Home again for Christmas, I hadn't seen my family for just under a year, and it was good to see them again. I also got to spend a lot of (some) time with uni friends and old work friends as well. Which was also great, even if I didn't get pics of them for some reason. :( I kept meaning too, I just kept not feeling like taking my camera out to the pub for lunch, and so on and so forth. Still, I had a great time despite how short my stay was.

Mum had already planned our trip out to the second pyramid, which was wonderful, somehow I'd never quite gotten out there, and she wanted to go with me, so what better time than now! We headed out one afternoon, so we could have a full day, and left early (7am or so) It ended up being surprisingly easy, and we were back in brisbane by 3pm. We could have gone out, blitzed the second pyramid and been home quite comfortably in one day, but it would have meant 6 hours driving between mum and I. The second pyramid is lovely, and it was especially lovely to be out at girraween, in summer, and have it not be hot. The benefits of being up early. I wish I could do it here, but it just doesn't happen, not when you're writing up captions to webpages full of pictures at 1am. The second pyramid was totally different to the first pyramid. Almost no chunks of loose rock, just rippled granite, as far as the eye could see. A lot more like Billy Goat Hill than the first pyramid. A huge expanse of granite that you could just run around on. (except it got steeper the further you ran)

Christmas-2001--02.jpg Star trails from castle rock campground	Christmas-2001--03.jpg Orion in top right (upside down), easier to see in this double exposure.	Christmas-2001--04.jpg Turn the gamma up, and look at all those stars!
Christmas-2001--05.jpg Mum about to solo up a runnout death slab on the 2nd pyramid ;)	Christmas-2001--06.jpg First pyramid and Balancing rock from flank of 2nd.	Christmas-2001--07.jpg Some Australiana - A stick insect
Christmas-2001--09.jpg Matthew on top of the second pyramid	Christmas-2001--10.jpg All of us with the 1st pyramid in the background.	Christmas-2001--11.jpg Mum unfurls her bushwalking kite.