joanren

Adelaide City sights

2012-01-30T02:53:00.000-08:00

After exploring the countryside around Adelaide over the weekend, today was spent inthe city – not shopping but checking out the sights! After tucking the car awayin a multi story car park (which cost us an arm and a leg) we sauntered acrossthe road to the Museum. Since it was a few minutes too early for the doors toopen we wandered around taking photos of the buildings and statues.

A water feature held our attention for a few minutes, thestrange shapes, we found out, are supposed to represent segments of back boneof a whale.

The Adelaide Museum has a wonderfulcollection of Aboriginal artifacts; I was amazed at a small piece of almostdecayed bent twig which was the oldest boomerang that had ever been found. Itlooked to be too small and light to have been of much use as a throwing stickand yet that is what it was. How the finder knew that it was an ancient tooland not just a very old piece of branch, I really do not know! A collection ofdecorated shields made for a good photograph – no flashes were permitted sothis was the best I could do without a tripod.

Leaving the museum we walked down to see the river, on theway passing the Immigration Museum. We popped in fora very quick visit, I found the plaques on the wall that commemorated the movementof many different people from many different countries of far more interestthan the stuff inside the rooms. The bronze statue of a family on the move wasin the courtyard and of course fell victim to my camera!

Across the river was St Peter’s Cathedral. Since Adelaide is the city ofchurches I really wanted to visit at least on of the places of religion beforewe left. It really is a beautifulbuilding – and the inside is magnificent too. The organist was practicing somedramatic piece of music that shook the stone pillars with its deep and loudsounds! Colin had to leave because the sound was too much for him! There aresome amazing stained glass windows too and I managed to take a couple of shotsof them by resting the camera on the pews. This photograph of the Cathedral wastaken as I walked from the river towards it.

Before returning to the car we had to take a walk throughthe Rundle Mall – the heart of the city where local shoppers and curioustourists mingle. We had refreshments in an island coffee shop (like a tent inthe middle of the Mall) I had a mixed berry smoothie – I had never had asmoothie before and it was quite delicious!

My final photo for the day was taken in the Mall of one ofthe many street sculptures – there were four pigs but this one appealed to methe most!

Tomorrow we pack our cases and leave South Australia. We are taking my sister andher husband due east so they can see where we used to have our farm. We shallnor go into the farm – we haven’t made contact with the present owner and wedon’t really have time to anyway. However we can give a reasonable idea of whatthe size of the land was just by driving around.

The Barossa

2012-01-29T03:40:00.000-08:00

Umbrellas were loaded into the car – the forecast was notparticularly good. However we didn’t need them. Today we drove to the Barossa Valley and we were not disappointed inwhat we found.

Our first port of call was the Yaldara winery – but it haschanged hands and changed name. since it was coffee time when we arrived wemade use of the picnic table outside the grand building and opened the flask ofhot water.

The scenery in the Barossa Valleyis stunning and we found ourselves stopping often to take photographs of thegrapes and of the vistas.

Many of the grapes still have not been picked so the vinesare covered with green leaves, the grapes are not so obvious from the road butthe lines of vines make for many “wow” moments as you drive around.

One place I really wanted to visit was the Chateau Barrosa –a beautiful building with a huge rose garden. I remembered it from a previousvisit. The place has changed hands twice since then the most recent change ofownership was only a few weeks ago. The place was a bit of a disappointment,the roses were no where near as magnificent – in fact they looked in desperateneed of a rose expert, the pruning was all wrong and they looked very puny andsmall and a lot of bare patches where once there had been magnificent displays.

I managed to find a place where there were plenty of rosesin bloom. I prefer to show something good!

Inside the Chateau the grand ballroom that was filled withantiques is still as magnificent with its huge chandeliers but since Sue andKeith were not interested in going in to have a look ($10 a head) none of usdid.

A fascinating place we did find was a Sculpture Park.This is similar to the one at Broken Hill – but is a bit older (2008) andcontains many more sculptures. The rock brought in for this Sculpture Symposiumwas a lot softer than that for the Broken Hill sculptures so there was a betterfinish to the works.

Of course the majority of the sculptures were abstract but Idid find a couple that were recognizable!

The Sculpture Park is high on a hillright beside a wonderful viewpoint. From here we could look out over theexpanse of vines and farming land. It is a pity that the signage and maps areso inadequate – many people will miss out on finding many of the interestingplace in this area because of that.

An unusual town

2012-01-28T03:06:00.000-08:00

The little red car knew we had more passengers as itstrained to climb the hills. I wasn’t able to fly today! Our day began inHahndorf, a delightful little town that began as a home for German immigrantsand was named after the captain of the ship that brought them to this fertilefarming land. The town shed its German name, customs and language in the timeof the first world war – there was so much ill feeling about the reliability ofGerman Australians at that time. The name was restored many years later – but tolearn about the fascinating history of the place you would need to do your ownresearch!

We discovered a fascinating little place – actually, not assmall as I expected, and every quaint building on the main street housed a shopthat was worth walking into. There are lots of eating places too and there wasn’ta moment during the hours we spent there that we didn’t see a crowd of peopleeating and drinking!

Sue and Keith were tempted by a young lady offering freesamples of strawberries. We bought a punnet of them to have for lunch.

There was a sign for the Saturday Hahndoft market so wedropped in for a look.

It is always fun to look at the stalls – half of which wereselling jewellery – and my eye was caught by the sight of a vegetable stall. Ofcourse, vegetable stalls are a common sight at a market – but this one hadmulti-coloured carrots for sale! I was given a taste of them – four differentcoloured carrots had thin slices cut from them. I tasted the yellow and thepurple and was so surprised to find that they tasted exactly the same and bothof them tasted like . . . . carrot!

I just have to show you the fun that someone had withtopiary. The sight of these two trees caught my eye! Aren’t they funny!

I wanted to kidnap these characters in the following photo.I think they would look terrific on my front lawn. Knowing the Gold Coast, Ithink I would have to anchor them to the ground or they would disappear onenight! But they would look good!

The countryside around Hahndorf is a delight too. We had awonderful drive around and even visited the Big Rocking Horse and toy factory.But that is another story!

Last Day with Graham and Nola

2012-01-27T02:01:00.000-08:00

Today was another indoors day for Graham and me; we werebusy making a “This is my life” video, consisting of voice to camera. There isa limit to how much can be covered in one session, no only because of timerestraints but also because of concentration. A tired subject means manymistakes and rather more confusion than when fresh.

Graham had put the video we made yesterday onto his computerthe evening before and when we played it back we could see that it was not toobad at all – only a little editing needed to be done. Noticing that Graham waswearing a different shirt this morning I sent him to dig out the one he woreyesterday from the laundry basket! We needed to have continuity so that thevideo gave the impression of being made all at the same time.

Thinking it might make things easier I told Graham what Iwas going to ask him about so that he could think about what he wanted to say.Mistake! Yesterday when the questions were asked while the camera was runningthe answers flowed naturally and interestingly, this time Graham was lookinginto space obviously trying to see the notes he had made and the story was atad wooden.

Unable to help myself I edited the video for Graham. Some ofthe stories had been told out of sequence and needed to be slotted together. Itwas easier for me to move the clips than for me to try and tell Graham how todo it over the phone from home – I am unfamiliar with his editing program. Icould do it with the program in front of me but I would have been stuckadvising on how to use it, without it! (Premiere Pro 1.5) I made a simple titleand when Colin and I were saying our goodbyes the program was rendering thevideo so that it was ready to be put onto a DVD.

It was with heavy hearts that we waved our goodbyes. We haveno idea when we shall have the opportunity to be together again.

Driving back to the motel we were stopped at a railcrossing. First came the flashing lights to stop the traffic and then the boomgate descends. The car in front of me dashed through even though the lightswere flashing and was on the other side of the tracks when the gates came down.Once the train was through the boom gate rose but the lights were stillflashing.

The SUV in the lane beside me was gunning his motor andwould have driven through. He moved but must have noticed that I was stillstationary because he looked over and stopped – and waited until the lightsstopped! I guess when you do this run every day and have to stop for trains youget a bit blasé about the road rules.

When Colin and I were exploring yesterday afternoon I justhad to take a photo of the trams. I have seen trams before but these ones werenothing like the Melbournetrams I remembered from years ago. The Adelaidetrams look more like trains.

This particular tram was running down to Glenelg throughcrowds of pedestrians that kept streaming across the road and traffic that wasinching forward a couple of metres at a time. I am not sure who would have beenmore frustrated!

We pick up my sister and her husband from the airport thisevening and if the weather holds we shall have a weekend of exploring andphotographing.

Australia Day in Adelaide

2012-01-26T01:50:00.000-08:00

There was almost a howling gale through the night but bymorning the wind had blown itself out and all was calm for Australia Day in Adelaide. This wasanother busy day for Graham and Nola and Colin too as AJ cracked the whip andgot everyone working.

Graham was challenged to demonstrate he knew what to do withhis new laptop.

Colin was given a hose and cloth and instructed to removethe squashed insects from the car so we could see the true colour of thevehicle once more.

Nola was given the task of providing refreshments to theworkers.

Once all those tasks were done we set up Graham’s videocamera on a tripod and made a start on his “life story” video. This was aproject that had recently been suggested to him and I said I would help him byshowing how to insert photographs when editing his videos. To do this we neededsome video – which is why we did a mini interview. Nola was a great helpbecause she managed to unearth some photographs from the garage.

Tomorrow, our last day with Graham and Nola, we shall playwith the editing.

It is Australia Day today and after leaving Graham and Nolawe drove to Glenelg to see what was happening down at the beach. Although Colinhates both crowds and the noise a crowd makes, I thought it was amazing fun!

The beaches were generously covered with beautiful people –I think we were possibly the oldest people in Glenelg this day; the average agewas around 20.

There is a jetty at Glenelg and it seems to be one of theattractions of the place – it seems as if there is a magnet that draws peopleout to the end and releases them once they get there!

I dragged Colin to a park near the beach where we hadspotted a big crowd as we drove in. We were in time to see the vehicles thathad gathered for the “Australia Day Ute Muster” leaving the grounds. Luckilyfor me there were still a few interesting vehicles to aim the camera at. Thefirst one I am including attracted me because of the amazing quality of theartwork both on the back and on the underside of the torneau cover.

The second photo taken here is also because of exceptionalpaint work. An extra addition to the painting is a dog that does not need to betied up so that it cannot jump out of the back of the ute when it spots anotherhound on the side of the road.

There is plenty to keep me happy on this trip!

A Busy Day

2012-01-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Although our motel is quite close to one of the main entriesto Adelaide itwas surprisingly quiet during the night and I slept well and I am quitepositive that Colin did too – he was unaware of me even coming to bed, sosoundly was he sleeping!

This morning we drove directly over to see Graham and Nola.Our intention was not only to visit socially but for me to help Graham with hiscomputers and for Colin to wash the car which has a thick layer of bugs over itfrom our long trip from the Gold Coast.

Graham was looking far happier today – maybe it was thethought of ironing out a few nagging internet problems or just maybe it wasbecause it was Wednesday! Whatever the reason it was difficult to shut him up –but I did find a way . . . .

This morning I presented Graham with my 17inch Toshibalaptop with a jigsaw game installed and lots of pictures to work on!

I gave a lesson on how to open the game and get the pictureto be worked on and then repeated the lesson so that the details could all bewritten down. It was with great annoyance that the laptop had to be turned offand put to one side when lunch time came around!

While Graham was happily (and silently!) playing with hisjigsaw I went into his computer room and sorted out a few problems with his Gmail– removing duplicated names from his Contact list and adding others as well asorganizing how his browser opened with multiple tabs.

Nola and Colin found plenty to talk about and the hot dayeffectively prevented Colin from even stepping outside, let along clean thecar! Not to worry, he can have a go tonight after our evening meal! He wont beable to complain about it being hot then!

It was wonderful having time with our good friends and beingable to make them laugh. We shall be back in the morning for more!

Adelaide for lunch

2012-01-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

There was plenty of beautiful hot water for a shower thismorning so “no complaints”! We woke up around 5.15 and started moving straightaway and were on the road soon after six. We were not the first ones up andaway early. The workmen in the rooms near ours were gone by 4.30 – but onlyColin heard them, he complained that they started the truck up and let it runfor a good ten minutes before they drove off! I heard nothing!

Once the car was loaded up we drove over the lifting bridge– that no longer is able to lift – and were instantly in the state of Victoria.

Again we defied the GPS, which wanted to take us to Mildura,and followed the signs to Ouyen via highway B12. It was during this drive thatwe saw our first wild animals – two rabbits! Even when we reached Adelaide we had not seenanything other than those two bunnies. We drove 2043 klm and didn’t see onekangaroo. Some of our driving was done at dusk and some at daybreak; these aretimes when kangaroos are the most active. Nothing!

One thing I just had to do and that was to stop and take aphoto of some Mallee trees! I had spend ten years of my life in the Mallee andduring that time had never taken a photo of a Mallee tree. When you see themevery day, there is no need for a photograph! Mallee trees have multiple trunksand they have a very gnarly root system which, when dry, make the best firewood you could ever hope to get.

One town we were to drive past was Manangatang. This was thenearest big town to us when we were on the farm so we had to take a tour of theplace to see how it had changed – and it had. It seemed to have shrunkconsiderably from what we both remembered. The butcher that Colin so boastsabout having made the best sausages ever – has gone and the shop is no longer ashop. It actually looks too small to have ever been a shop! Seeing the placeafter all these years brought back so many memories for Colin. More for himthan for me.

The orange light came on just as we were driving into Ouyento scream out that we could drive no further without finding petrol.Fortunately for us the very first business we came to was a BP Service Centre.The car breathed a sigh of relief when the hose went into the tank. There wereonly five litres of fuel left in the tank!

Once we were on the road again we found that we had left themain trucking routes behind. It was almost as if we had the entire country toourselves. There were no other cars on the road. The roads were excellent andso much of the distance we covered had increased the speed limits to 110 bothin NSW and in Victoria.

At one of the places we stopped for refreshments (we carriedour own thermos of hot water) we noticed something very strange. I had to brusha few small snail shells of the table before I put things down and Colinnoticed they were all over the seats and the posts of the shelter as well. WhenI looked around I could see that there were empty snail shells at the top ofeach of the fence posts too. We didn’t find any living snails, only shells.

On arrival in Adelaidethe first thing we did was search for a park in which to have our lunch. It waswhile we were in the park that I rang the family to let them know that we hadarrived safely and then tried out the laptop for internet coverage. Up untilthis time I had been unable to bring up my internet browser and was thinkingthat something was wrong – but this time everything worked perfectly so I couldrelax! There was no need to go in search of a computer whiz after all!

This evening we shall call on Graham and Nola to say hello.Good times ahead.

Adelaide and back, January 2012

2012-01-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

What fun, we were on our way to Adelaide – no only that but Colin and I were“on our own”. It seemed an age since that was the case and we intend to enjoythis renewed experience for as long as we have it! The sun was shining when weleft at eight in the morning on Sunday and the GPS, which had lost its voicefor the past six months, decided to instruct us in a very loud voice on how toget from home and onto the M1 motorway! I think I prefer it silent! I hadpunched in the Adelaideaddress that we were to finish up at on Tuesday to see if it guided us alongthe same route that the RACQ Tour Advisor on the ‘net had recommended.

Although it was not a really early start, being a Sunday andalso the last day of the school holidays, the roads were amazingly quiet anddriving was a dream. The new Ipswich Road (so much easier to get onto) reallythrew Karen” (the voice in the GPS), There were lots of “Recalculating” and“Follow the highlighted route” commands until we eventually took the Toowoombaturnoff!

The new little red corolla handled well and is a realpleasure to drive. Colin and I both took turns and both drove for around twohours before we would stop for refreshments and a change of driver.

Although this is not a Corolla. this little red car shows how I was feeling as I flew down the highways! Luv-it!

The first night’s stop was Coonabarrabran – and no, the GPSdid not agree with the RACQ directions. Colin decided to drive the way HEwanted to so both the directives have been “thrown out the window”!

We were amazed at the price we were asked for the motel thatfirst night.$72.00 ! I don’t think I have ever come across such a low pricebefore. The room was excellent with a queen sized bed and en-suite pluscomplimentary tea and coffee making facilities too. The only downside was thatin the morning I stood just out of reach of the shower while both tapsdelivered freezing cold water. I must have wasted gallons of water trying toget one of the taps to give me hot water. After about five minutes, one wasslightly warmer than the other and I bravely had my shower – it woke me up! Ifound that in the hand basin the hot tap was the left one and in the shower itwas the right hand one. Colin was luckier, I had done all the hard work – thewater came hot for him! When we drove out (at seven ) we noticed that all thehot water services were at the very end of the block of units so the waterwould have had to travel quite a long way to reach our unit – hence the time ittook.

Rather than drive across to Broken Hill Colin chose to driveto Dubbo and then across the plains to Hay and Balranald before turning offjust before Balranald at the sign to Swan Hill. We will not visit Swan Hilluntil our return from Adelaide, once we reach Victoria we shall aimfor Ouyen and Pinnaroo.

Our second night is being spent at Tooleybuc a little townon the River Murray on the very border of New South Wales.

After booking in to one of the four motels we found here, wewent for a walk along the river. There is a unique lifting bridge betweenTooleybuc and Victoria, this was last used in the days of paddle steamers. Thelifting mechanism is still all there but since the bridge is all bituminized Idon’t think it is possible for it to be lifted again.

A lifting bridge - only wide enough for one way traffic over the bridge

At last I was able totake lots of photos – during our long drive it had been too important to coverdistance for me to even try to take photos. The river looked beautiful and theRed River Gums along the banks were so majestic. They would have looked justlike this in the days of old when the paddle steamers plied the river withtheir loads of wool and other produce. The River Gums live for hundreds ofyears.

Water in the River Murray - When Colin and I left the area 32 years ago the level was on the way down and getting worse.

