2026 NBN update: the final upgrade

Ameel Khan March 7, 2026

tl;dr

We upgraded our NBN connection from FTTC to FTTP, and because the switch to FTTP allowed us to upgrade to the Home Ultrafast speed tier, now our download speeds are ten times faster and our upload speeds are four times faster that before.

Screenshot of an internet speed test from OpenSpeedTest that shows a download speed of 958.61Mbps, jitter of 0.00ms, ping of 3.0ms, and upload speed of 73.41Mbps.

The start of our NBN story

We got connected to Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) in December 2015.

Then, because we were renting, we moved house a few times. That meant both our connection speed and connection type changed every few years (which I documented along the way using the ‘NBN’ tag on this blog, in case you’re interested).

Screenshot from the NBN website showing the various types of fixed line connections available on the NBN: Fibre to the Premises; Fibre to the Building; Fibre to the Curb; Fibre to the Node; and Hybrid Fibre Coaxial. (Source)

All that stopped in 2022 when we bought a house in the northern suburbs of Melbourne that had a Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) NBN connection. That’s the connection type in which the fibre optic cable carrying the internet signal terminates at a distribution box on your street (ie the “curb”) and a standard copper cable goes from there to your house.

The speeds on this connection type were decent, but not great: 95Mbps down and 19Mbps up.

The upload speed, in particular, was irritating because it was half of what we’d had with a Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection in our previous places. Now it took me a lot longer to back-up my media to the cloud, for example, and I had to make sure I wasn’t doing any uploading when Nadia or I were on a video conference call for work (especially if Nadia was teaching a class). First world problems, I know, but irritating ones nonetheless.

A new hope

You can upgrade! No, you can’t.

Happily, in January 2025, NBN Co announced its ‘full fibre upgrade’ program. This would let 622,000 properties across Australia upgrade their existing, slower connection types to the fastest-possible Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection.

I immediately tried to sign up to this upgrade but found that we weren’t eligible yet. We live in a property with only three units and, at the time, NBN Co was prioritising upgrades for properties with four or more units.

*sigh*

You can upgrade now! Wait, no, you still can’t.

Not too long after, in October 2025, all types of properties became eligible for the upgrade so I immediately signed us up.

Screenshot of an email with the heading, “We’ve received your request” and the text, “Hi Ameel Zia Khan, We appreciate your interest in the nbn Full Fibre Upgrade for Complex Multi-Dwelling Properties at” followed by an address that has been blacked out. An italicised sentence just below this paragraph reads, “Please note that this application applies to all units/premises within the building or complex, not individual units or lots.”

I didn’t hear anything till November 2025, when someone from the Fibre Upgrades team at NBN Co reached out to say our application was still under review.

Then, in January 2026, they reached out to say we could now formally proceed with the upgrade. We just needed to fill out a form and each unit on the property needed to pay $275 to cover the remainder of the government-subsidised installation cost.

Unfortunately, in the intervening months, things had changed at our end: one of the units on our property had been sold and, when I reached out to the new owners to say, “hey, we’re now all set to do the NBN upgrade” these folks said they didn’t want to do the upgrade.

Animated GIF showing a woman standing up and shouting, “Noooo!”

So that was that. End of story. No upgrade for me.

(Obviously that’s not how the story ended.)

The twist ending

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, at the end of February 2026, I got one final email from NBN Co that read:

Hi Ameel,
We’re writing to share an important update regarding the nbn® fibre upgrade at [YOUR ADDRESS].
Your premises/complex was previously progressing through the nbn Full Fibre Upgrade for Complex Multi‑Dwelling Properties program. Following a recent assessment, it has now been reclassified and is eligible to individually order an nbn® Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) service via a High-Speed Tier plan.
What this means
Instead of continuing through the Complex MDU upgrade pathway, individual premises within the complex/block can now request an order directly with their preferred retail service provider (RSP), provided they select an eligible high‑speed plan.

This meant our upgrade to FTTP was no longer an all-or-nothing deal for the whole property. Individual owners of each unit could now apply separately through their internet service providers (ISPs) to upgrade just their own NBN connections!

Woohoo!

Happily every after

From then on, things proceeded at pace.

Our ISP is iiNet – who we’ve been with since 2009! – so shortly after I received this email, I went to their ‘Fibre upgrade’ page and signed up for a free upgrade.

The very next day I got a message to say our upgrade-installation was booked for exactly one week later.

