Good afternoon sweet humans. How are you all going?
I guess I need to say it, but it will be through gritted teeth. Happy Spring.
I realise most people celebrate the arrival of humidity and constant sweating, but not me. Not when I feel like we have hardly begun to have any considerable cool weather, which my family will vehemently deny! How relieved I am to welcome the seasonal change with deliciously cool rainy weather this weekend. Pure bliss.
Do you know there is actually a name for people like me? Cryophilic. Literally a person who has ‘an affinity for or thriving at low temperatures’ Ha! And if we really want to go a step further, I am also a ‘Pluviophile’. I know that sounds like a creepy old man doing bad things, but it is actually, by definition, ‘A lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.’ So there. I can let out a legitimate sigh of relief that I am not an ungrateful whinging freak, but actually have two impressive titles to my condition.
Phew. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with me babe!
Keeping on the positive side of Spring, I am amusing myself by thinking up delicious sunny cupcake flavours to share with you. I am experimenting with freeze dried fruits, feeling excited about their potential as natural flavouring that won’t alter the consistency of frosting. Pine Lime cupcake anyone?! Zesty lime infused cupcake with either homemade pineapple jam or curd centre…not sure yet, topped with freeze dried pineapple Swiss meringue buttercream. Is your appetite sufficiently whetted yet? (is that a word??) I also have my heart set on trying out strawberry freeze dried fruit powder. Are strawberries not the very essence of Spring? See, I am trying.
Anyway, back to my marvellous adventure.
Soon upon my arrival in Broken Hill, I discovered that Silverton was the place to go for the cool outback town experience. It is home of the infamous Mad Max Museum, and location shoot for one of the movies.
When I got out there, I was once again struck by the vast rugged beauty and pretty quickly realised that I needed to come back the next day, with cake number two and camera in hand (cake 1 had expired it’s earthy life by this point) and it must be done just before sunset to maximise that delicious afternoon glow.
On the first day I treated myself to a visit to the Mad Max museum, being quite unprepared for how creepy it was going to be. Upon opening the door, or what you think is the entrance to the museum, you are met with a huge, motionless, gruff gnarly old bikie who looked like he had not moved from his chair in years. He was sitting in a pokey little spot, you could never call it a room, and was hemmed in literally by a car door and a wall. There was no way to get past him, even if your life depended on it. Taken aback, I eventually spluttered out something resembling ‘is this the entrance?’ to which he barked with an expressionless ‘yes’. Once I paid my pitiful entrance fee, he swung open the car door and behold, in I walked.
Not being a massive fan of Mad Max movies, but intrigued enough because, well, you know, we all basically grew up watching handsome Mel, my expectations weren’t that high. Basically the museum was a couple of sheds with beaten up cars and lots of pics from the movies. Some gross Mad Max props were possibly inspiring for die hard fans, but I quickly found myself chuckling my way through the rooms, amused quite frankly by just how darn creepy the whole thing was.
Enough said. Let’s move on.
It’s a shame I didn’t realise how dusty my lens was until I got home, but I figure it adds to the outback ambience.
Day two at Silverton proved to be one of the highlights of my whole trip. Gosh I get excited by beat up old rusty cars (except the ones in Mad Max films evidently.) Whenever I see anything smashed up I just imagine a cake sitting on it and my world is complete.
When I was lost in my own la la land photographing this car, a neighbour slowly drove past, poked his head out and commented that it looked beautiful! Ha Ha. Stoked. I’m not a brave one for random bystander feedback.
Walking around I wondered at the history of the place, what these old buildings were and who on earth owned this car. So much left to ruin, just sitting there providing imagination fodder for dreamers like me.
I know I’ve said it before, but wow, there is something truly so magical about the outback. One thing that really spoke to me was the silence. Standing here by myself, enveloped in the afternoon glow, I was truly able to pause. To hit that elusive stop button on my life and breathe in the beauty around me.
Driving home, back to Mt Gipps Station, I could be described as one happy Mama Bear whose tank was pretty full. The day was closing and the light became more majestic by the minute. When I arrived back at my cottage, my haven, the glow was still too irresistible to stop enjoying, so I grabbed a gorgeous rustic chair off the back verandah and played with my cake once more. As I photographed it in front of the humble cottage I couldn’t help but notice how classically Australian the whole scene looked. The old Hills hoist, tin roof, back verandah soaking in the last rays of the long, dusty day. It all looked so, well, just so Australian.
Join me next week as I share either an inspirational Spring cupcake recipe or dive right into the Broken Hill Housewives Association. Yep, It’s a thing and I have photos to prove it.
Thanks so much for hanging out with me.
Love Anna xx
