update......

What have we been up to since coming home from Tumby Bay???

1. Bookwork coming out of my ears. - Accounts, Reconciling, BAS.

2. Covering School Books. This year was a team effort. Without my asking Kym sat down and using my boner scoring tool, he rubbed out any bumps and lumps in the contact. The kids applied their own name label stickers and I wrote on the subject names. 14 rolls of contact later and about 3 hours we were all done. Easy Peasy. I didn't dare say anything to Kym while he was on the job as he's likely to down tool and leave the table, but I did appreciate his help so I said so after it was all done.

3. Impromptu coffee catch up with the girls at the Bakery.

4. Finalising two requested briefs for scrapbooking magazines.

5. Sorting out our travel itinerary for later on this year. :)

6. Tunarama Saturday. We took in the Street Parade, sideshow alley, headed out to support Kym with his Clay Target Shooting for the Pt Lincoln 2 day shoot, had a scrummy seafood tea out there, and back in for the fireworks. 

I was in a position to be able to head out on the wharf were access is restricted to those who have gate passes. Out here I can shoot back to the jetty with the flotilla of boats silhouetted in front of the fireworks.

7. Sunday was a total relax day for the kids. They were stuffed.

8. I've been working with Regional Development Australia Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula with their updating of images for their banner and advertising to promote tourism on the EP. I've finalized their requirements today.

9. Planning out Tuesday for a day shooting with John White.

10. And enjoying the sleep ins while we still can. School will be upon us and the luxurious sleep ins stop.

11. Picking up the Peacock tail feathers. He had them all off in 5 days flat. And we lost the last of the peacock chicks on that last hot day. I think there is a combination of factors while this years clutch didn't survive. Tis very sad.

More images of the FIREWORKS on my Tiff Firth Photography page on Facebook.

tumby - day 23

I haven't unpacked the ute from yesterdays beach gear, (kayaks, waveboard, skimboard, boogie boards, sunshade, life jackets, swim bag and stuff. So Kym took an early trip home in my ute to pop them away.

By 8am we were up, breakfasted and by 9.30am I had it all packed up, showered, changed and ready to go. Kym arrived with the trailer so I could take the bikes while he towed the boat with his ute.

There's nothing quite like a vehicle full of sand that says 'what an awesome time at the beach'.

Whilst we were still not ready to go (well me really, I think the kids had had enough by now) it's rather nice to be home. Unpacked. 3 loads of washing. all dried. changed all the bed sheets. school books covered (DH helped and that was a bonus). even had time for a leisurely lunch hour at the Five Loaves Bakery with Stephen Sykes, Pam Hewstone and Judy. 

Big bookwork day tomorrow and then hit the pool with the GoPro and kids. Bring it on!!

tumby - day 22

We had a leisurely nothing sort of morning. The kids are all beached and fished out. Tsk Tsk. Poor things lol.

I've been wanting to do this shot of my summer skin colour for the last couple of days. I don't go out in the sun to get a tan. I just brown up. I'm anal about sunblocking myself and the kids. Every. single. day. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring. According to my family tree there is Egyptian blood in me so perhaps this is where my family's colour comes from.

Late morning saw us at the shops and then we went exploring and we ended up at Back Beach. I've been here before a couple of times but the kids haven't a chance to explore it yet. Today was the day. I literally had to boot them out of the ute and send them down the beach with a bucket and spade in hand to go cockling.

Mid afternoon saw Kym back from fishing and squidding. He had quite a few to clean so he headed to a friend's pontoon in the Marina to clean them. There has been a Stingray that has been a regular visitor at the Tumby Bay Boat Ramp for some time. My estimation is that it would be 6 foot from wing tip to wing tip. And there is a smaller 4 foot one that was with it as well. The large one has a shortened tail, no barb and a recent wound to it's back. I suspect it came too close to a prop on a boat. Watching the two of them gliding around was truly amazing. This day will long live in the memory of the kids.

I had the GoPro set to shoot a frame every 2 seconds and to keep it from possibly smearing underwater you lick the lens. I just about fell off my chair on Tuesday evening when I came across this shot on the GoPro from the afternoon with the Stingray.

 Geeeez. You just gotta laugh don't ya.