One week later, which was yesterday, the installer turned up and, within two hours, had:

laid the new fibre optic cable from the street to our unit,
installed two new connection boxes (outside box shown below), and
activated our new NBN FTTP connection.

Photo showing an large while box stamped NBN Co installed on a brick wall.

All I needed to do was log into our modem and uncheck the VLAN tagging checkbox that was needed for the old FTTC connection but was stopping our new FTTP connection from working.

And just like that, we were done.

Serious speed upgrade

So what speeds are we getting now?

Well, not only did we upgrade our connection type to FTTP, we also upgraded to the ‘Home Ultrafast’ speed tier that gives you download speeds of up to 1,000Mbps (ie one gigabit per second) and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps :)

And because we’d upgraded to the latest Synology router in 2024 – the WRX560, with its 2.5Gbps WAN port – I knew all our hardware (and the Ethernet cables in our walls) could handle the speed upgrade just fine.

Here, then, are our current download and upload speeds.

Graphic with two bar charts showing, respectively, download and upload speeds in megabits per second from 2009 to 2026. The bars are divided into groups by connection type. 2009 ADSL speeds are 6.9Mbps down, 0.9Mbps up. 2015 FTTB speeds are 46.7 down, 22.6 up. 2016 and 2018 FTTP speeds are 75.7 and 105.2 down, 36.5 and 37.2 up. 2020 and 2022 FTTC speeds are 91.9 and 94.7 down, 18.2 and 18.9 up. Finally, a differently coloured bar for 2026 Ultrafast FTTP shows speeds of 937.3 down, 89.0 up.

We’re currently getting speeds of 937Mbps up and 89Mbps down – which is a whopping ten times faster for downloads and four times faster for uploads!

What now?

So that’s it. The end of the road. Our final NBN upgrade is complete.

Yes, NBN Co has announced an Ultrafast II speed tier that gives you 2GBps download speeds, but that is absolutely not something we need at home so our upgrading days are very much over.

Now we just get to enjoy blazingly fast download and upload speeds, and the next time I need to upload a few terabytes of data to the cloud, I won’t have to leave my desktop switched on continuously for a few days in a row!

As someone whose work and personal life is inextricably intertwined with the internet, I am a very happy person right now :)

Anniversary selfie

Ameel Khan February 1, 2026

22 years!

Selfie of a man and a woman sitting on a sofa in a living room.

Australian Open 2026

Ameel Khan January 26, 2026

Unlike last year’s Australian Open tennis tournament – during which there was a thunderstorm – this year’s tournament featured two heatwaves.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We were there during the second of those heatwaves, but we took good care of ourselves :)

Here are my photos from this year’s tournament.

Our 2026 annual Australian Open selfie

Selfie of a man and a woman sitting outside a tennis complex on a sunny day. The man is wearing a black t-shirt and glasses; the woman is wearing a black sleeveless top and sunglasses. They are both wearing straw hats.

Lots of shaded seating at ANZ Arena

Wide-angle photo of an outdoor tennis court at a tennis tournament. The tennis court has seating all around, and shading has been erected so that almost all the seats are in the shade. The blue-coloured tennis court is empty because the next scheduled match has not yet started.

Hanyu Guo serving in her round 2 women’s doubles match

Photo of professional tennis player Hanyu Guo (China) in the air while in the middle of her tennis serve. The players are playing in a tennis court with a hard, blue coloured surface.

Australian supporters at Australian Open 2026

Photo of five women sitting in a row in the stands of a tennis court during a tournament. They are all wearing identical, patterned green-and-yellow tops as well as green straw hats with a yellow tennis ball affixed to the top.

View of Rod Laver Arena from ANZ Arena

Photo of the signage at the top of the Rod Laver Arena tennis court, as seem from the stands of a nearby outdoor tennis court.

Ball kid running to grab a tennis ball

Photo of a ball kid in blue shorts, a blue shirt, and a blue hat stopping his run across a blue-coloured tennis court as he approaches a tennis ball lying on the ground.

Ball kid running back having grabbed a tennis ball

Photo of a ball kid in blue shorts, a blue shirt, and a blue hat running back across a blue-coloured tennis court after he has retrieved the tennis ball that was lying on the ground.

Ball kid passing tennis balls across the court

Photo of a ball kid in blue shorts, a blue shirt, and a blue hat rolling tennis balls across a blue-coloured tennis court to another ball kid that’s off-camera.

