Guess who got a new camera?

Guess who chose to use her credit card to buy a new camera instead of putting money towards her sizable credit card debt? But wait - I can justify it! It's a good one too... my weasly justification skills are top-notch (bearing in mind that I am a grown-up who is solely responsible for her finances and therefore doesn't need to justify her spending to anyone except herself, but I'll do it anyway). As my Loyal Readers know, generally I go home to Sydney for Christmas. This costs roughly $400 in return airfares and long-term parking at the airport. If I drive there it ends up being a comparable amount in petrol. On top of this are the Christmas presents. This year I didn't go to Sydney, I limited the people for whom I bought gifts, and of the gifts I did buy most of them came from Tear Australia's Useful Gift Catalogue. So really I saved hundreds of dollars I would normally spend at Christmas... that makes it A-OK to buy a new camera. Come on - who's with me??

Today I took the camera out for a spin and I had a great day. First I went to the William Ricketts Sanctuary. William Ricketts was a guy who bought 4 acres of bushland in 1930 and started filling it with sculptures. They're all clay (fired) but they're set in the bush to look as though they've grown out of the rocks and trees. It's an amazing, peaceful and beautiful place.

After a break for lunch at my favourite cafe I went to the National Rhododendron Garden. Again, beautiful and peaceful. I took my Bible, sat in the shade looking out over the valley and spent some time hanging out with God. Perfect.

I've included five photos from each place. To check out all the photos click on the links below, which will take you to my Picasa albums.

National Rhodendron Garden

William Ricketts Sanctuary

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