Lake Burrumbeet Summer

A very hot Monday saw me trying to cool down out at Lake Burrumbeet.

Mt. Buninyong Sunset

Sunday night at the mount....very warm day led to a nice finale. Its pretty hard to get a direct view of the sunset from up the top, so found this spot about half way up and climb down the embankment to get a view between the trees.

A Big Day Out

Headed south to Meredith, then east to Stieglitz, back through Brisbane Ranges National Park, and then a long drive on a rough road that I really shouldn't have been on, dropped in at my brothers and his wifes place at Beremboke (google it!). All up over 180kms, and then another nice finish to the day up at the Lake.
1. Moorabool River just before Stieglitz - the water really is this colour!
2. Tree stump at BRNP
3. Xanthorhea bush
4. Lake Wendouree

End of the day

...at Lake Wendouree. Very clear and sunny, no clouds to work with but thought this was quite warming.

Creswick Blue Water

Thursday evening I headed out to Creswick, about 17km north of Ballarat. Main purpose was to find an old quarry called Blue Waters, which is opposite St Georges Lake. Apparently the colour of the water has something to do with cyanide, and I was told by some locals that its even better during the day when the colour is a lot bluer. So a return visit is on the cards. Stopped off for a quick sunset on the top of the hill coming out of Creswick, then noticed some nice silhouettes at the Ballarat cemetery as I was almost home.

Australia Day

I had a great day....in the morning I went down to the Leigh River, west of Elaine, and then onto Mt Buninyong which was still shrouded in fog well past midday, and to finish things off a trip up to Lake Wendouree for the fireworks.

Lake Wendouree evenings

One from Monday night, and a couple from Tuesday......

Mt Buninyong 2

Another image from Sunday morning at the mount. I've put together a more comprehensive gallery at this page...let me know what you think.


http://atphoto.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Mt-Buninyong/

Morning on the Mount

Sunday morning I headed to the top of Mt Buninyong for sunrise. The heavy fog that was sitting on top of the mount made for some great conditions. I've got a great selection from the morning so I'll put together a full web page soon.

Yarrowee 2

On Saturday afternoon went out to another section of the Yarrowee River, just north of the Freeway. There must have been some massive amounts of water go through here a week ago at the peak of all the rain we had. The first pic here almost looks like a single colour shot except for the green high up, but everything  alongside the river is covered with dried mud and has a strange colour about it. Gives you some idea of what those hit by the bad flooding around the country are now facing. From the trees alongside the river I reckon the height of the water must have been at least 10 feet. And the log here shows how the mud has caked the trunks and in the week since has cracked like a dry lakebed.

Liverwort

I finally found out the name of all the green stuff thats covering large areas of Lake Wendouree - Liverwort. Makes for some nice photos, though. This from Friday night.

4 Moons

The moon has made quite an impact in this weeks images..... I always look forward to the moons reappearance each month as we get closer to each full moon, and some great conditions in the last few days helped.

1. Tuesday Night - walking back to the car (about a mile or so) along the Yarrowee Creek the fast moving clouds were creating a nice show against a stationary moon

2. Wednesday night - Ross Creek looking across to Mt Warrenheip, a big thank you to the gracious cow!

3. Thursday Night - Lake Burrumbeet, this is the night of the actual full moon and I thought this side of the lake might create some nice opportunities. One of the best moonrises I have seen, this is one of many frames I took

4. Friday morning - up at Lake Wendouree a setting moon was a great prelude to a great sunrise

Ross Creek Swamp

Went out to somewhere totally new last night, the Ross Creek Swamp (or reservoir). No clouds to work with but still came away with some nice images. And the moon on the way home was a real treat.

Along the Yarrowee.....

Last nights excursion took me to the Yarrowee Creek walk, only about 20 minutes from home. I used to run this path often, but haven't been this way for a while now. The challenge was to see if I could come home with something that left you with a feeling of isolation and to try and hide the fact that this can be quite a busy path.

#1 here is the first pic I took for the night, almost felt I could go home straight away. Then a nice bit of water and rockery and a, for me, rare BW conversion. #4 was the last pic I took for the night....when I got back to the car and pressed the remote the orange light from the turn indicators always flashes, and lit up these trees just in front of the car.

Lal Lal Falls revisit

On Monday, after all the rain I thought another visit was worth the effort...and this time to the side you’re not supposed to be on! The falls are thundering at the moment, I could make many, many trips here. ...my main reason for this visit was to find Granite Falls, another waterfall in this general area, about a mile away on another river branch of the Lal Lal Reservoir. I did track it down but very hard to get any decent views, but once I get my rappeling skills a bit more advanced I may try again! 

First pic here is Granite Falls, the others are Lal Lal

Duck Parade

Caught this nice scene Sunday night......make sure you click on the top pic for a closer look!

More fog......

Woke up to a very foggy Saturday morning so headed up to Lake Wendouree at 5.30am. Since the lake has filled up there are large areas of this green growth over sections close to shore in quiet areas of the lake that don't get too much water movement, and the foggy atmosphere really highlighted the richness of the colour. And there were spider webs everywhere......