Second day of travel

With only a six hours driving ahead of us Colleen and I did not leap out of our beds until after seven and then had a leisurely breakfast and loaded the car. The key was returned to the reception and off we went – eight o clock wasn’t too bad! Our later start meant that we would avoid the heavy traffic of morning rush hour.

Once again we had a beautiful sunny day so the scenery was seen at its best. Our lunch stop was at the side of the road in a rather busy parking and picnic bay but we were fortunate to find a sheltered table and seats. Pulled in a little way from our table was a small truck on which trays of fruit and veggies were displayed for sale. After clearing away our lunch things and packing them in the car Colleen ambled over and bought a box of nectarines to take to the relative she was going to stay with in Canberra.

 In the afternoon I was ready for a break from driving and there seemed to be no picnic bays anywhere so I took an exit an drove 3 kilometers to a service station at a small town. In the car park was a small market so after enjoying a rather bitter coffee (our own would have been much nicer!) we wandered around the half dozen stalls and both Colleen and I picked up a little trinket that will go into our “Christmas present” collection! We enjoyed the exchange of banter with the stall holder! He did too!

This time the GPS took us to the motel I had booked on line without a fault. I checked in at about 4.15 had a quick look around, took Colleen in to have a look too before we drove on to the suburb of Cook to where Colleen was going to stay.

I was introduced to Shirley and her daughter Pat and we had a delightful meal together before I begged my leave and returned to my “lonely” room to write my little story for this blog. I even set up the pani-blog (my pistol grip camera/camcorder) ion a little tripod and took a shot of myself with my laptop!

I think I must have run my fingers through my hair because I seem to have lost my fringe! Do I look tired? I am now, so I will post this and do something about it!

AJ

Canberra Trip - Leaving Home

Both Colleen (my lady friend from Brisbane) and I found it almost impossible to sleep soundly with a big day of driving ahead of us and knowing we were to wake up at 5.00am. So after waking up half a dozen times through the night we were both seated at the breakfast table by six. The dogs have to be fed before people! So they were given their doggy roll and the lorikeets raw sugar and bread was prepared before we sat down to eat. (There is a ritual in our kitchen that cannot be changed!)

Colin waved us goodbye at seven and we were on our way with a full tank of petrol and far too many clothes, since we had been told that it was to be cold in Canberra and we need to be “prepared”.

Colleen has two bad knees so I didn’t ask her to take over the driving at any stage but we stopped for a morning tea at a roadside picnic stop and then stopped again when we reached Coffs Harbour to have a banana split at the “Big Banana”! Boy, was that good! I had strawberry topping and Colleen, Caramel and we struggled with the bendy plastic spoon and the delicious creamy banana icecream. Perhaps the customers have stolen all the real spoons – or else the staff has decided against washing spoons!

When we got back into the car I plugged in my USB memory stick with folders of music on into the car radio so from there on we were entertained with music. When Colleen nodded off I changed the music to classical and enjoyed a different style of sound.

Just as we pulled into the motel we are staying in tonight the phone rang. Colin must have telepathy – he thought we should have arrived “by now”. The woman in the reception was puzzled as to why we were taking so long to get out of the car!

 Colleen and AJ

Of course the kettle was the first thing that was checked and filled! I know my priorities!

Here we are enjoying the results of that great move!

Once I have posted this tale we shall go off in search of an evening meal. We both fancy Chinese food tonight – but we shall see.

AJ

Having another go with Photoscape

I have spoken to a few people who have downloaded Photoscape and are having a play with it and they are quite excited about what can be done. None of these people are clever "photoshop" users, they find the layers and masks and processes all very confusing and yet they are having a great time with this program and are getting very good results. It is good that a program such as this is not only easy to use but effective at all kinds of tasks too.
One of the people I have chatted to is scanning old slides and the results of the Photoscape manipulation I have been shown are excellent.

