Mount Terrick Terrick

The plan for this weekend's day hike was to return to Mount Terrick Terrick,  formally known as Mitiamo Rock. Now Known as the Terrick Terrick National Park, the park features three large granite outcrops called Mount Terrick Terrick, Bennett's Rock and Riegal's Rock (Though some maps have this marked as Mount Byrne. Forming a roughly triangular course,  the trek would cover approximately 15km, with enough time to explore (i.e. climb on) each of the rocky formations. I had also planned to side track to the ruins of the old Riegal's homestead, as shown on the map below, however conditions on the day did not allow me to do that. I will have to put that on the list of things to do in future.

The National Park contains many interesting species of flora and fauna. It boasts one of the largest undisturbed areas of native grassland remaining in Victoria, with much of the grasses wipe out due to farming activities. The grasses are home to birds and of course plenty of deadly snakes. Walking between Mount Terrick and Bennett's rock, I came cross a rather large brown snake. I was being careful and keeping an eye out for these fella, particularly since I was only wearing shorts, so I took my time. This particular fella was a good 10m ahead, sunning himself on what was almost a track through the grass. He noticed me and began to move away, so I allowed him time to get some distance away before proceeding around his locality. It reminded me to remain vigilant for the remaining portion of the track. I had noticed that the weather was starting to change lately and was almost becoming autumnal, so the reptiles would be out trying to get some food in their bellies before finding a nice hollow to sleep out the colder months. Now the thing to remember about this baby is that it is not interested in eating you. Humans are too big and don't taste very nice apparently. So the snake does not want to bite you. It will bite if it feels threatened, or if you disturb it during nesting season. The common brown snake is the second most deadly snake in the world after the Taipan. While it's fangs are relatively short, the venom is potent enough to kill you within minutes. If bitten, the thing to do is apply and elastic constrictive bandage and remain very very still. Get help to come to you rather than trying to move as movement stimulates the lymphatic system and will result in death quicker. Applying a correct bandage and remaining still will increase the amount of time for the toxins to work their way through the system. It can sometimes add hours to the process, and can mean the difference between life and death.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Now I said before that the fangs of the brown snake are quite short. This means they have trouble penetrating even denim jeans, and certainly will not get through leather. Wearing loose cargo type pants, with leather boots will help prevent getting bitten on the lower extremities (the most common location of bites). Some trekkers wear gaters, and I intend to get some of these before tacking Wilsons Promontory later in the year, as the tiger snakes in that area have longer fangs and tend to be more aggressive. But this was little comfort to me on this day as I was wearing shorts and runners type hiking shoes. I mentally chastised myself for not being better prepared and made a note not to do so again. I felt particularly vulnerable given that I was hiking alone. I checked my phone and was relieved that I had full coverage so I would be able to call for help if needed. I also double checked my first aid kit and was comforted that I had a good bandage to use if needed. I recalled a snake expert at the Elmore Field days that was selling special snake bandages and I made a note to see if I could get hold of a couple for future. It never hurts to be prepared.

I continued ever so carefully in a north westerley direction until I came across a clay road. This I roughly followed until I saw another road leading to Bennett's Rock. I felt a lot more comfortable walking along the gravel roads as any snake would be more visible. But by this time another  pest was starting to cause trouble. My old friend the mosquito had smelled my rich blood and sent a signal out to the mossie telegraph. I was swamped by about ten thousand mossies wanting a taste of me. They were relentless, and once again I chastised myself for not bringing insect repellent. I have been told the bushmans brand is good stuff, so I will get some and throw it in my pack so I don't leave it behind again. A colleague at work also mentioned a product that horse owners use to protect their horses and riders. A small dab on the main of the horse wards off flies and mossies. I will look into that for future.

