Definitely a beach day

I learned today why that group of school children were learning about Aboriginal culture in the park near Iluka. Today is Naidoc Day – a day of reconciliation for Aboriginal,Torres Strait Islanders and non indigenous people. (Do a Google search to learn more!) Festivals with demonstrations, stalls and activities were held all over the country to bring people together.

But it wasn't until the day was almost over that I learned about this. So we visited the town of Ballina and wandered around, me with a camera and Colin with patience! I was enjoying the public art along the foreshore.

Here are a few that I managed to “shoot”.

It is appropriate that fish and pelicans are topics for art. This town must have the most recreational fishermen in Australia! Of course, where fish are to be cleaned there are pelicans to clean up the mess! There are real pelicans on every patch of water.

Later in the afternoon Colin and I sat under trees at another little seaside resort called Lennox Heads and while we sat and chatted we were visited by a few different birds.

This is a scrub turkey. Unlike domestic turkeys, this one is not good to eat – an old joke is that you pluck it and put it in a pan with water and a large stone. After two hours cooking, you throw out the bird and eat the stone.

The Mickey Miner is a fun bird that is quite cheeky. It can often be found around picnic tables hoping for a handout! It is a common native bird that can be found almost everywhere around Australia.

The Butcher Bird is just fractionally larger than Mickey Miner (these are the “common” names) and it too loves to beg for treats around picnic tables. This one treated us to a beautiful little song as it tried to tell us that it was absolutely starving, hungry!

Now to share two pictures of the beach at Lennox Heads.

The first camera shot is looking towards the headland and the township.

The second is aimed in the opposite direction. We are into winter (with snow down south) so it would be unusual to see swimmers in the water – mind you the water temperature is actually warmer than the outside air temperature. It is 23 degrees C! Look at all that beautiful sand – the beaches down this way are gorgeous!

Tomorrow Colina and I will head inland away from the beaches. I love the countryside around here. It is very attractive with hills, trees, waterfalls, rainforests, cattle grazing on lush green fields and winding roads.

AJ

The angry sea

Although I am now in the comfort of my own home I have not stopped thinking about the things that were seen on my four days in New South Wales. This evening I am looking at a few of the shots I took while at Evans Head. There is a small trawler fleet tied up in a safe little rectangular port, they create a beautiful picture as they lie quietly in their safe patch of water.

The trawlers mostly leave to work through the night but with the sea as angry as it was on the day of our visit I would imagine that catches would not be worth the danger the boats would be in as they struggled to escape through the rolling water in the mouth of the bar.

A drive up to the look out at the top of the rise gave an even better idea of how dangerous the sea might be to small fishing vessels such as we saw earlier.

The Evans Head Bar has long been a problem to shipping and an excellent reminder of this sobering fact is the huge anchor that resides as an eye catching ornament close to the lookout.

The plaque near the anchor gives the story - I know it is a bit difficult to read but since I don't drive around with soap and scrubbing brush when exploring I was unable to clean it up to make reading easier!

Do remember that by clicking on the picture it will enlarge so reading this plaque will be a lot easier than it was for me at Evans Head! The sign is from foot to knee level - not the easiest height for reading!
AJ

A few days away

Tonight I write from a new destination only a little more than an hour from home on the New South Wales coast at a tiny town called Lennox Head. The only downside I have found so far is the exercise that is needed to get from the car to the unit – several banks of steps, both up and down. On my last excursion carrying stuff up from the car I counted the steps – 50 of them! Ah well, I shall not need to go to a gym for a while!

The place is very attractive and well located. We didn't need to take the car to get to the centre of the town or to the beach.

Here is a look at our Resort (Headland Resort) as seen from the door to our self contained unit.

You can just make out the lap pool at the bottom of the picture, it is very popular and seems to be in use all the time. Of course the temperature is ideal for swimming, it is both hot and humid since the rain with the mercury around 27 degrees and the humidity around 80 per cent. The sea is far too rough to be a good place for swimming and a walk along the sand was an exercise in “dodge the stingers”. The rough seas have washed in hundreds of these stinging jelly fish.

