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Sick Photos
May. 15th, 2022 02:10 pmBeing 'flu-ridden at home means more time to process photos...
All from the March-April roadtrip
All from the March-April roadtrip
Giant Redwoods In Australia
Apr. 29th, 2022 05:21 pm
Otway National Park, Victoria
Warburton, Victoria
All from the recent roadtrip...
Sealake, Victoria
Apr. 4th, 2022 04:56 pmLate on day 2, we arrived in Sealake - a town we only knew existed from our Art Trail map because it has a silo in it
It also has 2 motels side-by-side, one of which was 'staffed' by a disembodied, disinterested voice from a little telephone speaker in the reception area, the other by a friendly guy who gave us the rundown on what the town has to offer besides a silo. Lake Tyrell sounded & looked worth a visit, if the sunset photos on display in Reception were anything to go by. Once in our (thank god!!) air-conditioned room, we leafed through the guest info pack to see what was for dinner & where we could get premium diesel fuel, water & some of that stuff you add to your windscreen washing fluid to better clean bugs off (Spoiler alert - the stuff is useless!!). We also called the number for a sunset/evening tour of Lake Tyrell & added ourselves to that evening's troupe
One disappointing dinner later (most cafés & pubs were closed on a Sunday night), we drove to the Visitor Centre to meet our Guide & other travellers - who turned out to be 2 older & very chatty ladies from Melbourne. In fact I'm pretty sure one of them only shut up when the Guide was talking... & even then she may have only lowered her voice to a whisper
We arrived at Lake Tyrell not long before sunset, but there was enough daylight to see it's a huge salt lake covering over 20,000 hectares & a beautifully barren landscape. There were a few small areas where water covered the salt flat, but by barely an inch or two, so if you got your angle right, you can be photographed 'walking on water'... We didn't... but the 2 ladies from Melbourne did. Inevitably there has been some attempts to mine the salt from the lake over the last 200 years, but now there is only 1 company doing so, from its own man-made areas at the lake's southern end. Rusty evidence of other efforts in the past are scattered around the shore & are irresistible photo subjects
Sunset, when it came, was colourful, but quick...
At which point, our Guide herded the 4 of us into the minibus & we bounced along a dirt road to a different viewpoint to watch the full moon rise. Not being equipped with the kind of photographic paraphernalia that allows you to track the moon's & Earth's movements to give you a clear view, this was as good as we could get
On the rise, just peeking over the horizon, lit by the last of the setting sun
Reflecting in a small patch of water on the salt flat. My black leather boots may never be the same again...
Back to Sealake & goodnights to our Guide & companions, when we could get a word in. Back at our motel, I did some cleaning of my boots, enough to render them presentable again anyway...
The next day after breakfast, it was time to shoot the larger-than-expected silo. From the air...
And from the ground...
Next - onward, south-westward...
It also has 2 motels side-by-side, one of which was 'staffed' by a disembodied, disinterested voice from a little telephone speaker in the reception area, the other by a friendly guy who gave us the rundown on what the town has to offer besides a silo. Lake Tyrell sounded & looked worth a visit, if the sunset photos on display in Reception were anything to go by. Once in our (thank god!!) air-conditioned room, we leafed through the guest info pack to see what was for dinner & where we could get premium diesel fuel, water & some of that stuff you add to your windscreen washing fluid to better clean bugs off (Spoiler alert - the stuff is useless!!). We also called the number for a sunset/evening tour of Lake Tyrell & added ourselves to that evening's troupe
One disappointing dinner later (most cafés & pubs were closed on a Sunday night), we drove to the Visitor Centre to meet our Guide & other travellers - who turned out to be 2 older & very chatty ladies from Melbourne. In fact I'm pretty sure one of them only shut up when the Guide was talking... & even then she may have only lowered her voice to a whisper
We arrived at Lake Tyrell not long before sunset, but there was enough daylight to see it's a huge salt lake covering over 20,000 hectares & a beautifully barren landscape. There were a few small areas where water covered the salt flat, but by barely an inch or two, so if you got your angle right, you can be photographed 'walking on water'... We didn't... but the 2 ladies from Melbourne did. Inevitably there has been some attempts to mine the salt from the lake over the last 200 years, but now there is only 1 company doing so, from its own man-made areas at the lake's southern end. Rusty evidence of other efforts in the past are scattered around the shore & are irresistible photo subjects
Sunset, when it came, was colourful, but quick...
