Reflections

Wordless Wednesday

Photograph by Shirley Fyfe

Wordless Wednesday

TASMANIA - Devonport

Well - we survived the night but it certainly wasn't what I'd call a smooth crossing . . . things started out OK - we enjoyed a lovely dinner all together and then had a bit of a look around the ship before relaxing in the lounge area.  We'd been sitting there for about an hour or so I suppose with the journey relatively calm but it didn't stay that way . . .

Throughout the night, I was OK as long as I was laying down - as soon as I sat up, I'd feel a little nauseas, so I'd lay back down again.  I remember having my fingers crossed that Adam would be OK because I didn't know how I'd go if I had to get up to help him.  Thankfully, we all survived the night (and managed to keep our dinners down - *grin*) AND here we are in Devonport!

The first thing we decided to do was head to the supermarket and stock up on our supplies - especially fresh fruit & vegetables which you aren't allowed to bring into the State.  We then made our way to the caravan park and set up camp.  It didn't take long for the boys to disappear though - with a pillow jumping mat in the park, they kept themselves very busy!

With such an early start to the day, we had plenty of time to do some touring of the area and headed east to Port Sorell, Shearwater and Hawley Beach.  I loved the rock formations at Hawley Beach - they'd be lovely to photograph later in the afternoon I think!

Once arriving back in Devonport, we then took a drive to the Mersey Bluff Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was first manned in 1889 and is situated on Mersey Bluff, a headland of dolerite volcanic rock of Jurassic Age (185 Million Years).  The rock was formed as a sill intrusion, faulted down, to Bass Strait.  The rock cooled giving joints and fractures.  Some joints are like 'packs of cards' and when eroded, give flat surfaces for seating and surfaces for Tasmanian Aboriginals to carve inscriptions on.

From Mersey Bluff, we then drove around the coast a little to Point Fredrick and spotted  'The Spirit Of The Sea' sculpture.

It represents power & strength - the elements of wind and sea with man rising from the sea.  Facing the mountains, it represents the connections between man, the sea and the land, making this a symbolic reminder of our heritage.

From there it was back to camp - it has been such a very long day since we got off the boat.  Tomorrow we'll be packing up and starting our journey south to Hobart.  It won't be a quick trip there though, there's so much to see along the way!

Shirley

TASMANIA - Here we come!

Well - after much planning and preparation, the time has finally come to drive to Melbourne so that we can board the Spirit of Tasmania and commmence our 5 week touring holiday of Tasmania!

We've had the trip planned since late last year and my parents will be making the journey with us - they're taking their caravan and we've got our Jayco Camper all packed and ready to go!

We have our fingers crossed for a smooth crossing tonight although with the looks of the weather forecast and the south westerly winds blowing it could be kind of interesting . . . I guess only time will tell what it will be like.  I'll be sure to let you know!

 
On a completely different note, today is also a very special day because it's James' 12th Birthday . . . my goodness - where have those years gone?  I guess it's not everyday that you get to celebrate your birthday on a boat is it?  Happy Birthday James - here's hoping you have a wonderful day!

Shirley 

Photography - Stony Creek Tressle Bridge

A weekend away in Lake Tyers gave me more opportunities to practice my photography skills!

These first couple of photos were taken of the Stony Creek Tressle Bridge - what a magnicent structure to see - but such a shame that it's deteriorating with time.

"The Stony Creek Tressle Bridge was built in 1916 when the existing rail line from Melbourne to Bairnsdale was extended to Orbost.  This 97km extension through rugged terrain was reputed to have been the most difficult rail project undertaken in Victoria.  The bridge remained in service for over 60 years up until a bushfire damaged it in 1980. The last train crossed the bridge in 1988. At 247 metres long and 20 metres high, the bridge is the largest standing bridge of it's kind in the state.  Built of ironbark and grey box timber, it is a fine example of the early engineering skills that made do with the resources and materials found on site."

I just love this next photo - it's taken at the bottom of the bridge, looking between all the upright timber sections of the bridge - I was up on tippy toes to take this photo and had the boys holding a couple of small tree branches out the way BUT it was definately worth it!

The ground around thebase of the bridge had heaps of these tiny little toadstools and you know me and fungi - I just had to take a photo of them with my Macro lens!

This was a different variety growing on the side of the path as you walked up to the top of the bridge.

Fishing off the surf at Lake Tyers didn't generate any fish, however Stuart did pull in a lump of sea sponge that had this cute little Sea Star, a Shrimp and a small Crab all hanging onto it for dear life! Unfortunately the photos of all three on the sea sponge aren't that great BUT this one highlights the detail in the Sea Star just perfectly - this little fellow was only about an inch in diameter!

