I first made this late at night and put them up on my Facebook wall.
These are my most commonly travailed walks. It was rough, especially when I had to walk back from Bondi beach to Central Station late at night or early in the morning after walking too far the previous night. And I just wanted to rest somewhere, but had to wait til I got home.
I would walk from Redfern or Newtown, or catch the train from Ashfield, and walk down George Street to Circular Quay, and then around to the Botanic Gardens. On the way I would play games at the arcade in George Street. Out to Darling Harbour, sometimes playing a game at the arcade. Or try one of the attractions at Darling Harbour, like The Gravitron where you could turn upside down and do stomach crunches! Or the Wild Mouse, but then I think that was at Big Smiley Face..umm whats its name again, Luna Park. And then to Chinatown, and back and forth and around the Quay and The Rocks, and all around the area. One of the oldest established areas in Sydney, The Rocks.
I used to volunteer sometimes at Katoomba RSPCA. It is beyond this map, in both directions, the journey I travelled in 2004-2005 when I used to live near the Three Sisters Lookout. Just walking and sometimes riding a mountain bike. Its of course very steep hills in the Blue Mountains sometimes..
And then in the town I grew up in. Turramurra, place of Hills according to one Aboriginal place names translation book. I sometimes walked to or from Turramurra High School. I only went there the first two years, year 7 and year 8, and then I changed to Hornsby Girls High School. It was a lot closer to walk to Turramurra Station and get a frequent train that travelled to Hornsby Station only a few minutes away really, and then just to walk a few more minutes and be a bit late instead of really late if I had to walk and catch the bus. The layout of the shop area was very different with a Maccas to stop off at and to have the rare bit of food, or the World 4 kids after school where some of us girls would go and play Sonic the Hedgehog and have strange discussions and exchanges with the local teen boys and girls from Asquith or wherever, maybe Barker or Knox, but that was more likely for them just to go home and play their own machines!! I also used to stop off at the bakery, and get apricot danishes. Yummo. And I would play Tetris at the Dick Smith. And then on the way to the train station, walk past the sign that said {S}hire of Horn{sb}y! It was a great joke back then, once discovered.
A comparatively easy walk. Very much so. And I suggested it and demanded it. Nothing from my parents in the way of stopping me when I have decided..not by a long shot.
Although now I am 32 at the current post time, as one must always be aware of the time factor, especially on the internet. But also in general when recording history. I am a piece of history and so is everyone else who has documented their lives or even put a photo up on the internet. I still am a gamer, only its now online on Perfect World instead of lots of tokens or coins in the arcade machines, or furtive game playing on the Gameboy in the shops. Or on the Big Fish Games games, but not those boring hidden object games, the more intricate ones. Even though some of the graphics are admirable on the hidden object games. Being an artist and computer graphic illustrator and animator, I think of things whilst playing the games and maybe one day my long term devotion to games will pay off by rewarding me with the potentials explored of including graphic or other art I have created into games.
Blessings
Samantha Aungle
samanthalouiseaungle 