Ball kid holding up a tennis ball for the serving tennis player

Photo of a ball kid holding up a tennis ball in case the serving tennis player wants another ball. Only the top of the ball kid’s hat at the ball kid’s arm are visible, with the rest being blocked from view by the wall of the tennis court.

Talia Gibson’s ball toss

Photo of professional tennis player Talia Gibson (Australia) tossing a tennis ball in the air at the start of her serve during a tennis match.

Talia Gibson ready to strike the ball

Photo of professional tennis player Talia Gibson (Australia) mid-swing as she prepares to strike a tennis ball during her women’s doubles match.

Sara Errani winning the point / everyone going in a different direction

Photo of professional tennis player Sara Errani (Italy) as she hits a ball into the opposing court during a tennis match.

Ball kid waiting for Kimbery Birrell to serve

Photo of a ball kid waiting by the side of the net at a tennis tournament. In the background of the photo professional tennis player Kimbery Birrell (Australia) prepares to serve.

West Gate Tunnel Discovery Day

Ameel Khan November 18, 2025

Last weekend Nadia and I were among the fifty thousand people who ran, walk, or wheeled their way around the newly-built West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne during its Discovery Day.

Here are my photos from that event. Well, except for that random Southern Cross station one at the start :)

Quiet afternoon at Southern Cross Railway Station in Melbourne

Photo looking down from the first-floor concourse of a major urban railway station. The station has a massive, wave-shaped roof and you can see all the way to the elevated concourse on the other end of the many platforms.

Entry portal of the newly-built West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne

Photo of a massive, curved structure above the entrance to a road tunnel. The design of this entry portal is inspired by the nets used to catch eels – historically an important Aboriginal food source. Hundreds of visitors are walking in and out of this entryway during what a banner says is West Gate Tunnel Discovery Day.

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 1

Black-and-white photo of the eel-net inspired design of a road tunnel entryway portal. Thick curved beams create successively shallower arches across the entrance. Thinner beams crisscross these large beams at an angle, creating the effect of a traditional eel net.

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 2

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 3

Photo of the eel-net inspired design of a road tunnel entryway portal. Thick curved beams create successively shallower arches across the entrance. Thinner beams crisscross these large beams at an angle, creating the effect of a traditional eel net. All the beams are made of metal but are painted a streaky brown colour to resemble natural materials like wood and twine.

Nadia pointing out the transition from deluge zone 2 to 3

Photo of the inside of large road tunnel. White panel segments along the wall have text painted on them tells us that we’re moving from deluge zone two to deluge zone three. A woman in jeans and t-shirt with a comically excited expression on her face is pointing to the transition point between the two zones.

Thousands of people walking through the newly-built West Gate Tunnel

Extremely wide-cropped, wide-angle photo of thousand of visitors walking into a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking out.

Nadia inside the West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day

Photo of a woman wearing jeans and a t-shirt posing near the wall of a massive road tunnel. She is surrounded by hundreds of other visitors and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the far background of the photo. The woman is wearing jeans and t-shirt, with pink coloured text printed on the t-shirt that reads, “Less stress, more boogie”.

People checking out the newly-built West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day - 1

Wide-cropped, wide-angle photo of thousand of visitors walking out a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking in.

People checking out the newly-built West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day - 2

Extremely wide-cropped, wide-angle, black-and-white photo of thousand of visitors walking out a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking in.

Got my 2025 COVID-19 booster!

Ameel Khan September 30, 2025

Another year, another COVID-19 booster. Which, coincidentally, I got exactly one year after my last booster :)

Selfie of a bald man wearing glasses and a grey t-shirt sitting in a car. The man is grinning at the camera as he has his left sleeve rolled up to show the adhesive plaster on his upper arm, indicating that he has just been vaccinated.

Coming back from post-viral fatigue

Ameel Khan September 8, 2025

After not posting anything here for three months, I’m back!

Why was I away for so long? I got a cold and, shortly after that, caught some viral infection or the other. (It wasn’t COVID, Influenza, or RSV; I checked and was also independently tested.)

The time I was absent from here is the time I spent recovering from those illnesses and the post-viral fatigue that followed.

Photo of a medical centre waiting room with comfortable chairs, side tables, and inspirational/advertorial posters about the medical practice hung on the wall.

Post-viral fatigue?