I didn't bother to climb Bennett's or Riegel's rocks because the trek had taken a bit longer than I had hoped for as the risk of snakes had slowed me down somewhat. The weather was also starting to get a bit more vulnerable with the wind picking up and a hint of rain showers. So I proceeded back to Terrick Terrick. As I walked along a stumbled upon a mob of Kangaroos that were sleeping under a tree. I think I startled them, and the bull roo jumped up to check me out. I was about 20m away and just let them sense that I meant them no harm. I reached to take my pack off hoping to get out my 70-300mm lens so I could get a better shot, but the movement in taking off my pack was enough to scare the roos into bounding away. By this time I was really getting fed up with the mossies so I headed to the rock so that I could get up to the top. I knew once I started to climb, the wind would blow the annoying little pests away. As I walked toward the rock I noticed a dragonfly, well there were actually lots of dragonflys, and it seemed to catch a fly. I thought I was seeing things, so when I got home I googled it and sure enough, dragonflies eat other insects including flies and ironically mosquitoes. I reckon the dragonflies were having a feast that day. I felt privileged to have witnessed the hunter in action.

But of course I was at the park to shoot as well as hike, so my attention turned to capturing some of the scenery. I would have liked to hang around till sunset which was about 2 hours away but I was unsure whether there was gates and if they would lock them so I knew I had to be heading relatively soon. As it turned out, there are no locks or gates so for future I will make a point of staying longer and getting the light from the magic hour.

As it was I snapped away and got some shots of the granite boulder. The boulder itself rises 40m above gound level, and is a fun little place to explore. My boys enjoyed it last time I brought them here.

Okay, so lessons learned:

1. wear long pants and leather boots in this country and others like it.
2. Once again I learned the hard way to pack insect repellent.
3. I had enough water but a bit more would have been nice.
4. Buy one of those fang dangled snake bandages from the snake handling guy at the field days.

The Leanganook Track

Today's Hike takes place on a section of the Great Dividing Trail (GDT), a stretch of walk that travels for approximately 280km, between, Bacchus Marsh and Bendigo in Central Victoria. The GDT is divided into four sections, each of which I am intending to hike at some point in the future. 

The plan for today was to walk only a part of the Leanganook Section of the GDT. This section stretches between Castlemaine and Bendigo is the total distance for this walk is 58km. In particular I was concentrating on a section called  the Heritage Park Walk. Traces of the alluvial gold rush era are everywhere evident in this Walk through the Castlemaine Diggings and Forest Creek goldfields dominated by Chinese in the 1850s, and the foundations for the giant Garfield water wheel driven battery, which crushed quartz for gold until the start of the 20th century. It was this water wheel that was to be my aim for the day.

I Was Searching for the Remains of this Water Wheel, Contructed in 1850.

Setting out from Bendigo, Castlemaine is only about 40 minute ride on my trusty motorcycle. I parked near the corner of Pyrenees Hwy and Hargraves Street, as this is apparently where the trail begins. I had purchased a map from the Great Dividing Trail Association. Let me start by saying the map is about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. The map features an out of focus large scale aerial photograph, that at best, only represents the actual track. It has no helpful guide notes, and the features are incorrectly located. My recommendation would be to buy it only as a secondary reference, and rely on the more accurate VicMaps topographic maps.

My first waypoint was the Pennyweight Flats Cemetery. The map was useless, and it was only that I noticed a street sign that I knew I was heading in roughly the right direction. Approximately 4km from the starting point I saw a tourist sign indicating that I had arrived. Although not yet in the "bush" the box ironbark trees hiding the cemetery are only reasonably modern trees of about 20-30 years old.

Pennyweight Flats was the location that the mining families buried their infants and children. Growing up in Castlemaine in the 1850s was not an easy existence. Prone to disease, especially from contaminated water, from dangers such as snake bite, falling into diggings and of course drowning in any of the numerous water courses dug to accomodate miing activities, the poor kids had a tough start in life.

Pennyweight Flats got its name as a result of there being no gold in the location. It was said that the flats contained not so much as a pennyweight in gold (a pennyweight being the smallest measure of gold). The children were buried in this location because it was correctly believed that it would be free from disturbance from the frenzy of mining activity occurring at the time. The ground was hard and inhospitable full of slate, quartz and hardened clay. Many of the graves are shallow graves with a fw stones placed around it to mark the site and a humble stone to mark the head.

Other more affluent families afforded a formal headstone, some of which remain readable today, including some in Chinese.

The stone above reads "SACRED" and it truly is a sacred site. Although fenced off and slowly the ironbark forest takes over, the site remains a timeless reminder of the hardship that the early settlers endured in order to make a living in pioneering days.

