Sunset in my window

It is not everyday you can see such a spectacular sunset in winter. Kind of makes me feel sad that i will have to bid farewell to Melbourne in 25 days time.

Yet, I means 25 more days till I see my babe again!

Just had exams yesterday. One down. Two to go!

Time lapse from Lincoln Apartments

Bidding farewell to the Victorian summer, I managed to immortalise the beauty of dawn before I miss the chance.

This time lapse was taken over 1 hour and twenty minutes.
Canon 450D, mini tripod, remote control, 3 stops ND filter.

Thanks to Ditto for the filter which he was about to disposed of at Grampians.

Music by Richard Claderman - Casablanca (literally White House)

Great Ocean Road Adventure #3/6 Twelve rocks and sunset

Thy light fades into grey. Thy rays race into the dusk and take all thy warmth from a land barren and broken.
So, next stop on our epic adventure is the Twelve Apostles! Aptly named the twelve rocks. We raced across the highway as the daylight burnt away.
We got there in time to savour the final radiance of the dusking sun.
Here, I was trying to do some high dynamic range pictures. This shot came out well.
Where as this one looks quite fake.
Nonetheless, it was a spectecular sunset. The beach, the cliff, the wind and the clouds.
We were not alone. Our fifty added to the other fifty people that were already. Turns out this is quite the tourist spot. Note the heavy tripods and the ND filters!
Who could argue. The only thing was the clouds, which gave some nice effects, but just made life a wee bit harder.
This one's a HDR of the above.
Although HDR would make things look more realistic, this low exposure setting gives it a more cool feel, the same feeling when you are wearing your black shades.
Another HDR lazily done. Would have done more not for my Heat and Mass Transport 2 test tomorrow!!
The thought of having a holiday right now... not so good.
Don't be fooled, the winds are massive and the temperature will test your endurance. Just wait till sunrise!

Great Ocean Road Trip! Album #2/6 Picking Bush's Berries!

Part two of my trip along the Great Ocean Road, Victoria.
For our next stop, we decided to visit a berry farm. These berry farms are situated in the middle of nowhere.
Even so, these majestic looking pets were happy to see 50 visitors, laden with cameras!
The owner of the farm gave us some insight on where and how to pick berries.
From this angle, he looks a lil bit like George Bush!
Anyway, raspberries were in season. All we had to to was pay an entry fee of 5AUD and we could pick all the berries we wanted!
I am a real big fan of raspberries! But all you can eat for AUD5 was my kinda buffet! Only thing was the fact that this was a farm, not a supermarket, where the produce have been treated with noxious gases to preserve them.
Don't they look scrumptious? If you should, aim for the darker ones, they are sweet. Just look out for worms and insects, else you will have extra protein in your dessert!
The orchard also had apples. In fact, there were whole loads of apples. One thing I guess is apples are kinda difficult to eat, so the owners make more cash by just letting them drop to the ground.
See what I mean?
Anyway, these are how berries look like on the plant itself. The flashy red hue stands out greatly from the leaves.
Like fish in the sea, photoholics get busy to pluck and eat!
Scarecrows were there too. These are quite fancy but i doubt they keep the birds away.
After about 30 minutes and a punnet later, this was my catch of the day!
See what I mean bout the scarecrows not having any effect. Okay, you may argue that these are not crows.
But the sight of two sparrows playing about the farm and feasting on the berries was too hard for my 300mm to resist. As I got my lens out, the two males were fighting over this territory.
Flowers where not in short supply as well. Luckily my trusty macro lens allowed me to capture every detail here.
These were the strawberry farms. Notice how low they go to?
All the while, the skies were filled with clouds, signaling a storm.
As we left, the sight of this scarecrow caught my attention. Those porcelain eyes have seen more sunsets than I have.
Before we left, Da Wei just had to bring out his 300mm for a group photo. Only problem was that his camera was 30m away from the group!
Man with a camera in the bush.
So, canons typically have a shutter timer of 10 seconds. So you run!!
Next stop, 12 Apostles!

