The End of 2014

For the last day of 2014 I got up for the sunrise and headed down to Mt Buninyong. Once I was on the side of the mountain and could look further afield I realised a better place to be would be a lot further north up around Clarkes Hill. So after one quick shot I jumped in the car and made tracks for Clarkes Hill where there was a lovely sunrise through some low lying fogs and then onto Mollongghip where I caught this herd of cows, curious to see what I was up to.
So that ends another fantastic year....really looking forward to 2015 with some very big things planned!

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My Top 10 USA National Parks 2014

It’s that time of year....with less than a day to go I don’t think I’m going to get another chance to improve on these. In 2014 we added another 6 new parks to our quest to visit the 59 USA National Parks. A trip in March saw us in American Samoa to add this park to our list, in fact the closest park to home in Australia. In August we made our first visit to Alaska to visit 5 of the 8 parks in that state. On the end of that trip we journeyed from Seattle down to Los Angeles and re-visited 4 of the parks we had been to before. All that’s left to complete Quest 59 is the 3 remaining parks in Alaska in August 2015. 
Its worth clicking on these for a larger look........

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Summer Scenics

On Tuesday evening I headed out around Mt Warrenheip and over to Yendon and back. Though there weren't a lot of clouds like last night, I still managed to come home with a nice range of images. There's plenty of bales in the district at the moment that always have you looking for something worth capturing. And in the last one that lone bird adds a nice extra element into the silhouette of the tree.

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Chasing the Clouds

After a mild start to the day on Monday a cool change moved through around lunch time along with some very strong winds and a bit of rain. By evening things had calmed down a bit and when I left to go on my travels I was keen to chase some great clouds that were heading east. I headed out towards Clarkes Hill, east of Ballarat, and managed to catch a couple of nice banks of clouds atop a couple of hills out that way with the late golden light across the fields. And then looping back through Glen Park the setting sun just dropped below a bank of clouds to give me a very nice finale.

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A Golden Morning Out West

I made another very early start to the day on Sunday morning and headed out west around Mt Misery and the Waubra wind farm. Initially things looked clear and still, though when I reached a rise on the road near Mt Misery, I could see some very interesting low lying mists down below. So I headed right into the middle of it and had some fantastic conditions as the sun came up and tried to burn off the mists. The first one here is before all the fun started when there were some lovely soft pastel colours...and then the light and colour just exploded in intensity. Once again its great to be out early when conditions are this good!

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The Early Bird

I was up very early on Saturday for the sunrise from the western side of Lake Burrumbeet. Though there were no clouds around there was plenty to work with, and when the sun did rise and started to create a bit of low lying mist on the water it was very special. The birds darting around on the surface of the lake just added that little bit extra. What's that saying about the early bird and the worm?!

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Drying Up

On Friday evening I made a trip out to Lake Learmonth. I had heard the water levels were dropping quickly and this was very evident on my first trip here for a few weeks. There is still enough to play around with to keep me happy and with no clouds at all to work with I was happy with this series.

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Christmas Skies

After a generally quite nice day here in Ballarat on Xmas Day, it turned darker and colder later in the evening and by the time I headed out for a drive there were some great skies in all directions. Before I left town I made a quick stop at Lake Wendouree for the first image here and the only way I could capture it all was in a very long panorama........make sure you click on this for a bigger look!
I was planning on heading out to Lake Learmonth to see how the water levels were going out there as I had been told it was dropping quickly. However on the way out west I could see the better clouds and conditions were going to be at Lake Burrumbeet so I changed direction and caught the second image here just as there was a brief burst of sunlight that lit up the shoreline. That's 3 days in a row out to Lake Burrumbeet....tonight I'm determined to head in another direction!

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Christmas Eve Spactacular 2

This is a continuation of the fantastic sunset I had at Lake Burrumbeet on Xmas Eve. The best colour of the night came about 10 minutes after the actual sunset. This was one of those occasions that keeps you hanging around for the light that sometimes develops when you think the show is over for the night, so make sure you hang around for a while as the rewards are often spectacular.
And when I got back into Ballarat that crescent moon over Lake Wendouree was really shining bright amongst the light clouds with still some remnants of the sunset persisting

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Christmas Eve Spectacular

A fantastic Christmas Eve at Lake Burrumbeet at a section of the lake I don't visit too often, and with the receding shoreline I had a whole new area to work with. The sunset turned into something quite spectacular and the squadron of pelicans was the largest I have ever seen. The third image here in particular is dedicated to Norma, Debbies mother who passed away a year ago tonight - she was always looking for things in abstract shapes and I think this one would have given her a lot to work with!
The spectacular finale will be in the next post.......Merry Xmas!

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After a Cloudy Day

After a cloudy day by the time I made it out to Lake Burrumbeet for sunset on Tuesday evening the clouds had started to break up and gave me some nice conditions. The strong winds all day had really built up the swell on the lake and the waves were crashing over the rocks. Though we have had very little rain for quite some time now its great to see Lake Burrumbeet's water levels are hanging on.
On the way home this set of silos had some lovely subtle colours behind them, so I couldn't resist a quick stop.

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The Carpet at Mt Buninyong

I've been meaning to get back to the images from my amazing morning on the top of Mt Buninyong back on the 29th November. This set were all taken with the big zoom lens which enabled me to really get in close on the amazing conditions I had that morning sitting on top of the carpet of clouds. Certainly a morning to remember!

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