From here I set out looking for any remains of the old waterwheel above. Now according to the useless map, it was about 5.5 km to this location, although the location indicated on the map was nowhere near 5km away. I figured out the general direction and headed off.

The trail is reasonably defined in the next section of the track. There was only one part where I made a wrong turn. There was a trail marker that indicated to veer off to the left. I turned too much left and headed generally north when I should have headed north east. I realised I had left the trail when I ended up in an old gold digging about 1km north of the last marker. The site was interesting with yet more graves, and some old fireplaces with rusted out pots. These digging were not marked on this map, so I had no means of relating map to ground. In the end I decided to head back to the last marker.

I discovered my error, and this time headed more to the North East. The trail is very well defined here and easy to follow. It proceeds in a gentle uphill climb for several kilometres, but is by no means taxing. After several kilometres, I figured I had walked more than the advised distance on the map. I figured that yet again the map was not worth the paper it was printed on. I assumed I must have missed it because I was a long way past where it is located on the map. Nevertheless, because I had plenty of time, I decided I would continue along the trail. It was an enjoyable walk, so I was determined to enjoy it.

So I determined that I would walk a further 2 km at most before heading back. I figured I had already walked about 7-8km, so 2km more, and a return would put me on about 20km which is a good distance for a day walk.

The out of nowhere, (and certainly nowhere near where the map indicated), I stumbled upon the remains of the old waterwheel...And what a splendid site it was too. In the days of the gold rush, the area would have been completely logged, every tree used for timber for shoring, or firewood for cooking/heating. The old photo above shows very little vegetation. But now the forest has grown back and is slowly eating what remains of the flat areas where quartz was mined in search of gold. But the abutments of the waterwheel remain defiantly standing there, as if guarding this sacred site.

The remains of the Garfield Water Wheel circa 1850

As you can imagine I was busy snapping away for a little while. It is such a peaceful location.

As I headed back on the return journey, I appreciated the forest for it's diversity, and vowed to maybe do a longer walk next time. Maybe even to the summit of Leangonook (or Mt Alexander as it was named by the authorities).

 Only next time, I will bring a far better map!

Day Hiking on the Bellarine Peninsula

My original plan for the day was to hike up Mount Ida near Heathcote in Central Victoria. But when I awaoke to a forecast of 40 Degree Celsius (104F), I decided that dragging teenagers up a mountain in scorching heat was not a fun plan.

So I decided Plan B was a good option. It involved driving down to the Bellarine Peninsula, just east of Geelong. The trip by road takes about 2.5 hours, and once you are over the Brisbane Ranges (part of the Great Dividing Range), the temperature drops considerably. We were very relieved when the temperature dropped to 24 Degrees Celsius once we were over the range.

Image from Google Maps

Plan B involved two short day hikes. Hike number 1 would be from the lighthouse at Point Lonsdale along the beach to somewhere near Ocean Grove or Barwon Heads. In particular I wanted to climb up this rather large sand dune I had noticed on a previous visit. From there I hoped to get a Panoramic shot of the beach including the famous light house.

I was not sure how far to go along the beach, because I also wanted to be at Clifton Springs around the time the sun was getting low. Hike Number 2 involved walking along the dell at Clifton springs to find an old Jetty that had weathered away over the years. This is one of the most popular places to photograph in Victoria, so I decided that since we were in the area I would take the opportunity. I had also tentatively planned to shoot Dog Rock, but realised that the best time to shoot this would be around sunset too, and since I can't be in 2 places at once, I decided that that needed to be another visit.

I briefed the family on the plans and was met with grumbles about the heat. As a compromise I let the two oldest kids bring along a friend each, and agreed we would allow a lot of time for swimming, as long as I could get the shots at Clifton Springs.

A couple of hours later we arrived at Geelong and parked at Eastern Beach. The kids had fun in the enclosure that was built to protect swimmers from sharks. It has pontoons and diving platforms and there are generally a lot of teenagers hanging around so my two oldest boys loved the place.