I’ve had COVID-19 only once (at the start of 2024) and that infection seriously messed up my immune system. [1] Now when I get even a mild cold or viral infection, instead of feeling unwell for a few days, I get knocked down hard for, like, six to eight weeks. [2]

During those weeks I tire easily and I get a massive headache every time I concentrate on something for more than an hour or so. That means the most I can do is sit on the sofa, take frequent naps, listen to music, read a book, or watch TV. [3] Anything more than those simple activities requires concentration. I can’t check my emails or browse my RSS feeds, I can’t drive for too long in heavy traffic, I can’t even cook anything more complicated that a fried egg. It is not a fun time.

This was the second bout of post-viral fatigue I’ve been through, so at least this time I knew what was happening. Last time (back in May/June 2024) I kept trying to live my life as normal and almost collapsed from exhaustion while walking the dog! [4]

Road to recovery

Sadly, all you can do when you’re suffering through this type of fatigue is rest, so that’s what I did.

Once you’re a little better, you start gentle physical and mental exercise, ramping this up as you get stronger. I did that too. [5]

Happily, this approach worked – like it did last year as well – and now I’m pretty much back to normal.

I still have some stuff to organise from my end – which I am very much looking forward to blogging about, by the way – but that shouldn’t take too long, so posting will resume here shortly.

Yay!

[1] Regular influenza infections also mess with my immune system, but those effects last only a few months. The effects of the ‘spicy flu’ infection have lasted for a year and half so far. *sigh*

[2] Because my immune system is weak these days, I also catch colds and various types of viruses much more easily. Wearing a high-quality, well-fitted, 5-ply, medical face mask helps – and I do wear one whenever I’m in a medium risk situation – but that’s just a single line of defence against infection. And it doesn’t help that I’m often the only person in a room who is wearing such a mask.

[3] On the up side, I used this time to read a lot of books; catch up on a lot of movies and TV shows; and listen to a lot of music on my new audiophile-grade sound system :)

[4] When this happened I called Nurse-on-Call to get some immediate advice and then I went to see my GP the next morning. My GP got me to do a battery of tests (just in case) but those all came out normal and so post-viral fatigue was declared the cause. Turns out this type of fatigue has become much more common in the “post-COVID” era. Most people who suffer through this fully recover in about six weeks, but if the symptoms last for more than six months, then you might be looking at long COVID or chronic fatigue.

[5] Frustrated by doing nothing but consuming media all day, I figured the way I should gently exercise my brain is by creating media instead. For me that meant finally learning how to play bass guitar :) I’m now halfway through the Beginner to Badass course from BassBuzz. That is an excellent course. 10/10 would recommend.

Photo of the body of an all-black electric bass guitar resting on a guitar stand in a living room in front of a shelf of books.

21 years!

Ameel Khan February 1, 2025

Nadia and I are laughing all the way to our 21st wedding anniversary :)

Selfie of a man and a woman laughing while trying to take a selfie. The man is bald, with a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing eyeglasses and a while linen button-down shirt. The woman has long hair. She is wearing glasses, large gold earrings, a gold necklace, and a dark-and-light green printed dress.

Australian Open 2025

Ameel Khan January 13, 2025

Less than an hour into day one at the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament and a big thunderstorm rolled across Melbourne.

And the intermittent heavy rain stuck around till late in the afternoon.

Screenshot of a weather app showing a severe thunderstorm warning with heavy rainfall expected for most of Melbourne city and surrounds.

Fortunately, Nadia and I got there just as the gates opened, so we managed to watch at least a little bit of tennis on the outside courts before the rain came.

Importantly, we managed to take our annual Australia Open selfie :)

Here are my photos (and selfies!) from the day.

Court-side camera operator

Photo looking down from the stands at a video camera operator sitting on the side of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. The operator is wearing a cap and a bulky pair of headphones, and there is a small, blue umbrella over his head. The camera has a waterproof cover on it.

Umpire and ball kids

Photo looking down at the net of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. Two ball kids are standing on either end of the net, and a tennis umpire is sitting on a raised chair at the far end of the net.

Tatjana Maria’s ball toss

Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria who has just tossed a tennis ball into the air as part of her serve.

Watching the first round match

This photo was entirely accidental! I was trying to get a photo of the player framed between the out-of-focus heads of the people sitting in front of me (which I managed to do in the next photo). But when taking this photo, I’d mistakenly left my camera on its ‘zone focus’ setting and it picked the wrong subject to focus on. Oh well. Even though this photo was an accident, it was a happy one because I quite like how the photo turned out :)

Photo of the back and side of a woman and her young daughter watching a women’s singles tennis match.