But I was talking about the place we are staying in. It is a one bedroom unit with a bathroom that even contains a spa bath, and a large lounge, kitchen and dining area..

Looking through the bedroom window we can see the sea and the town and the headland.

Finally a photograph I took as we walked along the sands. The tide was almost at its lowest revealing a few little rocks that I found made an interesting foreground for the view of the headland.

The sands are firm to walk on so I did not even have to remove my shoes. The sight of all those jelly fish would have prevented me from removing my shoes anyway! You can tell from the sky and from the dismal grey look of the salt spray that the rainy weather is not over yet. Hopefully we shall get windows of time like this when we can get out and enjoy the sights of the area. We shall make the most of our four days away!

AJ

Visit to the coast itself

Although my home is only a handful of kilometers from the sea I vary rarely go to see it. The proximity to the coast gives us a wonderful climate year round so I am fully aware of the sea - but I tend to look more at the country places, the mountains and the farming areas. But that changed yesterday, There was word of high winds and big seas on the way and my eldest son mentioned that he spotted whales breaching while he was driving home from work. So with a sunny afternoon and a couple of hours to spare I dragged my ever willing husband into the car along with my camera, tripod and two lenses and off we went to Tweed Heads.
From the headland we could see the splash as whales hit the surface of the sea - but they were so far away that we couldn't actually see the whales. Into the car we clambered and off we drove to Fingal Head. This is on the other side of the Tweed River from where we had been standing, and, since the opening of the wide and fast highway to Byron Bay, had managed to be "cut off" from too many travellers. The short drive out to Fingal Headland is past riverside homes that are prone to get their feet wet in times of exceptionally high tides and full river flow. It is a pleasant drive - and we seemed to be the only car on the road. As expected, when we arrived at the little carpark we discovered that we were not the only car on the road! Typical!
The walk through the coastal woodland over loose sand got our blood flowing faster and we emerged at the bright white painted lighthouse.

There were not too many people on the lawns after all, we could see a few family groups but they were scattered far and wide. Following the direction they were looking we too could see the activity way out on the Pacific Ocean. There must have been a group of three or four whales in one place and another pair in another. The sea was positively churning with their activity! Again, much too far away for either of my lenses but interesting enough for us to sit down on the lawn and watch them.
Spotting a sea eagle I changed lenses but that was the only sighting of it, I never did get a chance to take a photo! However with the 55-300mm lens I was ready when a pair of dolphin cruised by.

The sea was a most glorious aqua blue and the sky a rich cobalt. Such a perfect day to be out here. The sea was not rough and the threatened strong winds did not even rustle the leaves. It was calm! Since we needed to have an early evening meal we didn't stay too long so made our way back along the boardwalk to the sandy track that lead us back to the car.

In an area that is a mecca for tourists from all over the country and the world it is amazing that we can find places like this that are free of crowds and have so much to offer.
AJ

Photo layering

I have been playing yet again! I was busy recording tutorials for a workshop to be held on Wednesday when I managed to get distracted! Every day I enjoy reading the posts from DPS and sometimes becoming "inspired" to try one of the suggestions. The simple tutorials I had been recording led me from one topic to another and thanks to that Photography site, I started to think of textures and layering.
I am not sure if my "pupils" would appreciate this sort of manipulation so I am sharing it with anyone who visits my blog instead!
I started out with a blank canvas and using one of the bog-standard weird Photoshop brushes that I had never used before - it looks a bit like a dirty smudge - I made the brush huge and with two dabs created an interesting "background". Then I "colorised" it in Hue and Saturation and then textured it with a very large and deep canvas texture from filters. I created a soft vignette using the Lens Correction filter and came up with this.