Being able to see things so clearly underwater really got Sean keen to go snorkelling. Something I've been trying to get him to have a go at for the last 3 weeks. Of course he had to pick the last day here to give it a go lol. He loved it. I took the GoPro with us to make it fun for him and then when I had enough of that, I watched him to his own thing on the Sandbar. He should be right to go swimming with the Sea lions and Dolphins that we are planning in March at Baird's Bay.

With tonight being our last night here, Annie suggested we go out for tea. And my chilli satay prawns were yum.

Tonight is attempt three at getting the star trail right. I had it in the bag last night, but due to lens distortion correction in Photoshop, it pulled the circle star trail into an oval. So I'm going out again. And much to my joy, I found that Stacey N was in Tumby and still up. (via Facebook). So with 5 minutes notice, she and Snowy were in the car with me and heading out at 11.30pm to give it a whirl.

By 12.30am we were back in town with the shot in the bag (again). 1 frame took 30 minutes for exposure and trails. And that's the only shot I took. Perfect.

Tomorrow is packup and heading home.

:(

tumby - day 21

Mary and Annie were up by 7.30 to fishing at Second Creek with Kym. Once they were on their way, I snuck back to bed for a bit longer.

By 10 I cycled down to where Sean had his sleep over and promptly came back. There was not a sound or a movement to be seen and I didn't want to knock on the door to wake them up. By 10.45 I sent a txt and returned when I had the reply that everyone was up.

I collected Sean and we headed off to Second Creek to see how the girls were going. They had several squid and tommies on board, and by the time we got there, they were off the boat and playing on the beach.

We stayed for an extra hour or so while they played and explored the pools of water and the big round rocks the receding tide had revealed.

When we were ready to leave, I asked the crew if they wanted to head back or go exploring. Exploring got the nod, and I took a track that lead to who knows where. After a bit of 4WDriving, we came out on the sandbar on the other side of Second Creek. Something that I've wanted to do for aaaggggeeeeessssss. And it was low tide and perfect for running on. So the kids happily went were I asked them to go for a few (hopefully) tourist images.

When we came back to town it was icecream rewards all round. 

When we got back to the Apartment, we found this little fella hanging around. He must have been hand reared as he was not at all timid of us and tolerated us stroking his back. I didn't want it to be picked up or fed by the kids, otherwise it probably wouldn't go. But it was very entertaining for an hour or so. I did get some great shots with the canon as well as a quick shot with the phone.

I shot some video too from the phone, and I'll get round to posting that here shortly.

Mid afternoon saw us at the Bakery with Mel Crosby and her girls. We took ice coffee/coffee to the playground for the little girls to play for a while. She sure is a busy Mum, but it great to catch up again.

Late afternoon saw me having a cat nap while the kids occupied themselves in the same room as me on the laptop/desktop. I'm heading out late tonight to catch my star shot, and I need to get up some energy.

Kym cooked Calamari for tea and we all took in a DVD lying on our big bed. I love those snuggly family times.

I've caught up on the blogging and am about to head out to catch the night.

seeya.

tumby - day 20

Today was the day we were supposed to go home.  And it feels so wonderful that we are not going for another few days. That was so the right decision to make.

A bit of a sleepin this morning. The kids were so good. They read their books till I stirred. By mid morning we were up and about. What a lovely day. I made a phone call to Mel (Cootie) Crosby and we were off to Pt Neill for the rest of the day.

What a bloody awesome day we all had. I put up the Coolibar shade on the lawns, spread out the picnic blankets, pulled out the kayaks, the wave board, the skim board and just let the kids go for it. There were 4 other couples and us. Lots of kids having a big bunch of fun.

 Annie wanted me to take a photo of her waving to Paige.  xxxxxxxxxx

Brigette Siebert met us on the lawns with the kids and we were off up the jetty to go jetty jumping. This is a close as I get to jumping.  :-P  (this is also my new profile pic on FB)

Before I knew it, it was past 6pm and we had to head back to Tumby to swap kids over for sleepovers and I wanted to shot the night sky on a special project.

Teas had, Mary stayed here, while Sean stayed over there. He was very excited. He'd be the alpha male. Annie and Mary weren't long out of bed. We all have had a big day on the beach and were puffed.