Tatjana Maria’s service

Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria at full stretch as she serves the ball on a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court.

Ball kid retrieving the ball

Photo looking down from the stands at a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. One of the ball kids is running up to retrieve a ball from the middle of the left-side court.

Orange shoe and dropped corn snacks

Photo looking down between the spectator chairs at a tennis arena. The subject of the photo is the foot of a person wearing grey-and-white New Balance sneakers with bright orange highlights. Next to this shoe are two orange corn kernels that have been dropped on the concrete.

Airplane disappearing into the clouds above Melbourne

Photo of a small jet engine aircraft flying above some tall buildings on an overcast day. The aircraft is climbing and is about to disappear into the cloud cover.

Thunderstorm less than an hour into the first day’s play

Photo of the outside of a tennis arena with large photo banners set along its side showing past championship winners. The outside area is almost completely empty of spectators because it is raining heavily. Despite the heavy rain, ushers wearing black pants and yellow shirts are standing under red umbrellas that have been affixed next to each area entrance. A supervisor wearing a black skirt and blue polo shirt is walking between two of these umbrellas with a blue folder over her head to minimise the amount of rain she gets on her eyeglasses.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 1/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while they sit on blue coloured seats at a tennis court. Both are wearing straw hats and sunglasses. The woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top and the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 2/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the entrance to Margaret Court Arena, a tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats and glasses. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 3/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the steps that lead to the entrance of Rod Laver Arena, a large tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats, glasses, and black face masks. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.

Remembering Maggie (2013-2024)

Ameel Khan December 30, 2024

Today would have been our eighth Maggie-versay because we adopted Maggie – our red heeler/kelpie mix – on 30 December 2016.

Photo looking down at a red/brown with big ears looking up at the photographer.

Sadly Maggie didn’t make it to this milestone, passing away at home with the help of the lovely folks at Goodbye Good Boy on the night of 27 December.

What happened?

Maggie loved food. So it was a bit of a surprise when, around the middle of October, she refused to eat her monthly flea and tick medication, and then didn’t finish her dinner that night. When she kept refusing food, we took her to our vet. A couple of tests later we confirmed that she had chronic kidney disease, likely brought on by old age.

When she continued to feel unwell, she was referred to a specialist vet. After some more tests we learned that she also had a urinary tract infection. Fortunately, this infection was quickly treated with antibiotics and she bounced back from feeling miserable in just a day or two.

Chronic kidney disease, however, is incurable. And, depending on what stage the disease is at, you really just have a few weeks to a few months left. You can slow its progress, of course. But, as we discovered, hers was quite advanced.

(She also had a small tumour next to one of her kidneys, which a biopsy showed contained a slow-moving cancer. But given the rest of her diagnosis, that ended up being a non-issue – just like her arthritis, which we kept treating even though we knew it wasn’t going to be an ongoing concern.)

Photo of a Patient Discharge Information folder from Advanced Vetcare, a veterinary specialist centre and 24 hour emergency hospital. Handwritten on the folder in black marker is the name ‘Maggie’ with a little love heart icon drawn after her name.

So what did we do?

Once your pet has received a chronic kidney disease diagnosis, all you can do is take care of them till it’s time for them to go. The HHHHHMM quality of life scale developed by veterinary oncologist Dr Alice Villalobos helps you decide when that time has come.

Maggie was a happy, energetic, stubborn, no-nonsense dog with an insatiable appetite who led a really good life with us, so she made the best of her last few weeks as well. She wasn’t eating much, so she didn’t have as much energy as before. But we stayed home to spend as much time with her as we could, so she hung out with us all the time. We took her for her daily walks, which were the highlight of her day. Even on her last day, we went for a short walk on our street, which she would have happily extended if she hadn’t been feeling so worn out.

But worn out she was. Over a two week period in December her quality of life score dropped from the 50s to the 40s. A score of 35 or more is considered an acceptable quality of life, but it’s best to let your pet go just before they start to get miserable. So on 27 December we made the call.

Maggie had had her daily walk; she’d spent time in the garden, getting pats and cuddles from all of us; and she’d even eaten a bite of beef-steak fat, which was her favourite.

She passed away in her favourite orange, fuzzy bed, asleep and snoring like a champ.

Remembering Maggie through photos

To remember the fabulous years we had with Maggie, here are some photos of her that I haven’t uploaded before.

Maggie’s first walk with us (31 Dec 2016)

Photo of a woman walking a dog in a large public park.

