Categories: holidays, shopping
Date: 10 November 2008 03:29:32
Given the amount of people at the local Westfield shopping centre, I am not sure if the economic crisis has hit as hard as may be thought. Or perhaps Christmas, or at least the present-giving aspect of it, overrides all.
[That said, my thoughts and prayers are there for all hurting and who are worried for jobs and the like at this time. It is a sad situation, and I know many people are hurting and concerned. My subject line is in no way meant to be flippant: more a comment on the amount of shopping I saw.]
Anyway, I went looking to spend some money of my own. After dropping, bumping and generally mis-treating my poor Ricoh Caplio R40, and the need for my parents to update their many-years-old 2 megapixel camera, I decided to give them mine [compromised goods...how generous am I?] -- which still works -- and get a new, tougher one for myself. Not being as wonderful a photographer as many here [Chas, Deeleea, Jack the Lass, Nessa and Rosamundi to name a few], and many around the blog world [such as Katya and Jim] I am staying with a compact which does me more than well enough.
I decided, after speaking to several people at shops and doing some basic research, for the Olympus Tough 1030SW [I did get it at a much cheaper price than the RRP on that page -- plenty of good sales at the moment; with the dollar hovering at the high 60s compared to the US dollar [it being not that long ago above 90 cents], I can't be spending too much before my trip...]. I apparently can sit on it, drop it from 2m, drop it in 10 metres of water [or swim with it to that depth], and take it to the snow down to -10°C -- though I hope not to test it in all those respects! I also got a 4Gb memory card and a small camera bag. I have 3 weeks to play with it before I leave it; and I will also get most of the 10% GST back as I leave Australia: so that is rather nice.