This last photo features the Foot Bridge at Lakes Entrance - we'd enjoyed a delicious dinner at the floating restaurant and decided to go for a bit of a walk so I could practice some night photography. It was a little breezy and rather cold BUT of all the photos I'd taken, this one seemed to capture the scene the best!

As you can probably guess, I took a heap of photos but I'll keep the rest to share on scrapping projects in the future!

Sale Botanical Gardens

More photos to share!  This time from a walk around the Sale Botanical Gardens!

As you can probably guess from the next few photos . . . I'm just loving my Macro lens!

This next one is a close-up of an Echinacea flower centre!

Oh - and I love how the water droplets have been captured on this next one!

OK - I won't bore you with anymore . . . I need to organise some scrapping supplies for a project we're going to work on with my Longford Crafters group!

Macro Photography

I have to confess that I'm having a wonderful time with this Photography course and today decided to have a little play around with some Macro Photography out in our garden - I won't bore you with heaps of them BUT here are a few of my favourites!

I'll give you a warning too - I love taking photos of fungi too - not sure why that is BUT I do have a bit of a fascination with them - *grin*

Now this toadstool was only about 3 cm high in the lawn and I love how this photo has really made it larger than life . . . perhaps that's why I have a thing about fungi?

Here's something a little different - a bee - actually caught in flight too!

I love how the flower and the bee are nice and sharp and in focus, whilst the wings have that soft blur about them because they are moving!

Here's another one I'm quite proud of - notice how I've actually caught the bee actually cleaning it's antennae! 

Pollen delight! Just look at it! This little fella has pollen on him everywhere - *grin* - the photo itself probably could have been a bit sharper but it's still not a bad one anyway!

Our Holiday - Tathra, NSW

I hope you're not sick of these because I have a few more favourite photos from our recent holiday to share! If you happened to miss my other posts and want to take a peek, you can check them out here and here!

You'll need to use your imagination with this photo - it was taken the day after the rough seas had washed much of the sand dunes back into the lake area where the Bega River flows out - such a different landscape!

Time to change lens and try out a little macro photography!

Back to my standard lens and this is the view from the lake side looking back towards the ocean over the top of the washed away sand dunes.

In our Photography class we'd learnt about Aperture & Shutter Speed settings and I had a great time playing around with various settings to see what effect I could achieve with these calmer waves.

Once again - I love the spray!

Captured in motion!

Our annual photo on the beach with the Tathra Wharf in the background - I was so glad that the seas calmed down and I was able to get a shot like this!

Our Holiday - Tathra, NSW

I know I shared a heap of photos yesterday of our recent holiday BUT here's some more . . . this time from our day trip from Tathra to Bournda Beach.

This particular area is known as Wallagoot Gap - just look at the colour of the water - it remained like this for quite a few days after those rough seas!

This is the view back to the west across Wallagoot Lake. I remember as a child, we used to come to this lake of a night with all our prawning gear. Dad and my brother had waders to wear BUT I had to use gumboots and so was always limited as to how far out into the lake I could go. Prawning was always a fun nightly activity when there was no wind about - otherwise you weren't able to see the prawns in the water at all!

This is the view along the gravel path that leads to steps and then down to Bournda Beach.

"I bet I can get back to the car first"

Adam's new sand castle bucket and viola! One spectacular sandcastle sitting on the sand!

A seagull who was determined it didn't want wet feet - every time a wave came in it kept a close eye on the foam!

Wow! I love the clarity of this photo! In manual mode too I might point out!

Another manual shot - I love the sharp focus and the blur in the background!

Our Holiday - Tathra, NSW

Don't you just love getting away from it all and relaxing on holidays?

We've just spent a lovely 8 nights at Tathra on the NSW south coast - the only downside of the trip was the fact that we took our boat and because of terribly rough seas, the fishing ended up not being any good. This was the 5th year we've had our boating/fishing holiday at Tathra and this was the first year that we haven't been able to come home with a wonderful supply of frozen fish. Oh well - I guess we had to encounter a bad year at some point!

Last Friday afternoon/early evening the sound of the surf was just incredible - we took a walk along the beach and the waves that were coming into the shore were just amazing to stand and watch!

The lighting wasn't so good at that time of the day and not having my tripod with me didn't help BUT I did manage to capture quite a few interesting photos!

I love the effect of the spray coming off the top of the waves!

The next morning we took a walk from the caravan park up to the top of the hill and then around to the point - the waves were continuing to pound the coast with such incredible force!

As you might guess . . . I had a heap of fun playing around with various manual settings on my camera to see the different effects I could create . . . see, I am putting this Photography course to good use - *grin*

Would you believe that this last shot is actually a view from the boat ramp looking out to sea! There is absolutely no way you would get your boat out safely through the waves that were coming into the entrance - they were just huge!