We had our evening meal in the local pub and around thewalls of the pub were some old photos of the bridge and of paddle steamerspassing under it, so I used the Samsung point and shoot to take photos of thephotos. No one minded! I think they were amused that I found these old fadedand discoloured pictures interesting. I chose to use the point and shoot camerabecause it is less threatening than the Nikon. I did not want anyone worryingthat I was a professional who was taking advantage of them.

It is now eight thirty in the evening and the sun is justdipping over the horizon. Unlike on the Gold Coast where the sun races awaybefore seven!

Tomorrow should be an easy day of driving – only five hoursto get us to Adelaideso we will have time to stop occasionally and enjoy the sights we find! I willenjoy that.

A day in the rain

2012-01-16T01:54:00.000-08:00

After a full week of working on the computer and being stuck indoors I was determined to have a "day out". I have a beautiful little NEW car that I haven't had a chance to drive so regardless of the weather, Monday was to be a driving and photo day! (The weekends are when everyone else has a driving and photo taking day!)
Monday morning was grey and rain was threatening. I decided that the rain forest was the place to be in the rain, so my patient and obliging husband helped me to pack the car with picnic and camera bags and dug out a raincoat and umbrella and off we went.
The ISO was increased in the camera to 800 to allow more light into the camera - it is very dark under all those dripping trees.

f/9 1/5sec ISO 800

So dark in fact that I still had to slow the shutter speed way below that for hand holding - which is why this photo looks rather shaky - it is! I have also brightened the picture so that it actually looks way brighter than I saw it! Maybe I should have left it dark and that way I wouldn't have to apologise for not having taken a tripod along with me! A tripod in the rain! No way!! As soon as the picture was taken the camera - supported on an over-the-shoulder strap - it went head first into my bag! I couldn't do that with the camera if it was on a tripod.
Rather than waste our time by walking to the lookout, (poor visibility) Colin and I went straight to the top of the falls. I took plenty of photos here but will share only two of them.

f/13 1/5 ISO 800

Again the shutter speed is very low for this shot even though it is in a brighter area than under the trees. This was to smooth out the water flow. I rested my elbows on a metal railing but this is still not as good as resting the camera on a tripod.

f/7 1 1/100 ISO 800

You will be able to see the difference in sharpness in this shot of the tree ferns beside the water. That is because of the faster shutter speed. As it was still very dull I left the ISO turned up high. All my photos were taken in full manual mode because the camera would over compensate for the poor light and make the shots all over exposed so there would be no detail in the bright areas such as in the water in the foreground or the leaves on the top of the fern.

f/7 1/100 ISO 800

Although it was still raining I asked Colin to stand against the railing so that I could show the beautiful clouds climbing over the hills and also show off my willing helper! Most of the time he was holding the umbrella over the two of us while I took my photos. He was quite concerned that I would get soaked if he went off like this - but I was quick!

f/7 1/60 ISO 800

There is something quite magical about the rainforest in the rain. In spite of the puddles on the path and the dripping of the trees after the rain had stopped it is alive with the song of invisible birds. I was a little disappointed that we saw no wildlife. I thought we might have seen a lizard or a brush turkey or even a carpet snake - but no, just raindrops!

One amazing thing caught our attention as we drove to our next location, there was such a mess all over the roads.

There was bark everywhere.

What seems to have happened is that the trees have enjoyed this big deluge after the three scorching hot days of last week that they have thrown off all their clothes to feel it better!

Recovery in the garden

2012-01-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

It is now a week since those pesky little bugs invaded my garden and I am sure there are a few of you who are wondering just what sort of devastation is left behind. The pictures I will include in this post will show you that all is well. The dahlias and ground plants have made an amazing recovery - they are still producing flower buds and fresh leaves so I knew that I would not have to wait for very long before I saw an improvement. The crepe myrtle tree had a few little buds that avoided the jaws of the voracious beetles and have provided a faint tinge of colour to the almost stripped tree. This is what it looks like today.

I just wish that I could show you how wonderful it looked before the insects arrived. It was a mass of colour and you couldn't see many of the leaves. Never mind. at least the bugs did not arrive as early as they did a few years ago (they do not swarm like this every year, I have been living here 30 years and this is the third time they have come) That time the flowers had only just appeared and the tree was about a third of the size it is now. This time around we had enjoyed the flowers for about a week and it was when they were at their peak that the bugs arrived.
The dahlias - well I have pulled off the eaten leaves and cut off the dead heads so there is no evidence of their trauma left at all.

Two tubers of these dahlias were given to me by my next door neighbour four years ago and I have lifted them and planted them out each year after giving them time to rest and now I have hundreds of them - if you can see the slope of the path in the background of the top one of these two pictures (click on the photo to make it easier to see) you may be able to see plants beside the post and tree and bush - I have planted even more tubers down that edge of our block. They were planted much later so they will be flowering after these ones in the foreground have finished.
What happened to the rose?

The rose was pruned below the damaged area - it is on the right of this picture, at the front, it has since had two new flowers and you may be able to see the red new growth appearing just above my signature. So the rose has recovered too.
I did despair of my flowering gum. It certainly looked as if the bugs had climbed right inside the cups that hold the flowers and eaten everything - but one branch managed to escape the invaders - incredibly the swarm was in a distinct strip across the garden and some plants were totally unaffected while others were ruined (or so I thought.). Here is the surviving flowering branch of my gum tree (Eucalyptus).

So, with a lighter heart I wander around my garden - there is still the odd beetle to be seen but I am not one to use sprays and the birds and lizards and frogs and things are working hard to keep the garden looking good. We have recently added a huge white crane to the birds that check out my flowering part of the garden and I would imagine that he would eat plenty of bugs and nasties! He would stand as high as the shoulders of my seven year old granddaughter! What a magnificent creature!
AJ

Heartbreak in my garden

2012-01-07T02:13:00.000-08:00

This morning when I was having breakfast out on the veranda - as I do every day - I gazed around from this high vantage point to admire the colour that is in my garden. My spoon dropped into my dish as I spied the crepe mytle. Beside the driveway the crepe mytle was in full bloom, better than it has ever been before - smothered with the deepest cherise coloured flowers. This morning it was brown! A layer of petals lay on the gravel below but not one petal remained on the tree. I left my breakfast and rushed down to take a closer look. Sure enough the flowers had all gone and there was no evidence as to why - until I looked down to the flowers below. Resting on all the green leaves were the culprits - small orange beetles (with very full tummies).
There is nothing to be done. There is no point spraying when the damage is done.
I walked across the drive to see if any of the flowers over there had been touched. This is what greeted me.

The first thing I noticed was one of my miniature roses - it has decided to be a large rose and has grown quite vigorously and now is about waist high but still with miniature roses on it. The grubs obviously like the sweet soft wood of the growing tip as well as the pretty roses. Click on the photos to see the damage more clearly.
Then I looked over at the big dahlias that are creating such a dramatic splash of colour in the garden and they too look a real mess. Here are a couple of photos of two of them - I wont upset you by telling you how many flowers are like this.

I was so mad that I went inside and grabbed a can of flying insect spray and sprayed the flower heads. One squirt made the outside insects drop straight away and twice as many that were deep in the petals came crawling out to escape. I know that I am not solving the problem at all - there are more insects in the trees and grass and the entire garden but I took real pleasure in attacking these ones! I do not normally use any insecticides on my garden - I rely on nature to provide the control so I have plenty of birds, insects and lizards and spiders and so on that do no harm at all and I do not want to destroy them. I shall be back outside tomorrow with a pair of secateurs to cut off all the dead flowers to make sure that they do not continue to poison the insects!
Just before dark I decided to take a look at another part of the garden - I remembered that there was a small crepe myrtle that I had grown from a cutting of the first one by the drive. Sure enough, no petals on that - but the horrible little invaders were smothering the leaves so I just had to call out the rest of the family to come and take a look. I dashed inside for the camera but had to use flash since it was almost dark. Take a look at these beasties.

They were as thick as this throughout the garden - so you can see how pointless it would be for me to try and spray them all! I hope that they do not stay very long now they have cleaned my garden - do you realise that they have even started eating the geranium flowers?
I had a sudden thought. What about my pink flowering gum? I looked up. NO! They had eaten those too.

The bugs are still inside the cups of the flowers so by morning there will be no colour left on the tree at all. So now I am feeling very sad. I put all this effort into creating colour and what do I do? I attract not only the birds that enjoy the nectar in them but the horrible little creatures that destroy everything in their path. My garden will look like everyone else's by morning. Just green. Sigh.....
AJ

An old place with a face lift

2012-01-02T01:46:00.000-08:00

Every large town has a water supply and that water supply is also a place where the public are encouraged to visit and to picnic. Our water reservoir has been closed to the public for two years while the dam wall was raised to more than double the capacity of water that the dam would hold. Just before Christmas the construction workers packed their machinery onto trucks and the finished project was opened to the public.

Two days after Christmas and only a week since the gates were opened to the public, Colin and I took my new little car (a red Toyota Corolla) for a run. I packed a picnic hamper and filled the large thermos flask and with the skies blue - for a change - we drove through the lush countryside to visit the Hinze Dam. We really expected for there to be crowds of people there when we arrived but to our surprise there were only two cars in the large car park beside the picnic tables and when we drove on to visit the Information Centre there were only about twenty cars up there.

This is the view over the dam from the Information Centre. This particular area contains tables and chairs for those wishing to sit and have coffee or lunch here. Below the fence is a series of paths through lawns and areas planted with sedge plants (they are the darker green nearest to the fence).

There is yet another room to the right of this picture that has a huge glass-less window that also looks out over this scene and it is called "the Function Room" and it is where groups of people can meet and do whatever is planned for them (!) It is a very striking location for a meeting.

This was the view of the spillway that we saw when we first arrived at the Hinze Dam. When the dam is full and running over it would be a wonderful sight to see. You can tell from this picture that new vegetation has been planted, in fact there is new vegetation all around the picnic grounds too so once that is all established the place will look quite stunning - I know! It looks pretty good already!

Looking down on the spillway you can imagine just how dramatic the water will look when running down this at speed! There are so many different obstructions that will break the flow and create amazing spray and turbulence that I just can't wait for the dam to fill and for the spillway to be used!

We have some wonderful things to see so close to home!
AJ

More on Sovereign Islands

2011-12-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

"Money can't buy you happiness" is how the old adage goes - but it certainly helps! The home we visited yesterday on Sovereign Islands looks tiny in comparison to the one across the road from it and yet it has the same number of bedrooms.

As I pointed out, each and every home on the Sovereign Islands is individual. There is not one home that you would be able to purchase here under three million dollars and any vacant land (such as next to this home) is eagerly snatched up and before too long the security fences go up and the construction of a new masterpiece is begun. Each house block faces water. This home faces a man made canal which means it is a safe anchorage for a very large boat - each home has its own pontoon.
This particular house has four levels, garages and offices being on the lowest level and then three levels of living and entertainment. It is fabulous! This home is not too big for the people who live here - there are people coming and going all the time and I haven't met anyone so willing to offer a bed to friends as these people. They live life to the fullest and they enjoy sharing it.
When I return home the contrast between my lifestyle and expectations and theirs really hits me - but I am happy with my situation and love my "country" home!
AJ

Amazing Gold Coast

2011-12-28T01:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas and all it entails is now quietly slipping into the past and once again normal life can resume.
Desperate to get out and about Colin and I hopped into the car to go and visit family that live at the Northern end of the Gold Coast. The area in which they live is reclaimed land - land which used to be sand at the bottom of the sheltered patch of briny between South Stradbroke Island and the mainland. A series of islands was created and a covenant ensured that only homes with a huge price tag for their constructions were permitted. As a result the islands are home to some of the most amazing mansions you could hope to see. Some are beautiful, many are unusual, some have multiple garages for dozens of vehicles but all are magnificent.
I just had to stop and take a photograph of one of the homes that is still under construction. If you click on the picture to see it larger you will see evidence of the builder's activity in front of the main entrance. While most of the homes on the Sovereign Islands are huge, this one manages to dwarf most of them.

The house covers four house blocks. This is not really the front of the building - this is the part that faces the street, the front of the house faces the waterway known as the Broadwater. Only a regular sized family lives in this amazing mansion - a couple with two children. They may be regular sized but they certainly cannot be called a "regular family"!
If the outside of the home looks this grand I suspect that when finished the interior will be breath taking. I doubt very much if I shall ever get the opportunity to see the inside or even the front of this home but I can hope!
AJ

More colour from my patch of garden

2011-11-16T02:15:00.000-08:00

I must be doing something right this year! My garden is really rewarding me with colour. I suspect it is my industrious husband's doing - he is out every single day with the hose, watering my seedlings and providing me with trailer loads of new soil. Tomorrow we are off to see if we can purchase some sugar cane mulch direct from the farm! My garden is really "spoilt"! I think it gets more attention than we do!

Number one picture is another look at my pretty multicoloured Tibouchina mutabilis. With these blooms all close together you can see how they change from white to a stronger pink colour. I prune this bush back once it has finished flowering and that keeps it from getting too big but better than that it develops more flower branches for the next year. Last year this bush was quite open but this year is more dense. Next year it should be even better.

The Agapanthus are out! They really are a majestic plant with their strappy green leaves and tall stems with big heads of blue on the top - they are such a contrast to most things in my garden which seem to be various shades of pink! I suppose I will have to dig some of them out after their flowering is over - they have multiplied so that they take up quite a bit of room. I wont be throwing them away though, when I lift them I shall plant them down the side of the driveway that goes down to the shed in the back. They wont mind being in the shade of trees and come November we shall be rewarded with a fantastic display of blue!

I have only one white Agapanthus and it is a little slower to open than the blue, It also looks a bit lonely but it will have "pups" so that I will have two or three plants next year.

The best bit of all is kept til last - the daylilies start showing off in November! I have about eight different daylilies and, like the agapanthus, they have pups that give me new plants every year so I have clumps of daylilies all through the garden ranging from single buttercup yellow to deep red that is almost brown. I love daylilies and have visited daylily farms - this is where some of my plants were purchased. I have a gorgeous one that a friend brought for me from a holiday and another that I bought from a gardener who had a stall on the side of the road! I will share some more of their beauty with you another time.
Dont forget that to see the pictures larger, click on them!
AJ

Yellow flower

2011-11-15T03:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jenny in Western Australia I now have a name for my bright and cheerful yellow flowers!

So for those of you who are curious, this yellow daisy is Coreopsis, It multiplies quite well and can be pulled apart easily and spread around. I started with only a punnet of seedlings so all these plants in one garden plus the plants in the next picture, in an adjacent garden are from those original six. I have not found it to be weed-like. It does not spread wildly appearing all through the garden unexpectedly - plus it is fairly shallow rooted and really easy to pull out should the plants become too numerous.

A friend gave me the pretty flowering shrub (lots of the plants in my garden have a story!). I was told it would be a white Tobouchina but, as you can see it is not completely white. The new flowers are white with pink on the back of the petals and as the days pass that colour appears on the white front of the petals. Because the colours mutate the plant has been called "Tibouchina mutabilis" Which, for me, makes remembering the name so much easier! This same friend gave me four different cuttings from his white Tibouchina but not one of them turned out to be white. The other three are deep purple. The purple variety is known as "Tibouchina austenville" and is the most common of the varieties seen around this area. it will be a few months before the third variety in my garden comes into bloom again. It is a pretty pink colour that does not mutate. The flowers are rather tatty when seen closely but the show created by the masses of flowers makes up for that.
(Click on a picture and you will see it larger, then click on the "back" button to return to the blog)
AJ

Little critters

2011-11-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

I must apologise for being so slack about writing in my blog. Just when I think I have my life organised so that it is all mine, I volunteer to help people "do things" and so find I have no time at all! Today I have a little time just for me so here I am again!!!
While chasing around in the garden with the camera in search of "small" things for the photographic topic for Visions I came across all sorts of little bugs and spiders. Some lived to see another day but some have hopped off to another planet.

My first photo is not of a Calendular - a rather large showy flower that is usually a brilliant orange colour, no, this is a much small flower that comes up every year in my garden - I bought the first punnet of seedlings about ten years ago and since then I have split them and moved them around the garden and they flower prolifically for about three weeks. Each flower is about the size of a ten cent piece. No way can I remember the name of it though. Sorry about that!
Now I come to the bugs. There were lots of tiny spiders - I was using a macro lens so those tiny spiders now look quite impressive and a bit scary.

Now this one looks quite fearsome! But when you remember the size of a begonia (tree begonia) flower you then may realise that it is very small indeed.
This is the web of another of my garden inhabitants.

I am not sure if Mrs Spider is inside the funnel or if she expects her prey to get trapped in it. The web covered quite a large area between leaves and must have been newly made because there was nothing trapped and it was undamaged in any way.

The last little monster was really small - the web was stretched between three leaves and the spider was weighting down the middle of it. I thought the spider was transparent until I focused the macro lens on it and saw that rather than transparent it was a subtle green colour. The fancy markings on the spider's body surprised me. With the naked eye I couldn't see it. (Mind you I do need glasses if I have to read anything!!!)
There are plenty more bugs and critters crawling and hopping around in my garden. There are even some miniature grasshoppers that make lots of little round holes in the Chrysanthemum leaves and the ones I found I photographed and sprayed. I obviously did not manage to find all of them because I have found more "aerated" leaves since.
A little reminder before I close. Click on the photos if you would like to see them larger. Click on the "back" arrow (top left) to return to the blog.
AJ

showing off again

2011-10-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took my tiny high definition video camera around the garden to make a record of the flowers that I have in bloom at the moment. Today I put the shots together with some music.
I suggest you click on the title at the top left of the video embedded in this blog so that you can watch the video in Youtube.
The sides are trimmed off , which I find irritating!
Here it is

AJ

Smaller and smaller

2011-10-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this with you!
In the mail today was an ordinary looking envelope. Inside it was something that is far from ordinary looking. This is one more of my Ebay purchases and although the description told that it was "the smallest USB memory stick" I still did not visualise that it would be quite as small as it is.
Here are a couple of photos to give you some idea of why I had a surprise.

