A Happy New Year to all!

2010 was... interesting. Challenging even. I hope that 2011 will bring us more happiness, more cheer, more inner peace.

My resolutions:

1. Be happier.
2. Be more kind.
3. Be more patient.
4. Spread love, no matter the pain.

An Awesomely Traumatic Experience: Blue Mountains bushwalking to the Ruined Castle

I went to the Blue Mountains today to try the walk to the Ruined Castle. To save time, we started the walk from the Golden Staircase parking lot, since starting from Scenic World would have been an extra 1.5 hours - not so good if the walk was already 4 hours return.

We started the trek down the Golden Staircase and within the first 100 meters, we knew that the trip back would be challenging and a half. It was slippery, exhausting, a bit hazardous - and I loved it. Nothing like mortal fear to make a bush walk interesting, I say.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the bottom of the Golden Staircase, and began the 2 hour trek to the Ruined Castle. Most of the terrain was level, save for the last 30 minutes of the walk, closer to the Castle itself.

Just for the record, the Castle is actually made of ginormous boulders that, from afar, look like a ruined castle. If you can squeeze through the two boulders in order to reach the peak of the "Castle" (and coming down from that was actually no easy feat in itself), the view is absolutely fantastic. We had lunch in a makeshift picnic area nearby and had an awesome view of the valley.

The tricky part (and traumatic for me!) was the walk back to the car. Some of us opted for the longer but relatively more level walk to the Scenic Railway, which is the world's steepest railway (according to the Scenic World pamphlet, at least). Three of us decided to brave the trek up the Golden Staircase, and that was where I hit trouble.

I think athletes call it “hitting the wall” - when the body just refuses to go further. However, I think the more appropriate term for me is “watching the wall crash on me”. Not only did I need to have frequent stops to catch my breath and listen to my heartbeat pounding through my ears, but I began to experience cold chills, which are a sign that my body needed all my energy from my extremities (e.g. legs, arms) in order to keep my heart pumping. That is basically one step before fainting (and quite possibly death). I always remind myself that when I start hearing my dearly departed father calling me to join him in the pearly gates, it is not a good sign - and I definitely heard him whisper at one point in that walk up. I was so tired that I could barely whack away the leeches that stuck to my foot - many thanks to Reuben for actually having the energy to whack those things aside.

Rating:
Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains: 5 slices
Golden Staircase: 2 slices (but I will definitely try again once I get my fitness levels up!)

A New Camera Site: LensHero!

I have a confession to make: I actually spend a good hour trudging through lens sites for my Canon and finding out (a) how good each lens is, and (b) how much it costs, both in reputable Sydney stores and... well, all other legal sources of lenses. I am truly not a fan of grey imports but to be honest, the price difference is really making me rethink this.

But I digress.

In my hunt for camera lens reviews, I stumbled upon lenshero.com - and I have to say that I am impressed by its potential. Now, I am not going to go too deeply into why I find myself visiting the site repeatedly, but instead, allow me to summarise the site for you:

PROS: (see a sample here)

- Well thought out design

- Easy to see pros and cons

- Blurbs highlight what people think about the lens

- Contains the BEST summary page for the ideal lenses for your camera (See sample for Sigma lenses for Canon DSLRs)

CONS:

- Could definitely use more lens reviews

- More "professional reviews" would be ideal. Nothing wrong with B&H Photo comments, but they all seem to be 4.5 stars! (see another sample)

- Links to where to buy locally would be good too (but hey, I reckon I can do that one myself)

If there was one thing I could change about the site, it is to increase its database. There are some lens out there which are not in here, and that is a doggone shame, I reckon.

Still, Lens Hero is now a favourite of mine, and will definitely bookmark this. All camera enthusiasts out there should do too! :-) In fact, I think this site will be fantastic once people sign up and share their experiences with the lenses.

Review: Three slices out of five.