensibilities that found me blushing under my tan. Thank goodness Clare R was with me or I would have felt even more like a dirty old pervert than I already am!

At least topless bathing isn't restricted to just the fine looking women on the beach, there were a lot of turn offs to be had if your gazed strayed in the wrong direction. I think European men need to stop wearing budgie smugglers, it's criminal.

Another stop near Alghero was Grotto di Neptune or Neptune's Cave. Set in limestone cliffs the caves were near the water's edge and had to be accessed by some 650 odd steps from the cliff top. Stunning scenery and clear Mediterranean water.





However we found at the bottom of the steps that, ferries also brought the less mobile to the caves... this included a boat load of smelly, noisy, elderly french tourists to join our guided cave tour.



I love caves, I love the photos you can take in them. However, when you have a bunch of grumbling french tourists shuffling along behind you with only a limited amount of time on the guided tour, there is only so much you can do with a camera with no tripod and only one flash! Still spectacular









Next stop - Calagrone

Italy I - Sardinia - No Sardines, lots of towers (Nuraghe)

These Nuraghe number in the 30,000. They are scattered all over the island and some date back to 600BC



I posted a photo a while ago, hoping to post some more throughout my trip. Alas it was not to be, with too much to do and far too little internet access to be able to do it (God I missed google). I've finally arrived in Singapore (almost 3 weeks later) and have a consistent internet connection for the time being. I am also well aware of how dusty my lenses are so apologies for the dust bunnies.





The lovely Clare R and I hired a trusty Lancia for our tour of Sardinia prior to our conference call in the south. As lovely as the Lancia was to drive, I think we both wished we had an open topped roadster. We wended our way up the western coast thinking that an island 200km long and 100km wide shouldn't take that long to explore. Boy were we wrong! Trying to negotiate the "scenic" mountain passes took the best part of a day just to work our way to the top of the ranges!





We passed through some scenic mountain towns and rugged countryside.



I must admit the Western Beaches are spectacular, every bit as impressive as any we'd see in Australia. On our way north along the western coast of Sardinia to a town in the north called Alghero we passed through a riverside hamlet named Bosa.













Next Blog - Alghero

Pure Blonde 1/2 Epic

Update: Official final times!
Nige: 2:34:39

• placed 1st in a field of 31 contestants
• would have come second in the Elite men category
• An Elite athlete

compared to...

Hash: 3:26:37

• placed 15th in the same field
• would have beaten none of the Elite men
• Ahhh... mediocrity at it's best

Rest of results here


Firstly congratulations to Nige for unofficially coming first in the 18-29 category for the 50km Pure Blonde half epic (we are waiting for them to post the times, but we're pretty sure he did), and congrats to Damo and Adam for also making the grade.

Why on earth would anyone ever pay $102 dollars so that they could ride 50km in as short a time as possible? Well I did, and I have to say I found myself wishing on some parts of the ride that I didn't. The hills were tall and the tracks muddy. The only saving grace was the long down hills where I could pass all those riders fitter than me on the uphill. I also suffered the ignominy, as they passed me again on the next hill.

I say passing some one up a hill is not as glory ridden as flashing by them on the downhill with no hands at the anchors!

I think if I do this again I would like to train a little more so that I can actually ride more of the hills rather than having to dismount so often. Some quick stats for the day are shown in the output from my heart rate monitor.


Thick red line is heart rate
Blue is speed
Dark red is altitude
The triangles at the bottom are pace indicators showing the distance I covered in 10 minutes, ie large triangles = fast pace, small triangles = slow pace
Orange line = temperature

Ride time (time spent moving the bike as opposed to standing around trying to suck in oxygen) = 3hr 5mins
Total time = 0846 - 1207 (so I spent about 21 minutes gasping for breath or working out cramps)
I drank about 5L of water and consumed three energy gels

Distance ridden = 52.4km
Max speed = 53.3km/h
Mean speed = 17.1km/h
Max BPM = 170
Mean BPM = 149
Ascended 875m

The most amazing thing I found was the 5th or 6th, 110km Full Epic Pro/Elite rider arriving at the finish line at about the same time as I did! I wonder how much more he had to pay for his pain?

Join the Joyride! Ahh who doesn't love Roxette?

I'm so very afraid of clowns.

Just because I really dig Roxette doesn't make me a pansy! No, most females born between between 1973 to 1982 are putty in your hands when you "mistakenly" play hits like the following and look all shy and coy as though you have revealed your "sensitive" self to them. Do you remember...

• (Do you get) Excited?
• Come back before you leave.
• The Look.
• Never is a long time.

or my perennial fave

• Listen to your heart.

Anyway this has got nothing to do with my MO for seducing ladies or 90's chick rock but rather a continuation of my photos from the Ekka.

I don't think I was paying enough attention to what I was doing and was too excited by the prospect of a Dagwood dog and a strawberry ice cream. The only one I was really felt I got it right was the clowns above *shudder*. The rest were just happy snaps.


I wasn't offering it to Ames, just using her for scale, it was damn big... almost as big as her head! Not that I'm insinuating Amy has a big head, just it was a very big ice cream.


Mmmm giant inflatable cow


Lack of attention = bad framing




I cheated, this is a composite of about 5 frames. I'm going to practice this at riverfire this weekend and hopefully get some "real" ones!

I'm thinking more and more that a ultra wide angle lens would be a good acquisition, especially for travel. Though I think it would have a limited use, but nevertheless invaluable. Nikon's 12-24 is too expensive, but the Sigma 10-20 is looking tempting.