Licking Nadia (2017)

Photo of a woman in a living room, sitting and leaning back on the right-side arm of a black leather sofa. She is holding a red/brown dog in her lap, with the dog stretching-out and raising her head so she can lick the woman’s cheek.

Sleeping between Ameel and Nadia (2019)

Photo of a half-asleep red/brown dog lying in a large bed. The dog is sleeping between the two humans in the bed, with its head on a pillow, while facing the photographer.

Dog with the Pearl Earring (2019)

(I have uploaded a version of this collage before, but this one is better.)

Collage of two photos that have a passing similarity. The one on the left is of a red/brown dog with a yellow bed cover over its head that is covering both its ears. The dog is looking over its left shoulder at the photographer. On the right is a photo of the painting ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer. The painting is of a woman wearing a yellow-and-blue turban looking who is looking over her left shoulder at the painter. The woman is wearing what appears to be a very large pearl as an earring.

Cuddles with Nadia, who is just back from the gym (2020)

Photo of a woman in gym gear cuddling a resigned looking red/brown dog on a sofa.

You can find all my published photos of Maggie in the ‘Maggie’ category on this blog (or in the ‘Maggie’ album on my Flickr profile).

End of an era

Maggie’s passing is the end of an era for me and Nadia. We’ve both acquired, raised, and lost dogs before, but that was always with our families. Maggie was our family in Australia, and now we’re one family member short. *sigh*

Photo of a red/brown dog waiting in anticipation at the top of a flight of steps. The photo is taken from near ground level, behind the dog’s bum.

Photos from my desk

Ameel Khan November 2, 2024

I was checking something on my camera while at my desk when I saw a couple of photo opportunities.

Afternoon scene from a window

Photo looking through a window from inside the house. The scene through the window shows the roof of a neighbouring house, the tops of some trees, and some power lines.

Maggie is snuggled up in her bed in the corner of the room

Photo of a red/brown dog sleeping in a round fuzzy bed with her face pressed up against the side of the bed.

COVID-19 booster FTW!

Ameel Khan September 30, 2024

It’s been eight months since I got COVID-19, and with some travel planned for the end of the year, it was time to get a booster.

Selfie of a man sitting in a car with his t-shirt sleeve rolled up to show the band-aid placed on his upper arm.

And like I said when I got my flu shot a couple of months ago, does a vaccine even work these days if you don’t take a selfie and post about it? :)

Belinda Carlisle – finally!

Ameel Khan September 22, 2024

In August 2021 Nadia and I bought tickets to go see Belinda Carlisle in concert in February 2022.

Screenshot of a ticket purchase confirmation email that reads, “Ameel, You’re In!”. The ticket is for a Belinda Carlisle concert at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda for 8pm on Friday, 11 February 2022.

Unfortunately, the concert got rescheduled thrice: twice because of pandemic lockdowns and once because Belinda was having knee-replacement surgery.

But three years later it all finally worked out :)

Photo of a man and woman standing in front of a massive poster for Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Decades’ tour at the Palais Theatre.

And the concert was great!

Photo of an indoor concert stage on which Belinda Carlisle and her band are performing.

I thought I’d come out of this with one of her mega hits stuck in my head, but instead it was In Too Deep and Big Scary Animal – both of which I love. So yay!

Village drive-in FTW!

Ameel Khan September 1, 2024

I wanted to watch Twisters at the drive-in cinema, but it had just stopped playing there. Oh well. Our alternative film was Deadpool & Wolverine and that was a really fun watch too :)

Photo of a large outdoor projection screen at a drive-in cinema. The screen shows the Village Cinemas logo. There are few cars parked between the photographer and the screen.

[Photo walk] University of Melbourne #2

Ameel Khan August 14, 2024

I’m on leave this week so I picked Nadia up from her office at the University of Melbourne. While I was there, I took a couple of photos.

End of the day at Dr Dax Kitchen

Photo taken from the outside of a nearly-empty cafe. A barista is making coffee behind the counter and there are two people sitting at the only occupied table.

Nadia on Royal Parade

Photo of a smiling woman walking towards the photographer. The woman is wearing loose pants with pink and yellow butterfly designs on it, a red top, and a gold necklace with a sunflower pendant.

Positive potato

Photo of several items on a shelf in a large wooden bookcase. The items are an intersectional pride flag set in transparent resin, a large blue-and-yellow mug, a crochet potato, a Newton’s cradle, and several books. The crochet potato has an eyes and a mouth, and it is holding up a sign that reads: “Positive potato. I might be a tiny potato, but I believe in you. Go do your thing!”