At which point, our Guide herded the 4 of us into the minibus & we bounced along a dirt road to a different viewpoint to watch the full moon rise. Not being equipped with the kind of photographic paraphernalia that allows you to track the moon's & Earth's movements to give you a clear view, this was as good as we could get
On the rise, just peeking over the horizon, lit by the last of the setting sun
Reflecting in a small patch of water on the salt flat. My black leather boots may never be the same again...
Back to Sealake & goodnights to our Guide & companions, when we could get a word in. Back at our motel, I did some cleaning of my boots, enough to render them presentable again anyway...
The next day after breakfast, it was time to shoot the larger-than-expected silo. From the air...
And from the ground...
Next - onward, south-westward...
Silos, Beer & Water
Apr. 3rd, 2022 05:25 pmDay 2 of the Silo Art Road Trip & into Victoria... first stop was the little town of Patchewollock, where there were only a handful of buildings, the 2 most notable being the silo - seen here from above
And at ground level
- & the pub, where I just remembered in time that Victorians serve beers in either Pints, or Pots, not the Schooners & Middies of New South Wales. The pub was hosting a large lunch party that took up the entire dining room (not a big room... but then, it's not a big town!!), but we were able to get drinks for dry, dusty throats...
Parked near the silo were a number of 'classic cars' from 60s Mustangs, to old VW bugs, an old Chrysler... & a Mazda 323 (known as a 'Familia' in Japan & other countries. Why we stuck with the boring old numbers in Australia is a mystery). I know that any car is considered 'classic' if it's 30 years old or older, but, really...?
Thirsts refreshed, we headed on to the next silo in Lascelles - a slightly bigger town & the silo was located near buildings & wires, so our drone - now christened 'Spinner' in a 'Blade Runner 2049' homage, stayed in its case inside Laura. While we were getting our cameras out, a large 4WD drove almost right up to the silo, Mum, Dad & several kids piled out & all took turns posing in front of the silo with forced smiles & peace signs, before piling back into their SUV & driving off - the entire hit, smile!! & run taking less than 2 minutes. What they didn't know was that the silo has paintings on both the front AND the back...
Sure, the poor old lady at the back was in the shade & difficult to photograph shooting into the sun, but at least we tried!!
From Lascelles, we detoured from the 'official' silo trail to visit Woomelang, a town which has no silo, but does have several water tanks scattered throughout, which have been painted in a similar fashion. Visiting one of them, I drove into what looked like a pretty innocuous puddle & Laura came to a slithering, undignified halt. How the hell did I manage to get bogged in an otherwise dry & dusty outback town?!?!? Fortunately, Laura is 4WD, so with only a modicum of swearing & a bit of twisting & turning of wheels, we were saved the ignominy of having to be towed out of a puddle of mud... & we now looked like a 'real' off-road vehicle
Late in the day, we arrived in the town of Sealake. Bit of an incongruous name, we thought, given it's in north-western Victoria - a lot closer to Australia's central deserts than any seas... or lakes for that matter. Little did we know
That's as good a cliffhanger as I can manage. More soon...
And at ground level
- & the pub, where I just remembered in time that Victorians serve beers in either Pints, or Pots, not the Schooners & Middies of New South Wales. The pub was hosting a large lunch party that took up the entire dining room (not a big room... but then, it's not a big town!!), but we were able to get drinks for dry, dusty throats...
Parked near the silo were a number of 'classic cars' from 60s Mustangs, to old VW bugs, an old Chrysler... & a Mazda 323 (known as a 'Familia' in Japan & other countries. Why we stuck with the boring old numbers in Australia is a mystery). I know that any car is considered 'classic' if it's 30 years old or older, but, really...?
