The Challenge Challenge

Ever noticed how you can be frantically busy cramming stuff into your day and still remain completely and utterly mind blowingly unfulfilled?

I have.

Which is why I decided, firstly to be a bit more selective with what gets added to my 'To Do' list, and secondly, that I needed a challenge. Something engaging and out of the ordinary. Something to stimulate the mind and give me a sense of achievement.

Not something big though—I've still got work to do and kids to raise—just something small, but satisfying.

So I created The Challenge Challenge.

Once a month, or thereabouts, I set my self a task and spend the week completing it. I have a whole bunch of ideas for future tasks, and I'm open to suggestions, but last week I chose:

The Recognisable Landmark Challenge

There are so many instantly recognisable landmarks near my house, so I decided to play the tourist and photograph one every day. I kind of felt it was a bit too easy to be considered a 'challenge', but it turned out to be a whole lot more challenging than I had anticipated.

Monday: The Waterfront Bollards

Sculpted and painted by local artist, Jan Mitchell (1940-2008).
The bollards feature famous characters from the area's history along with swimmers, sailors and a floozy or two. 

I drop in to my old work in Geelong, then decide it might be nice to spend half an hour or so wandering along the waterfront photographing the bollards. I park the car near Cunningham Pier and have to fight the howling wind to get my door open. It's cold. Is that rain? I quickly walk up to the nearest bollard and snap a few shots. God it's freezing. I think I'm getting sick. There's a sea captain bollard to the right of the pier. I run over and point the camera at him. The light's bad. The angle's wrong. My eyes are watering. Screw this, I'm going home. I take a quick pic of the pier just in case the bollard photos are rubbish, jump into my car and drive home for a cup of tea.

Tuesday: Split Point Lighthouse

Split Point Lighthouse, Aireys Inlet. Built in 1891. While researching information for this post I discovered that lighthouses are not that interesting. This one is pretty though, and has been used as a setting for a few books and the kids' TV show, Round The Twist. But you probably knew that already.

I have a shocking cold. So does my husband. He's taken the day off work and I figure some fresh air and sunshine will do him good so I ask him to come with me. We stop at the only shop in Aireys that's both open and likely to sell coffee, but the abrupt and dismissive attitude of the guy behind the counter assures us that his coffee is going to be crap, so we hastily move on. There's a teahouse next to the lighthouse but we prejudge it to be typical of tourist teahouses—bad and expensive. We try it anyway and our judgements are shattered. The food is good, the people are friendly, and the price is non-extortionary. Today feels like spring. We sit in the sun with our morning tea, both groaning occasionally under the weight of our congested heads. From our table I take a photo of what we can see of the lighthouse and say, "That'll do. We can go home now." But we walk the few extra metres to get a better shot, then follow the path along the cliff to get one from the front. Someone says there's supposed to be whales approaching, but we've been vertical for long enough so we don't wait around. We get home, find the nearest soft, flat surface and collapse.

Wednesday: Lorne Pier

It's the first bit of Lorne you see as you're winding along the Great Ocean Road.
Excellent for leisurely strolling and posing for photographs on.
A popular fishing spot and the all-important "Pier" element of Lorne's famous Pier to Pub race

My face is about to explode. I ache all over. Why am I doing this? I should be in bed. But I've started it now so I'm going to have to finish it. I drag myself to the car clutching a snack of dried pears and mixed nuts. It's a glorious day so I'm hoping the coastal drive will be a healing experience. Who knew dried pears made you so thirsty? Purely out of habit I start singing along to the CD. If I was aiming for 'distressed goose' I would have nailed it. I shut up. It hurts too much anyway. But this landscape is astonishingly beautiful and I'm glad I decided to do this. I reach the pier and just sit by the water for a while. God, could this weather be any more perfect? I'm actually basking. I take a few photos then walk along the pier to take a few more. A woman and her elderly father see me with my camera and ask me to take a photo of them with theirs. I croak at them to smile on three, then being the perfectionist I am, croak something about stepping forward a bit to get better light and smile on three again. I'm exhausted. I drive home behind tourists who refuse to use the slow vehicle turnout, but with the windows down and such incredible scenery around me, I don't mind so much.

Thursday: Torquay Pelicans

These guys are fairly new so not as instantly recognisable as the other landmarks, but they were the inspiration behind this week's challenge. When I was very young my family would drive from Broken Hill to Port Wakefield to visit relatives. On the way we crossed a bridge with a statue of a frog sitting near it. Every time we passed it we'd say, "Hey! There's the frog!" If my brother and I were sleeping our parents would wake us up so we could say, "Hey! There's the frog!" (We were an exciting family.) I think this is going to be one of those landmarks. For years people are going to be driving to their holiday destination and they'll see these guys and exclaim, "Hey! There's the pelicans!"

I saved this landmark for today because I have a meeting in Geelong with my musical co-conspirators. I had planned to photograph it this morning but I've just discovered leisure diving and now I can't stop looking at the pictures. I've run out of time. I drive straight past the pelicans on my way to Geelong. The meeting ends up going for three hours. We discuss songwriting. We discuss recording. We discuss making videos. All this discussing has drained me of any vocal ability I had left. They have to lean in to hear me. I call an end, well, whisper an end to the meeting and head home. It's cold and overcast now, and as I make a u-turn and pull over at the pelicans it begins to rain. The side of the road is squelchy with mud. It's hard to get a good angle. The clouds are forming distinct lines in just the wrong spot. I don't think I've got any good photos, but I don't think I can do any better today. I'm going home.

Friday: The Pole House

Known as the most photographed house on the Great Ocean Road.
I wondered if it actually had a name so I asked Google what the house on the pole was called. Turns out it's called The Pole House. Go figure. You can stay there if you're the money owning type.

God, how is it possible to be this sick for this long. I'm glad I went to Lorne on Wednesday because I certainly couldn't be bothered making that trip today. I drive to Fairhaven and attempt to get a photo of this place from its street address. Apparently the same thing has been tried by enough people to warrant this sign:

The first two points are accurate.
The last one only applies to those with ridiculous cars
and people who can't drive.

I drive back down and park on the side of Great Ocean Road. It's raining. The wind is cold. My sensitive, flu-affected eyes are streaming with tears and I wonder how I must look to passersby. Then I stop wondering because who really cares? I just want to get my shot and go home. I drive further up the road for a different angle. It's a hard place to photograph. I take what I can then fall back into my car and head home.

The Recognisable Landmark Challenge is finally complete.

I'm thinking that my next challenge will be the See How Long You Can Stay In Bed For Challenge.