Niagara Falls

Wow, I think this pic sums it all up....amazing place, and the light show and fireworks after dark just made it even better. Took many, many pics today, hopefully I'll get a chance to show a few more. Deb and I did the Maid of the Mist boat trip as well - boy, does that get you right into it!

Blue Hen Falls Cuyahoga Valley National Park

We spent the first full day at Cuyahoga in Ohio. Some really great scenery including 2 sets of waterfalls, this is one that had some really nice autumn colours. Off to Niagara Falls tomorrow.

Somewhere in Colorado

You can see the autumn colours covering the hills here on the way across country to Cleveland - more to come, but its late and we've been on the go for over 30 hours to get into Cleveland.

A final farewell

...from Lake Wendouree on Tuesday evening, and also a special moment from our trip last October at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Make sure you click on it for a much larger view. Next post should be from Cuyahoga National Park, Ohioooooo.......

A Simple Scene Close to Home

Doesn't get much closer to home than this - the front garden! We planted some Fritillarias quite a few years ago and they have gone missing for a couple of years, but I was pleased to see one lone stem has made an appearance this year.

Mollongghip

Cruising around Sunday afternoon found me out at Mollongghip - a friend with his friend heading down the road, and the sun sets across the hills and the Dean Reservoir.

Raglan Relics

On Saturday afternoon I was very fortunate to spend some time at a lovely property at Raglan, just past Beaufort, west of Ballarat. Many, many exciting possibilities to explore here, this is a just a couple so far. And it only takes 37 minutes to drive back to the fish 'n' chip shop in Ballarat!

Nevada and California

With just 3 days until we hit the road again, I thought it was a good opportunity to post a couple of images from last May. And you probably can't find 2 more contrasting images than these.

The End of the World

Well, you'd think so from these images. A huge smoke cloud filled the sky south of Ballarat on Friday, so I went to investigate. It was down south to the east of Mt Clear, and turned out to be a huge burn-off. It enabled me to get sunset conditions when in fact the light was quite bright and white. When it did get towards actual sunset time the sun just dropped below a cloud bank and petered out.

Ballarat Botanic Gardens Spring Time

Thursday late afternoon I spent some time exploring the spring colours, and came away with a nice selection, I particularly like the Statuary Pavilion images. And the tulips are looking great too.

Canola AND Clouds!

Third time lucky......Wednesday evening I went out to the same canola patch from Sunday, and Monday, and got the clouds I was looking for. Though I have quite a selection to go through, this one really caught my eye and felt it deserved its own posting. Enjoy!

Way out west.....

Ventured a bit further afield than normal yesterday - headed out west of Ballarat to Beaufort, then south for about 15km as part of my Gardens Project. First here is a rain squall blowing over Burrumbeet on the way out, followed by the sunset across a farm dam and then some lovely pastel colours tempted me to stop for this last one.

Clouds, and Fire

Late Monday afternoon I was hoping to go back to the canola, but it had been blowing a gale all day here in Ballarat, and by mid afternoon the heavy clouds had moved in. So I headed off hoping the clouds may break up at some stage, but the weather was just getting wilder by the mile. By the time I got north of Creswick I noticed some darker, dirtier colour to the clouds and realised a fire was on the go a bit further north. Just north of West Berry Rd on the Creswick-Lawrence Rd and over to the west the first fire of the season was underway in a paddock. A couple of fire crews were in attendance and though the fire probably didn't have too far to go before it ran out of fuel, the huge winds were whipping up massive clouds. Lets hope it doesn't getting any worse than this as we head into summer. So I got my clouds - of smoke!

A Perfect Sunny Day

Sunday afternoon gave me a chance to show a fellow photographer around one of my favourite areas - north of Creswick up towards Lawrence. A perfect sunny day, but not a cloud in sight, but the canola just keeps getting better and better. A varied set here.......canola, fence post, old sheep dipping pond and shearing shed, and the last one is the remnants of the holding pond for the township of Clunes from the late 1800's. Look for more canola, with clouds, in the coming days. We head off in just over a week for another USA trip so I'm going to make the most of the canola before then as it will  be mostly gone by the time I get back.

Up in the sky....

...its a bird, a plane, no, just Mammatus - pouch-like cloudstructures and a rare example of clouds in sinking air, and they were very prominent north of Creswick on Saturday afternoon/evening. And just a hint of colour right on the horizon - makes for great sky images!

A Special Garden

Here's a couple of very nice spring garden views, and a couple of sunsets from during the week - the first is from the Lone Hand #2 mine in Allendale on Tuesday, and the second is out at Dunn Marsh, west past Burrumbeet,  on Wednesday.

Spring has Sprung

And nowhere is it more evident here in Ballarat than at Lake Wendouree. Looks like we are in for a bumper year for baby birds and these from Thursday evening gives a taste of whats to come. Certainly the biggest brood of Australian woodducks I've seen, 20 in this lot, and the cygnets are as cute as ever. And a nice reflection at the end of the rowing course.

More wildflowers, and a Dodge!

The wildflowers here are from the lower south edge of Mt Buninyong from late Sunday afternoon. I had spotted these the day before when the light was grey and overcast and was happy when the return visit gave me the conditions I had envisioned. And last night out near Cockpit Lagoon west of Ballarat I found this old CFA (Country Fire Authority) Dodge Fire Truck sitting amongst the ruins of a shed that had literally collapsed around it. Looks good in colour but was calling out for a black and white version as well.