While they were swimming at the beach enclosure, I took the opportunity to take a walk along the foreshores of Geelong. One of the main features along the foreshores is a collection of approximately 100 wooden people. These are old poles that have been carved and painted to resemble people from the local community. There are lifeguards, footy players, local dignitaries such as mayors and officials, and even a Beauty Pageant winner. Miss Geelong was gorgeous as you can imagine, and her eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I felt compelled to ask her to allow me to take a few shots of her. Being a celebrity, she had no qualms against me shooting her. In the end it was the only way I get away from her.

Not long after I gathered the kids and drove to Point Lonsdale. The kids kept swimming in the ocean while I set off down the beach. I walked along a path that seemed to meander through the tops of the sand dunes, heading generally west, and trying to get to the largest of the dunes which was about 3 kilometres away.

When I finally got there I attempted several times to find a way to the top. The dune was steep, and in some places verticle, unstable and fenced off. In the end I gave up. I could not figure a way to get up there.  Lesson learned No.1 - find out for future, how to get up on top of that dune. But from a similar position I was able to capture a shot looking back to the lighthouse at Point Lonsdale, and to the family swimming.

Point Lonsdale Lighthouse, Victoria Australia.

The lighthouse is located on the western head of the entry into Port Philip Bay. The surrounding areas are protected by the Port Philip Heads Marine National Park, and it is a great place to snorkel and scuba dive.

It is also the place where the expression "Buckleys Chance" originated. An escaped convict William Buckley escaped from British On 27 December 1803 at 9 PM. Buckley and several other convicts cut loose a boat and made their escape. They made their way around the bay, and the party split up in the vicinity of present day Melbourne. His companions went north-east, hoping to reach Sydney whch they mistakenly thought was not far (it is over 1000km away). Buckley, tired and dehydrated, continued alone around the bay. He avoided the indigenous Aboriginal people for several months, living alone in the caves around the heads of Point Lonsdale. The historic account tells that Buckley had taken a spear used to mark a grave for use as a walking stick. The women of the tribe befriended him after recognizing the spear as belonging to a relative who had recently died and invited him back to their camp. Believed to be the returned spirit of the former tribesman, he was joyfully welcomed and adopted by the group. He was given the name Murrangurk which literally meant "returned from the dead". For the next thirty-two years, he continued to live among the Wathaurung people on the Bellarine Peninsula being treated with great affection and respect. "By virtue of his age and peaceful ways, Buckley… became a Ngurungaeta, a person of considerable respect among his people and his voice was influential in deciding matters of war and peace". He had at least two Aboriginal wives, and almost certainly a daughter by one of them.

At the time of his escape, the officials believed he stood no chance of survival and gave him up for dead. This has led to the common Australian phrase "Buckley's Chance", which means "no chance" or "unlikely to succeed".

When I returned to Point Lonsdale I found my family climbing in the very caves that Buckley would have lived in.

We then drove around to Clifton Springs for the second of my short walks for the day. The plan was to walk from the carpark of the Dell along the forshores of Clifton Springs to find a series of old Jetties that had long since fallen into disrepair.  Ali and the kids dropped me off at the top of the Dell and went in search of a fast food shop to purchase some dinner.

I set off in search of the old Jetty. and learned the second lesson of the day - never leave without insect repellent. As the sun was setting the mosquitoes were waking up and they could not resist the smell of my blood. I rckon I ended up with several hundred lumps on any skin that was exposed. Well I learned the hard way.

I found the old Jetty but the sun was still too high and bright to get the shot I wanted, But I set up and took a few shots making sure the lens was manually focussed and that the filters were clean from salt, dust and sand from earlier. I had set up my tripod (I brought the sturdier one this week. It is heavier but is far better than the junk I took to the Dandenongs). I was quietly watching the gentle waves rolling in as I swatted the insects, and thought that this was quite a peaceful existence if it wasn't for the constant whine of mosquitoes in my ear. At about that time another pest presented itself. A couple of old ladies were walking their dog, when he noticed me and decided to charge. The big boofhead came straight at me despite it's owner frantically calling the dumb dogs name. I grabbed the tripod just in time as the dog hit us both at full charge. My camera bag, and lenses went flying but I held onto the tripod and camera. Lesson number 3 that day...beware of dumb dogs wanting to say hello!

As the sun set I captured the old Jetty in its glory. The light was still quite bright, so I chose to get a high key effect on my shots until the sun finally went below the horizon.