Once they were settled, I headed out to search for Balls of Light in a spot that I've being eyeing off, waiting for the right moonlight. I had equipment failure when my torch came away from the rope I had it attached too. Lucky I saw it whizz away and it stayed lit when it landed in the dark under a bush, so I could retrieve it. I thought it was good time to stop and have a go the following night. That and the fact the blister I had created by swinging the light had popped and was bleeding at this point.  lol... the things I do to get 'that' shot.  I don't quite have it yet, so there is no pic of this night to show. Tomorrow night I hope to have it

7 Dots Studio Feature

Kim Price and myself have been featured on the blog and website of 7 Dots Studio. Scrapbooking Memories asked Kim and I to use 7 Dots Studio papers and alphas to create a LO and a card in the Christmas Edition of SBM.

Kim tagged me last night to let me that our work was featured. I'm a little bit chuffed that my LO and card led the feature.

What a sweet way to start the day.

tumby - day 19

Saturday morning was a lazy morning. A little bit cooler outside, which has been rather nice. Kids took a ride out with Kym to Ungarra to check on the Gun club while I worked on some photos.

I had a plan to go out on the sandbar at low tide with a bunch of kids, bubble wands and the camera (of course). What a blast. I reckon I'll have a new profile pic when I get them sorted later. (pics to come).

Sophie and I took the (adult) kayaks for a paddle down the channel and explore the marina. I wish I could take my phone with me to get some pics on the way, but I just don't trust myself not to fall of the damn things. And I wasn't organised with the GoPro camera, as it was a split second decision to go out on the water.

I've been waiting and hoping the yachts would race while I'm here, and today was my lucky day. I sat on the beach and just hoped the yachts would come together for a good shot.

They did.  (real pics to come).

The Evan's girls and my two have been catching up a fair bit over the last day or so, and they had a bit of fun on the swings at the Apartments. (pics to come)

Every year a few of us catch up for a Big Girls Night Out. This year only a couple of us could get together with a new friend and it was easier for a Big Girls Night In instead.

A very late night and a good night had.

tumby - day 18

What a difference in weather from one day to the next. Yesterday's stinking hot 44 followed by today's 24. Damn near felt cold lol. I did have jeans on all day today, first time since being here. The kids even thought it wasn't warm enough to get in the water.

We took a stroll up the jetty. Annie's hat blew off and a lovely young chap on the beach very kindly jumped into the water to retrieve it for her. He just did it without even being asked. So great to see young kids doing good deeds.

I took a few shots on the jetty as the water was quite luminescent at that stage of the day. (pics to come). We swung into the IGA for our daily short shopping list and then the kids decided they just wanted to do nothing for a while. LOL. That lasted 30 mins as I had us out of the door visiting Sophie. While we there I took a few photos with the Camera Club's monthly subject in mind - eyes- which led into a quick 10min shoot with her girls. And their dog FiFi. I can't show the girls as I haven't asked permission too, but there are just gorgeous shots of them.

When we got back to the cabin I asked Sean to do his cross-eyes, something that Annie hasn't quite got a handle on yet.  (just looking at this makes my eyes hurt)

We had an extremely lazy afternoon and Annie was asked over to the girls house for a sleepover, so tonight I am the alpha chick in da house!! :-)

Kym had a bit of a boys day today and we didn't see him at all. My turn tomorrow and there are a few of us having a 'big girls night in'. (not here tho phewwwwww)

looking forward to that one!!!

Soph dropped in tonight for a couple of coldies and chat for a while. Love having visitors. CC always goes down better with a friend.

tumby - day 17

With a forecasted 44 degrees for Tumby today, we decided to get up early and hit the beach before the sun had too much sting. Kym ended up going fishing so the kids and I loaded up the kayaks and headed near the jetty.

At 9am we were in the water and it really was just so lovely. I had the GoPro camera on video mode on a chest harness with Sean while he was out paddling around. When I watched it later on I just about wet myself laughing. For the 20 mins duration of the clip, there was a hilarious commentary by his truly. Most about ragging Annie, but it was just a scream. Now she can't wait for her turn to get payback.