The thickness of the entire memory stick is the size of the plastic bit in the mouth of the regular USB memory stick! and . . . . it is 16G ! The cost? five cents short of $15 including postage from Singapore.
I have formatted this midget and it is now ready to be used. (Formatting makes sure that there are no Trojans lurking on the drive).
I love Ebay shopping!
AJ

Morning light

2011-10-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

I enjoy taking my dogs to the park for a walk and because they are big dogs and feel rather responsible for me, I walk early - before there are other people with dogs out walking! They are too strong for me should they decide to chase off any opposition! So far I have managed without a problem. The trouble is, as summer rolls nearer the daylight starts earlier and earlier! I will soon have to take one dog at a time "just in case" - but that means twice the distance for me! The dogs are always on their leads - or I would spend most of the morning trying to find them!
When we walk along the footpath the two dogs trot side by side and right at my side - so they look very well trained. That is until the outside dog decides to suddenly sniff at a tree trunk and shoots off to the left. The sudden pull manages to catch me off balance and I very nearly get yanked over the back of the dog that is still beside me (usually Byron). That might sound quite funny but I can assure you that it doesn't feel very funny at the time! Whoa!
Our morning stroll takes us into the Hinterland Park - which is deserted at this time of the day. Most times I do not see anything striking enough to take out the camera - which is always in my shoulder bag along with a collection of blue plastic bags for doggy-do pickups, and my mobile phone should I need rescuing! But one morning the light was beautiful and I managed to juggle the dogs - who both wanted to sniff different trees since I had stopped walking - and firstly captured the light racing through the trees in a small area of wetlands.

There is a saying "The best camera is the one you have with you" and this little camera is just so handy. It was left behind on the coach driven by my tour guide son, back in 2007 (I think) and was never claimed. I sent away for a battery charger and another battery and it has been my constant companion since then. I have no qualms about letting my little grandchildren use it. It seems to be almost indestructible! Besides which I love to see the world through children's eyes! So this camera is the one that lives in a handbag and when I am using the Nikon D90 it stays in there!
Another shot from that walk in the park is this one of a spider's web.

Not being able to play with depth of field with a little point and shoot camera, it is quite difficult to get a satisfactory picture of a web. Against the brightness of the sky it has disappeared and yet to my eyes it was quite visible. Another difficulty is with using the LCD screen as against using a viewfinder. Knowing that the focus is on the right part of the photo is tricky!
To be honest, I have used some of my Photoshop skills to enhance the colour. (If I hadn't told you, would you know?) Yes, another downside of a P&S camera is that changing the white balance and exposure to get the right results is not comparable with the controls on an SLR. But the photos were "almost there" and just needed a little warmth added. So "The best camera is the one you have with you" plus a little skill with Photoshop!
AJ

Showing off in style

2011-09-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

There were dozens of amazing floats in the Grand Parade on the final Saturday of the Toowoomba Flower Festival however I will not even attempt to share them all with you! However I will give you a little glimpse.

Do you remember the Smurfs? I had two little plastic smurfs as mascots when I was a teenager (before the Ark sank) so it was with great amusement that I shot this picture and the following one.

They look the same - but so much larger and cuddlier! But who is the girl with them? Is she part of the team or is she there to rescue them if they fall?

The characters from Star Trek were also marching in the parade - Storm troopers! Good fun! I don't remember a little black one though. I shall have to watch the movie again!

Here is a vehicle that proves that learning to drive can be fun! I like the "L" plates on the wheels!
The parade was great - there were so many marchers and different floats that the parade took over an hour to pass. The audience were almost passing out from being in the sun all that time so the marchers dressed in all enveloping costumes must have been cooking! I am glad I had lighter clothing on!
AJ

Spring on the Range

2011-09-23T01:49:00.000-07:00

I have just uploaded a little video I have made from the photos and bloggie video that I took on Friday of the beautiful gardens that won prizes in the Toowoomba Flower Festival. I hope you enjoy it.
Click on the title at the top left of the video if you would like to see the video in Youtube - in this blog the sides are trimmed off!
AJ

Link to more photos of Spring in Toowoomba

2011-09-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

As promised, I have put my photos of the Gardens I visited into an album.
Here they are.

The Spring Gardens of Toowoomba 2011

Enjoy!
AJ

The colours of Toowoomba

2011-09-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

It is Spring and every year Toowoomba celebrates Spring in a big way. Toowoomba is a good two hours drive west from where I live on Queensland's Gold Coast and it has a completely different climate to here. Being on the top of the Great Dividing Range at an altitude of 700m it has a more temperate climate with cold winters and low humidity during summer. The soil is an amazing orange red colour and is the envy of every gardener working the heavy clay soils of Mudgeeraba (my home!) Things grow in it!
A Spring Festival is held at Toowoomba for a full week during September and it culminates in a Grand Parade on the last Saturday of that week. I joined a two day tour to Toowoomba that included a tour of the gardens on one day and the parade on the second. Today I will share a mere handful of photographs that I took in the gardens. More photos will be shown in a separate link to a web album later.

Wisteria is one of the plants that would grow here - I have tried but with limited success, the flowers were not as impressive as on this vine - so I dug it out! The cooler climate seems to suit the Wisteria much better and many of the parks and gardens in Toowoomba have either a purple or a white wisteria.

The brilliant mauve and sheer mass of blooms really is a treat for the camera!

Not all the gardens in Toowoomba are filled with colour like this. The majority of residents do not have the time nor inclination to create a flower garden. But the few people who do have a passion for plants must spend a good part of every day at work in their gardens to have them look so fabulous. This is one of the smaller gardens but the grand champion garden was over an acre in size.

Flowering trees give colour above the head as you walk through the prize gardens. How everyone managed to get all their plants blooming at the same time amazes me! I wonder if these prunus will grow here - I guess there is only one way to find out!

Here is one more garden - I was lucky to be able to take a picture without people in it! These gardens are "crawling" with people wandering through them. One gardener said that last year he had 23,000 people through his garden!

Finally, a little indulgence! I tried not to take too many close up shots of "flowers" - I was supposed to be admiring the gardens rather than individual specimens! However this one just begged to have its picture taken!

Click on any of the pictures to see them larger, then click on the "back" arrow to get back to this blog.
I will share my album of photos tomorrow.
AJ

Culture on the 'Coast

2011-09-18T01:31:00.000-07:00

I have done so many things this past week that to write a story about what I have seen and done actually stops me in my tracks! Where to begin!
So to be feminine and non logical I am writing about today first!
It was a hot "summer" day today with the temperature over 30'C and the air was filled with the haze of smoke from grass fires (most likely the fire brigades burning-off the long growth as a safety measure)so wandering around was rather exhausting. But at the same time stimulating.
Today many of the different cultures that make up the people who have made the Gold Coast "home" had made a great effort to demonstrate either their dance, music or their foods. It was the Gold Coast Multi-Cultural Day.
I had barely managed to charge my batteries for my Nikon and my Bloggie camera after two days in Toowoomba but I was so pleased that I had made the effort. The colour and the sharing by everyone was wonderful to see. I stayed three hours and in that time I travelled the world!
I had actually arrived ten minutes before the first "show" (Three stages in action, non stop - and all free) and a brightly dressed Chinese woman encouraged me to sit down and she told me so much about the group she belonged to. It is a strange title for a group of dancers but I will share it with you - "Global Federation of Chinese Business Woman of Australia" (Yes, womAn not womEn)They practice a kind of Tai Chi and martial arts with swords that looks more like a beautiful dance than a type of aggressive attack/defence skill. I took some Bloggie of the sword dance so I will share it later on.

When the ladies posed for a photograph for a friend, of course I could not resist grabbing one myself! Don't they look gorgeous? The woman who was chatting to me is in the centre at the back, in green. Surprisingly most of them did not speak English at all.
When the performance had finished I made my escape (or I would still be talking to the Chinese lady!) and made a bee-line for one of the other stages. On the way I came across three little girls in yellow costumes. They looked so beautiful. I chatted to them and asked them if they were going to be doing some dancing somewhere soon. I asked if their mother's had done their beautiful hairstyles and the floodgates were opened! They turned around so that I could admire them all the better and showed off this hand movement and that dance position until I asked them if I could take a picture of them. I took one but the next thing was that three more children were called over - and then more, so I have three photos of these delightful children (different number in each!) who later were on stage demonstrating Indonesian Dance.

What surprised me was that some of them did not "look" Indonesian - but they may have either an Australian mother or an Australian father. (remember that you can click on the pictures to see them larger - click on the "back" button to return to this blog!) They did dance beautifully - I made a point of returning to the stage for their performance.
While waiting near a stage for a different show - it was an Indian song and music demonstration - I was joined by two little girls who had obviously been to the face painting. I can strike up a conversation with children very easily and these two were just so sweet. I asked them if they would mind if I took a photo of them since they looked so gorgeous and I asked them to put their heads close together and look at me - here is my lovely shot of them.

Don't they have the most beautiful eyes? The face painting is lovely too, not the mess that you sometimes find! I wish that I had found out if their mothers wanted a copy of this photo - maybe they will find it accidentally by finding my blog!
I have so much to share that I will be writing again tomorrow!
AJ

Art on the Sands

2011-09-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

All this week the foreshore of Currumbin is enlivened with the addition of some most unusual artworks. Every year the Swell Sculpture festival is held in Currumbin and the entries to this competition - with a major acquisition prize of $20,000 - are displayed for everyone to see and judge both on the grassy roadside and on the sands.
Whenever there is something colourful happening in my part of the world I pick up the camera and check it out!
Here is the album of pictures I took. Click on the picture shown here and then chose "slideshow". When the first image appears, change the length of viewing time to 5 seconds or the pictures will change too quickly.
I hope you enjoy them.
AJ

Swell Sculpture Festival 2011

Remembering yesterday

2011-09-14T04:11:00.001-07:00

This week has been one of Heritage - on Sunday I made my first visit to the Mudgeeraba Heritage Centre because there was to be a special commemoration of the turning on of Electricity 75 years ago.
Of course I was not in Mudgeeraba when it was still dark, in fact I was not even a twinkle in my father's eye at that time, let alone aware of a place called Mudgeeraba! But remembering the things that were done that have influenced today has become very important to Australians. Australia's history is not very long but it is very much appreciated.
The volunteers who are responsible for the very presence of the Heritage Centre had been labouring long and hard at restoring a very old street lamp. Many hours of work had gone into the removal of rust and creation of the perspex "glass" as well as wiring so that the lamp could not only act as a dramatic feature to the grounds but be a security light too.

Speeches were made, local politicians heaped praise and the light was switched on - not with a roll of drums but with the blast from two vintage rifles.

Early pupils from the Mudgeeraba Primary School were among the audience and they were the ones who symbolically switched the light on.

This photo does not show the switching on of the light, it is included to show where the light is and how it fits into its new location. The old buildings are so smart and well maintained as are all the artifacts inside and out. It is a pleasure to walk around and gaze on all these utensils from the past. For there is nothing here of real monetary value but it is all of rich memory value.
Nothing like this can be done without money and all is done by donation. A donation towards the restoration of the old street lamp was given to the Heritage Centre by the Mudg Foundation and after all the speeches the Director of the Mudg Foundation, Peter Oschenbein, handed another cheque to the committee to help with further projects.

If you are interested in learning more about the Mudg Foundation, click here.
I have taken plenty of photographs of the Mudgeeraba Heritage Centre so I will write about the place again!
AJ

Sunshine on the mountain

2011-08-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

On the last day of winter the sun came out and it was far too nice to stay at home so the picnic box was packed with tea and biscuits so that we could spend the morning exploring the mountain that is very close to home.
Showers were forcast for the afternoon so we only had the morning to do our driving.
Rain had fallen the day before so I felt that it would be worth going to see the waterfalls - there is only a little catchment area so the falls are less spectacular a few days after the rain. The best time of all is when it is actually raining.
I enjoyed the challenge of taking photos in extremely poor light. I am sharing all of the photos that I took that morning (not many) and I hope that you enjoy them too.
Click on the photo and you will be taken to the web album. click on "Slideshow" and change the length of time to 5 seconds once you are in the slideshow, then you will be able to read the captions.
AJ

Springbrook in Spring

Photos of Melbourne trip

2011-08-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

Once you have been away, even for a few days, there seems to be so many things to catch up on! I have only just managed to get around to working on my photographs of my visit to Melbourne - many needed major correction due to the distortion caused by the height of the buildings. I will make another post soon to show how the corrections were acchieved.
Not all my pictures are here - I still have the pictures I took on a walk along a few of the city streets to upload. However there are quite a few here that should keep you entertained for a while!
I was very lucky with the weather when in Melbourne - only on one day did it rain and that was when I spent the day wandering around the Tutankhamen exhibition (truly magnificent and something I will treasure in my mind for years) and then in the company of friends.
So let me take you to see Melbourne through "my" eyes!
AJ

Melbourne in August 2011

If you wish to see the pictures as a slide show, After clicking on the picture in this blog, click on "slideshow" above the collection of photos. When the first picture appears change the length of time from 3 seconds to 5 so that you can read the captions.
If you press F11 you will fill the screen with the pictures, removing the menu bar at the top of the screen. Remember to press F11 once the slideshow has finished to restore the menu bar. Esc. (the keyboard key top left of your keyboard) will stop the slideshow.
When you make Google your email account you too will be able to share lots of photos with your friends in this way - and have a blog page too. Google gives this all to you FREE!

An architecture day

2011-08-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for my camera – sun and a few small clouds made photography a pleasure! To begin with I started at Federation Square with its unusual shapes and angles and a real shortage of people. I understood that this area was teeming with people but I think I was either too early or else it was too early in the week (Tuesday!). Whatever the reason I was able to enjoy myself taking photos without having to wait for people to move out of my way! I did see what looked to be a group of photographers being taken around Federation Square under the wing of a “more experienced’ photographer. The shots he was encouraging his student to take were not the sorts of angles that appealed to me so I actually wonder just how experienced he actually was!

Here is one of my shots of this unusual place.

Across the street from Federation Square is a very well known railway station, Flinders Street Station. I can remember sending a postcard to my parents back in the dim dark ages when I first arrived in Australia that had a photo of Flinders Street Station on it so this was one landmark I just had to take photos of!

I crossed the river and walked along Southgate taking photos as I walked and wondering why I had taken a coat with me that morning. The day had turned out so warm that I was too hot – but it is easier to wear a coat than carry it! I had to take a photo that showed the river – the Yarra River. It is jokingly called the river that runs upside-down! The water is brown but I don’t think it is as dirty as it actually looks! The central business area is in the background.

The is a huge contrast of styles of buildings in Melbourne from ultra modern to very old. Here is one of the modern looking creations.

And this is the City Baths. I think you would agree that these are fairly historic? The power lines and rails are for the trams that run around. This building is on Swanson Street, for those of you who have visited Melbourne.

Tomorrow I fly back to the Gold Coast where there are no buildings as old as the Flinders Street Station or the Melbourne Baths. I have really enjoyed my short visit here and I hope you have enjoyed seeing a few of the shots I have taken.

To Ancient Egypt and Back

2011-08-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

After a typical Aussie Breakfast of toast and Vegemite I left my hotel in a taxi for the Melbourne Museum (a ten minute walk away!)

outside the front entrance to the museum

Mary is not quite so sprightly as I am and would not have been able to walk that distance – hence the taxi. Today we were to visit the Tutenkhamun Exhibition (I had been brought up to spell the boy king’s name Tutankhamen – with an E – but it has changed, as has the pronunciation)

No photography of any kind was allowed in the Tutankhamun Exhibition but since photos of the exhibits are in many books that I already own there really was no sense in trying to sneak snap! The exhibition was in dark rooms with spotlights on the exhibits so after two hours of reading and admiring these awe inspiring treasures, my eyes were really tired. It was almost overwhelming to be able to stand so close to these wonderfully preserved and intricately detailed ancient burial items. The audience were able to walk all around each of the exhibits and see them from every angle.

After a normalizing cup of coffee we wandered into the rest of the museum. The animal section was interesting because of the huge number of stuffed animals and the way they were displayed. One exhibit of possums appealed to my “photographic design” way of looking at things!

I just HAD to take a photo of the Tasmanian Tiger – this stuffed beastie was the very last of its kind – they are now extinct. It was in captivity before it died. The tigers were destroying sheep so were exterminated. Then it was realized that the species had been wiped out completely.

Another shot I tried (all, in the museum, were taken hand held with slow shutter speed and no flash) was of a rather magnificent stain-glass window. I am not sure of the reason of its presence in the museum but it is rather lovely. The lower part of the window did not have lighting behind it so I only aimed at the top two “panels”. remember that if you wish to see any of my pictures larger, click on them. Click the "Back" arrow to come back to this article.

Museums have really changed since my earliest memories of them – they are now far more interesting places to go into. I love the way that modern technology is used to further enhance the information about the exhibits. There was even a diorama that included two robotic dinosaurs (that I have taken video of to share with the littlies back home) they look quite real!

Coming out of the museum the weather had taken a nosedive – it was raining! It had better dry up by morning – I have another day of photography ahead of me!

Into the City

2011-08-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

My morning was spent teaching my host computer techniques – nothing new in that activity! I always seem to find someone who needs some help with one program or another. Today it was video editing. The program I had brought with me did not work on the computer so I downloaded a freebie which is actually very good for someone just starting out. For anyone wanting more control over the sound (this free program will only allow the entire sound track to be made louder or softer) this program will not do – so I hesitate to recommend it. It is much better to start with a program that will do all that is required and learn how to use it than to get a program that you will end up feeling it is inadequate.

After lunch the clothes were tucked back into the suitcase and Mary and I were taken into the city where we booked into the Mantra on Carlton. This will be our home for three nights.
I just have to share a picture of some of the old buildings - these are very expensive and very small homes.

