Grampians Summit Timelapse

30 minutes at Grampians National Park Summit using a mini tripod.

Feugo by Bond

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!

Great Ocean Road Trip! Album #1/6 On The Road

Some say the Great Ocean Road is the best scenic road in the world. Follow me as I take you on a journey of the Great Ocean Road adventure in extreme weather!

On the 11th of April 2010, 8 cars set off with 40 people from the Melbourne University Law building. Little did they know...

Yes, that is mud. The drive to the Great Ocean Road took 3 hours as we watch city turn to suburb and suburb turn to bushland.
Toilet break was in the alpine forest! The Australian definition of an eco friendly rest stop is a cess pit covered with porcelain. Too bad no pics of that. You would probably have better days not looking anyway.
The trees easily towered 50 feet! What you don't see is the muddy path. After the break, we began our own episode of lost.
Tailing KL's car. Surprisingly, Australian roads even in the outback is really well kept and built. No bumps or humps and one can easily go 110kmph next to someone's house!
The parked convoy waiting for the last guy as usual.
It helps to know that when you are in the outback or the highlands, there is no 3G coverage and all you iPhones loose all GPS capability. Note, reading maps can be really helpful. I take comfort in the fact that 3Gs has a built in compass!!
When in doubt, shoot!
Da Wei's car, the red Holden!
Finally, we get moving. So, part one of extreme weather. We drove right into an afternoon fog.
With 8 cars in convey, it was important that we keep a distance and keep close at the same time.
Notice how thick the fog was. This telephone pole made a good subject, standing out in the eerie mist.
Niah and his video re creation of the Blair witch project,
They journey continued.
For a long time. I waited. Patiently. No sign of civilisation. No sign of humans. Where are we? Australia...
There was no end to this fog. We might very well be in another dimension. Our journey continues...