Thirsts refreshed, we headed on to the next silo in Lascelles - a slightly bigger town & the silo was located near buildings & wires, so our drone - now christened 'Spinner' in a 'Blade Runner 2049' homage, stayed in its case inside Laura. While we were getting our cameras out, a large 4WD drove almost right up to the silo, Mum, Dad & several kids piled out & all took turns posing in front of the silo with forced smiles & peace signs, before piling back into their SUV & driving off - the entire hit, smile!! & run taking less than 2 minutes. What they didn't know was that the silo has paintings on both the front AND the back...
Sure, the poor old lady at the back was in the shade & difficult to photograph shooting into the sun, but at least we tried!!
From Lascelles, we detoured from the 'official' silo trail to visit Woomelang, a town which has no silo, but does have several water tanks scattered throughout, which have been painted in a similar fashion. Visiting one of them, I drove into what looked like a pretty innocuous puddle & Laura came to a slithering, undignified halt. How the hell did I manage to get bogged in an otherwise dry & dusty outback town?!?!? Fortunately, Laura is 4WD, so with only a modicum of swearing & a bit of twisting & turning of wheels, we were saved the ignominy of having to be towed out of a puddle of mud... & we now looked like a 'real' off-road vehicle
Late in the day, we arrived in the town of Sealake. Bit of an incongruous name, we thought, given it's in north-western Victoria - a lot closer to Australia's central deserts than any seas... or lakes for that matter. Little did we know
That's as good a cliffhanger as I can manage. More soon...
Self Portraits, With Drone
Apr. 1st, 2022 07:50 pmDay one of the Silo Art Trail, we headed west out of Sydney to Bathurst, then turned south a bit & headed to Grenfell - first stop on the list... & the first self-portrait
Obviously, we took plenty of ground-based photos as well... I just haven't had time to go through all of them yet
Next was the town of Weethalle, a little further south, a little further west...
Our plan to stay in Hay was scuppered by the town choosing that weekend to have their annual Show - so everyone from the surrounding country was staying in town to see the cattle, produce, arts, crafts & bake sales & weary travellers could just keep right on going... another couple of hours in the sunset, twilight & evening down the highway to Balranald, dodging both the kangaroos on the sides of the road & the large trucks on it. Given kangaroos predilection for appearing out of nowhere & hopping straight across the highway, especially at dusk, which can really ruin your vehicle & your day (not much good for the kangaroo either!), we settled in behind a fast-travelling road train & let him clear any potential marsupials. Finally into Balranald, a quick dinner & bed
Next morning, get up, pack up & then out into the land of long straight roads & big skies, as we approached the Victoria border. On our road trip in 2020, this would have been where we turned back - voluntarily or not(!!), but not this time...
Along the Sturt Highway, NSW
Across the border into Victoria & into the Mallee scrublands... & salt flats... Taken from about 150 metres, which is about 30 metres above the legal height for drone flight. Well, we know that now...
And here we pause, as I don't have any other photos ready yet!!
Obviously, we took plenty of ground-based photos as well... I just haven't had time to go through all of them yet
Next was the town of Weethalle, a little further south, a little further west...
Our plan to stay in Hay was scuppered by the town choosing that weekend to have their annual Show - so everyone from the surrounding country was staying in town to see the cattle, produce, arts, crafts & bake sales & weary travellers could just keep right on going... another couple of hours in the sunset, twilight & evening down the highway to Balranald, dodging both the kangaroos on the sides of the road & the large trucks on it. Given kangaroos predilection for appearing out of nowhere & hopping straight across the highway, especially at dusk, which can really ruin your vehicle & your day (not much good for the kangaroo either!), we settled in behind a fast-travelling road train & let him clear any potential marsupials. Finally into Balranald, a quick dinner & bed
Next morning, get up, pack up & then out into the land of long straight roads & big skies, as we approached the Victoria border. On our road trip in 2020, this would have been where we turned back - voluntarily or not(!!), but not this time...
Along the Sturt Highway, NSW
Across the border into Victoria & into the Mallee scrublands... & salt flats... Taken from about 150 metres, which is about 30 metres above the legal height for drone flight. Well, we know that now...
And here we pause, as I don't have any other photos ready yet!!