Melbourne: RMIT Village

Zzzzz.. Peace in the dark... and barely enough time to realise that time has passed, the bright morning sunshine blasts its way into my room.
Ah yes, the winter sunshine, turn on my 20 inch LCD TV to watch the weather forcast for today: Windy with sun, rain, clouds and clear skies!@#!@!? No joke.. Melbourne city is famous for its 4 season weather in a day. Right beside the TV are some pics of me and BB. Could not paste on the red wall cause the material makes spiderman's sticky webbing look like teflon over a well waxed leg. It just won't stick.

Happen to love my table cause its approximately 1 by 2 meters, giving me all the table space i need. Notice the glass... water is important for health cause it gets very dry due to the

'drought' and wind. Some places in australia has not had rain in 10 years! So a glass of water is always there to remind me to take more fluids.

I look at my bed right after I wake up:

GG.. well, kidding, thats before I sleep. Before I get out of bed, it looks something like this:

Now thats better.. Sometimes i feel like just wanting to stay in bed the whole day. Other times i get out on the wrong side of the bed. I even hit my head once on the top! Well, now that i dragged my fat lazy bum off the bed, what's next? Obviously it will be time for some hygiene. Fancy a 4 minute shower? Thats what australians do.. Due to water restrictions, people here take 4 minute baths! and they have a small hourglass (which drops all the sand in 4 mins). The bath tub is just for show until further notice. If not, fancy a dip in the village pool right below my unit:

So far I have only seen 2 people use the pool, wise for everyone else cause although the pool is heated, the 30 second walk back inside will be freezzzing!! The Village also has a 'gym' which says it all, cause its not a gymnasium.. just call it a gym cause its so small, that you cant stretch to save your life in there!

There is a small kitchen to use but a large fridge. The most interesting thing is that the village has 1 iron and ironing board! and I'm off to use it!

Now that i'm clean, time to visit the city. The roads in Melbourne are so well planned, that it looks like a giant Tic Tac Toe board from the air:

For an exchange student like me, I get 50% discount on most things, including fares and entrance fees to most places!

More to come soon in the next part!

Footie!

When in Rome, do like the Romans, when in Melbourne, don't miss the footie as it is called by the Aussies. Australian Rules football is something unique to Southern Australia.

On Friday the 7th of August, a big bunch of MUSEX members (Melbourne University Student Exchange) invaded the Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium. The 50 of us met up at the corner of Flinders Street and Swanston, in front of the Transport Bar at 6pm.

Here's the concession ticket we got, $12.80 for students! Much cheaper than other places in the world. No wonder Australians love their sports.


We took a short walk to the MCG, on of Melbournes two 100,000 seater stadium, which was filled to the brim with eager Aussies. The seats below, are only open to members and the membership list is currently at 50years waiting. The people tell me that fathers buy memberships for their unborn children! Today's game was Geelong Cats vs Carlton and it promised to be a tight match.



The aerial view of the stadium. Trust me, it is huge.

Okay, the Australian Rules Football is really different from other football and here are some key differences for newbies in case anyone asks:

1. The field is the shape of a baseball. Fits into round stadiums!!
2. The are 4 sticks as goals, two short ones beside 2 tall ones. Scoring into the centre space gives most points. No keepers.
3. There are at least 4 umpires, 6 waterboys, 1 guy in flouroscent running around for the most obscure reason.
4. It is started by throwing the ball at the ground!
5. In football, a throw in requires the thrower to throw forward with 2 feet on the ground. In footie, the umpire throws the ball facing backwards with one leg flying up!
6. You pass like rugby but have to dribble like football every 15 metres.
7. It is a very gentle game, tackling is like hugging and the players fall down like men. They get up and don't squeal like lil girls.
8. There are 3 scores, 1 is the total.
9. There are quaters each 30 minutes long, hence 2 hours of play.
10. There are 18 players and hundreds of tiny rules that must be adhered to.

Daylight in the night, 4 ten storey floodlights illuminating every move the players made. The moon was full and the crowd was howling like wolves in the cold. There was also a short fireworks display from the Yarra river nearby. The players were mostly skinheads. These were real men, wearing only their uniforms and muscles n the playing field, they seem to have an inexhaustable source of energy. Kicking, punching, scoring, passing, and tackling was the highlight of the night. What an atmosphere it was, and it would have been greater in the summer warmth.

It was intense and Geelong was a formidable foe. Yet in the end, both teams played well and Carlton emerged champions and will proceed to the next stage. Cheers!