Beauty in the bush

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!

AJ

Up in the hills

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

From the Blue Mountains to Tomakin

This was our last day in the Blue Mountains, we never did get back to see the Three Sisters in the late afternoon so our view of this famous landmark was with the sun behind them. The cost for parking was pretty steep too - minimum cost was $4 regardless of whether you were going to stay five minutes up to an hour. The platform area for viewing the Three Sisters is fantastic - large and able to accommodate hundreds of people comfortably - and spotlessly clean. So really the cost for parking is not dear when you consider what else you get for your money.
One thing we were very aware of was the cold wind that swept up from the base of the cliffs. It felt as if it came straight from the south pole! This is why poor Colin looks so unhappy!
We had to be at the Sydney Domestic terminal by 11.10am so we had to leave our accommodation at Faulconbridge reasonably early. We did stop at Penrith briefly for a break and when there spotted this amazing wisteria climbing right up a large tree. Of course, being the driver I was able to stop the car and grab a photo! Isn't it fantastic? Just in case I have another calamity when downloading my pictures, this one was taken with the Samsung! I hope I don't have any more traumas like yesterday with my photo saving!
we picked up Nola and Graham from the airport and headed south as soon as we had loaded their luggage. We were all feeling ready for a feed when we pulled over at a small town on the coast for lunch. What a steep road down! It was amazing! Fed and watered we were ready to get back on the road again. I did not realise how far it was to Tomakin from Sydney and it was five by the time we drove into the "resort". It actually wasn't so much the distance as the speeds that were allowable on the roads. Slow! We were either limited to 80 or 60 and very rarely were allowed to speed up to 100k for maybe up to five kilometres!
I am looking forward to being able to use the camera again tomorrow, so much driving is not what I really enjoy!
AJ