dead tree landscape

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO200

While in north-west Tasmania during a family holiday earlier this year, we drove through some areas near Cradle Mountain with stands of dead trees. With some low fog hanging over the trees, we had to stop to take some photos, as it looked very sombre and gloomy.
I converted this to black-and-white and brought out some detail using the Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in for Adobe Photoshop from Google's Nik Collection.

red gravel road

Ninghan Station, Western Australia

It seems like it was longer ago, but only a couple of weeks I was camping with about 80 year 9 students in the middle of nowhere, about 400km north-north-east of Perth.
This very red dirt and red gravel is characteristic of large parts of Western Australia, and the red dust has a habit of getting into anything and everything!

This photo was taken shortly after we turned off the bitumen road and onto the gravel road. A warning buzzer was sounding in one of the buses, and we were wondering if we were going to be stuck here - quite a few kilometres away from where we were supposed to be camping. A quick investigation revealed the cause of the buzzer - the release on the emergency exit back door of the bus had shaken itself loose on the gravel road corrugations.

the Interpretation Centre

Mount Wellington, Hobart, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @16mm, 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO160

Last month, we spent some time in Hobart while holidaying in Tasmania. Hobart is Tasmania's capital city, and is located on the foothills of Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington is nearly 1300 metres tall, and the road to the peak is a long and winding road.

Our kids were hoping for some snow on Mount Wellington, but unfortunately for them, there was none (and yes, snow on the Mountain even in summer is fairly common).

On our last visit up the Mountain, about 5 1/2 years ago, we couldn't see anything due to a thick fog. However, this time the weather was much better, and we had a reasonable view of Hobart city far down below.

Guide Falls

West Ridgley, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @16mm (10-stop ND filter), 63 sec, f/9, ISO100

Guide Falls is a very accessible waterfall about 20km south of Burnie, in the north west of Tasmania. The base of the falls is just a short walk from a nearby car park and picnic area. Apparently these falls have water all year round, but are more spectacular in winter and spring, due to a larger volume of water flowing.

We visited these falls last month while holidaying in Tasmania, and although it was a dry summer in Tasmania, there was still a reasonable amount of water flowing over the falls.

Michelle enjoying the falls

Liffey Falls, Liffey Falls State Reserve, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @40mm, 8/10 sec, f/13, ISO100

We recently returned from a family holiday in Tasmania, where we had a great time exploring the many wonderful sights with our children.

In early January, we were in Launceston on a hot day, and after first trying to get to the swimming pool at the First Basin at the Cataract Gorge (we gave up trying to find a parking spot after seeing how many cars were parked on the side of the road in the area!), we headed to Liffey Falls to cool off.

We had a great time splashing around in the cold water, and exploring among the rocks.

Liffey Falls

Liffey Falls State Reserve, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 8/10 sec, f/11, ISO100

Treasury Gardens walkway

Melbourne, Victoria
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO200

I like walking. When I am somewhere other than home, either on holidays, or for work, I always try to make a point of walking somewhere every day. Walking gives me some time to relax and unwind, and has its own physical benefits. Most of us, including myself, can do with some more physical activity, and walking is a low impact form of exercise that I enjoy more than other strenuous forms of exercise.

When I am at home, I try to go for a walk with my wife every evening. Not only does it provide the benefits mentioned above, but it also gives us some time to catch up on each other's day, and to chat without the kids being in earshot.
As our kids get older, they are going to bed later, and we have found that gives us less time together in the evenings. Our evening walks make up for that.

Another benefit of walking in other locations is that it allows me to see many places and things that I would otherwise miss. Places and things that can be worth photographing.

Early last year I spent a couple of weeks in Melbourne for work. (I couldn't even remember why I was in Melbourne until I looked it up - it was to conduct a training course for colleagues.) When I have a weekend elsewhere, I try to spend some time walking and exploring with my camera.

The photo above is one location that I found when walking from my hotel to the CBD - the Treasury Gardens, located on the south-east side of the CBD.
I would have missed this location if I had taken a train, tram, bus or taxi into the CBD.

The next time you are visiting another city, take the time to walk around, and enjoy the local sights.

Here are some more photos from my trip to Sydney in May. While walking back from Wentworth Falls, we stopped at an interesting waterfall known as "Weeping Rock". It is quite obvious where the name comes from - with the waterfall cascading over the top of a flat rock, giving it a weeping appearance.

Weeping Rock

Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @19mm, 2.5 sec, f/18, ISO100

The photo above was taken from the walking track leading to Weeping Rock. For the phot below, I got a lot closer to capture the details of the water cascading over the edge of the rock, with the steps and hand railing in the background.

While walking back up the mountain from a visit to the bottom of Wentworth Falls last month, we stopped at Queen's Cascades. Here, the Jamison Creek provides a fairly wide cascade over the rocks, as it falls into a pool, with a small sandy beach on the right hand side.

Queen's Cascades

Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @15mm, 8/10 sec, f/16, ISO100

Last month, I spent two weeks working in Sydney. On the weekend, one of my colleagues, also a keen photographer, took me out to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, to take some photos of Wentworth Falls.

Wentworth Falls is located in the Blue Mountains National Park, a few kilometres east of the township of Katoomba. The total height of the falls is 187 metres, and the falls consist of several drops.

bottom of the Middle Falls, Wentworth Falls

Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @13mm, 6/10 sec, f/9, ISO200

The walking trail down to the middle falls consists of 173 steps cut into the stone, down a 90 metre cliff face. Apparently it is the longest outdoor staircase in Australia!
The stone steps are creatively named the "Grand Stairway", and walking back up the many steps is definitely harder than walking down.

Below are a couple of photos (taken with my phone) showing the Grand Stairway.