When Barry and I were living in Newcastle, Australia we fell in love with the area. As we weren’t working 
(what was that work visa even for, right?) we had a lot of time to discover the area. For the first few months we did not have a car and spent the majority of our time walking.
All over Australia there are salt water baths right on the ocean’s edge. They are public swimming pools and the locals use them with regularity. We were lucky enough that we lived blocks from both the beach and some public salt water baths. The Newcastle Baths were incredible. We would go there often and attempt to lap swim or even flounce in the sun. The Newie Baths not only got used by the locals to swim, but many, many wedding parties would come to the baths to get their pictures taken.
We soon discovered a local photographer named Heath Wade. Heath took pictures all over the Newcastle area. One picture that we loved was of our precious Newcastle Baths! Of course we were poor and could not afford a fancy picture. On my 25th birthday Barry gave me a card with this print on it. (This card is currently framed in our office…).
You know how the story goes….we bought our car and spent the remainder of our time in OZ bumming around and working a few glorious days. When we got back to the ‘States we talked about ordering the picture from Heath Wade, but again, were just starting our ‘real’ jobs and didn’t feel we could afford it. Not to mention the fact that our postage stamp sized house really warranted beautiful pictures.
Jump to this summer. I decided that I was going to get Barry this print as a wedding gift and so I began my e-mail exchange with Heath Wade. The only hitch was that I had to call Australia to pay Heath the big bucks and the only time this could work with the time difference was when Barry was home!!! Being wrapped up in the whole wedding process I chalked my need for privacy and loud talking in a closed room to food/picture stress, which there really was none of.
An interesting thing happened after I ordered the print. Barry started mumbling about maybe getting it for our new house!!! I had to e-mail Heath and tell him that if Barry Miller from the USA contacts him, tell him he can not help. I had to play down the whole picture….was it really that cool? Maybe Heath Wade wasn’t in business anymore? I’m not very good at being sneaky or keeping secrets that I know will make someone happy. (Reference Barry’s birthday the past two years when he has guessed where we were going because I drop such huge hints out of my own excitement)
Needless to say, the print arrived the week of the wedding and I was able to give it to Barry directly after the ceremony. He was both shocked and excited. We took it to a local shop to get it framed and were shocked at how much it costs to frame something. Since this whole print is something we’ve thought about and lusted after for years, we paid a pretty penny and now have it hanging above our fireplace. (Excuse the photo I took of it, apparently the frame shop wasn’t joking when they said that the glass has a glare problem.) Another post, another day to write about Barry’s gift to me….