Having a texture meant I needed a photo! I dug one out of my collection, it was a rather pleasant, quiet photo of an Australian pelican on the edge of the water. The texture was overlayed and all sorts of blending modes and opacities were tried. When I settled on one combination I liked I then used a mask to clean the texture from the bird.
So far so good - but not really as inspiring as I thought it could have been. What about some text?
Googled "Australian Pelican" and on a scrap of paper wrote down what was written on the site I opened.

I played around with the colour of the text and placed it over the image making it cover the entire picture. This time I used the Multiply opacity.
 Once again I erased the layer from the bird and this is what I ended up with.

I quite enjoyed experimenting but I am not sure if this example is dramatic enough. I shall have another go with a different texture and photo and see what I can come up with!
AJ

Fingal dolphins

When Colin and I took out Sunday car trip to Fingal Head we were hoping to see whales. It was a clear day and the sea was quite gentle. Hearing shouts and seeing a few people pointing in one direction our eyes were directed to a patch of water where there were dozens of fins breaking the surface. I estimate there would have been twenty or more dolphins swimming towards us.

This was taken with the Nikon P90 which requires the user to activate the live-view (big screen on the back) and then press the OK button to start the recording. Since I had been using the camera as a telescope previously the focus was already set to the right distance.

This is nothing spectacular but just a bit of fun - if you are observant you will see what I didn't see at the time - a whale in the distance just breaks the surface as the clip ends!

AJ

From forest to sea

What a variety of activities we have had today. I set out this morning with one aim in mind - that of taking a closer look at the Sikh temple at Woolgoolga, but we did so much more.

I spotted a sign that said simply "Flora Reserve", hand written on a wooden sign. So the car was pointed in that direction and off we went - I am fortunate to have a husband who has no objections to any detour I want to take! Since I am the driver there are never any arguments! The road became narrower and narrower and the bush thicker and thicker but on we drove. It was too beautiful to turn back now! At a fork in the road the bitumen stopped but a small sign pointed to a picnic area to the left.

We took the left fork and only a hundred metres in the forest opened out and we found ourselves in a glorious grassy picnic spot with tables that had shelters over them so with no further ado the flask of hot water and the picnic box was removed from the car and we had our morning "cuppa" in wonderful isolation with the most amazing bird sounds you have ever heard. I did turn on the HD camera but since I haven't loaded it to this laptop yet you will have to wait to hear what we heard!

We walked into the forest with the camera and tossed stones into a small creek to get across but when we came across a wide deep stream we had to turn back. I was not willing to take of my shoes and socks - it was too muddy on the other side to sit down to put them on again.

On the way back to the car I had to flick off a leech from my leg, just above my sock. The another that was on my hand. Once back at the car I told Colin that I was going to take off my shoes to make sure there were no leeches inside. I found two very large ones attached to my socks - they had not bitten me, they were gorging on the wetness that had seeped through my sneakers and into my socks! Colin discovered he had two leeches too! Gosh, every part of you starts to itch after such a discovery! However neither of us lost any blood to the horrible creatures!

From the forest - it is called Sherwood Reserve and is a remnant of lowland rainforest that has never been logged, so is very special - we drove to the coast and found some delightful bays and small hamlets and spoke to one of the residents who told us that the place was idyllic until Easter weekend and the Christmas school holidays, then it was filled with families, fishermen and surfies! Easter starts tomorrow so we have seen it at its quiet time! The place? Arrawarra Headland. Never heard of it? Nor have most people! But is it lovely.

Finally I was able to stop in Woolgoolga and walk over to the Sikh temple and take a couple of shots. Woolgoolga has the largest Indian population of any country town and there are two temples but this one is the most impressive and the newest looking of the two. It has an excellent position in the town too - it is on a hill and can be seen easily from the main Pacific Highway.

Our holiday in Coffs Harbour has come to an end. After cooking our evening meal I shall be packing the cases for a morning departure. We have had a good time exploring all around the district, all our holiday has cost us has been petrol! But I have so many photos that I can now go home and create yet another photo-book of memories!