This photograph is a comparison shot. The photo on the left is how the original scan looks (I worked on this photo - it is of me a VERY long time ago!) The program allowed brightness and contrast correction, colour removal and cloning. The cloning tool is faultless! I was totally amazed at how easy and how invisibly the repairs were made. When scanning old photos there are always little black and sometimes, white, dots that mar the picture. I was able to zoom right in and use the clone brush to remove those blemishes.
If I wanted to give the corrected photo a sepia wash so that it looks as dated as the original a quick click on the appropriate filter will do that. But since the photo was a black and white originally and only time and poor developing has changed it to dull brown I will keep it the way I have now made it!
AJ

Playing with a free program

I am an avid reader of a blog called Digital Photography School and thanks to a link provided by one of the respondents to an article I downloaded a free photo editing program called Photoscape. What a find! There are so many useful little features in this program that most people would be able to edit their photos using this program alone! It can colour correct, light correct and give some super effects too.
I am going to show a few things that can be done with this program.

This is a photo that has not been manipulated. Now lets see what can be done with a few quick clicks.

How about a reflection? Admitedly the reflection happens at the very bottom of the picture - but a bit of cropping helps the effect! (I cropped just at the trainer wheel)

This is a fun pic - this is another filter called Coloured pencil and it gives an excellent coloured drawing. If you wanted this to be just a graphite - black and white - drawing you would only need to tell the program to remove the colour and "bingo"!

Finally with the bike wheel, an effect that is called "newsprint" - the pictures in a newspaper are made up of dots. to this has been added a black inner line around the edge and a coloured border edge - white.
Now for a bit of fun with a picture of pelicans.

Not too much has been done with this photo that is clear (other than the "call-outs") but white balance and levels have been used that made a good difference to a dull picture.
After that text was added - "The Chorus line" - and I was able to move it and turn it to put it where I wanted it.
Next I chose to put a couple of "call-outs" and there were so many different shapes to chose from that I took a while to find two that I would stay with!
Next I rounded the corners and decided that I had done enough to one photo! Its easy to go too far!
I do recommend you try this fun program - it comes with links back to the video tutorials so you will never be stuck for ideas of what to do with your photos.
Have fun - I know I will!
AJ

Heading home

All good things have to come to an end and Sue and Keith's trip to Australia was almost at an end so we had to part company - they to WA to daughter Bourby where they would pack their big suitcases in readiness for their trip back to the UK; and us back to sunny Queensland.
Before we parted company we visited the shops in Gisborne (where Bob and Kathy live) and Sue was able to find herself a couple of cuddly souvenirs.

Surprisingly the souvenirs Sue found were actually made here in Australia! It is getting more and more difficult to find souvenirs that are affordable that are made in the country you visit! More often than not they are made in China.
Sue and Keith were dropped unceremoniously at the airport and fast and furious goodbyes were said, Colin and I packed our cases and left in our clean red Corolla the following morning.
Not too many photographs were taken on our homeward trek. We seemed to be more intent on "getting home" than on wandering from the direct route. However the sight of a landlocked submarine in the middle of New South Wales did encourage us to take an unscheduled break!

The town name Holbrook was in honour of a highly decorated submarine captain who lived there and the towns people bought the shell of the submarine "Otway" after it had been decommissioned. More can be found out about the place by doing a Google search for "Holbrook submarine"

One very small detour off the Hume highway was made so that I could take a couple of photos of the Dog on the Tuckerbox. there is a famous Aussie song about this dog. The first statue was very different from the present one, I have included both dogs so you can see the difference!

The first dog was nine miles from Gundagai and the newer dog on the tuckerbox is five miles from Gundagai - so that it is closer to the town and to the highway.
The sight of a bank of wind generators brought the camera up to the eye again - this time to Colin''s eye! There has been a lot of reporting in the press about how these wind turbines are causing illnesses among the people who live close to them. We were not close enough to hear them but they certainly look very impressive high on the hilltop.

We booked in for the night at Goulburn, we turned of the highway and came face to face with a mighty Merino sheep! The sun was sinking by this time so it looked very striking in the golden glow of evening.

We had made the choice to drive via the coast road rather than struggle with the flooded roads of the inland so we took the M7 to bypass Sydney and joined the Pacific Highway (which bypasses just about every city on the east coast!) It was an easy and fast run with the allowable speed 110 kph for much of the way. We were amused at the "koala crossing" overhead near Newcastle. I wonder how many koalas cross the road on these aerial bridges!

You can see the inward leaning fences that prevent the animals from climbing over the top of them, on the left. I guess they have to climb lots of different trees to find the one that has the road bridge attached! What a strange idea!
I love bridges too, so when we drove over an opening bridge (one time I did see it open) out came the camera again.