Back of the Howard Florey Institute building

Photo of the back of a large university building with floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a series of walkways, balconies, and office doors.

Flu shot 2024

Ameel Khan April 26, 2024

Do vaccines even work if you don’t take a selfie afterwards? :)

Selfie of a man sitting in a car outside a Chemist Warehouse branch. The man has his t-shirt sleeve rolled up to show a piece of cotton wool stuck to his upper arm using a strip of medical paper tape.

Trip to Pakistan 2024: people

Ameel Khan February 23, 2024

Nadia and I took three weeks off to go visit friends and family in Pakistan. Naturally I took several photos as we travelled from one place to the next :)

Selfie at Melbourne Airport before heading off on our holiday

We had an almost-10pm flight out of Melbourne, so we had dinner at Melbourne Airport right after we checked-in.

Selfie of a man and woman, both wearing black t-shirts, backpacks, and face masks, standing in an airport terminal.

All set to fly from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi

Neither of us minds having seats near the bathroom and neither of us minds sitting right at the back of the plane, so we picked seats in the second-last row of this Boeing 777 since that row has just two seats on the window side :)

Selfie of a man and woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated in an aircraft. The two are giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

Selfie along the C-gates arm at Abu Dhabi Airport Terminal A

Abu Dhabi Airport’s brand new Terminal A is quite roomy (having been built for future growth) and is a surprisingly comfortable place to hang out for a ten-hour layover.

Selfie of a man wearing a bright orange jacket standing in the middle of a long terminal corridor, between gates C28 and C29.

Selfie to celebrate our arrival at Karachi Airport

Yay Karachi!

Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, standing next to their luggage at the international arrivals gate of an airport.

Ready for the first of our three flights back to Melbourne, this one from Islamabad to Karachi

It took us almost forty hours to get back from Islamabad to Melbourne (via Karachi and Abu Dhabi). This was the start of our first leg.

Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated inside an aircraft cabin during boarding.

Ready for the second of our three flights back to Melbourne, this one from Karachi to Abu Dhabi

This was the start of our second leg, waiting in the international departure lounge.

Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated in a departure lounge at an airport.

Waiting for breakfast at Abu Dhabi Airport Terminal A

This is towards the end of our twelve hour layover in Abu Dhabi.

Photo of a woman, wearing a black hoodie and face mask, leaning on a restaurant table in an airport. Behind her is a floor-to-ceiling window that looks out onto and airport terminal apron.

Selfie before boarding our flight to Melbourne

We’re making sure to stretch our legs and stand as much as we can before our non-stop, thirteen hour flight to Melbourne.

Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black tops and face masks, standing in a departure lounge at an airport.

Ready for the third of our three flights back to Melbourne, this one from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne

All aboard and ready to boogie (aka sleep) on this lovely Boeing 787 (yay!).

We hadn’t been back to Pakistan since late 2019, so this trip was very much overdue and it was a great way to start the year.

20th anniversary

Ameel Khan February 19, 2024

On 1 February 2004, Nadia and I got married at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Twenty years later we went back there to take a couple of selfies :)

Selfie of a man and a woman in their forties standing in a nook in a hotel lobby.

Selfie of a man and a woman in their forties standing outside a large hotel.

Later that day we celebrated with food and, importantly, with cake.

Photo of a man and woman in their forties standing in a dining room along one corner of a large, rectangular dining table. In front of them is a caramel cake with “Happy Anniversary Nadia & Ameel” written on it. The woman is holding up the large knife with which she is going to cut the cake.

That cake, while delicious, wasn’t quite as fancy as the one we cut at our actual reception.

Photo of a man and a woman in South Asian wedding attire surrounded by their families on their wedding day. The couple are in the process of cutting a large, fancy cake that’s been placed on a table in front of them.

Nor did we make a meme out of the cake-cutting, like we did for our tenth anniversary :)

20 years later

Ameel Khan February 1, 2024

The last time we were at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad we were dressed, well, a little differently :)

Collage of two photos, on above the other. The first photo, dated 1 Feb 2004, is of a man and a woman seated on stage and dressed in traditional Pakistani wedding outfits. The second photo, dated 1 Feb 2024, is of the same man and woman taking a selfie in a hotel lobby.

Happy 20th wedding anniversary Nadia!