These are the remains of an old Jetty that was important in the local economy of Clifton Springs. In the hey-days of the Springs, visitors looking out over Port Phillip Bay faced crystal clear waters, with low tide exposing the cleanest of white sand for a distance of about 200 yards along the foreshore. A newspaper article of 1933 refers to the huge quantities of shell-grit being sent away annually off the foreshore, one firm sending 20,000 bags in 12 months, and it was common to see up to 50 men at work on the beach bagging the grit. Three boats were engaged in taking the shell-grit direct to Melbourne, Using this Jetty.

There is every indication that an earlier jetty had existed in the area prior to the pier erected in 1872, and used mainly for the dispatch of flour, bran, and pollard from the nearby Bellarine Mill. This mill, the first on the peninsula, was built about 1854 and destroyed by fire in 1861. Bullock wagons and horse drawn drays worked from the mill to the jetty. Today’s Jetty Road was then known as Mill Road, and the Bellarine Mill is historically linked to the Clifton Springs foreshore.

Walking back along the foreshore as the tide continued to come in, I met back up with the family and ate what was left of the take away food they had bought from a local shop. It was cold by the time I ate it, but I didn't care. It had been another good day walking, and in total I had covered about 10 kilometres.  I made a note to return to this spot one early morning to see what it would be like at sunrise instead of sunset.

Day Hikes in the Dandenong Ranges

The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges approximately 35km east of Melbourne City. It has many day hikes and features fabulous vegetation including lush tree ferns and giant Mountain Ash trees.

I decided to take my family to the Dandenongs mainly because I had never been there. I am relatively new to Victoria and had not got out as much as I should have since moving here a few years ago. While over a million people visit the Dandenongs each year, I have never been one of them.


It is a relatively close location. I consider anything under 3 hours drive relatively close, so we set off on Saturday morning with the aim of getting to the Dandenongs around mid morning. Driving from Bendigo is relatively easy. Just follow the Calder Freeway and the M80 ring road to the eastern suburbs, then link back onto the Burwood road and follow it East to Ferntree Gully.


We arrived at Ferntree Gully and decided the first walk we would tackle was the 1000 steps of the Ferntree Gully walk. It is a big uphill climb from Ferntree Gully to the lookout at One Tree Hill. Yep it sounded scary, but I thought it would be good preparation walk for the big Wilson's Prom Hike later in the year. So we loaded up with packs and water and took to the trail.


The walk is known as the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk, named in honour of the Australian and Allied Forces who battled the Japanese forces in New Guinea during World War 2. The Kokoda track is an isolated trail between Port Moresby and Kokoda, and features some of the most rugged terrain. The Japanese sought to Capture Port Moresby to use as a base to stage battles into Australia and to prevent Allied forces from using Australia as a base during the Second World War. After the unsuccessful amphibious assault known as the Battle of the Coral Sea, The Japanese attempted to take Port Moresby by land assault from the northern town of Kokoda. This would have succeeded had it not been for the stubborn resistance of a vastly outnumbered Australian and Allied force who met the Japanese along the track in a series of bloody battles.

So we headed up the track known as 1000 Steps. Now I didn't count them, but it sure felt like it was indeed 1000 steps. The walk is a steep walk, from the base at Ferntree Gully up to near One tree Hill lookout. My kids raced on, and they tackled it pretty easily, but I had to stop a few times. My excuse was I needed to take a photo or two, but in reality it was to allow my heart to catch with the rest of my body. 

Lesson Learned No.1 - get fitter!!!. But that is what these day hikes are for so I won't stress too much about my fitness just yet.


Lesson learned No.2 -  don't tell my kids that this hike is to make sure they are capable to keep up in the up coming Wilson's Prom Hike. They will only show you just who needs to prove they can keep up!


Lesson learned No.3 - Make sure in future hikes (even day hikes) that I tell my kids to pace themselves. While it didn't matter on this day, as we were only going to do a few day trails, but in bigger hikes, the challenge is to get through the whole thing, not just the first day.

Me and the boys resting at the top of the 1000 step track

The trail is a good walk but offers limited scenery to take snaps. Part of the difficulty is competing with the other users of the trail, especially those freaks that decide it is a good place to "run". Yes they were literally running up then down then back up and even showing off by doing push ups at the top...freaks!!! lol I guess the location is close to Melbourne and offers a great place for runners to get fit.

