From high tops to high emotion, it was a year of firsts for The Border Mail's Tara Trewhella who joined the team in May. We asked her to share some of her favourite shots of 2019.
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Pictures: TARA TREWHELLA
AUGUST: WINTER is winding up but Game of Thrones fans can still have a spring in their step. Albury business Two Fingers Barbershop and Bar has got an official set of Game Of Thrones whisky.
Two Fingers owner Chris Maney said the collection of eight premium Scotch whiskies was as valuable as it was rare.
Mr Maney said the Game of Thrones whisky sets were valued at up to $2500 if they could be obtained at all.
AUGUST: Brad is a survivor.
The Wodonga man, who doesn't want to use his surname, has been experiencing homelessness for half of his life and three years ago he broke his back after falling 15 metres from a bridge into the river.
But the 44-year-old is hoping by sharing his story during Homelessness Week he will be able to shine a light on the growing homeless problem on the Border.
OCTOBER: Not long after celebrating her 35th birthday, Charmaine Aldridge felt a pain in her stomach.
Nothing too serious, nothing too urgent, a pang just concerning enough for the Albury woman to check in with a GP later in the week and get a blood test.
"That evening I had a call from the pathologist who said you need to go to Albury Base now," Miss Aldridge said.
JUNE: King Valley's second annual balloon festival's opening was a great success with hundreds of people braving the early morning cold on Saturday to watch 18 hot air balloons line up and lift off.
Later on Saturday, balloons lit up in a choreographed performance to music during Brown Brothers Night Glow.
Balloon festival organiser Paul Gibbs said it was unclear if they would be able to take off on Monday morning because of the predicted weather, but the weekend had been wonderful.
NOVEMBER: Shark woos Wodonga as she smashes out a scintillating set to boot.
The indie pop singer-songwriter wants Wodonga-rites to feel the love as she treats the 800-strong audience at The Cube Wodonga on Thursday night to a powerful show studded with intimate storytelling.
Based between her Gold Coast hometown and the US, Shark is thrilled a second Wodonga show has been added to her regional tour after the original Friday night show sold out in just 10 minutes.
OCTOBER: When Ciara Ryan, 7, hears about her floppy legs as a baby, she can't help giggling.
"I'm so glad she can laugh about this," her mother Melinda Wilson said on Wednesday.
This symptom when Ciara was seven months old helped convince doctors that her parents, Melinda and Aidan, weren't imagining things, something was seriously wrong with their baby girl.
NOVEMBER: The majority of Logan Grant's life has been spent on the dance floor.
Logan has grown from a seven-year-old, Michael Jackson inspired, "shy little boy" to a 17-year-old Evolve Dance Company dancer who has spent the better part of a decade learning his craft on the Border.
And that hard work has paid off with a full time, two year, $26,000 scholarship to complete an advanced diploma of dance at Sydney dance company Dargie Entertainment.
AUGUST: Invisible. Painful. Silent. Incurable.
Those are the words Sophie O'Donnell uses to describe endometriosis.
The fitness trainer, ex-dancer, business owner and bride-to-be was told when she was 21 years old there was a 50 per cent chance she could never have children.
And that she should start trying for a baby as soon as possible.
JUNE: The calendar says winter but some talented Border youngsters will be jamming through the summer heat on stage this weekend.
Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical is the latest show from BYTE Sized Productions and features about 50 children aged from eight to 18 years.
Fans of the two Disney Channel Camp Rock films will recognise their favourite songs while the plot is based on the second of the movies.
NOVEMBER: The suffering experienced by soldiers, their families and whole communities did not cease with the signing of the Armistice 101 years ago on Monday.
Colonel Bradley Robertson, speaking at Albury's Remembrance Day service, said the aftermath of World War I brought its own hardships.
"Because that was then the realisation of what had happened and then also the return of all those who were injured and broken and needed the community's support," he said.
SEPTEMBER: As the sky darkened, two women nervously crept through Myrtleford.
Hearts thumping they looked around furtively to check the coast was clear, quickly making their way through the park to hide in the shadow of the bridge.
Unlike most late-night vandals The Crackpots, as they'd come to be known, weren't out to destroy. The two crafty friends, both "on the other side of 50", were instead on a mission to enact their own little mosaic rebellion after years of being well-behaved citizens.
OCTOBER: Dust flies in the wake of Wodonga 10-year-old Seth as he tears down the track leading to the cabins at the Great Aussie Holiday Park.
His legs are on fire from the stinging nettle he walked through, petting the resident emu.
As Seth runs to find water, his camp buddy Liam yells, "Don't scratch it! You'll make it worse!", but anyone who's ever had an itch knows that's preposterous advice.
It itches whether you scratch or not.
DECEMBER: Boy Boy the peacock is strutting about the yard at Ray and Rosemary Brown's Chiltern property.
"He's my favourite," Rosemary admits as she calls to the eight-year-old bird.
Boy Boy appears a little shy about displaying his iridescent plumage but he's up against some stiff competition as a white peacock fans out its magnificent tail over by the machinery shed.
OCTOBER: There is something personal for both actors starring in a new play which opens in Wodonga on Tuesday night.
Splinter, which has been labelled a "psychological thriller", stars Lucy Bell and Simon Gleeson who said it was a "happy coming together" for the production at the Butter Factory Theatre.
Ms Bell's sister Hilary wrote the play and said she had "always loved the play".
SEPTEMBER: Wangaratta booked a date with arch rivals Myrtleford in the senior men's cup final after edging out Boomers 3-2 in the semi-final at Willow Park on Sunday.
Thomas Romero's strike in the second half was the decisive blow in an entertaining contest.
Despite the loss of coach Andrew Grove, who ruled himself out with a quad injury on Saturday, Boomers dominated the first 30 minutes and should have had more than a 1-0 lead.
NOVEMBER: The Border's own Flying Fruit Fly Circus is going full circle when it marks a big milestone next month.
To celebrate 40 years of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, the Borderville Circus Festival will feature a week of performances and workshops from December 4 to 7 all focused around the Circus Big Top in Hovell Tree Park in Albury.
It is the same location as the first performance of the circus in the summer of 1979.
DECEMBER: After more than six decades as a jockey and trainer, LIZ AALBERS is one of the most familiar faces on Border racetracks. Aalbers caught up with the Border Mail's BRENT GODDE.
SEPTEMBER: Students at Wodonga's Victory Lutheran College shared a colourful message of hope and support on Thursday's R U OK? Day, in a bid to remove the stigma around mental health.
School captains Tom Goyne, 18, Chloe Hudson, 17, Sophie Knight, 18, and Jacob Moffat, 18, said the event was a fun way to bring the school community together.
"It really brings the whole community together, the high school and primary school children, it shows a good community spirit," Sophie said.
