Open water and sand

The grey clouds had all disappeared by the time we arrived at Nelson Bay to board our big cruiser. Today we were to chug out into the Port Stevens waters to see some of the dolphins that live out there. It was warm enough to shed fleeces and jackets but once we made our way out onto the open deck of the cruise boat and were underway it was certainly cold enough to put them back on again.

It wasn’t long before the first dolphins were spotted. A pod of around seven swam across in front of us. They didn’t do anything dramatic but they were beautiful as they did their formation swimming. The majority of people on the boat were young tourists from China and they were at first quite excited at the sight of the dolphins, however their enthusiasm soon waned and their interest switched to taking photographs of each other in poses around the boat! Fun to watch!

There were not too many dolphin sightings, so watching the young people perform for their cameras became far more interesting. I did take two still photographs of distant dolphins – the ones that were closer to the boat I took with my little video camera.

Unusually the boat pulled back into the marina and tied up before lunch was served. I guess it makes sense that the boat is not bobbing around on the water while people are wandering around with plates of food. We had out meal and left as the afternoon dolphin watchers boarded and started their tour with the second sitting of lunch on board! I think I prefer sailing before eating!

In the afternoon we drove only a little way north of Nelson Bay to where the beach reached for ever – inland! It looked as if we had arrived at the Sahara desert! Huge concrete pyramids reinforced that impression.

Our chariot was a regular looking street bus on a four wheel drive chassis. To negotiate the soft sand a special vehicle was imperative – we did see just how useless a two wheel drive car is on the sand – when we were leaving the beach we watched through the windows as a group of people valiantly tried to get their car un-stuck!

Our little group had fun being driven over the beach and up and over sand dunes. All of us “chickened out” at sand tobogganing. I was tempted but since I am accident prone I resisted the urge! There are a few more days to this holiday that I want to enjoy.

Stepping back through time

Today I have crossed two things off my bucket list! I had set my heart on seeing the incredible shapes of the Cobbold Gorge and the second desire was to see the Undara lava tubes for myself. My tour guide son has taken some wonderful photographs of both places and I have seen them on different “Getaway” type programs but they both looked to be so unique that I wanted to go there myself. Now I have done it!

To begin the day we crawled out of a bed that was in the Forsayth Tourist Park at the unearthly hour of five in the morning and climbed aboard a mini bus that bounced us along unsealed roads to the Cobbold Gorge. Just walking down the new aluminum walkway was a treat – at every step the savannah scrub changed to a very different well watered riverside vegetation of strong majestic trees and smaller leafy bushes. 

 The walkway down to the little punts

The lushness of the gorge.

We only had to wait a few minutes for the earlier tour to return, two small electric powered punts pulled up and we climbed aboard.

 I thought I had made a mistake by being the last in line but no, I found myself at the very front of the second punt and I was able to attach my tiny Panasonic video camera with a “gorilla-pod” grip to the railing which allowed me to take photographs with the D90 without having to struggle with two cameras. I was in heaven! 

The Gorge was even better than I anticipated. The guide who piloted the punt was a very quiet country fellow so did not bombard us with commentary and our six fellow passengers were as quiet as I was – in fact I think I was the noisiest because of the loud click my camera makes! There was hardly any conversation or sound of exclamations at all! Today the sun was not strong so we had fairly soft light which meant that we didn’t have to fight with strong shadows and extra bright highlights. I still had to be careful not to include too much sky because it was so white with clouds that the automatic adjustments made the cliff faces too dark. Having less of that bright sky allowed a more even balance of light.

The people who show us the wonderful sights of the Savannahland are just so passionate about where they live it is infectious! The two drivers on our train (The Savannahlander) are the same, they really enjoy what they do and love showing off the features we pass and telling the stories of the different towns, their explorers and the special characters that make them the place they are.

We hear the same stories with variations – but that’s the way with story telling, the story changes a little each time it is re-told.

We were picked up from the train in Mt Surprise by a bubbly lad with a strong New Zealand accent and a Dutch name! He first took us to our accommodation at the Bedrock Tourist Park (Free standing cabins with en-suite and mini kitchen) and then out to the lava tubes.

 Our guide explaining the lava tubes and the area they cover

I was not disappointed! The sight of these huge arches of black basalt made my heart race! To imagine the phenomena that create these and the weathering that had revealed them so we could enter them is mind blowing. (well it is for me!) I had to be careful not to get left behind – I wanted not only to photograph every nook and cranny but to stand and gaze at the majesty of the place. The trees and plants that have grown in the rich soil of the decayed volcanic tubes are like a garden and to stand in the entrance of the black tunnel and gaze out at this display of greens and golds is so beautiful.

 From inside one of the tunnels looking out. (Very slow shutter speed!)

When we went into the second tunnel I was playing around with trying to get slow shutter speed photos – without a tripod this was proving really difficult! Anyway our guide enthusiastically suggested painting with light and he recommended the settings I should try. It would have worked if I had brought a tripod! But this is the best I could do with eight seconds. Jahn painted himself too – and he moved so there are three of him! Sort of!

 The bright bits are Jahn!

This time the camera is on a tiny little tripod - much better!

What a wonderful day. I shall dream of this trip!

We did so much more than this but those two I have told you are the highlights.

AJ

On the water

It was such a beautiful day today that I loaded my camera into the car and headed off in the direction of "The Spit" which is a narrow neck of land stretching out into the Pacific Ocean and on which is located the Southport Yacht Club, the prawn fleet, Seaworld and a couple of very expensive hotels.
My main purpose was to take photographs of flags in different situation - this is one of the topics for this month for the Visions Group. Since there was a strong breeze blowing any flags I found were flipping around at a great rate of knots! I needed a very high shutter speed to get them!
I am not going to share the flags with you, instead I am going to show you a few shots I took while looking for them.

Oops! A flag slipped in! The buildings in the background are Southport. Usually when high rise buildings are shown on the Gold Coast they are of the ones in Surfers Paradise. Southport is a suburb adjacent to and north of Surfers Paradise. Southport is considered to be the CBD of the Gold Coast while Surfers Paradise is the tourism hub. There are not as many tall buildings in Southport as there are in Surfers Paradise - but no doubt that will change over the years!

Here is a different way to explore the Gold Coast. I have caught one of the Helitours just leaving from its floating pontoon with a well dressed passenger in the front seat. The tall building at the back is a shopping centre and office block. Three floors of the Australia Fair building are shopping centre and four are car parking. The Australia Fair (Scarborough Fair originally) was first opened in 1983 and is still a vibrant and popular place to shop.

It was so pleasant rambling around the Marina along the Quay that I was often tempted to take photographs - on a sunny day like this the place looks magnificent! Of course, the large and luxurious water craft along this main walkway are on display to be sold. Several different marine brokers have strings of beautiful boats moored here.

I would love to know more about this iron boat. It sits solidly on the water beside smaller bouncy, white luxury craft and has no pretence at beauty. What is the purpose of the projection at the front? I wonder. There was no one I could ask, just a couple of other people passing the time like me and they knew even less than I did!
AJ