We did catch a glimpse of a female Lyrebird and it's young, which was marvelously spotted by my youngest. There were also some good examples of the lush tree ferns that the town of Ferntree Gully is named after.

The beautiful Ferntree

This shot was taken about half way up, where the track widened slightly to allow me to shoot while the freaks ran around me.  I took a single exposure on f/18 in Raw. I got down low to be able to get under the rail of the fence post that keeps us tourists out of the bush. Once back at home, I used the file and strengthened the saturation. I also added a warm photo filter using Photoshop to bring out the warm colours of the mountain ash in the background and the undergrowth in the foreground.


Having tackled the hill, we decided to walk the additional 600m to the One Tree Hill lookout. When we got there, we discovered that there was more than one tree and that we couldn't see any lookout. We had a good laugh at what my boys called an "epic fail". Ali, John and Danno decided they would walk back down the 1000 steps, while Sam and I decided to take an alternative route along a fire trail that ran somewhat parallel.  We all met at the bottom at the Ferntree Gully Picnic grounds arriving at exactly the same time. Total distance covered was approximately 6km. A good warm up walk for the rest of the day.


Our next challenge was a trail called the Sherbrooke Falls Walk. We needed to drive a little distance to Sherbrooke road and parked at the O'Donohue Track Car Park. This allows access to both the O'Donohue Track as well as the track we had chosen for our next day hike, the Sherbrooke Track.


The next track is more like the kind of track I enjoy. It was a marked trail through some stunning vegetation. The Ferntrees were plentiful and of course, the giant mountain ash trees were towering above us. One particular tree caught my attention and I decided to lie down in the ground to attempt to capture it. 

Like the previous shot of the ferntrees, I closed the aperture right up so I could get a depth of field that captured the whole length of the tree. I layed on the ground getting as close to the base as I could. The sky was always going to be difficult to meter being so much brighter so I used a circular polariser to just take the edge off, but you will still see a bit of wash out around the leaves at the top. One of the limitations of digital cameras I guess.


I always choose the setting in the camera that shoots both jpg and RAW. While this takes up more memory on the card, it allows me the option of being able to fully process the shot once I get home. The jpg allows me a quicker preview than having to use Adobe Bridge or Lightroom. I simply look at the jpgs then select the corresponding RAW file to import into Adobe Lightroom for processing. That's just my little way, while others simply import everything in and go from there.


Once imported into Lightroom, I played with the saturation and contrast, and then exported three exposures as TIFF files into a folder on my desktop. TIFF keeps a lot of the detail that Jpg loses, and allows a better processing to start with. I blended these exposures using Photomatix to bring out the dynamic range, using a compression setting, and tweaking the settings. Once satisfied I exported it as a jpg file for final editing in Photoshop.


Once back in Photoshop, I played with cropping to frame the tree. I always create a background layer copy then Ctrl T to adjust crop and rotate. This allow me to maintain the original image size which helps later when you go to a lab to get prints.

Getting back to the walk, once again my kids raced off (it was a defined trail so I was not concerned. Boys will be boys). This time i really did take my time snapping away with my little baby camera. The walk was leisurely and not overly difficult. suitable for all levels of walking. The trails were clearly marked.


We headed for Sherbrooke Falls which is the highlight of the track. The Parks Authority have recently built a bridge which acts as a viewing platform for visitors to view the falls. When we got there, I couldn't help but feel just a little disappointed. The falls were little more than a trickling creek running over a couple of rocks. Compared to the wonderful falls of the Otways National Park, these were an anticlimax.


So we decided to get off the defined track and travel downstream a little to see if we could find anything a little more exciting. I am not sure you are supposed to do this, with the trails railed to prevent the like of me and the boys from going walkabout. But I figure there were no real fences, just a rail, and it is a public park after all and did not have any cliffs or overly dangerous things to be aware of except maybe snakes.  We soon discovered some old steps that had been carved in the rocks which led downstream. Clearly others had been here before us, and I felt it was a shame the authorites didn't allow the general (behaved) public to use these steps.