(images posted with permission)


By 11am the breeze was just starting to pick up and become that foul hot Northerly. We up-stumped  went to the library to change books, swung past the IGA for a few supplies, grabbed a couple of DVD's from Hale's and holed up for the rest of the day. Thank goodness for aircons!!!

I met Brigette and her daughter at 4pm to head to Lincoln for scrapnight at Scrapworkz. We both had a couple of things to do before hand and we decided to have an early Chinese tea at the Ming Inn restaurant  That turned out to be a very wise decision as the breeze really picked up just before the front came thru and it was truly awful to be outside. Again aircon is bliss.

Amy and I had each other primed up to wear our -lol- same same dresses that night. She bought hers on Jetty Road in Glenelg and I bought mine from a little dress shop in Cummins. Go figure!

The night had cooled off nicely by the time we were heading back to Tumby and Pt Neil. Nice to feel a cooler breeze.

tumby bay - day 16

Wow. 11 hours of straight sleep last night. I must have been tired. Feel much refreshed now.

We are so not wanting to go home, so I took myself down to the office at Modra Apartments and extended our stay for a few extra days. Yay.

This morning was planned to take the kids out on the biscuit at Ski Beach. Annie took to it like a duck to water and after only a little coaxing, Sean was on the biscuit with her. (pics to come). They both were on it last year and Sean's confidence took a little dent when he came off it. He doesn't like to go too quick for the biscuit to start planing across the water, so it dug it's nose in and he came off. So its damn wonderful to see him on it with a bit more gusto this year.

Sean came back to town with me in the ute, and Annie rode the biscuit all the way in to the head of the channel from Ski Beach. That's a fair way for her to hang on. She did so well.

Sean had a quick shower and I took him for his haircut. There's a lady here in Tumby, and the barber in Lincoln that cuts his hair well. The others, not so much.

We ripped into the shop for the daily supplies and we all had lunch. The kids decided they wanted a little downtime after this morning's activity so they relaxed with a DVD.

By mid afternoon the tide was up enough for Kym to take me out in the boat for a few of the photos I had been planning on getting. The kids were with us in the kayaks near the jetty while Kym quietly maneuvered the boat to where I needed to be for the shots I wanted to capture.

I really wanted to showcase the beautiful clear waters of Tumby and the colours that are here.

Kym dropped me off at the steps halfway up the jetty and I strolled back to the beach. While walking back along the jetty, I had an idea of another shot, but I needed my filters from the camera bag at the apartment. So while the kids ate their icecream rewards for helping me out with the kayak shots, I ripped back to pick up what I needed.

This is that 5 second long exposure shot.  (posted with permission)

Once back at the Cabin I had a cold cider or two and contemplated tea, while sitting out in the shade on our back lawn.

So very glad we can stay longer.

tumby - day 15

What a day. Annie and Kym headed off to Second Creek mid morning. Sean and I headed down the street to collect the Skimboard that Annie and I were checking out yesterday. Annie and Sean have pooled their pocket money and bought it themselves. Loving their co-operation!

Sean had a little funny moment this morning that I just had to capture. He stuffed one of my tops down his shirt, turned around and said, "Mum, now I have boobs like you!!"  What a corker!

By lunch Sean and I were at Second Creek. Him on the kayak while I was setting up the Cooloroo shade. I just had it up by the time the Modra men arrived.

Two of the boys promptly went out fishing with Kym while the rest of the kids kayaked, skimboarded and played cricket on the beach.

After a while two more Modra men went out while I watched the kids on the shore. Lots of fun, laughs and just a bit getting wet.

images posted with permission

It was just perfect on the beach for the afternoon. Couldn't have asked for better.

I'm a bit weary tonight, so pics will have to come later.

and its only 9.30pm

nite nite

tumby - day 14

What a lovely day. Kym and the kids went to Second Creek to go crabbing and squidding while I worked on a bunch of photos from the last few days.

About lunchtime I recalled that Kym hadn't taken the kids lunch boxes with them, so I zipped down the street for a couple of treats and headed around the coast to Second Creek.

I did really enjoy watching Sean take the boat round while Kym pulled the crab pots.