After the mandatory cup of tea (Something I just HAVE to do when arriving at any new place!) I took my camera for a walk because across the road from the Mantra I could see a park and beyond that the Exhibition building.

The sun was still out and the clouds made the sky very pretty so this afternoon was perfect for taking a few pictures. Off I went and was soon in the park and opposite a magnificent fountain. There were lots of couples taking photos of each other with the fountain behind them but I chose to have my fountain on its own!

Walking around the fountain I noticed there was a rainbow so I turned the circular polarizing filter until it was the most colourful and this is the result.

Then I walked around to the sunny side of the building and took a shot from there.

Next door to the Exhibition building is the Melbourne Museum. This is an amazing looking building. I wandered all the way around it and took lots of photos.

After I am back on the Gold Coast and with my regular laptop, I will put the photos I have taken in Melbourne into a web album and share the link to it.

This evening I am off to have a meal at a “posh” Indonesian Restaurant. I have put on my glad rags! Wanna come?

day one in Melbourne

2011-08-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

My first day in Melbourne is now a memory, the sun decided to stay hidden for my introduction to this southern capital but my host for this first day, Barbara, was able to take me around the bay south of the city and show off some of the beauty of that coast line. Of course I was told that on a sunny day that you could see right across to the point on the other side and how beautiful the city looked from here! The imagination had to do! On this day the city was a blurry blob of grey shapes masked by grey haze.

It is such a long time since I came to Melbourne that it is like coming to the place for the first time! Driving from the Airport past new city buildings was thrilling. The straight up and down style of functionality has been replaced by curves and dramatic extrusions and exciting architecture.

There is a dog in the home I am staying and being a doggy person it is difficult to fathom why this little schnauzer is keeping me at paws length. I just had a mini cough and the wretched thing barked wildly! I feel on the outer!

This morning the sun is making an effort to shine – there is blue sky and a few clouds that do look as if they could get thicker – but I will keep my fingers crossed! I love the sun!

No photos to share just yet but I intend to do something about that very shortly!

Back with the birds!

2011-08-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

The Chestnut Breasted Finches are coming in again - they must be nomadic because we do not see any for months at a time. They mostly come in a group - I have never tried to count them. Maybe you will manage to from this video!
Click on the title (top left) and see the video in Youtube - the blog cuts off both sides of the video, unfortunately.

They are rather fun, don't you think!
AJ

Bollywood song and dance

2011-08-10T01:17:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is a taste of the talent of the Bollyfunk Dance troupe from Brisbane.
Click on the title at the top left to be taken to Youtube where the video can be seen properly.
AJ

India comes to the Gold Coast

2011-08-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

I saw a small advert in the free paper that told of Bollywood coming to Mudgeeraba (my home town) and wrote it on my calendar. The days went by and I heard nothing more until one shopping day I spotted a leaflet pinned to a notice board.

So it really was "on". I rang a couple of people to see if they would like to join me but they both had other engagements - Tuesday evenings are usually free for everyone! So Colin and I went on our own. we were not disappointed.
The evening was a travel presentation by "Mudgeeraba Cruise and Travel" from our shopping centre, Mudgeeraba Village, about a rather special trip to India they were organising. The evening began with an AV presentation of the trip that is within the "Golden Triangle" of India's most notable cities.

Following this presentation came the dancers - three very talented Bollyfunk Dancers from Brisbane under the leadership of a vibrant and ever smiling Andrea Lam. I will include a video of the dancing in a second blog.
What a wonderful display of the diversity of dance that comes out of India! We all did so enjoy it.
Then it was the audience's turn! We were encouraged to come out and learn a few moves! The magic of the dance seems to be in the hands and fingers - the pattern of the fingers and positions of the hands is wonderful to see. Although we all tried our best we still did not manage to look so elegant!
When the evening came to a close we were all presented with a bag of goodies.

Expecting to find a travel brochure inside we all peered into the bags and were astonished to find it filled with several glossy books on different regions of India as well as three DVDs. On our arrival to the evening we had been given a thick book containing wonderful images of cultural events and places in India so this bag of interesting material was in addition to that.

Now I must take a look at the video I took of the dancing and then take you to India with music!
AJ

Dolphin video

2011-08-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

As well as taking photos of the dolphins as they were being fed by visitors to Tangalooma Resort I attempted a little bit of video using the Nikon D90.
Here is Amanda getting wet - she's the one with the long hair - she held on to her fish in an attempt to keep the dolphin with her!

Click on the title to see the video in Youtube or on the four-way arrows to see it full screen
AJ

Remembering Morton Island

2011-08-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Although today has been taken up with the everyday activities of home life I have just been looking back through my photographs taken over the weekend and my fascination with wildlife shows through them. Among all the scenery and sunsets there are plenty of records of the birds that have become friendly - thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins.
Morton Island - and in particular, Tangalooma, was the site of one of the largest whaling stations in Australia. The average number of whales killed in 12 months was 600 and most of these whales were taken from the waters just in front of the resort in which we were staying. An old newsreel video recording - the sort that used to be shown before the film when us "oldies" went to the cinemas "way back when", showed how the whales actually swam and showed off around the whaling boats - just as they do for the tourist whale watch boats. The whalers would estimate the size of the whales and pick out one that was over the set limit and harpoon it with massive explosive harpoons until they killed it. The waters were red with the blood of these huge intelligent (but in those days quite stupid and unsuspecting) whales.

I took a photo of one of the harpoons - the explosive spear head has been put back on the end (less the explosive, of course!) and the plaque gives more of the gruesome story. The number of whales is climbing back up again - the wanton killing reduced their numbers almost to the point of extinction, I wonder if later, once the numbers are considered too great, that commercial hunting will recommence.
There are no larger marsupials on Morton Island and the possums and other small mammals are quite secretive and difficult to spot so I had to content myself with the local bird life!
Kookaburras hang around the resort because there is a regular feeding time for them. As long as feed is put out at the same time every day it is quite easy to coax our native birds to come close.

I never attended the Kookaburra feeding - but I enjoyed taking a few shots of these unique Ozzies in as natural a scene as possible.
Another bird that seems to love hanging around tropical resorts on island is the Curlew. These fairly large birds with long legs have a very strange call that sound a little like a baby crying. They sound very mournful at night - a little ghostly, in fact!

I tried really hard to get close to these birds but just as I thought I could take one step closer they would strut away a few more paces! They will permit you to come close - but not THAT close! At one stage I was sneaking up on seven birds at a time but once I crouched down to take my photo I would be left with just two! This one looks quite relaxed - but it was "growling" at me!
Thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins every evening, there is a colony of cormorants that have taken residence on the small patch of beach next to the jetty (the viewing platform is along the side of the jetty). I suspect that there are fish scraps that are missed by the dolphins and these are harvested by the cormorants ("shags" is a common name given to these birds). feeding wild dolphins has become a tourist draw card in many parts of the world, Australia has some very strict regulations regarding the feeding of them (including "no touching") and yet, in spite of the restrictions, people just love the novelty of being able to hold out a titbit and have a dolphin swim right up to them and take it from their hands. In this photo, one of the resort staff is giving a snack to one of the dolphins - its a bit like saying, "here's one for now, the next you will have to earn".

The dolphin picture was taken at night with out the use of a flash, the jetty lights gave out a barely adequate illumination for taking photos - a slow shutter speed was mandatory - so the only shots that worked were the ones where the dolphin and the people were quite still.
Finally I am showing a shot of one of those black and white cormorants at work! This next picture was taken on Sunday morning. I walked onto the jetty (the same one that is used to view the dolphins) and watched the cormorants as they swam under the water and chased small fish. I didn't think that I would be able to capture this action but with digital you try anything!

The bird swims as efficiently as a fish! I was fascinated.
Now I will have to set too and put my photos together in a web album that can be shared with all my fellow travellers - and I will have to find something else to write in my blog!
AJ

Another day in the sunshine

2011-07-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our last day on Morton Island at Tangalooma Resort was a very social day. When our Bombora tour group left the Gold Coast we were all strangers but over the three days we had cemented friendships that on this last day were further reinforced.
After a true "Sunday breakfast" of bacon and eggs I first took the camera out for some exercise and found some cormorants on the beach.

For a while I was able to get close to the birds but a young boy of about twelve years old, encouraged by his father, tried to catch one - which of course made them all fly away!

The sun was by now shining into the big concrete fish tank so I tried my luck at taking fishy shots - I used the circular polarising lens to cut down on the reflections from the nearby glass windows - but since the lion fish refused to come out to be seen I soon lost interest! I would never be any good as a scuba-diver! I fail to get excited at the sight of a fish!

As I said earlier, our Sunday was a very social day, Colin and I meandered back to our group and we all purchased coffees and sat chatting and finding out more and more about each other.
I spotted a group of quad bikes returning from their 25 minute "tour" - they run along the sands and play "follow my leader" up and down the sandy tracks near the beach and do figure of eights on the sand well away from the resort and generally "have fun". The quads could be heard returning so I timed my shot to get a couple of them in the clearings between the trees and get the yacht in my sights too.

Coffee time spilled over into lunch time and we were still seated and yapping! Since it was quite cool inside we all moved out into the sunshine and commandeered a couple of tables.
All too soon we had to collect our tickets for the boat ride back to Brisbane. Our cases had been left outside our rooms during the morning, to be transferred to the boat, so we didn't have to concern ourselves with them.
Outside the tour desk where the rubber waders that could be hired for the dolphin feeding - people who do not have wet-suits and still want to wade into the sea to feed the dolphins can hire them so that they can stay dry. I thought the sight of these waders looked rather comical!

It was time to leave. Our visit had been filled with lots of great memories of activities, food and friendships.
We had started the trip with smiles and we finished the trip with hugs and exchanges of addresses.

However - I really enjoyed being in my own bed last night!
AJ

Delay for the next installment!

2011-07-31T05:10:00.000-07:00

Getting home from our exciting weekend at 7.15 and then sitting down to relax has taken my energy away! Home is a great place!
I will fill you in on our last day on Tangalooma "tomorrow"!
Tonight I will have a comfortable bed not a rock hard one so "sleep, here I come!"
AJ

Another day on an (almost) deserted island

2011-07-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

Waking bright and early as usual I watched with dismay as the clouds greyed the sky – but the sun was behind the hill and hadn’t pushed the evening cover off the island yet so by the time we were walking the rather long distance to the breakfast restaurant the sky was blue and not a hint of rain in the puffy white clouds at all.
The meals are really generous but the amount of walking that has to be done means that we will not put on any weight!
What a lavish display of food was laid out for the breakfast buffet! I felt almost ashamed having only one American pancake and maple syrup before being very British and having a slice of toast and marmalade! Colin made up for my lack of breakfast appetite and wolfed down bacon, eggs, mushroom and tomato – and a couple of pancakes too!

After brekky our group meandered over to check out the “helicopter workshop” and made an enthusiastic bunch of people for the young pilot to talk to. I was invited to accompany Joyce on a helicopter flight – she was only able to take the flight if she purchased two tickets and would I like to go with her. Would I……? Amazing! Now I know why I had an itchy palm this morning!

We took forever sitting inside this tiny flying machine before the pilot lifted it skywards – there are so many safety checks that have to be done first. The rest of the gang watching from the sidelines was getting tired of waving!

I fitted the long lens on the camera thinking that we would be a long way up and I would need it – especially since we might see whales from “up there”. However we had barely gone five minutes when I realized that I needed a much wider view that the 50-300mm would allow so hurriedly switched back to the 17-55mm and part way through the flight remembered that I had changed the White Balance the night before – for the dolphins in the dark – and put that back on daylight! Grr! Thank goodness for Photoshop! That will let me put the colours right. Incidentally we didn’t see one whale!
All through the short flight I was juggling between the Nikon D90 and the JVC pocket video cam so I have some terrific pics of this sand island that is Morton Island and hopefully some good video too. I just hope it doesn’t make the viewer air sick!
Once on the ground Joyce, Colin and I purchase a coffee and sat and yarned for a while and were soon joined by five others from our Bombora group so stayed on and purchased a sandwich each for our lunch. It was great to sit and chat and learn more about each other.

After picking up a jacket from our rooms we all boarded a flat bottomed punt like boat that took us a short way to an artificial reef made up of old, rusting ships and barges.

To get into the punt we all had to remove our shoes and socks and roll up trousers and paddle through the ankle deep sea water before stepping onto the ramp at the back. That small adventure set the mood for the rest of the “cruise”! There was a lot of laughter. Once at the wrecks we were all given tubs of pelletised fish food. Sprinkling the pellets onto the surface of the crystal clear water soon brought a myriad of tropical fish racing to eat them.

Our skipper tried to educate us as to what fish was what but I think that most people just enjoyed seeing the frenzy these colourful creatures were creating!

The reef of wrecks creates a sheltered harbour for pleasure craft and there were plenty of beautiful boats to admire of all shapes and sizes – from small yachts and cabin cruisers to massive multi decked ones that were almost the size of liners! (slight exaggeration!)
Once on dry land again I dragged my patient hubby along the sands back to the wrecks – I was determined to get a sunset with them as a backdrop. I am telling you – it was the best decision! I am so pleased with the shots I got.

I could bore the socks off you all with the number I took! (but I wont!) I love to have something of interest between me and the sky. Others take the sky, I know, but I like “something” in addition!
Half an hour after the sun had disappeared there was still colour in the sky so I sat down on the wet sand and put the camera on my gorilla-pod and with a slow shutter speed took another couple of shots.
There was no time to return to the hotel room before the “Aussie Barbecue” evening meal. I did find somewhere to wash off all the sand before I entered the restaurant though! When the food was brought out for us – a special room with a special meal, just for our Bombora group of nine, plus Joyce, the lady who took me on a helicopter trip – I could not resist taking more photos.

The presentation of the food was magnificent. Fruit and vegetables were cut into decorative flower shapes and the actual BBQ food looked so special – and it was.

So, Saturday was another full and special day filled with exciting activities and leaving me with lots of amazing memories to carry with me. Tomorrow couldn’t possibly better today! But I don’t want it to!
AJ

Tangalooma Whaling

2011-07-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

It was such an early start this morning. I was in the shower by five thirty! With so many morning chores to be done before heading off to join our tour bus I had to start early! We were on the road by seven and after picking up a few other passengers along the way found ourselves at the wharf right on time for our ten o clock departure.
I had no idea how long it took to reach Tangalooma – the name of the resort on Morton Island, to which we were going but it took forever just to get to the mouth of the Brisbane River! We slowed down as we passed every moored ship – many of them! I guess that is so that the wake caused by our vessel did not throw them around as they were being unloaded. It actually took an hour and a quarter.

Our fast cat ferry (the one in the background!)

There was time to take a few photos from the jetty when we arrived before we all climbed back on board so we could go out into the ocean on a whale watching trip. The best part of that was the cup of coffee on board! We saw one whale breach (which was wonderful) but the rest of the time we saw water and felt the huge swell toss us around. I was happy when we pulled up and we were on solid ground again!

We were taken on a walking tour of the resort, which is huge and fantastic (and many more superlatives) but when I pointed out that one of the members of the party had major mobility problems (bad knees) we were all treated to a buggy ride for the rest of the resort travel.

Our rooms are quite luxuriant and after enjoying a welcome cup of tea and a muffin (from home!) I left with my camera to take a walk and some photos – I found a collection of curlews and had fun chasing them with the camera and then swung my attention to the sinking sun. I had picked a location earlier that would be good if there was a sunset so that is where I aimed to return to. It was perfect!

At six in the evening the lights on the jetty are turned on and in come the bottle nosed dolphins to be hand fed. We had to listen to a “Japanese Marine Biologist” for what seemed to be an overly long period of time as she explained about the rules of feeding and touching and the ages of the dolphins – all we were all interested in was SEEING them! But we were rewarded. Six dolphins came in and played below us in the water and four of them came in to be hand fed. Amanda, Steven’s girlfriend, braved the cold water and had the thrill of her life! She tried to hang onto her fish so the dolphin would stay longer!

Our day was completed with the most enormous and delicious five course meal that I could not complete! What a treat we have had today! I finished up by going around our table and taking photos of each of the couples, we have already become good friends! Yes, Colin and I had our photos taken (with my camera) too.

Another busy day tomorrow? You betcha!

AJ

Dreaming of holidays

2011-07-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

My son suggested a trip to the Caravan and Camping Expo that was "on" this weekend. Naturally I grabbed my camera - it seems to enjoy coming on outings with me! Money might be tight but there were plenty of wonderful touring "outfits" to admire and pick ideas from. We have a fairly basic but large off-road camper trailer and have found it rather a pain to fold up ready for departure. I was attracted to one wonderful set-up that had a remote control that when pressed folded the camper down giving the single (single!) operator the time to wander from side to side to tuck in the canvas as the solid base folded over the trailer. Brilliant!
There were plenty of camper trailers, pop up caravans and caravans with pop out sides or backs, motor homes with bits that extended, awnings and fly screen dining areas that zipped on. Oh! All sorts of wonderful bits and pieces.

Here you can see just a few of the camera trailers - the tents are part of the trailers so can accommodate a family comfortably. solar panels were in great numbers as was running hot and cold water in the camper trailer set-ups. That made our seem VERY basic!

Steven is admiring the smart pull-out kitchen on one of the camper trailers - click on the picture and you may faint when you see how much it is! the trailer is magnificent and has everything you could possibly need - but it is still a trailer with a fitted tent, not a caravan.

Of course, if you have a camper trailer or caravan you need something to tow it with so there were a few people with suitable vehicles on display. My menfolk were interested in making enquiries about the vehicle in the centre of this picture - it is a "Great Wall" - I don't think I would be too keen on driving a vehicle that has such a name! They were impressed with it though! It is half the price of the Nissan that is nearest the camera. I must admit that it does look quite smart . . .
we have a huge country to explore - but all caravan parks have cabins in them and to use cabins in various parks while touring makes much more sense to me than paying so much for a camper that spends most of its life in the back yard.
AJ

Another free loader!

