A Bug's Life
Something a bit different today.......I was sitting in the backyard on Friday morning when this large bug flew past my right ear, headed straight for the birdbath. On closer inspection I thought he (or she) might be worth a few pics as he (or she) was a bug I haven't seen before. These 3 are the best of the many taken, and all taken on Debbie's Lumix Panasonic camera which has a pretty good macro function. Clear skies for the rest of the pretty warm day, so not much else to share. The heatwave is back big time this weekend, 39C on Saturday, then 40C on Sunday - whew!
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Golden Glow
With no clouds to work with, on Thursday evening I was looking for ways to make the most of the setting sun, and these grasses on the side of the road at Allendale West, north of Creswick, offered some interesting opportunities. And then I managed to catch the sun just at it hit the horizon out west....almost looking like it has rolled down the hill!
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A Couple of Sheds
A fairly tame end to Wednesday at Lake Wendouree, and a respite from the upcoming heatwave, though its looking pretty hot for the next week. Here's a couple of the rowing sheds in some late golden evening light.
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Heatwave 2 at Lake Burrumbeet
We managed to get up to 38c degrees (100f) on Tuesday and it felt very hot. Fortunately by the time I went out to Lake Burrumbeet around 8.15pm it was cooler and very pleasant for a wander around the shoreline just past the caravan park. In fact this location is only a very short stroll from the car. The hot weather is really taking its toll on the water level of the lake and this opens up new possibilities with the changing shoreline. Lets hope it doesn't recede too far! I have a lot more images to go through from this visit which I'll get to once I get back from Melbourne later today!
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California Dreaming
Came across this image form last years trip to California in early march and felt it deserved a viewing. A lot of my images from our USA trips tend to get overlooked if they are not from one of the National Parks...as you can see from this there are many fantastic sights along the way between the parks! Worth clicking on this for a bigger look, too!
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Warming Up Again - Heatwave 2
Monday was the first day of another expected very hot week here in Ballarat. I popped out to Clarkes Hill to get this stand of trees on the horizon on the top of Wombat Hill just as the sun was setting. I took a range of images, and it was the first 2 here that I liked the best. No clouds to work with, hopefully with some hot, unsettled conditions this week we may get some interesting conditions to play around with as things start to heat up.
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Australia Day Fireworks Ballarat 2014
The last few years I have looked for different viewpoints to shoot the fireworks at Lake Wendouree. This year I decided to just wander up to the end of the street and take whatever presents itself. It was a perfect, balmy evening with calm waters, so I knew it would be a good year for reflections. And right at the end of the street across the road was this view between a couple of the boat sheds, perfectly placed to also include the crowd out on the jetty in front of the shed. So I didn't have to walk up and down the shoreline looking for something, it was right there waiting for me!
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Hey, Bales!
Another fine sunny day, with no clouds! I thought I'd venture out to a new spot at Lake Burrumbeet that usually has quite a crowd of pelicans that I have perviously seen from a distance. Quite an excursion to get to this spot, and though there were a few pelicans around, most of them decided to leave just before sunset! So it was nice to stop at this set of bales at Windermere on the way home.
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Gum Trees
Some nice light around Allendale on Friday evening really highlighted a number of good old Aussie gumtrees (I'm getting in Australia Day mode for Sunday!). Between the first and last here is 20 minutes, and the change in light is quite amazing.
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Wednesday at the Wetlands
As Lake Wendouree's water level starts to fall, I noticed today on my run that they are keeping it topped up by sending water in from outlying areas. So I went back this evening to capture a couple of images, and also caught this nice duo in the North Gardens wetlands.
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Rockin' at Lake Burrumbeet
Out to Lake Burrumbeet on Tuesday evening, and when I got there to this spot, I sat for a while contemplating my best options. A fine sunny day left no clouds in the sky, and I've been here so often I was wondering what I could find....so getting down amongst this rocky part of the shoreline I tried to get in close to the subject. And I'm very pleased with the overall result from this rocky set....yet another example (and I know I say this all the time!) of why I keep going back to Lake Burrumbeet.
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Out To White Swan
I made my second visit out to White Swan Reservoir on Monday, and though there were no grand theatrics in the sky, I still came home with quite a diverse range of different images. And my first chance to find some running water for quite a while....not much around now after last weeks heatwave. As the angle of the suns setting changes throughout the year, there will be a lot of opportunities for different images....and I have one in particular I'll keep going back for when the conditions are right!
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Heatwave Extras
I felt these 2 extra images from last weeks visit to Lake Learmonth were worth sharing....the sky colours in the second one here are amazing!
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A Simple Sunday Selection
On Sunday evening I spent some time wandering around Lake Wendouree's edge. With no clouds at all, I was looking for anything that caught my eye, and this reflection of the edge of the View Point walkway made an interesting abstract.
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The Marshlands of Lake Burrumbeet
The heatwave is well and truly over (for the moment!) and on Saturday evening I made a return visit to the marshlands of Lake Burrumbeet. I had made an initial visit here a week or so ago...this time I donned the gumboots and headed right out into it. There was just enough clouds floating by to add some interest to the sky on a considerably cooler evening than I've been shooting in!
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Heatwave Day 5 - The Finale
Friday's top temp was 41C (105.8), though I felt it was nowhere near as hot as earlier on the week...obviously a week of acclimatisation! No grand finales, and due to the massive bush fires west of Ballarat in the Grampians, we had a heavy smoke content that produced some eerie skies. Three visits up to Lake Wendouree produced a range of skies....I really like the first couple here!
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