My two favourite types of sport are cricket and motor racing but other sports may get a mention in this category.
This bad photo is one of those ones that I kept because of the subject matter even though as a photo it is not very good. It was taken at a Hurricanes match that I went to with my friends Allyson and Matt a couple of years ago. Ally asked me to take a photo of her with Ricky Ponting but unfortunately where they were standing the floodlights really messed up the picture.
My walk to Geeveston to watch the filming gave me the opportunity to take photographs not only of the Rosehaven shooting but also a couple of local businesses operated by people I know. I thought it would be fun to share them here.
Makers on Church Street is one of my favourite shops in Geeveston. It is a cooperative where several creative people rent space to run their businesses. Majestic Rythmics is one of these and is run by my friend Nicola Oliver who moved to Tasmania from Queensland just a few years ago.
Nicola makes training outfits, uniforms and costumes for gymnasts, dancers, skaters and even circus performers assisted by her mum Deirdre who helps with cutting and sewing and her partner Dave who helped fit out the shop and does many of the jobs that need to be done in a small business. Nicola also teaches Rythmic Gymnastics in her spare time and coaches the Tasmanian state team .
Nicola and her partner Dave.
Nicola’s mum Deirdre relaxing at home.
When you visit Nicola’s shop in Geeveston you will see the most beautiful display of costumes. Here you can see some of Nicola’s work which I photographed in her shop.
Some of Nicola’s work.
Fairy costumes for big or little girls
Whenever I drop in to see them Nicola and Deirdre are busy cutting and sewing. It must take incredible patience to do the “blinging” with sequins and other shiny bits and pieces which Nicola does by hand. She will also turn her hand to making a fairy costume for a little girl or a smart outfit for a circus ringmaster.
Imagine putting these on by hand!
Bee themed costume.
Here are a couple more of Nicola’s creations. I love these wings. I am sure fairies would be queuing up for these if they came in miniature.
An amazing pair of wings.
Another lovely costume.
If you are wondering what Rythmic Gymnastics is exactly here is a quote from the website tas.gymnastics.org.au:
Rhythmic Gymnastics is the perfect combination of sport and art, linking expressive dance steps with skilful manipulations of the ball, rope, ribbon, hoop or clubs: throw, spin, spiral, roll and catch.
It is an Olympic event for women last held in Rio in 2016.
I’ve included some links at the end of this post if you would like to learn more.
Nicola sends orders all over Australia and overseas, frequently to New Zealand where her daughter Kez lives. Keziah Oliver competes in Rythmic Gymnastics and represented New Zealand at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In 2015 she attended the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria and proud mum Nicola went along as her coach, and supplied the costumes of course. Currently Kez is training for selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. I’ve included a clip I found of her on YouTube
https://www.facebook.com/MajesticRhythmics/
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) winner of the 2017 Australian Grand Prix
By Sven Mandel – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Today the Australian Grand Prix was held in Melbourne, won by Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari. It was the opening race of the season and quite an enjoyable race to watch despite the retirement of our Australian driver, Daniel Ricciardo, and the constant complaining of Lewis Hamilton on the radio to his engineers. It was a popular win with the commentators and especially with the “Tifosi” the Ferrari fans. I hope we will see a variety of winners this year as the racing is more interesting when you can’t be sure who will win and that has not been the case for many years.
I have posted these photos before, they were taken long ago in Adelaide when the race was held there. I still have many photos from the years between 1985-1995 but so far these are the only ones I have scanned. Although safety was not as good in those days I did love F1 then as it was exciting to watch the likes of Senna and Mansell, Piquet and Prost battling for the championship.
I was too disorganised to post anything this week so in the spirit of better late than never I’m posting my entry now.
Looking Up at the Night Sky Bellerive Oval
Looking Up at the Ricky Ponting Statue
Looking up at the ball
Looking up at the new grandstand
Looking up the steps at the new entrance to the cricket ground.
Looking up at the fans.
As I mentioned in a previous post Allyson, Matt and I attended a charity cricket match in Launceston during our trip to the north of Tasmania. The match was to benefit The Ponting Foundation set up by former Australian Cricket Captain Ricky Ponting and his wife Rihanna. The foundation raises money to help children with cancer in Tasmania, Ricky is from Tasmania and still likes to support his home state even though he no longer lives here. Launceston is his home town so the stadium there, currently known as University of Tasmania (UTAS for short) Stadium, was the venue for the game. Most major men’s cricket matches are played in Hobart but when Ricky retired from cricket a few years ago a tribute match was played here featuring many well known cricketers and former cricketers and a few footballers as well. It was a huge success and also a lot of fun. I should know as I was there.
Hawthorn v North Melbourne
This particular cricket match had a football flavour to it as it was the North Melbourne AFL club who play some matches in Hobart versus the Hawthorn AFL club who play some matches in Launceston. Ricky, a North Melbourne supporter, captained that team while former cricketer and Hawthorn supporter Damien Fleming captained the other. There were a few retired footballers and Peter Siddle who has played cricket for Australia included in the teams.
Allyson, Matt and I arrived early for the match after a three hour drive from Hobart through what seemed like endless road works. We were happy to buy some food and relax in our seats which gave us an excellent view. There was another cricket match on when we arrived so we had a chance to set up our cameras ready for when the main match began.
The Trophy
Later on the two teams came out to warm up and we took quite a lot of photos. I am not in the least bit interested in AFL and especially not in football teams from Melbourne so I did not take that many of them but concentrated on the three cricketers which soon became five cricketers when two of our favourite Hurricanes players, George Bailey and Tim Paine, arrived. We wondered why they had come in their uniforms and why they were having Go Pro cameras strapped to their heads. It turned out that they were to be the umpires.
I won’t describe the match in detail but let’s say there was some very entertaining cricket played, not all of it good and some very close, some might say dubious umpiring decisions at times. However, the umpires word is law so if the batting team is four runs short and the umpire says that the last ball of the match is a no ball and must be bowled again who are we to argue? I really could not tell from where I was sitting if it was or not but as it resulted in a win for Ricky’s team I am not complaining.
It was not the easiest photography to do because of the long shadows the stadium threw across the ground at the evening went on. This proved quite a problem to me as I had not used my 100-300 zoom lens at twilight before. Allyson’s lens seemed to cope with it better. I have used some of Allyson’s photos here as credited.
After the presentation of the trophy the players all stayed around signing autographs and having their photos taken with the fans. When we left more than half an hour after the match ended Ricky and one or two of the footballers were still patiently signing for the few fans that were still there.
Perth Scorchers player Ashton Agar at Blundstone Arena January 2016
Josh Hazlewood warming up.
As Australia wrap up a three test series against Pakistan here is a photo of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood taken during the Australia v South Africa Test Match in Hobart in November.