2011-07-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

I know, I often write about the birds that come visiting my place! Here I go again! Well, I get a lot of pleasure from these beautiful wild creatures getting to be so trustful of our proximity. I never try to turn them into pets, I do not encourage the birds to come and sit on the feed dish as I hold it or try to get them to perch on my hands. I feel it is necessary for them to have a natural fear of humans so they can survive long enough to have grey feathers. (They don't get grey feathers!) We do have one bird that has become VERY trustful, Twisty Beak, the lorikeet with the deformed lower bill will now fly over and sit on Colin's hand as soon as he comes outside with some treat for him/her (we don't know what sex Twisty is) and will even stay on his hand when Colin walks inside the house to show off his feathered friend to any visitor that might be in our home.
But I did not set out to write about Twisty. We had a new visitor to our lorikeet and finch feeding dishes this weekend. It was a surprise to see such a large bird on the inside of the cage.

f/5.6 1/100 ISO 200 55mm

My first picture was taken as I stepped through the door onto the veranda. I did not want to frighten our new visitor, he might not be able to make a quick get away and might hurt himself.
I stood still in the doorway for a few minutes to be sure the bird had settled down and was not going to panic. then moved around the table to get a little closer.

f/5.6 1/100 ISO 200 55mm

Kookaburras do not eat seeds so there was nothing inside this cage that would interest him at all. I have no idea why it would have gone in there - unless it was after the little finches that were there earlier enjoying the budgie seed. Kookaburras are meat eaters, they love insects, lizards, grubs and worms but they also like small birds and mammals. Another explanation could be that I had the slow cooker making beautiful meaty smells out on the veranda (keeps that smell outside). Well, it's possible!
I edged a little closer and took another shot of our visitor.

f/5.6 1/100 ISO 200 55mm

There is something very special about this famous Aussie - his laughing call through the bush always makes me look up to see if I can catch sight of the bird. I was puzzled as to how this large fellow managed to get inside the cage that we had placed over the feeding platform (to keep the cockatoos from throwing the dishes to the ground).
We called our house guest to come and take a photo, she attempted to get as close as I had been and before she could raise the camera to her eye the kookaburra dipped his head and just dropped through the bars at the bottom of the cage - the bars the dishes sit on - and flew off. Under all those feathers must be one skinny bird!
To see the pictures larger, click on them and then click on the "back" arrow to return to this page.
It is wonderful to go to new places to see new things - but sometimes new thing come to you at home!
AJ

A magic location

2011-07-15T02:24:00.000-07:00

I have been busy with my video editing! On Wednesday Colin and I took Amanda, my son's girlfriend, to see one of our favourite places. Our home is at the base of Mount Springbrook so it is only a 30 km drive to see some truly magnificent scenery. Actually, we don't need to go quite that far before the "wow" factor sets in! The drive up the mountain is a delight. There are curved bridges and palm filled valleys and old stumps with holes in them that tell tales of the timber times (Cedar cutters were the first residents of this area)on the road leading up the mountain.
For most of the time I was busy with my still camera but remembered to use my tiny JVC bloggy camera once we had reached Purlingbrook Falls.
I hope you enjoy visiting one of our favourite locations! Again I remind you to click on the title on the top left of the video to see it in "widescreen" in Youtube.

If you haven't been to Springbrook yet, let me take you there!
AJ

Up with the eagles

2011-07-15T00:57:00.000-07:00

How wonderful to be able to fly. A trip to Mount Tamborine allowed me to take a few minutes video of some people who could do it quite effortlessly.
The sun was bright so I was totally unable to see what my camera was aimed at so this entire video was taken by pure guess-work. This is what you have to do when there is no viewfinder to put up to your eyes!
I hope you enjoy what I am showing.

To see this video without the sides trimmed off, click on the title at the top left of the video and you will be taken to Youtube.
AJ

In full feather

2011-07-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

A short while ago I wrote about and showed photos of a very under-feathered cockatoo. Well, we have had a few really cold mornings with quite heavy frost on the lower levels so I would expect that we will not see that poor creature again. So to show you the true beauty of these wonderful wild creatures I was happy to be able to get outside this morning and capture a few shots of these visitors to my veranda.

f/ 4.0 1/800 ISO 160 85mm

I might have told you how I usually chase the birds away because they can be very destructive if they think they can get a regular feed and then find the feed dish empty. As a result of this the birds are quite skittish when I open the door to come out with the camera!
I first noticed the birds on the feed dish cage when one of them had his head thrust between the bars and going his hardest at cleaning out the seed dish. He initially looked as if he was stuck! When I slid the door open he had to wriggle to free himself without removing his neck feathers!
I had seen the birds through the window to start with so changed lenses so that I had the 70-300mm attached. I wanted both birds in the shot first and when one flew off (the one that had managed to get at the seeds) I zoomed in!

f/ 4.0 1/800 ISO 160 100mm

Don't you just love "back lighting"! Of course I have had a little help from Photoshop to lift the shaded area on the birds front (Select the bird, Ctrl+J to duplicate, use levels, mask and tidy using a soft brush, smart sharpen and merge down) There is rarely a photo that I do not use Photoshop.

f/ 4.8 1/800 ISO 160 200mm

Zoomed right in for this shot and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you will have the surprise I did - I did not realise that cockatoos had brown eyes! I thought they were black!

f/ 5.0 1/800 ISO 160 240mm

The bird was very suspicious about my activity - many birds think that a big camera is a gun! So it wasn't long before he flew into the tree a little distance from the veranda (We have had a tree lopper in so the branches of the tree available as perches are further away!) This is where I prefer to see the cockatoos! They are beautiful birds but they have been endowed with huge voices that only another cockatoo could love!
AJ

Its show time!

2011-06-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

The advantage to being a granny means that you can have the children for fun times and give them back when you want some "me" time! So it was this weekend. I was able to take the children to the local country show - of course there are not too many opportunities to take photos when you are keeping your eye on two tiny girls with eyes like saucers! But I managed to take a few shots that I can share here - the photos of the girls having the time of their lives I cannot show, their mother would not like it, but those I can print out big and show them off to all my visitors!

Perhaps we arrived early but the first photo I took shows very few of the crowds that were at the show! The camel rides were very popular and there was always a stream of people waiting for their turn on the ships of the desert.

Of course there are plenty of horses at a country show - not too many cattle, didn't see any sheep and I did not see any big bulls or Clydesdale horses either. But I did see the judging of some very small horses - these tiny horses are not much bigger than my dogs! They really surprised me - I did not know there were horses this size that were so fine boned like the thoroughbreds that are the pride of the horse arenas, I thought that the mini horses were more sturdy - more like the tubby Shetland ponies!

My two charges were the right age to enjoy a puppet show so we timed our wander around the stalls and arenas so that we arrived at "show time". So engrossed and believing in this "make-believe" world were they that they leaped out of their places when a cloud of stage smoke billowed from the bottom of the striped stage indicating a dragon hidden inside! It was fun to hear them try and tell the story they had watched to their mother when they got home! "... and the duck tried to play the piano but a spider was inside and then a dragon came and tried to eat the duck but we shouted and saved him"!

What is a show without rides? Our local show is not as big as the show that is in Brisbane but there are still lots of rides and games and ways to spend your money! Since my girls are not big enough or old enough to go on these rides I had to snatch a photo while on the run! Its just a matter of getting the camera settings ready then pausing, aiming and shooting! It is so much fun having a camera that is so easy to use!
As we walked back to where we were to meet the shuttle bus - we had taken the Show Society's advice and parked at one of the collection points and taken the free shuttle bus to the show, it delivered us right to the entrance and when we returned to the car, dropped us right at our vehicle! as I started to say, walking back to the main gate we passed some highly polished and painted vehicles. This was an excuse for a few more photographs!

I think this is the first time I have managed to take car photos without getting the back of men of all ages gazing down at the engines (what are they trying to see, I wonder!) I like to see the paintwork and the interior finish and the mag-wheels! I guess that means I am not really a car buff!
The show is over for another year - and this year the weather was absolutely perfect and I am sure that the organizers would have been very happy with the crowds that attended and the money they would have brought in.
There will be another Show on the Gold Coast - this one was organized in one of the smaller suburbs, the next show is for the entire Gold Coast and is much bigger (but not necessarily much better!) I haven't been to the Mudgeeraba Show (this one) in several years so it was fun to do it with my two little granddaughters - you tend to see things in a different light when you have young children with you.
AJ

Fun with my bloggie camera

2011-06-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a little video I made of one of the buskers on Friday.

I am not sure if this will work or not - This time I am trying to upload a video from my computer instead of putting it into Youtube first.
Fingers crossed!!
AJ

rocks and gems

2011-06-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I visited the local Lapidary Club because they were holding a Gem Show. I was really surprised by the number of cars in the carpark and even more amazed at the number of stalls out in the open. The ones that were in the shade of trees were at a real disadvantage because they were unable to show off the colour and shine of their wares - the opals looks like riverstone in the shadows! A couple of enterprising people were prepared with torches and when anyone came near they would direct the light onto the stones that were being looked upon.
Although this photo looks nice and bright - it was only one in the afternoon - the shade of the trees put everything into deep shadow and I have had to employ Photoshop to brighten the picture.

There were dozens of stalls like the ones that are shown here but there were more people standing behind the stalls than there were people wandering along and looking at the wares. I just wish that I had buckets of money - I loved the fossils! There were some real beauties - but what would I do with them? So it is just as well I am not rich!
Instead I enjoyed taking a couple of photos. Most people did not want me to take any photos but a few people were only too happy for me to take some. I really loved this unusual amethyst. The person trying to sell it told me that often this type of amethyst was cut in a thin slither so that it looked rather like a flower.

As you can see, this stall was out in the sunlight which made taking a photograph of the amethyst so much better.
As well as rocks and gems for sale for jewellery making or as jewellery that has already been manufactured, there was a room set aside for competitions and displays of collections of work.

There are certainly some incredibly talented people around.
Another stone that took my eye and that I was given permission to move into the light to take a photograph was a large bumpy piece of malachite.

The top is gorgeous with its multiple rings however the underside is equally as interesting.

Now isn't that something? I wonder if it were a slab of soft material that was covered with bubbles that shrank down to create this dimpled surface. I guess a geologist would be able to give some explanation!
AJ

Feet stomping

2011-06-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the snippets of video I took yesterday. It is of a group of talented drummers who have managed to make a good living from doing just this - having fun! They travel the world giving their performances. They are known as "STOMP".

Hope you enjoy it!
AJ

Street performers

2011-06-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

There is a new event happening at Surfers Paradise and one of the happenings during that Festival is a competition for Street Performers. Although I live in one of the suburbs inland from Surfers Paradise I wanted to join in the fun and see what was happening.
The Street Performers or Buskers competition started today which meant that I was able to see some of it. My weekend is pretty well organised with heaps of activities! Surfers Paradise is not really the safest place for a woman on her own so I dragged my willing husband along with me as my body-guard.
I was not sure what to expect but I anticipated performers on street corners and alcoves singing or playing an instrument or juggling or whatever, what I did not expect was to find a clearing with rows of chairs arranged for a seated audience in the middle of Cavill Mall. Asking a fellow who was tweaking a sound system inside a small marquee, when things were going to start I was told "two minutes" so we found ourselves a seat on the front row. Following our lead lots of others came and sat down too. Setting up took far more than two minutes! More like twenty! Anyway the wait was worth it, The young Argentinian fellow twiddling a soccer ball while the sound system was being fine tuned turned out to be the first performer.

f6.3 1/200 ISO500

There was not much that this boy could not do with a soccer ball! He was quite a comedian too so his performance was very entertaining.
The act that followed was also a juggling act and although each of the tricks were very clever the fellow himself irritated me so much that I actually wanted to walk away!

f6.3 1/200 ISO500

This fellow juggled with fire, knives and an active chainsaw (!) and finished up on the top of a pole held up by people he had picked from the audience - he even jumped up and stood on the shoulders of one man (from the audience!) to get up high on the pole where he had a couple of footholds. I actually felt sorry for his victims!
Changing the pace of things was the sound of drums. We looked around and a bunch of people were creating amazing rhythms using tin garbage bins, folding chairs, tin lids and stuff, they walked as they drummed and led the crowd to the top of the Mall to the Esplanade where they stopped and gave a performance. I took a few minutes with my pocket video camera which I will try and put together for tomorrow.
Colin and I walked to another venue at the other end of Cavill Avenue and watched and listened to a very talented group who were playing exciting music.

f11 1/50 ISO500

The young fellow in the red shirt was just as talented as the other two band members! They were a great trio. I did feel very sorry for the performers who were allotted this location for their performances though, there were no people here. a great venue but no audience.
Surfers Paradise was actually very quiet - apart from the sound from the performers, that is - I have never been there and seen so few people. It meant that I was able to get my shots of the performers easily but from the entertainers point of view it was not good! There are not many visitors around, in past years the place has been teeming with people who are obviously from other countries but today most were locals. The high Aussie dollar has killed our tourism!
AJ

Beauty destroyed

2011-06-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

We are visited by so many different birds here at my home and although I chase them away, I cannot but admire the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos with their glorious white plumage and striking yellow crest which always fans out when they land. I chase them away because they can be very destructive - it is so tempting to feed all wild birds that venture near and can be encouraged to be quite tame - however the Cockatoo, although one of the easiest birds to encourage, can become the boss very quickly. Once these birds know that they will be fed when they visit, they will expect a handout every time they arrive. If you happen to not be at home when they call these large birds will vent their frustration by ripping at the wooden frames around the windows, tearing the fly-screens and the cloth covering of outdoor furniture and sinking their beaks into whatever they can. Unfortunately we learned the hard way! They are a beautiful bird (but noisy!) and are best viewed in the bush!
Unfortunately there is a nasty disease that can touch these magnificent creatures, it is called Beak and Feather disease. I have no idea how this starts but the consequences are miserable. The top beak grows long and makes eating and preening difficult and the feathers fall out. Usually the beautiful yellow crest goes first. Eventually the bird is unable to fly or feed - a slow, drawn-out way to die. This morning was very cold - the lowest part of our acre block had a covering of frost on the grass - so I felt so sorry for this poor bird.

I spotted the bird sitting on our bird feeder - it was unable to get to the food because we have a cage over the dishes - intentionally to keep the cockatoos away. I went straight to the camera and put on the 50-300mm lens and quietly opened the door to the veranda and took my pictures while hidden from the bird's sight. Being so vulnerable makes these birds even more flighty and it is very difficult to get close to them.
As you can see from the last shot where he was just in the act of flying away, it has no feathers left on its body. How it was able to survive the cold night, I have no idea.
The pity is that the cockatoo is a native bird and as such we would get into trouble if we killed it - and yet that would be the kindest thing to do. Instead we are supposed to trap it and then take it to a vet to kill! I think that is actually quite a cruel thing to do, trapping a bird is very traumatic for the bird - and who would be expected to pay for the euthanasia? So we do nothing - and feel sad because we can do nothing.
AJ

Water - splash or smooth?

2011-06-21T02:08:00.000-07:00

Water is a magnet when you have a camera in your hands - or I should say "it is a magnet for me!" I am not the greatest fan of water that has been photographed in such a way that it looks like something other than water. I have seen crashing seas taken with a slow shutter speed that has successfully taken the anger out of the water and rendered it into a solid seething mass of slime. To me that is unthinkable! The sea has so many moods but it is never "slimy"!
In spite of my dislike of that "look" I still cannot resist the challenge of slowing down the shutter speed and adjusting the aperture when I see fast flowing water. Just last week I took this shot.

f/ 36 0.3 sec ISO 200 55mm (17-55mm lens)

The water was in a little park and I had to lean over a fence to be able to take the shot. To my mind this is a shot that gives force to the water, the shutter speed has not been slow enough to smooth the water completely, there is enough splash left to give character to the water - so that it still looks like water! In the background the water running over stones has been smoothed to look more like material but that is due to the depth of field. The softer focus combined with the slow shutter has removed any splash.
By contrast I took a photograph of a pelican racing into the sea with its trophy on a fast shutter speed because I wanted the bird to be in focus and the agitated water to show the urgency of the dash.

f/ 6.3 1/320sec ISO 200 55mm (17-55mm lens)

Photography is all about decisions! Deciding on what is the subject, deciding on how to capture that subject to show a particular emotion or feature, deciding on whether to use shutter priority or aperture priority and so on and so on! Everyone wants something different from their images so although I may criticise what someone else has done with a photograph (I try not to!) it is more than likely that that "someone else" captured exactly what they set out to capture! I can only tell you the reasons I have taken a photo in a particular way.
AJ

Ring light

2011-06-20T01:55:00.000-07:00

Today I opened another Ebay purchase - a Ring Flash for a macro lens. I had always thought these specialised lights to be very expensive so when I was able to purchase one for $62 including postage I jumped at the chance! The camera with macro lens has been promised to me so I felt that this item would be invaluable as a companion to it.

Opening the package was a surprise, the quality of the goods looked to be robust and well constructed. There also seemed to be a lot of things in the box!
Taking out the ring light I found six different sized adapter rings to fit almost any sized macro lens.

The camera I was to fit this light onto is a Canon D40 and has a 58mm lens.

The adapter ring is flat, as you can see, with a raised ring screw that fits neatly inside the lens ridge. The ring flash then slips onto this ring.

The controls for the light fit onto the top of the camera in the hot shoe - but the connection is NOT a hot connection.

There are two inputs on the control, one is for the lead to the light (as shown) and the other is for a power connection that is also included - along with a conversion adapter for Australian power sockets.
I installed two Alkaline AA batteries and switched on . . . .

Don't ask me why I was surprised that it actually worked - but I was! Hence the photograph!
Next thing to do was to find a few things to try it out on so here are three examples.

