The Street beside the mosque...

The name of Noamy's street translates from Urdu as 'the street beside the mosque.' An interesting name considering Pakistan is officially 97% Muslim. Actually, her house is within 'Azan' hearing distance of about 3 mosques.

Below is the mosque that gives us a nice wake up call every morning

Most houses here have flat rooves, used for staying warm in winter, and cooling off in summer. Few people have a large amount of land, so the rooves serve as a backyard for plants, playing, washing, and hanging out.

Noamy's place is quite high up giving a vantage point on life in her little street in this little suburb of a little city. Most of the surrounding homes are occupied by members of the extended family,

Things have been quiet in this area since the tragic assassination that happened yesterday. There was a report of a small demonstration in a nearby suburb, but nothing like what has been seen in other parts of the country. Please pray for peace in this troubled region.

Christmas Parties Gujrati Style

Here are some shots from Christmas eve and Christmas day celebrations with the family in
Gujrat, Pakistan.



There was lots of music, dancing and fun for members of the family of all ages.


 

The Auburn Mayoral Photographic Awards

These are my three entries into the Auburn Mayoral Photographic Awards. Thanks for Noamy for being a cooperative subject on a couple of cold evenings. The theme for the competition this year was "Who we are and how we live." It can be viewed for the next week in the atrium of the council chambers in Auburn.

This image to the left got me a 'Highly Commended' in the section for representing the local region. It was taken in the outdoor mall area of Auburn Central.

The image to the right was taken on Auburn Rd.

The below shot got me 3rd prize overall - woohoo!

Introducing Miss Gill

For any of my friends out there who haven't met Noamy yet, here are a couple of pictures from when we went to visit Grandma in Wollongong. In these shots we are down at Lake Illawarra.

This shot is taken around the point where Noamy (having never seen a pelican before) is asking "what is that?" After which I proceed to tell her "that's what happens when you feed the seagulls too much!"

She's quite handy with a camera herself, even though it was completely the wrong end of the day, she managed to make even me look half decent

Lake Illawarra Wildlife

Whilst our way (Noamy and I) to visit Grandma in Wollongong we stopped off at a Jetty on Lake Illawarra to have a bite to eat. In no time at all there was a large flock of seagulls all lined up waiting for a snack. We were also joined by a nice sized Pelican which was not at all shy about coming up for food. I thought it was going to attack Noamy for her last chip which would have thoroughly freaked her out and convinced her NOT TO FEED THE BIRDS!