Hitching a ride home

As I said yesterday, we started the walk back to the car. I still had my camera out and managed to capture some 4x4 action. One small vehicle had managed to get itself stuck after going off the track and was getting towed out by another. It made for an interesting photograph, just a pity I wasn't on the right angle to fully capture the fun. Then we watch another vehicle try to ford the stream away from the track. They needed weight at the back to stop it nose diving into the water - again a great photo opportunity. So I captured these moments in the camera and then completely forgot them when the prospect of a ride back came about.

"You taking passengers?"
"Sure, if you want a ride back, no problem."
"Got room for two?"
"Ah sure if one of you doesn't mind sitting in the back, I don't have a seat there but there's a bit of room."

At this point the pain I was experiencing took over from common sense and I accepted the ride back. My long suffering husband/assistant folded himself neatly into the back of the small Suzuki 4x4, while I got the comfort of the front seat albeit without a seatbelt. Our driver informed me that it wouldn't be necessary anyway as he wasn't planning on having an accident.

"You comfy back there?" he asked my husband, "cos you are actually sitting on a shovel - it's wrapped up in a towel but you should be ok". And so we started the trip back. The track had been battered heavily with the rain over the last week and the potholes were more like small swimming pools making for a very bouncy ride. Our driver was very chatty and telling us all about the locals and what they get up to with their vehicles and their fishing trips each week. I took comfort in the fact that our driver was very familiar with the track - right up until he decided to run off the side of the bank and take the fun route.

By this time I was clinging to my seat, the door and anything else I could grab onto while wishing the seatbelt actually worked. We skidded from side to side over the loose shingle on the beach, bounced up and down over the small hills and then suddenly we were airborne. Seconds later we hit the gound with an almighty thud and our driver started to apologise profusely. It even took him by surprise! The two men were concerned about how the jolt affected my back and all I could think about was my husband bouncing about on the shovel wondering if his backside hadn't been sliced and diced.

We got talking about how others use the track around the bay and the silly things they get up to. I mentioned the photos I captured of the 4x4 that was stuck earlier...

"Oh that was me!" said our driver.

Red Rocks

I am sunburnt! After all these weeks of rain the sun came out and I got sunburnt! We went for a walk round to visit the seals at Red Rocks in Wellington. It seemed like a very long walk, it even looked like a very long walk, yet there were families with young children doing it, there were old ladies on quad bikes doing it, 4x4 cars and trucks were doing it, push bikes and motorbikes were doing it. Everyone was going round to see the seals. Well almost everyone - some of the locals were only out there to go fishing.

We found the seals a bit before where we expected them to be, and I was surprised at just how close some people were getting to them. This area is where the male seals spend their winter and this means they are mostly very big and very grumpy. I decided to keep a healthy distance from them - a few metres at the very least! The seals were very well hidden, their colouring being very similar to the rocks. I found it very easy to spot them though, simply by watching where all the other people were looking.

After spending a bit of time with the seals, it was time to make the trek back to the car. Why is it that it always seems that much further going back. By this time my back was really starting to hurt and I was pretty much just putting one foot after the other hoping to make it back to the carpark. A little way down the track we came across three 4x4 vehicles that had stopped, their drivers chatting to each other. I plucked up some courage and asked one of them if he was taking passengers. To my surprise and utter delight he said he would give us a ride if we wanted one. The ride back... is a story for tomorrow!

Two weeks to go...

One of the most challenging things I have done as a photographer is to photograph women in the final stages of pregnancy. This is a time when to us they look beautiful, but to them they are feeling fat, uncomfortable and ready for the whole experience to be over. To get them to relax enough to capture this special moment in their lives can be a real challenge.

Today's model is Elyse and she is two weeks away from giving birth to her daughter. With her mother to keep a check on how she was looking (and to provide the clothing) we managed to achieve some stunning images of Elyse that I hope she will enjoy for many years to come.

Cute and Cuddly

One of the things I expected to see lots of when I went to the Melbourne Zoo were the animals that we associate with Australia. The kookaburra, the koala, the wombat etc. I don't remember seeing a kookaburra but I have to assume they were there somewhere - we didn't make it round the entire park. The wombat's both had their noses in their feed bowls and were scoffing it down so fast I am surprised they didn't try to eat the stainless steel bowls as well! There were a few kangaroos about the place but they were all laying about resting. I found them rather boring to look at, I would much rather have seen them bounding about in the outback totally free than looking rather bored in a smallish enclosure.

The koala's (there were two of them that I saw) were both up in a tree. Ok so that's where they are supposed to be but it wasn't easy to either see them, or photograph them which I found rather frustrating. I have always thought they looked cute and cuddly but to be honest I didn't much to make me want to hug one. They have rather beady little eyes and appear to be watching everything that is going on around them from their perch up high, and of course if they see a camera pointing at them they hide behind a pole or a branch! Well that's my story anyway.

There were four tiger cubs at Melbourne Zoo when we visited. They were in an enclosure with their mum and they were all cute and fluffy. Big playful kittens! Their paws looked oversized for their bodies so I am assuming they will grow into those paws and will become a force to be reckoned with. I shot lots of photos of the tiger cubs but only a couple of them were actually any good. They were so fisky and bouncing from place to place in their play that it was almost impossible to get a good shot. A missed opportunity perhaps - or a learning experience.

More from Melbourne Zoo

When we were visiting the Melbourne Zoo park I have to admit I wasn't at my best. The 4 hours on the plane the day before had taken a huge toll on my back and I was not in a good way. It may have clouded my judgement somewhat of the zoo itself, reading back I was rather harsh about it. It most certainly did cloud my photography on the day. Pain has a way of interfering with how you see things in general and when you add a camera lens you can look at something and just go "bleh" when another time you might have seen an awesome image.It has been a couple of weeks now and my back is still in recovery mode (another four hour flight home!) but I am getting there. I haven't picked up the camera much but I do intend to change that very soon.

The Canon Photo5 competition is on again and I am going to have another go at entering. Last year was a learning experience, this year I have more of an idea of what to expect. You get sent a box with 5 objects in it and 5 challenges. The images must contain the objects in them and you can be as creative as you want to be. It should be fun!  I will post copies of my entries here once they have been uploaded to the competition site. Wish me luck!

More from the Masquerade

 
  Here in Wellington there are several different taxi companies, all very easy to identify by the signage on their white cars. Well most of them are white, there is one green cab company and indeed their cars are green. In Melbourne however we found that things are a little different. For a start, the cars are all yellow, with the exception of the ones with green tops. But the different companies have names like Silver Top and Black Top as well as the Green Top cabs. Ok, so then you would expect to see these colours on the top of the cabs just like the green ones yes? Wrong. The silver top cabs are just yellow and so are the black tops!

I promised more photos from the Masquerade and here they are. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of entries into the competition so there isn’t a huge amount of different costumes to show you. It was also difficult to photograph them in the theatre without either a tripod or a flash (flash photography wasn’t permitted) but I coped. At the end of the masquerade they bought all the contestants back on stage for a photo opportunity and it was a major free for all. The crowds around the bottom of the stage with their cameras didn’t allow too many clear shots but again I got a few. I was a little disappointed in the whole masquerade, we were expecting way more than we saw.

Home Sweet Home

I have spent almost the entire day going through the photos from the trip and I have to say that I think I have saved the best to the last. These two images were shot on our last night in Melbourne. We had to wait until the rain had stopped, it was bitterly cold and I was using a very cheap light tripod that I didn't entirely trust but I just love the photos.

Reflections on the Yarra River

Walking bridge over the Yarra River

Tomorrow I will have some more of the masquerade photos from AussieCon4 to show you.