One year with a mirrorless camera

Ameel Khan January 1, 2024

Here’s what I’ve learned after owning a mirrorless, interchangeable-lens camera for just over one year. (I got my camera on Boxing Day 2022 but didn’t start taking any decent photos will it till at least the middle of January 2023.)

This is based on the 438 share-worthy photos I uploaded to Flickr in 2023.

Photos I like taking

Aside from typical life and event/travel photos, I seem to like taking photos that tell micro stories of people and places. I do this mainly through three types of photos…

Interesting everyday

These are photos looking up, down, and around at things you stop noticing when you live somewhere for a long time. These are architectural photos, photos of objects, or photos of people going about their lives doing things I find interesting.

**Looking up along light tower 5 at Melbourne Cricket Ground**. Photo looking straight up along the side of a large, white, stadium light tower on a partly cloudy day.

Questions about people

These are photos that make you wonder what the person/people in the photo are doing, thinking, or talking about.

**Tourists checking out Melbourne’s office-building architecture**. Photo of a couple standing on the other side of the road from the photographer. They have their arms around each other and are looking up at the top of a building across the street from them. A green-and-white tram is about to cross in front of them.

Atmosphere

These are photos that (hopefully) communicate the vibe of the place in which I took the photo or maybe what I was feeling when I took it.

**I want to touch the nose again! (Avalon Airshow 2023)**. Photo of a man at an airshow carrying a little boy in his lap (presumably his son). The man is standing next to the nose of a military transport aircraft. Next to the man is a little girl (presumably his daughter) who wants to be picked up so she can touch the nose of the aircraft again.

Most frequently used focal lengths

When I wasn’t doing my ‘one focal length at a time exercise’, my favourite focal lengths were 27mm, 85mm, and 345mm. These represent both extremes of my two zoom lenses: 27-85mm for my main lens and 80-345mm for my second lens. The 85mm bar in the chart below covers the 80-85mm range where my two lenses overlap, and so that’s why this bar is the longest.

Graphic titled ‘Focal length usage 2023 (full-frame equivalent)’. Below this is a chart titled ‘Normal zoom-lens usage’ that shows a bar chart with bars ranging from 27mm to 300-345mm. The three longest bars in this chart are for 85mm (28% of all photos), 27mm (23%), and 300-345mm (11%).

What have I learned from this?

27mm end: I like taking architectural photos (the wide angle helps you capture more of the building/location) and I often like taking photos that capture the context around my primary subject (eg their location or where they’re headed). Also, in the early days I was still getting used to composing good shots with my new camera, so I would do a looser composition while taking the photo and then crop-in later during editing.
The other ends: I like to zoom in on specific parts of architecture (like the tops of buildings) and I like to simplify my photographs by isolating my subjects within the frame (so it’s easier to focus on the specific object or the person I’m photographing).

Part of the point of the ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise I did over October-December 2023 was to force me to get away from these extremes and try the most popular intermediate focal lengths instead.

Graphic titled ‘Focal length usage 2023 (full-frame equivalent)’. Below this is a chart titled “‘One focal length at a time’ exercise” that shows a bar chart with bars ranging from 27mm to 85mm. The two longest bars in this chart are for 27mm and 40mm (both at 27%). This is followed by 50mm (19%), 85mm (18%), and 35mm (9%).

Aside from all the creative learning I did during my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise, I learned that 27mm and 40mm are the focal lengths at which I am the most successful (and comfortable shooting). That’s why, when I do buy an everyday-carry prime lens, those are the two I’ll get first (starting with 40mm).

Where to from here?

The end of the year is a good time for reflection and learning, and it’s been fun going through all the photos I’ve taken this year. Importantly, I noted how I improved as a photographer over the last twelve months and what I still need to get better at.

In 2024 I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing right now: taking regular photo walks in and around Melbourne and photographing life, events, and travel. I have a lot of experience to gain and still plenty of incremental improvement to do before I start to plateau both creatively and skill-wise.

So here’s to another fun year of photography!

2023 Boxing Day test at the MCG

Ameel Khan December 29, 2023

Since moving to Australia in 2006, this is only the second time that Pakistan has played Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Nadia and I attended day three of the last test match, back in 2016.

Photo of the grounds at a massive cricket stadium, taken from an under-cover seat some distance away from the field.

This year I attended day one of the match with a bunch of family friends.

Selfie of four people seated in a row at a cricket match, three of whom are wearing Pakistan cricket team gear.

Here are some of the photos I took while I was there.