Hello everyone, yes its time for another Christmas letter. I do hope this finds you happy and well, and that you've had a good year. Its been another pretty typical year. I'm still enjoying only working half-time, only teaching in session 1. Also I've had 2 PhD students successfully complete this year, which is great! Otherwise its been much usual activites: dancing, folk festivals, walking, a little skiing, a bit of travelling, some relaxing (yes it is possible for me - on extremely rare occasons); just see the pictures:
Whilst still in Melbourne in early Jan I went to see the Dinostory sand sculpture exhibition in Frankston, and also Phil Price's kinetic sculptures at the McClelland Gallery (below). Then in Feb I went to Sydney for the Star Wars exhibition, and also caught up with Edwina at Darling Harbour (below). As usual I enjoyed exploring our wonderful countryside and landscapes. Back in Melbourne late Feb I was at Cape Schanck with my sister Robyn. Then In Nov I walked in to the Big Hole in Duea NP (below). Several friends were married this year, photo below is Jason and Ally posing for photos outside New Parliament House in Canberra. And I've regular video watching sessions with my SF friends, who also dress up for balls when given the chance, such as the Doctor Who inspired ones for the Time Travellers Ball (below).
Some more landscape photos with the lovely swimming hole on the Badga River at Numeralla which I enjoy when at the folk festival in Jan. And then a couple from my Gold Coast trip to AusCERT in May, when I caught up with friends Warren & Lynne. I went swimming at Burleigh Heads, and the next day we had a lovely drive and picnic at Crams Farm with Mt Warning behind.
I managed several days downhill skiing at Thredbo with my colleague Mike, and then a day cross-country skiing up at Charlotte Pass wth David (pic). And I got to a couple of science fiction conventions including Continuum5 in Melbourne in Aug (Ann & Sophie show off their masquerade costumes); and to Conflux 6 in Canberra in Oct where GoH Marc McBride whipped up an airbrushed painting!
And of course I've been busy dancing, and going to Folk Festivals. Including the National at Easter (photo of Bordonians dancing away at the Rock n Roll late night session), enjoying Mr Fibby (and many others) performing at the Kangaroo Valley Festival; and then camping out at the wonderful Majors Creek Festival where I saw Rebecca & Damien amongst many others.
So thats my selection of activities and photos for this year. However next year is going to be rather different. I'm heading back to NTNU in Trondheim, Norway for Mar-May, supported by an EU scholarship, as a visiting academic! I'll also be making brief visits to Uni's in Copenhagen (early Mar) and hopefully Helsinki. Then I'll be spending June in England with family and friends. I'm really looking forward to this. Hence I'll be teaching in session 2 at ADFA next year. But I still intend on being at the World SF Convention which comes back to Melbourne in early Sept! A big year!
And a few more photos that I didn't get room to squeeze into the printed letter.
First a photo from an evening of baroque music and dance arranged by Linda in celebration of the arrival of her new baroque style violin. Then a photo of The Scream (Eddie) battling a Ghoulish Karl at April's Halloween dinner at Lanyon in Oct. And another photo from the Majors Creek Folk Festival in Nov of the Bellyfusion bellydance display.
A photo from the grass-trees walk in the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in Jun. A view of my new solar panel installation at home, which was installed early Sept, but only finally connected and operational mid-Nov! And then another lovely photo from Floriade.
A photo of me out sailing on Lake Burley Griffin with the Bush Dancers group in Feb. And I've been doing quite a bit of dancing of course, here are a couple of photos of me in the GDS competition dancing with Kritika (ballroom) and Denise (ceroc). I've been doing lots of swing dancing, both Lindy Hop and West Coast, so a photo dancing with Danielle at Jumptown's big Canberrang festival in Aug. And to finish, a lovely shot of the Captain Cook Memorial Jet in Lake Burley Griffin in Spring, which I'm using as my e-card this year.