This time Colin was driving so I could take the picture myself! We drove and drove until we reached home - we crawled into the garage at eight in the evening - just as our son arrived home with his tour bus. Next morning, before he left I noticed that the tree at the end of our drive way was reflected in the windows of the coach.

I couldn't really let you see the red car - it was smothered with yellow bugs! Its good to be home - but now I will have to keep busy to keep the blog alive!
AJ

Hanging Rock and Maceton hills

Kathy had taken a day off work so she could have some time with us (Sue, Keith, Colin and me) so in two cars with Bob driving one and me the other, we drove out to enjoy the sights around Gisborne. Firstly we stopped briefly in front of the house in which Bob and Kathy used to live and then drove through some beautiful mountainous lanes with huge trees and flowering agapanthus (blue and white) decorating the sides of the roads, until we reached a restaurant at the top of Mount Macedon. A walk from the restaurant led to a mighty cross that towered above the trees and overlooked the amazing view over the valley below.

The gardens leading up to the cross were planted with hydrangeas and these were the strongest blue that we had ever seen on this plant.

 The avenue leading to the Cross

Hydrangeas range from white through to pink, to purple and to blue, depending on the alkalinity or acidity of the soil.

 Keith capturing the blues of the Hydgrangea

On one side of the gigantic cross was embedded a huge bronze sword. Having taken a couple of photos from the approach to the cross I almost didn’t look up when I reached the other side so I almost missed seeing it.

After our walk we undid all the good we had done by eating two of the largest scones with jam and cream that we had ever had! Of course it was necessary to have a little more exercise to make things right again so we drove on to “Hanging Rock” – the same place that was the inspiration for the book and movie “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Once there we really had some exercise! The sun had come out so it was a lot warmer – the morning was cool enough for jackets. The scenery was stunning. I enjoyed walking up the steep steps and taking photographs of the amazing rock formations.

 We all have different degrees of fitness so it was only Sue, Keith and me who reached the “Summit” and the “Eagle” – Colin and Kathy made it as far as the “Hanging Rock”

before returning to the café at the base of the outcrop to order iced coffees for everyone.

 This is the formation known as "Hanging Rock"

The views from the top were spectacular between the rocks. It was well worth the extra exertion! 

 Here is another view in a different direction.

The grass is rather brown at this time of year (summer) so these same view would look so different in three months time when all is green and lush.

AJ

Tent city to rich city

Before leaving Swan Hill and our beautiful and gaudy purple motel There just had to be a few photos of the Town.

 The purple motel

We wanted to see the Pioneer Settlement down by the river, the entrance used to be through the old paddle-steamer “Gem”. The entrance has been moved – and as a result the old timber vessel may last a bit longer – but the Gem is such an unusual water craft by the standard of today that I enjoyed the opportunity to take a few shots of it while there were no people around.

 a former Murray River paddlesteamer

Unfortunately the cost of entering this tourist village was rather exorbitant and since we only had an hour in which we could take a look through we decided that we would rather drive on to Bendigo and spend a bit of time there instead. It was a little disappointing at the time (not to go around the Pioneer Settlement) but as it turned out we were able to take a tram tour around Bendigo and still not be too late getting to my brother’s home near Melbourne.

I asked our tram driver to pose beside the 1914 tram that he was going to drive.

 Our tram driver in authentic uniform

We started out in a tram that was much younger than this and when we pulled into the tram depot all the passengers were asked to dismount and transfer to this timber lined tram.

 The timber interior of the 1914 tram

Our trip on the tram took us past a few of the things we had walked around on foot. We passed the Golden Dragon Museum that houses the Chinese dragons that are used in parades for Chinese New Year.

We saw the wonderful ornately decorated roofs of the temples and pagodas in the grounds of the Golden Dragon Museum.

The tram journey took us past many early timber buildings and it was slow enough to stand up and take photographs out of the open windows.

Bendigo grew because of the gold fields of the 1850’s, many of the poppet heads from those days have been preserved and some of the mines are open for tourists.

The Deborah Mine, which is also the start of the tram tour, has many levels of mine underground and it is possible to spend half a day on a tour with an experienced guide, exploring the nine levels of tunnels and shafts.

I think a quick look into one tunnel might be interesting, I am not sure if I could get pleasure from spending several hours in a tunnel!

AJ