I had printed this train timetable from a web site so the print is not brilliant - but is as was printed - the reason I chose a paper with type on it was to see how even the lighting was from the ring light (not a flash, it is on all the time the switch is in the "on" position).
Since I actually need this light to help a friend put together some good macro photos for a book he is writing I chose a rock as one of my subjects.

Now I could see yet another advantage to the ring lighting - hardly any shadows! I have not done any clever Photoshop work on any of these photos - just adjusted the levels and added a little sharpening.
Last photo needs no explanation but gives an idea of the distance I was from my subjects shown above.

This is a Twenty Cent piece 28mm diametre. The picture has not been cropped.
This light is going to be fun to use!
AJ

Sign of Autumn in the Sub-tropics

2011-06-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

This morning when I should have been tucked up in bed I was delivering my tour driver son to where he was to pick up his coach for his next trip. There was a reward for me when we got there. Just as we turned in the drive I noticed the most gloriously coloured tree!

Naturally, I dug out my little camera and took a photo. Such a colourful sight is not seen too often among all our lush greenery!
I walked closer to admire the tree - such a perfect shape! - and just had to take a photo of the leaves beneath it. When I lived in the UK such a sight would barely make me look twice!

I can remember that as a child I would kick the fallen leaves, heap them up and jump into them and take great pleasure in throwing them up into the air! I think my son would have disowned me if I did that today!

Standing among the fallen leaves I gazed up into the tree, the morning sunlight was streaming through the leaves. It made me feel great to be alive on such a day!
As I walked back to the vehicle to drive home (leaving my son to drive off in the coach) I heard the distinctive call of black cockatoos. I looked up and saw three of them flying directly overhead, barely higher than the tree I had just left. I was looking into the sun so an in-flight shot was impossible. I continued walking up to the vehicle but could hear the birds still. I looked over the boundary of high bushes and saw them in the pencil willow trees in the next property. How I would have loved to have gone over there to get on the "other" side of the tree the birds were in. Knowing that the birds would fly away as soon as I came anywhere near I moved into a bit of shade and managed to take this shot.

The birds are chasing grubs that develop inside the heart of the willow and to get at these morsels they practically destroy the tree. The beaks on these birds are huge and so strong, they tear the soft flesh of the pencil willow and the branches then break and fall, you can hear the creaking sound as they go about there work!
I hope your morning was as eventful!
AJ

Is Spring on the way?

2011-06-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

Winter has barely begun and yet today I saw a pair of swans busily preparing for a clutch of eggs! They were nest building.

The male swan was obviously the one in the water while his mate sat on the top of the heap and made things tidy.

The male would plunge his head deep in the water and pull up the weeds from the bottom and place them on the heap.

The female would remain where she was seated and spread the leaves and push them so they were tangled together and would stay together.

Since a moat had been cleared all around the nest the male swan had to move further and further away to find more weeds. Rather than swim back to the nest with each mouthful he would be like an excavator - pulling up the weeds from his right side, swinging his long neck around so that he could deposit them on his left side.

While he was working as hard as this his mate was getting rather bored so she curled her head back over her body and had a bit of a snooze. After all, unless the weeds were put onto the heap she had nothing to do!

I would have loved to have taken video of this nest building - I was using the 70-300mm lens at full stretch - but without a tripod no one would have the stomach to watch such a bouncy film! All these shots were taken hand held and for such an undertaking I upped the shutter speed and increased the ISO so that there would be plenty of light on this rather dull day. The ISO was 640 and my shutter speed was 1/500 second (for all the shots). Since Shutter Priority was chosen the camera took care of the Aperture.
A fast shutter speed is recommended when using the full zoom on a compact camera with a zoom such as 16x or 24x, such cameras do allow the user to select this. The faster shutter speed gives you much sharper images because you will not get motion blur (from your own hands shaking).
AJ

Creative sewing

2011-06-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Walking around the Textile Art expo I came across a group of women seated at sewing machines and receiving pieces of coloured lace and "tops" (dyed and coloured, teased wool)and provided with a plain coloured acrylic scarf they were to use these machines to create something colourful and special. I was able to use my little camera since the low surrounding baricade was close enough for everyone on the outside to see what was going on in this workshop.
None of the ladies had ever worked with one of these special "embossing" machines before but they soon knew exactly what to do and I did not see any one person actually plan what they were going to do or work out where they were going to lay their different colours and textures.

Enjoy.
Again, if you wish to see this video without the sides trimmed off just click on 'scarf making.flv" in the top left corner of the video and you will be taken to Youtube.
AJ

Unusual fashion

2011-06-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

Went to Brisbane yesterday to the Textile Art Show and took a few photos.
I put them together to create this little video. There are certainly some talented and imaginative people in this country.

If you wish to see this video in Youtube - and slightly larger, click on the top lefthand corner on the words textiles.flv and you will be transferred to Youtube.
Enjoy
AJ

My tropical garden

2011-06-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

After a very chilly start this day turned out to be a glorious sunny and warm one. I managed to get quite warm working in the garden, digging things out and moving them around then tossing mulch all around the new plantings. Nothing goes to waste in my garden, whatever I pull out gets put through the mulcher and is returned to the garden.
After an hour I had used up my energy for digging and mulching so cleaned up and grabbed the camera. I had noticed that the staghorn fern was looking rather magnificent.

f6.3 1/10 ISO 200 18mm

This wonderful plant needs no looking after at all, it is not a parasite, it does not send roots into the trunk of the tree it grows on, it is an "epiphyte" drawing moisture and nourishment from the air and rain that touches it. This particular plant was given to me when it was so small it would fit into the palm of my hand. For the first couple of years it was left on a piece of chip board to grow a bit - it came originally from the surface of a rock. Then it was put onto this tree and held there with a strap of plastic covered television aerial wire. The wire is still there holding it but the main leaf now hides it. Without the wire it may fall to the ground from its own weight.

f6.3 1/15 ISO 200 20mm

The fence behind the tree gives some sort of scale to the Staghorn fern - that fence is two metres tall and is only a metre away from the tree that is supporting the Staghorn fern.
Many people make the mistake of calling this fern an Elkhorn fern. The Elkhorn fern is also an epiphyte but it does not have a magnificent large top leaf like the Staghorn fern. This is the Elkhorn.

f6.3 1/6 ISO 200 30mm

It does look rather a mess but this is how the Elkhorn grows - it has lots of "pups" and they seem to crowd together. This one is on an African Tulip tree and it seems to really enjoy being here. Both these epiphytes love the deep shade so these heavily leafed trees provide the ideal situation for them - the Staghorn fern is on a Blackbean tree.
Sharing the same Blackbean as the Staghorn fern is a native orchid. This orchid is known as the King Orchid and has sprays of yellow flowers. Obviously it is not the time for the flowers just yet!

f6.3 1/6 ISO 200 27mm

My garden is full of imported "exotic" plants but it is also home to many natives too. If it will grow in my garden I don't mind where it originated!
AJ

Pelican lunch

2011-06-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I took my camera to one of the Northern suburbs of the Gold Coast and was fortunate enough to wander onto the sands as a flock of pelicans gathered on the water. The seagulls were massed around them so I thought that the people sitting on the sea wall were throwing their lunch out to them.

f/8 1/250 ISO200

Happily I started to take a few photos and barely had I started when the pelicans started to march up the beach, one behind the other.

The pelican march up the beach was quickly realised, a man wearing a rubber apron and carrying two large buckets was setting himself up on the sea wall among the picnickers. The birds were about to be fed!

f/8 1/250 ISO200

The birds were very orderly and waited patiently for their turn to be given a fish carcase.

f/6.3 1/400 ISO200

Sometimes the birds would catch the fish and sometimes it would fall on to the sand only to be snatched up with its thick coating of sand grains to be taken to the water to be washed.

f/8 1/400 ISO200

This bird did catch his (her?) fish. How do you tell the sex of a pelican? Its just as well the birds know how!

Taking the fish down to the water. This fish has been caught before it hit the sand so will be swallowed as is , the fish that fall into the sand are given a dunking in the sea and then swallowed.

f/6.3 1/400 ISO200

Once the bird has had a fish it did not return for a second helping, so when the pelican took the fish into the water it would eat it, swim around for a little while and then swim over to the farther bank of sand before flying away.

f/6.3 1/320 ISO200

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my small collection of pelican activity. The movie uploading was a bit of an experiment. The movie taken with my Samsung (still camera) could be uploaded into my Picasa album from where I brought it into the blog. This is the video that just has the thin strip with the play button on it.
Video I took on the High Definition blog camera has been converted to flash video using AVS4YOU and loaded into Youtube before being embedded. The AVS converter I bought a couple of years back would not recognise the file format of the blog camera so I downloaded a newer version. I hope there are no intrusive adverts plastered all over it!
AJ

Back out with my camera!

2011-06-05T02:05:00.000-07:00

I get "withdrawal symptoms" when I have been unable to write into my blogspot! I wake at night wondering what I should write about, I drop the housework and take out the camera and gaze longingly at the different lenses before putting them back and "getting on with things again" and I scour the free papers and the 'net for local event that might be worth "dropping everything" for. Then the weekend comes around - and family takes precedence! (I can't resist the invitation to have the children!). However, today I insisted on taking the Nikon with me when we went out looking at bedroom furniture and once that was out of the way it was MY turn!
I wont tell you about all the day because that would take too long. My blog today includes a few photos taken on the way back home.
Our photography group has three monthly topics, one of the topics for this month is "pink" and I spotted a tall pink building so pulled over into a car park that was almost opposite to take my shot. Once that was done (Its a magnificent building, incidentally!) my attention was taken to my immediate surrounds.
The car was parked right beside the most incredible plant pot I have ever seen. It has peacock eyes on it.

This I would like at home! However it was almost as big as the car so not something I could take!
Colin and I decided (I decided and he agreed) to take a walk into the park beside the car park we had chosen. A friend has shown photos taken inside this park of the most flamboyant of exotic birds - peacocks - so I imagine that these birds have been resident in this park for a while because the fence was the next thing I just HAD to take a picture of!

What a wonderful piece of artwork this fence is! Each panel flows over into the next. I was very restrained and only took the one photograph of this part of the fence - it straddled the footpath entry to the park. We walked though and were amazed at how beautiful the park was and right in the centre of our tourist city of Surfers Paradise and, when the big race is on, is surrounded by roaring V8 cars as they vie for the trophy at our annual car race (Once called "Indy"). The race track (normally busy streets used by everyone) runs all the way around the perimetre of the park and several residences and high-rises.
While we were walking we heard the sound of music - I love music and it was such a magnet! We came across a brass band all smartly in uniform and under the baton of a conductor, playing very pleasant music of all genres. We gave a hearty round of applause when the first tune finished and that encouraged several other walkers to applaud too so the conductor asked us where we came from and happily launched the band into another rousing number. I struck up a conversation with a fellow who was sitting watching and learned that the Surfers Paradise Brass Band were now going to play every first Sunday in the month in this park. They used to perform in a hall but they never had much of an audience - the acoustics under the trees are perfect for brass and the sound carries quite a long way. I am sure they will be very popular - they are very good.

The drummer looks to be only a teenager. He was excellent.
Colin and I did not find any living peacocks during our time in the park but on the return walk to the car found yet another patch of decorated fence.

As for previous blog entries, if you wish to see the pictures larger, click on them. Hit the return arrow to get back to the blog - if you close the picture by clicking on the X, you close the blog!
I have had my "blog fix" so am feeling better now!
AJ

Video on the agenda

2011-05-30T01:47:00.000-07:00

I do not have a photo to brighten this blog today because I have been busy with the video editing computer and with different video cameras. My latest treasure (had since Christmas) is a tiny little video camera the size of a mobile phone that takes full hi-definition video in NTSC format. I live in an area that is within the PAL system of TV so it does seem a little strange that I should have a video camera that is for a different system. The reason is that I bought (sorry, was given!) the camera for a specific purpose. That purpose is for taking short video snapshots to share on Youtube.
I have also found that this little camera is adequate for taking shots of my little granddaughters and putting the footage on DVD for them to play back over and over and over! They think it is fantastic!
On Sunday I used the Nikon D90 video feature to take video of the children when we had fun on the exercise gadgets for joggers in one of the parks we visited. This video is in PAL format and to be quite honest the quality is not a patch on that from the JVC pocket cam. The picture appears to be made up of colour blocks and although is supposed to be full HD I had to check the settings to be sure I had not set it at 720p rather than 1080i - but it was on 1080i. The sound from the Nikon is better than that from the JVC pocket cam and the kids will enjoy the content regardless of what camera was used. I wont be using the Nikon again for video after seeing it rendered to DVD.
The video I have just uploaded to youtube was taken with the pocket cam - and as with any camera with no viewfinder I was not always able to see what I was getting in the screen! I had not realised that I had some bad sun flare at one point but I left that bit in the video because I happened to be talking to the camera while shooting. Here is the link to that video. (just click on the hyper-linked words!)
I managed to make three short videos today. I can recommend "Adobe Premiere 9" as a very easy program to use - you can make a video in next to no time! (after a bit of practice!)
AJ

Swan out of water

2011-05-29T00:25:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a fun filled day with the two grandchildren - their grandfather is snoring peacefully in front of the TV now, it was an exhausting day for him. We found some exercise machines for joggers and he had to join in because the children couldn't reach the pedals with their tiny four and six year old legs! I couldn't help because I was busy taking video with the Nikon D90! The children love to see themselves and show off their activities to Mum and Dad once we reach home again! (That's my excuse for still having energy left once I reach home!)
At the last of the parks we visited the children spotted a black swan. We all walked towards the lake but when the swan jumped out of the water and started walking towards us the children raced back to the play park! The bird was almost as tall as they were and I warned them that it could be aggressive so to be careful. Of course I couldn't resist taking a couple of shots. When Colin held out his hand as if he had food it was clear that this bird had been fed by picnickers - a foolish thing to do since wild birds learn that people mean hand-outs.

f.8 1/60 ISO 200 55mm

The children only reach up to above Colin's waist, so you can see why I advised the children to stay back! The swan is a big bird and once the wings are out it is massive!

f.8 1/60 ISO 200 40mm

I edged forward and took another shot of the bird, he really is magnificent. It is wonderful that we can get so close to our native wildlife, but it is wise to remember that they are wild creatures and do not eat bread when in their usual foraging, bread is not good for them (nor for kangaroos - but people cannot help themselves! Its wonderful to have a wild creature eat from your hand and bread is usually in the picnic box!)

f.8 1/60 ISO 200 40mm

To take my photo "at eye level" of the bird I had squatted on my heels and the bird thought that was oh so tempting and marched towards me - you aught to have heard the alarmed shrieking from the children back at the playground! "Granny, Granny"!!!! They thought I was going to be attacked! I took my shot and stood up, the bird realised that I was bigger than he and changed direction! As I stood up I notice a small boy not too far from me with a big sandwich in his hands so I told him to run back to his family. He did so and the swan, disappointed in his quest for human food turned around and returned to the lake. The little boy was younger than my two girls so he would have lost his lunch to the swan if I hadn't intervened!
For those of you interested in camera settings, once again I used Aperture priority - so basically used the camera in an automatic mode. The camera determines the shutter speed. It was a very bright day so I had set the ISO to 200. If the day had been dull I would have increased the ISO, this lets in a lot more light so the shutter speed would increase too. When you are hand holding a camera it is almost impossible to get a sharp picture if the shutter speed goes below 1/60 second. If you use Aperture priority always make sure of your shutter speed. Take your photo and check the photo information. If the shutter speed is too low, increase the ISO and try again.
AJ

Creating clouds

2011-05-27T03:05:00.000-07:00

This evening I was driving home after visiting a friend and thoroughly enjoying the experience. The traffic was thick and slow and everyone seemed to be on the road and yet I was enjoying being out there. The reason? The light was fading and the sky was changing colour and the few clouds were getting more beautiful by the second. As I turned off the highway onto the quiet road that leads to home (and, if I failed to turn off to home, up into the mountains) the sky had a distinct orange rim along the dark horizon; and although the rest of the sky was varying shades of blue, the clouds were also tinged with orange.
I did wish that I had my good camera with me and the chance to take a photograph. One thought led to another and I worked out that I could actually create my own sunset and coloured clouds. I did not need to regret not having a camera!
I will show you how to create your own sunset!
Whenever I see a sky with good clouds and I have my point and shoot camera handy I take lots of photos. Its a good thing to do when you are the passenger in the front seat of the car!

Open the picture in Photoshop and as long as you have version CS3 or higher you will be able to access Adjustments>Black and White.
Drag the cyan and the blue sliders to the left to convert the blue sky to jet black. Make sure that you do not darken the shadow area in the cloud too much. Tweak the cyan slider so that the edge of the cloud is "clean".

This image is to be converted into a brush. If you take a look at your brushes they are black shapes inside a white background. So.... Image >Adjustments > Invert. This will give you a black cloud inside a white background. Crop the cloud taking the boundary as close as you can to the edge of the cloud.
You will not be able to make a brush if the image is too large. Go to Image>Image size and change it to 1000 pixels width (have height and width constrained) and change the resolution to 96 pixels per inch.
Now click on Edit>Define Brush Preset. A little box will appear asking you what you want to call this brush.
Call it cloud 1 (the next one you do will be cloud 2!)

