Oktoberfest was pretty fun! I went to the tavern in uni with two of my close mates and somehow managed to get in with my driving license (a feat which usually doesn't work out in most pubs here...)! Had really good cider...and had a nice time dancing to the music too. Some people were so drunk that they were literally twerking and getting 'high' on the dance floor. My mates and I did our own dance moves in our little corner...and had quality time together :)
The pic below basically summarises how "bipolar" Perth's weather was over the weekend. We were experiencing really beautiful, sunny weekdays, and then the weather turned absolutely foul over the weekend, with flash flooding, thunderstorms, hail (in some parts of the city) and lots of rain. Such a sudden change! I'm so glad I managed to enjoy some sunshine during the weekdays, and am now brown (aka tanned) and happy.
Regardless of weather conditions, I'd always go for my quick hot chocolate "fix"...in Fremantle. It's convenient and people there are so friendly! I had chocolate cake alongside the cup of hot choc - so that was good enough! Last slice of the chocolate cake in the shop too!
And the day before the hot chocolate "fix", I was pigging out on awesome Korean food...I haven't had bibimbap for quite some time! And of course - I'll never say no to kimchi!
Gosh - I've been eating so much lately! Then again - it's normal, considering that I'm a food lover. Surprisingly I haven't put on any weight...in fact I did lose some weight!
"Bipolar" weather does lead to interesting surprises...sometimes. When I was bumming around miserably at home, I noticed that the clouds were starting to clear. Initially I thought it was just temporary, but after a while I noticed the sun coming out and the dense clouds disappearing. So I took my camera and headed out spontaneously...just in time for sunset...
Sunset's probably my favourite time for photo-taking. Soft lighting, long shadows, orangey-yellow hues...so beautiful! I made full use of the soft lighting to take pics of the beautiful architecture in Paris and Dijon (e.g. when I went to
Montmartre and
Les Invalides in Paris, and when I was exploring the
small streets of Dijon after conference sessions). Anyway - this time I tried my luck with the WA Shipwreck Galleries...and I like the soft lighting very much!
Headed to the beach after that, and spotted this cute little tortoise sand sculpture :) What a pleasant surprise! It looked pretty "chill", and was camouflaged pretty well against the sand...
The old jetty looked pretty good too! Some kids were trying to climb up when I was there. One day I'll climb up there for a better view of the sunset...pretty sure it ain't too hard!
I like cloudy sunsets very much - they always add texture and colour to my pics. I initially thought the "mackerel" clouds (the two pics below) would stay - but they disappeared by the time the sunset was over. Ah well - I had other priorities...although I'd really love to see a "mackerel sky" sunset someday...
The "mackerel" clouds texture was coincidentally similar to the texture of the sand on the beach! So that was definitely something cool!
This cloud formation here (in the distance) was the main thing that caught my attention. I was taking the pics above when I noticed the sun beginning to disappear underneath these parallel lines...and then I noticed rays of light peeking out...
Needless to say - out came the telephoto lens...and I took as many pics as I could.
It was so fascinating to see how the rays of light changed position and briefly illuminated a part of the ocean...but this quickly disappeared. The clouds moved pretty fast...and it was windy...so I had to take the pics as quickly as I could. I was literally looking through my viewfinder the whole time - no breaks!
And finally we were left with two rays on either end - which formed a perfect mirror image. One disappeared as the clouds moved...but the other one persisted till the very end.
The final final ray of light from the sky...in its full glory...before it disappeared totally...
And here's a collage of how the skies changed that evening...from many rays of light to a few...to the last persistent one. Pretty amazing! This collection of pics has officially become one of my favourites, alongside the
Unreal Clouds one (with wispy bits)...
The drama didn't end there. The moment I switched positions, I noticed rows after rows of parallel lines, formed by lots of greyish clouds! Some were close together (like the ones above), others were spaced out. Perfectly parallel to each other too...well, almost....
Headed over to the fishing boat harbour for a better view of the parallel clouds - it was pretty good! And I climbed up some rocks too - that gave me a good view of the rock barrier separating the fishing boat harbour from the open sea.
It was really cold out here...and the winds were quite strong...so I literally had to stand very still.
Spotted these stacked clouds on the way back too - and decided to take a pic of them...they didn't last very long, and by the time I decided to leave, the stacked formation had kind of disappeared.
Prawn pasta after sunset. It was so convenient to get to Cicerello's - the fishing boat harbour was just 5 minutes away from where I was! I was so cold that I was actually shivering when placing my order, and the poor waitress had to ask me to repeat my order! Fortunately the shivering kind of died down, and I managed to tell her that I wanted prawn pasta.
I sat next to a fish tank with some lionfish in it. The tank had a pirate theme, and it was so suitable for the lionfish - considering that these fish are really deadly. The fin rays look really beautiful, but they contain venom. People around me were marvelling at how graceful these fish are. I was particularly fascinated with the biggest one in the tank - it was so gorgeous and elegant. It took me a while to get a pic of it - as it refused to 'pose' for me. Eventually I think it gave up and just had to comply. And when it did, I had such a nice time taking pics of it!
I like how my 'model' ended up swimming next to this skull. It's like sending a message across - "Don't touch me, I'm dangerous. Mess around with me, and you will end up dead...and I will end up swimming around your skull!"
Smaller lionfish on the deck of the pirate ship...and the big one just decided to glide by when I was framing this pic. The small ones were pretty cute! And so beautiful...
The lionfish had some 'companions'...mainly these black fish that minded their own business and swam around happily. They didn't bother the lionfish, and they seemed to have their own stuff to do.
No epic waves this weekend - but about 2 weekends ago, I managed to get some pics of the epic waves. I'm waiting for the next opportunity for epic waves...I love taking pics of these!
Finally, let's end this post with a mandatory hot choc pic. Yup - I went for another cup of hot choc after sunset - as I was hungry again! I love how the chocolate flakes on top are "strategically" aligned with the melted chocolate on the side of the cup!
More pics to come in the near future! I should start planning my weekends now - these few weekends have been unplanned, totally spontaneous...and quite disorganised. Or should I say "organised chaos"?