AJ

Walking in the rain

Our good weather just had to change – we have had perfect weather for our holiday so far but today the clouds rolled over and this time they dropped their load. First thing the rain was too heavy to venture out but hoping that this was just a short shower we busied ourselves with home duties until it dried up.
Grabbing the cameras (most important) and packing a picnic we headed out to explore somewhere that was not too far from base. So off we went South to Sawtell and without even trying, found ourselves at an unmarked nature reserve. The sign simply indicated “lookout” in almost obscure lettering.
Two other cars were parked in the small carpark. We locked the car and walked along the newly trimmed footpath and took our time – for this appeared to be a seldom walked track. The birds were almost tame; they flew very close to me but far too quickly for me to even attempt to capture them on camera. The leaves and plants were glistening with the rain that had only just stopped and on the fine needles of the she-oak the raindrops looked like pearls.
The light was really poor and for every shot I kept today I actually took two or more beforehand to get the settings right on the camera! If I shot a detail of one of the many trees I would find that the first shot would be really underexposed and when I took a view shot of the ocean and the curve of the bay I would find that I under-estimated how bright it was! So photographically today was a real challenge! The view from the headland was “ok” but for me the perfect condition of the selection of plants that bordered the walk provided me with plenty of camera fodder.
I could hear a whip bird very close at one point and although I stood still and waited I could not see it at all nor even work out where in the undergrowth it was. I have never managed to take a photo of a whip bird.
Even when the weather is grim there is still beauty to be found. You just have to look for it.
AJ

wild times

A cyclone is creeping towards the Queensland Coastline. Our area of South East Queensland is not in danger from the cyclone, it will hit land several hundred kilometres north of us, however the effects of it are already showing down on the beaches. ISO 200 f/14 1/320 Focal length 86mm

On Friday I took my camera out for a spin and even though the rain did fall for a bit, I ignored it - it was time to take more pictures!
I had heard that the sea was messy. A major surf lifesaving championship was being held at Broadbeach and the surf boats were not coping with the seas at all well - several of them had been broken in half and many capsized on the rough water. So I wanted to see for myself how the seas looked. Firstly I drove to Burleigh Heads - a few kilometers south of Broadbeach - and watched as several surfy enthusiasts tried and tried to catch a wave. As you can see from my images, the waves were a bit difficult to "read".

ISO 200 f/14 1/320 Focal length 150mm

Walking further up the headland to where many surfers access the water rather than paddle out from the beach. As you can see from my second image, it is a dangerous practice in rough seas! The water was churning rather than rolling predictably but this young man cleared the rocks in next to no time. I was very impressed! (If I was his mother I would have been terrified at his choice of launching pad!)
From Burleigh I moved to Broadbeach a little further up the coast than the surf titles and took my shot of the waves. They are not really all that huge but you can see that the sea is very unstable. We noticed (Colin was with me) a couple of helicopters and a fixed wing plane zipping up and down and assumed they were filming the competition. However later, when we watched the evening news, we discovered that they were actually searching for a missing lifesaver who, very sadly, was drowned while participating in his race.

ISO 200 f/11 1/500 Focal length 18mm

You can just make out the fixed wing beach patrol plane in my photo. Colin told me when I remarked on its multiple passes, that it was used to patrol the beaches and was cheaper to operate than the helicopters.

ISO200 f/9 1/1250 Focal length 125mm

My final shot was taken at the Spit - just north of Surfers Paradise. The sand-pumping jetty is a favourite haunt for fishermen but you can see now the actual size of the waves - now that there are some fixtures to give scale. After taking this picture I walked back to the car and passed a parked van with a trailer who's driver was just about to unload lots of surfboards from his trailer. The sign was offering to teach people how to surf. A Japanese man with a very large pro camera was busy taking shots of the unloading of the boards so maybe a bunch of young people were going to give him some exciting video to send home!

What a sea in which to learn how to surf!

AJ