You now have a brush at the bottom of all the brush shapes that will give you the cloud shape whenever you use it.
I created a sunset similar to the one I saw on my drive this evening and chose the colour on the horizon as my foreground colour and this is what I created from two different cloud brushes (you will recognise the brush I have just shown you in construction)

One tip - when you use the cloud brushes always paint on a new layer. If you decide you have put in too many clouds you can delete the layer and add another and start again. I usually apply each cloud on a new layer then they can be moved and resized.
Another useful reason for putting the cloud on a new layer is that the colour can be changed (for daytime stick to white or light grey) with my cloud colour I was able to go to Hue and Saturation and change the colour to match the light over the horizon.
These orange clouds look really artificial, don't they? I can assure you that this is how the sky was as I drove home. Truly extraordinary - gorgeous!
AJ

Chasing the Wattle bird

2011-05-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

While I was working in the garden I could hear the strange "scratch" shout from the calliandra tree - a tree that has red pom-poms all over it. The Wattlebirds were busy sipping nectar from the centre of the red flowers and seemingly oblivious of the movement and busyness below them in the garden. Colin and I were busy digging out ginger plants and Clivia nobilis and not being too quiet about our efforts. To be honest, it was Colin who was digging out the plants and I was the one transplanting the Clivia to a new garden bed. The ginger had all but taken over that bit of garden and the tubers had tangled among the roots of azalea bushes and lots of other plants too. It was a "mattock" job to remove the mat of roots!
Anyway, the birds didn't mind us doing that - but as soon as I had cleaned up and re-appeared with my camera and tripod to take some photos of these visitors (they are a bit nomadic and have only just returned) they moved to the back of the tree, out of sight of me!
I went back indoors and changed into something drab - a brown jacket - and for a while had more success. I suspect that the bright sunlight glistening on my camera along with the loud shutter sound alerted them to the fact that they were on candid camera! Here are four of my better shots of today.

f number varies all shots 1/640 ISO 400 300mm

As you can see, the first three photos were taken of the same bird on the same flower. Its just as well I took a few shots because these were the only two locations where I was able to take clear pictures of the Little Wattle Bird.
Today I set the shutter speed, not the aperture. I also increased the ISO to 400 to allow in plenty of light. Using the Shutter speed lets the camera determine the correct aperture. I needed enough depth of field to include the head and body of the bird, I did not mind if the leaves were not so sharp. I set the shutter speed to 640 to freeze any movement either from the bird flapping its wings or from the breeze moving the leaves. To be sure that I captured sharp images of the bird - I was using a long lens (70 - 300mm) at the maximum reach - I knew I could not hold the camera still enough so used a tripod. I did try one shot, hand held of one of the flowers and I could see the red ball bouncing around in the viewfinder! Hand-holding a camera that is using a long zoom is not a good idea - even if it is a point and shoot with a big zoom. Find something to rest the camera on - if you do not have a tripod handy.
AJ

Fun in the sun

2011-05-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

After three days of grey skies and wet weather it was with delight that I awoke to blue skies once more. Once all the chores were out of the way I had a little time to play with my camera. This time I had the 50mm lens fitted on the front so I decided to leave it there and see how I managed. Its a lovely little lens but I find it rather restricting in that I can't always get far enough away from my subject. I really found that to be the case today too - I could not go any further away from where I had set up my backdrop or I would have been in the swimming pool!
I grabbed a handful of little dog biscuits and a sheet of firm plastic board - the sort used for real estate signs - and allowed one dog at a time into the pool yard. For food, my dogs will do almost anything!
First off the blocks was Byron and I managed to get a few good shots of him - but because of the restriction on distance I could not get any further away and head shots were my only option - and even then I was only just far enough away!

On a bright day, perhaps white was not the best colour to have as a backdrop! However it is nice to be able to get a couple of shots with nothing distracting behind the dogs. Byron is now eleven and half years old. He is a "designer dog", an Irish Poodle which is a cross between an Irish Water Spaniel and a Standard Poodle. We get his wool cut every three months. It is about a week since he had his last session at the poodle parlour so his coat is like that of the astrakhan sheep, soft and curly.
Now here is Samson.

Samson is a Curly Coat Retriever and he always looks this sad! He is as black as the Ace of Spades - but picture two makes him look rather blue! Oops! When we bought Samson from the Council pound (six years ago) we were told that he was two years younger than Byron but now he is looking a bit older than his woolly mate! The Curly Coat Retriever is one of the oldest breeds of dog, apparently the breed was used in England by the Game Keepers who looked after the grounds and pheasants for the Lord of the Manor.
Before I close for today I am going to include two more pictures, this time from my garden. There are a few things in flower - there always are! But these are quite spectacular at the moment. The Calliandra pompoms are a favourite with the Little Wattle Birds. I hear them and see them a lot but they never let me get close enough to take a photo - they zip behind the tree to feed out of range!

I love this small tree because it seems to have these colourful flowers on it for many months, there are always new ones opening up. That little raspberry shaped bud is one of the emerging flowers.

Lastly the Poinsettia that stands beside my mailbox. This is a double one and the flowers would be 30cm across - or more. They are only just wide open, they and all their smaller cousins are brightening our gardens at the moment.
There is a round bush that is smothered in tiny little white star shaped flowers that is a type of Hibiscus that we know as the snow-ball bush and it is just making itself noticed! They seem to be in everyone's gardens - even gardens where there are only lawns and shrubs!
Click on any of the pictures if you wish to see them larger!
AJ

Aperture - one explanation

2011-05-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to show you why more and more people are moving away from a point and shoot camera and getting themselves a digital SLR. If you look at the prices of cameras you will see that a good brand SLR can be cheaper than a point and shoot. I am not writing to argue the "pro and cons" of the different types of cameras, there are plenty of articles to give you those. What I would like to show, along with three photos I have just taken, is something that can be done with an SLR with no complicated pressing of menu buttons.
Just as on a point and shoot camera there is a wheel on the top of all SLR cameras that gives different scene modes. (I have not found or heard of anyone with an SLR who ever used these scene modes!) This same wheel has three extra things written on it.
M - which means Manual mode - this takes the most skill to use and get good results.
A or Av (Nikon =A, Canon =Av) - the aperture can be set manually while the shutter speed is automatically adjusted by the camera.
S or Tv (Nikon =S, Canon = Tv) Here the shutter speed can be set manually and the camera takes care of the aperture setting.
The most usual setting SLR users employ (those that aren't using full "Auto"!) is A or Av, the aperture control. It is this setting I will show the reasons why.

With the camera set on A (I am using a Nikon camera - the D90 model) so I am in control of the aperture settings, I have chosen to set the camera at f/1.8 (Using a 50mm prime lens). The smaller the F number the narrower the field of focus. Its so easy to remember that connection!
Even without clicking on the picture to see it larger, you can see that the place mat under the pen is not in focus either nearer to the camera nor behind the pen. The depth of field is just enough to show the pen. If I used this setting to take a picture of a dog's looking at me, the nose would be in sharp focus but the eyes would be out of focus. Small F number, small range of focus.

This time the aperture setting was changed to f/9 and you can clearly see the flower pattern on the place mat in front of the pen and about the same distance behind the pen. The shutter speed has changed but I am not telling you what it is - the camera took care of adjusting the shutter speed to make sure the amount of light and shade was to the camera's liking. This choice of aperture setting is often used for such things as shooting wild-life and getting the animal in focus and the background blurred.

The aperture on this occasion has been set to f/22 and because the camera slowed the shutter speed to almost one second, I had to use my mini tripod to keep the camera still. The high f number has given a very wide depth of field and the entire place mat is in sharp detail. (Large F number, large depth of field.)
I hope that my explanation has been simple enough for you to follow.
Really, the camera operator is still using the camera's automatic settings - the focus is set automatically and the shutter speed is set automatically - and yet there is far more control (with no real brain work needed) to get the sort of shot that is required.
The people who want "everything in focus" will always use full automatic settings and are really using the SLR as a "point and shoot" (but will get better results) however the more adventurous photographer can experiment with depth of field by choosing to use the Aperture Priority mode.
AJ

Playing with the Canon macro

2011-05-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Wanting to use the camera and without a car to go some place other than home, I had to content myself with searching for subjects in the garden. Selecting the Canon D40 and the Macro lens as my "weapon of choice" for this venture I started by setting up a table with a white cloth as a backdrop - with an ingenious method of creating a back support with a surfboard strapped to the back two legs! I should have taken a photo of my "studio"!
To begin with I thought that I would try to take plants in isolation from their surrounds by draping white material over the surf board and over the table. I found a piece of florist's "oasis" foam to support the plants. Once the stem had been pushed into the foam the extra white material that fell down the front of the table was doubled back and gently positioned over the oasis block. This acted as a reflector. So the plant was in front of a white draping backdrop and its underside was brightened with reflected light off the white fabric over the block.
Rather than use the macro lens as close as I could to the subjects I needed to find out how much depth of field I would get if I were further away. (I need to know this for a future project). Here are a couple of my white backdrop results.

Red Salvia f/8 1/160 ISO200 100mm (fixed focal length)

Plumbago f/8 1/250 ISO200 100mm (fixed focal length)

The camera would have been about 700mm from the subjects (for all the photos included here today) I still need to learn a bit more about the Canon camera - I could not remember how to lock the aperture! I was using Manual focus but the camera was in Aperture priority.

Since only one of my roses is flowering and there are only two roses on the bush, I did not want to pick the flowers so clambered onto the raised flower bed with my tripod and camera to get these next two shots.

f/11 1/500 ISO200 100mm (fixed focal length)

f/11 1/320 ISO200 100mm (fixed focal length)

I really love orange roses! This one is called "Just Joey" and another orange one that I have taken photos of is "Whiskey".

The macro lens does an excellent job of isolating a single subject and my experimentation showed me that I can get a bigger depth of field by moving further away from the subject. Strangely though, in the viewfinder I cannot tell that the background is so out of focus. It looks almost as sharp as the main subject.

All my photos today were taken outside (Its almost winter and the temperature is a warm 27 degrees!) in the sunshine. All the experts tell you that no one should take photos any time except during the "golden hours" of early morning and late afternoon. In the tropics the golden hour is a mere ten minutes long so that is too restrictive for me!!! I love the full sun, shadows make subjects more interesting. I guess shooting in the midday is why I shall never be considered an expert!

New toy from the Internet

2011-05-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

I love to play with my photos and today I decided on adding a sketch to a perfectly good picture. I spent hours using a filter to create a line drawing from this photo.

To do so I converted to black and white and increased the contrast then brought into use a filter from "Image Skill" called "Outliner". This did a very good job of creating the outline - but outlined all the ripples in the water and leaves on the trees - so I had to spend more time removing all the black from the places I did not want outlines. I was pretty happy with the final image once I had put it over the original image and used "multiply". Then I decided to do a search for other sketch software and downloaded a freebie called FotoSketcher. It does wonderful things and I will show you.

These are two of the effects you can get by using the presets for watercolor and for vintage and further adjustments can be made by sliding the sliders and changing textures. But I digress! I wanted to do a line sketch and put that over the top of a photo. I will show you the sketch and the result.

I wish I could draw as good as this and as fast as this was done!
Next up I copied this "drawing" and pasted it onto the original photo and clicked on "Multiply" in the layers blending options. I found I needed to increase the midtones brightness in the photograph because the black from the drawing in the trees and water made the picture too dark. Here is the result.

The effect of putting a sketch over something with defined edges makes quite a statement. I quite like the effect. It isn't something you would do for every picture but it works really well on photos of architecture. This program does a good job in a fraction of the time it took me with the filter.

There is a downside though. Somehow the program has also managed to hijack my browser and although I de-activated the Fotosketcher tool bar , the web page suddenly sprang back up while I was writing this blog. I will have to so some work on it! Grrr!

My town

2011-05-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

I always seem to be writing about "other places" so today I decided it was about time to point the camera at my own little town. Mudgeeraba grew from a small settlement of ceder cutters - timber-men and their families - and is now a town and district that has five large schools to accommodate all the children! A delightful statue that is a tribute to the ceder cutters stands in the "Village Green", a little park in the centre of the town.

f/6.3 1/200 ISO 200

The plaque beneath gives the story of Mudgeeraba - click on the image to see it large enough to read.

f/6.3 1/100 ISO 200

The timber building that is called "The Old Post Office" was once the Shire offices, it was the Post Office when I first moved to Mudgeeraba. and I was fortunate enough to be able to interview, on video, the post mistress just prior to the closing of the doors in 1993.

f/6.3 1/100 ISO200

A feather was put into Mudgeeraba residents' hat when the town was given a special award in 2009, it was chosen as the "Friendliest town in Queensland"! So timber sign boasts to all who drive into the cutting that gives access to the small town.

f/6.3 1/100 ISO 200

The Wagon wheel and axe are the symbols of Mudgeeraba's heritage, below the wall is the timber sign that tells of the Friendliest Town award. The black rectangles are spot-lights for the two signs.
In the main part of the town - around the Village Green - the buildings have been constructed in such a way that they echo the history of the area. They are not genuine old buildings at all, they have been built in the last 20 years. The rounded roofs are called bull-nose roofs and that shape is typical of buildings in the early 1900's as is the colouring of the walls and veranda railings. These are "heritage colours".

f/6.3 1/100 ISO 200

The Wallaby Hotel has been in Mudgeeraba since 1883 - what we see now is not the original but renovations of the original! Somewhere under all that weatherboard and paint there are a few original timbers! This part of the hotel is renovated in a very similar style to the original however the place is so much bigger than the original and has a large modern restaurant that is off to the right of the photo.

f/6.3 1/160 ISO 200

I did consider doing some "Photoshop work" on this picture to remove the severe lean - but I rather like the look as it is, so left it! To straighten it would have meant losing quite a bit of the picture, including the top.
Finally I am including a shot, which wouldn't win any prizes for composition - but it goes to show the proximity of the main Brisbane motorway to the entrance to the town. The wooden signs shown in an earlier photo are just on the right of this shot.

f/6.3 1/125 ISO 200

The signs are on the corner of this road. Just the other side of the service road is the M1 and you can see some of the cars whistling past and missing the beauty of my little town.
For those of you interested in photography and the settings I used. Today I used Manual because it was the middle of the day and the shadows were rather heavy and aperture priority gave either over or under exposure. I set the aperture to what I wanted and then adjusted the shutter speed to get the correct amount of brightness. The beauty of using a digital camera is that you can make mistakes and learn from them!
AJ

In the old style

2011-05-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

Murwillumbah is a small, busy town with almost every building in the main part of town a slice of history. Murwillumbah came into being in 1902 and the name is taken from the aboriginal language of the time.It roughly translates to "camping place" – from Murrie, meaning "aboriginal people", Wolli, "a camp"; and Bab, "the place of" (Thanks to Wikipedia for that translation!)
While the shop fronts look modern (in many cases) the upper story of the buildings tells a different tale.

f/13 1/80 ISO 250 38mm

Each one is a different style and a different colour.

f/32 1/50 ISO 250 35mm

The Commonwealth Bank is very impressive with Grecian pillars.

f/16 1/60 ISO 250 18mm

The most necessary building in any town of this size, is the Police station. The Police Station in Murwillumbah is very similar to timber police stations in many country towns. It looks cosy rather than foreboding. The little lock-up next door does not look quite so welcoming, though! Standing right next door to the lock-up is the court house so all these important buildings are together in the centre of town.

f/6.3 180 ISO 250 18mm

Murwillumbah (we locals pronounce the name mer - wool - um - bah)
One of the famous people who call Murwillumbah home is Stephanie Gilmore, the young surfer who took the world by storm on the waves and holds four world titles.
AJ

A country Art Gallery

2011-05-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

Not too far from the border between New South Wales and Queensland is a country town called Murwillumbah. I have visited the town many times in the past but had never been to see the art gallery. This week changed all that!

The Art gallery is a short distance out of the town itself and on the top of a rise. After parking the vehicle I dashed back down the drive to take a photo of the metal art that decorated the garden and caught my eye as we drove in.

f/13 1/100 ISO250 38mm

The entrance to the Art Gallery is very striking with its strong lines. Most people walk in without really noticing but when you have a camera in your hands it is difficult to walk past anything that catches your eye!

f/8 1/100 ISO250 20mm

Stepping through the doorway I was immediately struck by the dramatic window and the silhouettes of the people in the foyer. The view through the window is like a picture hanging on a wall – except that it is a constantly changing picture.

f/13 1/100 ISO250 22mm

Inside the gallery are so many wonderful things to linger near. There are paintings, big and small and some photographs that are quite thought provoking, I found a row of black Madonnas hanging in a long row on one of the walls, the shape of each was exactly the same but everyone was detailed quite differently in black and grey and they were adorned with feathers and beads and wire in different ways too. They were created by two aboriginal artists in WA.

f/4 1/40 ISO250 24mm

I could not resist stepping outside those windows in the foyer and taking a long look at the view from the Art Gallery. The Tweed River and the lush Tweed Valley was spread out in front of me. I would imagine that someone with a love of landscape painting would love to stand right here and try to capture the scene in water colours.

f/25 1/100 ISO250 36mm

For me the joy of photography gives me that same pleasure!