 He ended up staying with Kym and I brought Annie back with me. We headed down the street to pick up a few supplies and discovered the yacht that had been at anchor near the jetty during the last week had dragged its anchor overnight. The yacht was keeled over in the sand and definitely not going anywhere until high tide. Apparently it was high and dry this morning with the very low tide. Wish I had known about it so I could rip down to grab a pic or two.

As it turned out, Annie and I watched the yacht right herself with the incoming tide, but she was still firmly held by the sand.

I love it when she wants the camera!!!!

It took the SES boat and a fair bit of churning of both motors to finally set the yacht free. I bet that was such a relief for the owners. The next high tide wasn't for another 12 hours time.

I guess Annie and I spent about an hour and a half at the jetty, chatting with the onlookers, watching and photographing the event. It wasn't until we were just about to leave that I remembered that I had bought icecream and by now it wasn't ICE cream anymore. So that was disposed off and a replacement bought.

Kym and Sean came into the apartment just after Annie and I did. Steak for tea. And I headed out for sunset. I decided to head to the Marina and Boat Ramp for something different. It was a sweet sky tonight and I'm really happy with what I have in the bag

tumby - day 13

After getting very very late last night and not being able to sleep until the painkillers kicked in, I didn't get a lot of sleep under my belt when Kym was up and moving quietly (?) around the apartment. He normally heads out for an early morning ride on the bike, walk or go fishing. Not this morning tho. It was raining. And quite steadily too. So he drove off somewhere to let us all sleep a bit longer. I think I had a total of 3 hours by the time the kids were heading to the bathroom.

With the rain backing off, but still very grey outside, the kids and I thought it a perfect day to go to the movies to watch 'Wreck-it Ralph'. Good movie and would recommend it.

We headed into Maccas for the kids lunch and hit a couple of shops for the beginning of the school year supplies (the annual new lunchbox, bulk buy school shirts, bits and bobs).

It wasn't until we were home that we heard that the Target building was on fire. The kids found that a bit surreal as we had not long been in there before we were home.

I dropped the Kayak in the Marina for Sean to have a paddle around to burn off some energy. Annie decided that it wasn't for her today. They walked back to the Apartment while I patiently waited for the right moment with a pelican on a light pole.

cleared for takeoff

runway lightpole clear for landing

I cooked a roast mutton for tea. Nothing smells quite as good as that. I headed out after tea to catch the sunset. And it was glorious.

And the best bit right now is...... I have absolutely no plans for tomorrow. I love holidays!!!

tumby - day 12

Today was a day of rest and relaxation. No more alarm clock to be on time for the Family Mission Bus. No more Vacswim. No more needing to be anywhere at all. And seeing that it such a dull grey day, we had a total sloth day.

No one was awake until 9am so we must have all needed a sleep in. After a leisurely pancake breakfast, Kym thought he head home to check the waterlines, the chooks, his tomatoes (his precious little red babies) and the peacock chicks (which he detests with passion). The kids went with him to fill in some of their day.

As I'm not sleeping particularly well, (a few aches in the knees and shoulders are giving me grief), I took the chance to climb back in between the sheets and catch up on a few winks.

I woke up much refreshed some time later and had a little brainwave. I rang Amy to see if she wanted some scrappy (her) and me on laptop time later that arvo and evening. With a very enthused yes, we had it sorted. And for Gina to swing by later.

Kym had the kids all sorted for a sloth afternoon with DVD's and chillaxing so I was right to go.

Amy and I have a standing order of frappes whenever we catch up in Lincoln, so I had the Maccas pickup on the way to her home.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

I brought along a little bucket of brain food for the evening.

When Gina came in I just had to take a shot of us 'lap dancing' lol

The things you get up to very late in the night. hahahhahahha.

Love these two women. Such a special friendship. xxx

(photos posted with permission)

tumby bay popular voted in the top 5 as a South Australian Secret Spot

www.facebook.com/TiffFirthPhotography
http://www.news.com.au/travel/you-have-spoken-australias-top-secret-holiday-spots/story-e6frfq7r-1226552286605

My Photo of sunrise at Tumby Bay Jetty in 2012 is the leading image for www.news.com.au/travel for the top 5 most voted secret South Australia spots. TumbyBay was voted at number 4.


Yehaaaaaaar.