Art in the country

2011-05-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Small towns are often full of surprises and one little place not far from where I live - but over the state border in New South Wales - is a little beauty. It is as small as a postage stamp and yet it attracts bus-loads of visitors every day and bigger crowds at the weekends. The town's name is Stoker's Siding. The little town started life as a dairy farm but a railway siding gave the necessary impetus for the town to grow. The reason the visitors love this place is due solely to the marketing skills of a very talented potter, everyone who comes here goes in to see the pottery and crafts that are for sale in a building that is close to 100 years old.

f/7 1/100 ISO 250 22mm

The old building was once a general store and it has been lovingly maintained in its original form and is a photographer's delight! The panes of glass decorating the space above the main windows are not seen like this any more.

f/5.6 1/100 ISO 250 20mm

I was rather taken by the unusual glass creations that were hanging inside the main display window. It was a bit difficult to take a photo of them with all the reflections on the glass - and even the circular polariser did not help very much.

f/3.5 1/100 ISO 250 18mm

Inside the place is filled with the most exquisite pottery, paintings and works of art. If you want to see unusual glazes and huge platters and special pieces of pottery - this is the place to come!

f/3.8 1/100 ISO 250 20mm

The train that converted Stokers Siding to a town has ceased to run and the grass grows tall between the rail lines, there are no noisy trains to disturb the peace any more neither to stop here nor to travel further north to Murwillumbah. The cows can graze in peace and quiet once again.

f11 1/100 ISO 250 50mm

The children must travel by school bus to Murwillumbah every morning and some creative parent has decorated the bus shelter. This must be one of very few bus shelters that does not have graffiti all over it.

f/3.5 1/100 ISO 250 18mm

Even if you have visited Stokers Siding before, it is always worth another visit. The artwork in Stokers Siding Pottery is always changing and always interesting - and a new business that will attract visitors has opened next door.
AJ

A short note about the Macro shots

2011-05-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

What I failed to mention in my blog yesterday about the photos included was that all the photos were "as taken'. There was no Photoshop tweaking or cropping - except for that very last shot of the ants in the centre of the flower.
Normally EVERY shot I take is modified in some way. The levels are adjusted, there might be a slight colour adjustment and there is always a touch of sharpening.
However I thought it would be better for comparison if there was no adjustment at all to the shots taken by two cameras using different lenses.
AJ

Fun with Macro

2011-05-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine has given me his Canon 40D and f/2.8 Macro lens to play with while he is away touring Australia. This morning - before the thunder claps and rain arrived - it was sunny and worthy of going outside with a camera. With this golden opportunity I decided first to take a few shots with the dedicated macro lens and then take similar shots with the Nikon with the screw-on macro adapter lens I had bought (new) from Ebay.
Here are the first two shots of a tiny grasshopper I spotted on one of the early Chrysanthemums. The head of the flower is only two centimetres across which will give you an idea of the magnification/closeness of me to the creature and petals. First the Canon 40D

and now the Nikon D90

The depth of field is actually better with the dedicated macro lens on the Canon but I am really amazed at how well the sub $50 adapter behaves. The adapter is in two halves and when I unscrew the wide angle lens I can get up really close - to about 15cm from my subject.
Here are a couple more photos for comparison - the ones taken with the camera were when the light was a bit brighter - the thunder had already started rumbling by the time I took the Nikon outside. The loud bangs and the torrential rain came as soon as I moved indoors! We have had 29 mm of rain since it started ten minutes ago!
First the Canon

The colours are true in this picture from the Canon. The Nikon has tended to pinks.

The colours may need adjusting but see how much closer I can get once I take off that wide extension? Mind you, the depth of field is really really narrow! This flower is only tiny - about 1.5cm across. Because of the fading light I moved the plant outside.
All my photos are taken in full manual (with a few trial runs to get the settings correct!) The pre-sets did not seem to suit either the macro lens on the Canon nor the supplementary lenses on the Nikon. Focus is on manual too.
I enjoy playing with cameras (you would never know it, would you?) so being given permission to use someone else's camera and expensive lens is like going to heaven!
Just to finish, here are two more shots I want to share with you.

Both these flowers are small - the partly open Chrysanthemum is only 2cm at the most. It wasn't until I peered through the camera lens that I could see there were ants crawling around inside it.

If you click on any of these photos, they should open into a larger image, to return to this blog to finish reading or look at other pictures, click the "back" button.
Apologies for not writing in my blog for a while. I have not had good Internet connection due to switching ISPs but hopefully all that is behind me!
AJ

Sign of things to come

2011-04-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

For over three weeks now I have had to rely on using a pre-paid Internet connection which has meant very modest use of the 'net. Its just a hiccup regarding the removal of "codes" by one ISP so that the new one can then switch on my new connection. - but patience has run thin and here I am back with my blog page!!
The main reason is because this evening there was the most glorious sky and I just wanted to share it!

The first of the two shots was taken looking due west to where the sun had disappeared while the second picture is looking north directly out from our back veranda. The whole sky was coloured - but it didn't last more than a few minutes. It was "wow! Look at that! Where is the camera!" good fun!
The weekend is upon us and the weather men are predicting a wet day tomorrow - usually a bright sky like this means that it is going to be a good day - so we shall see who is right!
To see the photos larger, click on them and then hit the "back" arrow to return to this page.
AJ

Another garden

2011-03-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy wandering around Botanic Gardens and when a couple of friend suggest I meet them at the Gold Coast Botanic Gardens I jumped at the chance - and of course made sure that my camera batteries were charged and that I had a few lenses to play with!
These gardens are not very old - they have only been converted from parkland to Botanic Gardens in the last five years - but I really enjoyed my time exploring.

f/10 1/250 300mm ISO200

The first image I am sharing is of a very common bird found in gardens everywhere in Australia. It is known by its common name "Mickey Minah". Not only do they enjoy nectar - here taken from a grevillea - but they eat all sorts of things and can often be found at picnic spots waiting for handouts to be tossed to them.

f/5.6 1/250 300mm ISO200

The cormorant is not an uncommon bird either - this one is found all over the world. The Chinese have managed to train cormorants to fish for them in a rather novel way. They do not have a great deal of oil on their feathers so they do get water-logged and it is not uncommon to find them on the banks of waterways with their wings held out from their bodies to dry! This fellow was doing his brush and comb job before hanging himself out to dry.

f/5.6 1/250 300mm ISO200

A black duck was trying to snatch forty winks in the sun when three camera wielding females noticed him! First the eye opened to see how close the danger was and then, since we wouldn't go away, he came awake and made plans for further action.

f/7.1 1/125 300mm ISO200

He really had been curled up and comfortable, his beak had been tucked under all those glossy outer feathers and snuggled into the down!

f/14 1/250 240mm ISO200

I couldn't resist including at least one flower! This one looks to be a member of the Tibouchina family.

f/5.6 1/400 300mm ISO500

In a lovely shady patch under some Malaleuca trees (paper bark trees) at the edge of the lake were several water dragons of various sizes. It was a challenge to take this in an acceptable (to me) way because I do not like taking animals from above and since I was standing on an elevated timber walkway I had to get down really low and poke my lens through the railings and shoot from a slight distance. I like to have my creatures taken at "their eye level". There were eels and turtles in that same patch with the lizards but I shall have to return to that garden to take a few more shots!
Just a reminder - to see any pictures in my blog larger, click on the picture, then click on the "back button" to return to see other pictures.
AJ

Alpine Gardens

2011-03-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

Before moving on to other places and other topics I shall give one more story of one of our visits in the Blue Mountains. I had set my heart on returning to the Mount Tomar Botanic Gardens - when Colin and I were last in the Blue Mountains we had called in there and arrived only half an hour before the gates were shut and we were so interested in what we saw there that we planned to return should we ever return to the Mountain. Adam's wedding gave us that chance.

f/7.1 1/100 44mm ISO320

It is always tempting, when visiting gardens, to take lots of close up pictures of individual plants! Of course I had to allow myself to be tempted! But there were huge displays of colour that required a wider look - like this stand of red hot pokers. I should look up their botanic name because there are some yellow ones too! I like the common name though! It reminds me of my childhood in the UK. These red hot pokers would grow in the home gardens and I am convinced they are responsible for my interest in gardening today!

f/5.3 1/60 44mm ISO320

So you spotted the white cockatoo! All through the garden were tin sculptures - they are designed as a "look and find" thing for children to do when in the gardens. There are lots of tin "ants" the size of a Shetland pony scattered through the gardens too!
There was a sign to a "Jungle walk" so Colin and I left the manicured lawns and designer garden beds and ventured into this patch of totally unspoiled rain-forest bought and donated to the gardens by Lady Fairfax who was determined not to let it be cleared for agriculture. It was dark so photography was quite a challenge (but not for Colin's point and shoot Olympus as it turned out!) Not having taken a tripod with me I had to either lean against the trunk of an obliging tree or else find some other stable prop to prevent me from shaking!
This photo of the vines was thanks to a tree beside the path.

f/4 1/4 18mm ISO320

A ring of trees could only be seen as a ring by placing Colin in the centre! These are sassafras trees and apparently when the main tree is logged or burned in a bush fire new growth starts from the roots around the original trunk, not replacing the trunk but circling it. To take this picture I leaned on the signboard that gave me that information!

f/3.5 1/4 18mm ISO320

I did try taking pictures using the flash on the camera but that did not work at all. The nearest trees and leaves would be illuminated and the background would all be totally dark and colourless. The information under the photos tells of a slow shutter speed - which is why it was necessary to use a prop to keep the camera still so that I would not have motion blur.
Back out in the sunshine I gave way to my urge to take a few close ups.

f/50 1/50 38mm ISO 320

Some flowers just shout out to have their photo taken!

f/16 1/60 40mm ISO320

Under many of the trees were tall brown stalks with lighter brown flower buds held erect on the tops, they looked so comical and I did take a few pictures of them, but when I found a little group of open flowers they gave me a greater pleasure, the pink of their petals was so striking against the drab brown of the leaf litter.
I hope you have enjoyed my trip to the Blue Mountains. It gave me such pleasure with the camera both in bright sunlight and in the shade - and I have enjoyed showing you a few of the pictures I came home with!
AJ

Green gardens

2011-03-10T01:36:00.000-08:00

Being back in the land of the mundane - housework and grocery shopping - I look back on one of the walks that Colin and I took last weekend when we were in the higher altitudes of the Blue Mountains. Our motel was in walking distance from some Rhododendron gardens so we donned our jackets and walking shoes and tramped our way to investigate them.

Of course the bushes are not flowering at this time of year, the brochures told us of a Rhododendron Festival in November, but we were not to be put off by this, we just felt like taking a walk and having a look! Perhaps we shall visit one November to see the place at its best but this isn't all that likely.

There were several walkways among the trees and shrubs, this row of bushes look to be azalea so there will be colour at other times of the year as well as November. Many of the trees look to be deciduous so they will create an autumn show of coloured leaves in May and June.

A shelter with seating provided me with interesting framing for the view of the gardens.

Walking back to the motel after our short walk I spotted a magnolia tree in flower and couldn't resist getting a little bit of colour other than green! The tree was in a private garden and overhanging the edge of the road so I did not trespass to get my picture! Since this magnolia is so obviously healthy it surprised me that there were not more varieties of magnolia in other gardens.
AJ

Beauty in the bush

2011-03-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today I am sharing a few of the pictures I took while wandering around in the Blue Mountains. Sometimes it is good to stop looking at the wider vista and take note of what is close at hand. It is surprising just how many things you could miss when gazing out across the wondrous open spaces offered by such places as the Blue Mountains!

This area of the world gets both wet and cold and as a result the trees are covered with lichen, both the flat pale green variety and the spidery tangle of strands of what is affectionately called “Old Man's Whiskers” (But I have a tropical plant that has that same name and it drapes down in lush long tangles of soft strands)

f/9 1/50 55mm ISO 640

Most of the time of our three night stop-over in the mountains the weather was dull and damp but even that gave me a different look at how the mountains are. The spectacular “wow” scenes are in the brilliant sunrises and sunsets but there was no colour for us this trip. However the misty rain gave a rather special look to the jagged tree covered mountains.

f/16 1/60 26mm ISO640

The thousands of trees smothering the mountains exude eucalyptus oil the warm air and this is what gives the distant hills a blue look – and that is how these mountains were given this collective name “Blue Mountains”

f/10 1.60 18mm ISO 320

One of the places we visited (we chose only to go to places we had not visited on previous occasions) was Anvil Rock. At the foot of this mighty rock – which was not anvil shaped but did have a big iron anvil set in concrete on the very top – was a fabulous weather worn stone. It was quite large so I guess it was a rock not a stone! I would have loved to have clambered around the other side for a different perspective – but the steep slope stopped me! I did not fancy slipping down the thousand of more feet if I lost my footing!

Another of the interesting places we visited was called a wind eroded cave and with such an unpretentious name, very few people visited it. But it was wonderful!

f/7.1 1/60 30mm ISO 320

I must have taken a dozen photos and Colin the same. Its a good job we no longer have to pay to have our photos developed! The cave is really just the face of a huge rocky outcrop that has been weathered into a concave shape so is not really a cave. The face is also carved with millions of mini “caves” of different sizes giving every angle a different look.

We have now left the Blue Mountains and are on our way home. No photos were taken during our travels today, we were too busy enjoying the drive – the GPS took us on a route we would not have chosen if we had to rely on a printed atlas! We drove over 30+km of gravel road. Our car will need a good wash when we get home!

The Wedding

2011-03-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

Well the wedding is over and Colin and I snuck away from the very noisy party that is still echoing through the mountain tops. We were so hungry that we had to come back to our motel room to have something to eat! Neither of us eat oysters nor drink wine so we were sort of on the outer with the rest of the crowd!
The wedding was at Hargraves lookout just out of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. I raved about the place yesterday having caught it in the sunlight.

Just to prove how terrific it looks on a good day I am including a shot from yesterday because today was cold and damp and the sky, very dark.

So all that practicing I did with the camera was to no avail - except that I have some bright photos to include with the wedding ones! I had to do another quick rehearsal before the actual wedding and snapped away at some of the guests. by the time Jess arrived (Adam was there before any of us) I was confident of getting my shots. Here are a couple of them I will share tonight. I think I was the only one who raced around the crowd to get the couple "walking down the Aisle".

You can see the gloomy clouds behind everyone. It was really cold too and Jess was eager to get into the warmth of the car! I think it was down to 9 degrees and there was a breeze too.

Before they reached the car I called Jess and Adam to come back and pose with the cliffs behind them. The wedding was with the valley behind them so there is no background at all other than the railings of the lookout and very distant dark hills where as on this side where they walked to the car the scenery is lovely.
I may even cheat and put them and the railing in front of that sunny picture, the cliffs look so clear! What do you think? This is the reason they chose this location, after all.
One great thing about the grey lighting - there are no hard shadows like were in the shots I took in the evening sun yesterday. So I managed to have an assistant with a reflector after all! The clouds were my reflectors!
(Click on any picture to see it larger then hit the return arrow to return to this blog)
AJ

Up in the hills

2011-03-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

I think that New South Wales must have the most roadworks happening in the world! It took an incredible long time to get from Port Macquarie to Blackheath thanks to the low speed limits imposed on works areas! Of course we shall all benefit once those roads are complete but in the mean time . . . Grumble Grumble!
Anyway, we left all the clouds behind us and once we had booked into our clean and comfortable motel for our three night stay we hopped into the car to check out one of the dozens of look-outs. Since we are here to attend a wedding at Five in the evening at one of the lookouts I wanted to see what the light was like and what settings I was to use to get bright clear photos.
Good ol' Colin posed for me (one way to keep my collection of family photos going!) and three attempts later I found what I needed to get the main subject in focus and the view visible too. The strong and low sun gave really heavy shadows but thanks to the "Shadows/Highlights" feature in Photoshop applied to Colin only, this is what I have achieved.

f/13 1/60 24mm ISO250

I just roughly selected around Colin and Copied and Pasted then applied the Shadows/Highlights and used Reveal all mask to remove any brightening from around him. There is still shadow on the face but it looks natural - I don't like to remove all shadow. I guess if I was a pro photographer I would have an assistant with a reflector travelling with me! I am not sure how an assistant would stand outside that railing and be out of shot, though, there is a sheer drop from the fence!
AJ

First day on the road.

2011-03-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

Colin and I have left home yet again and this time are on our way to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Our first stop is Port Macquarie where we have tucked ourselves into a cabin in a big caravan park. What a wonderful location this is! We are only the second cabin back from the walkway along the estuary. When we drove in and parked beside the cabin we noticed all the big painted rocks near by but got quite a surprise when we walked over to them.

My first picture shows what we saw to start with – a grassy bank with a row of big illustrated rocks along the top.

Walking up the embankment we found ourselves on a well used walking/ running/ cycling track along which families and fitness fanatics were travelling in both directions.

All the rocks look as though they have been given a fresh coat of paint and all are really neatly decorated. Here are a couple of examples.

I wonder if the painting was done by Port Macquarie individuals or maybe the individuals – holiday makers or residents, submitted a design and paid a fee to some foreshore committee and the artwork undertaken by artists (that, to me, looks to be the case)

We spend about six hours driving today but we always make a point of stopping every two hours for a break. We take a big thermos flask of hot water and make ourselves a cup of tea but come three o clock we pulled into a service station and as well as filling the car, we bought a frothy coffee! It was very welcome and really “hit the spot”!

Playing with the camera

2011-03-01T02:12:00.000-08:00

I enjoy writing this blog and when "work" gets in the way and I am too exhausted to write in an evening I start feeling as though I have let the blog down! Tonight the family has departed and the excitement that has gripped the place has relaxed and once again I can sit quietly at the computer and put up a few pictures.
No matter how busy I get I still manage to see things that insist on being the subject of a photograph. Like this fellow who posed so beautifully in the tree opposite the veranda.

f/9 1/250 270mm ISO 640

White cockatoos have become quite numerous and in the mornings a flock of close on fifty of them fly over screeching loudly, at around five thirty. (It is quite bright at that time these summer mornings) They have destroyed every last one of our lemons long before they are even yellow so when they settle in the back yard I no longer chase them away - there is nothing edible left worth getting excited about! This year I will have to buy lemons and passion-fruit. When Colin announced that he was going to build me a vegetable garden I couldn't help but laugh. I have gone to great lengths to attract birds and animals to the garden so it would be a garden for the wildlife! What the wildlife doesn't eat the fruit flies and the grubs will!
At last I have put the Macro/wide lens converter onto my camera and had a little play with it. I really can get up nice and close to plants now - but of course this is not a true macro and I am still limited by the f/3.5 of the 18-55mm lens it screws onto. Here are a couple of shots I have taken with this extension lens.

f/9 1/320 55mm + macro lens ISO 640

So I can get in much closer to the subject and far from being a handicap, the aperture setting allows more of the curve of petals to be in focus. I am also delighted that the lens is as sharp as it is considering it is two extra pieces of glass in front of the 18-55mm lens, also no distortion.

f/9 1/160 55mm+macro lens ISO 640

I don't know if you have ever looked closely at the flowers of a crepe myrtle, it looks like a mass of fluffy petals making up a fairly large head of flowers. Click on this picture and see just one of those fluffy petals! This is a lens I can enjoy using!
AJ