Just downstream, the kids had a chance to splash in the creek and cool off while I set up the tripod and captured the creek.

Danno, Ali and John, Cooling off

The two creek shots were captured using Shutter Priority setting. I set up the tripod which ws not easy as it was difficult finding a place to position the feet that would allow me the point of view I wanted to capture. I put a ND4 neutral density filter on the lense to allow me to slow down the shutter speed. The neutral density are a great little filter as they do not interfere with colour, but allow you to stop down or slow down your shutter.


In this case I selected 0.5 second shutter speed. It was slow enough to allow me to capture any movement in the water, and to get that silky smooth feel. But slowing down the shutter also means that you capture any movement, so if the wind blows even slightly, you can get blurring in the leaves as the ferns and grasses move.


The only treatment I applied later was to play a little with sharpening and to increase the saturation just a little. looking back I think the top creek shot was a little too sharp, but that can be fixed.


After the splash and the rest of the photo shoot, a bite to eat and more drink, we started heading back to the car taking our rubbish with us of course. The boys have learned from an early age that the only thing you leave behind is footprints, and the only thing you take with you is photos (and memories).

The walk in total is a fairly easy 5-6km round trip. There is a little bit of up and down, but certainly not as taxing as the earlier walk. As we reached the car we had done about 10-11 kilometres for the day and the kids were in good shape. Rather than do another walk for the day, we decided to return some day in the future and try out some of the numerous other walks, There is also the famous Puffing Billy steam train that the boys might enjoy on another occasion. Certainly it is a lovely place to explore.


Instead we loaded up the car and headed into St Kilda to have an evening splash in Port Phillip before heading back home.


Lesson learned No.1 - Need a better light weight tripod. The one I have is hopeless.
Lesson learned No.2 - 10-12km per day is very manageable, with everyone being in good spirits at the end of the day.

An Introduction to Me and This Blog

My new years resolution this year was to get out and about more. I get so bored silly sitting at home on weekends. So after tearing my hair out with frustration too many times I said "enough is enough". I need a hobby. Actually I already have a hobby: photography. At one stage I even got quite good at it. I was getting regular work as a wedding and portrait photographer, but not enough to give up my day job.

But one of the things I knew I needed to work on was my landscape photography. The fact is, I was (I still am) not very good at it compared to my portraiture work. But the thing is I can't always get willing models to work with and weddings are hard work. But I figure there will always be a landscape to capture. So last year I set out to improve my knowledge and skills at landscape photography. I took my long suffering family to the Otways National Park in Southern Victoria, and captured some great scenes, of waterfalls, wildlife and a few happy family shots too.

When I posted a few of these on Redbubble, Flickr and of course facebook, I got a lot of encouraging feedback. Sure I am no Steve Parish, and I don't have his toys, but the shots turned out pretty good and I decided I enjoyed landscape photography after all.

So back to being frustrated and needing a hobby. well I put two and two together and came up with four. I like photography, so I figured I just need to get out more and capture some more shots. So my new years resolution was to take up hiking again. I loved it as a young fella, and saw some great sights in my time.

I rationalized it with the following advantages:

1. It will give me opportunity to shoot more
2. It will give me opportunity to see more of this beautiful country, and in particular some of the famous places in this state of Victoria that I had not yet seen.
3. It will help me lose a few of these spare kilograms that I one day woke up to find attached to my middle.
4. It will allow me to drag my kids away from their PlayStation and other computers for a little while and allow me to teach them a little about living in the bush.
5. It will drag me away from my computer and allow me to reteach myself a little about the bush.

The only negatives I could think of were:
1. I need to start getting some of my gear again, as my old gear was long lost. I would also need to get my kids equipped. This will cost a little bit to start with, but will eventually settle down.

So if you see a bloke madly bidding on Ebay for hiking equipment (and of course camera gear), then that'll be me.

But like any resolution, I knew that if I failed to plan, then I planned to fail. So here is the plan and I hope to see it lived out in the pages of this blog over the years.

Step 1 - Plan a pretty decent hike for sometime a bit later in the year.
Step 2 - Lock in a date and start planning things, such as what I need, who will I bring, where will I go.
Step 3 - Plan a few smaller preparatory hikes, including over-nighters, just to get back in the swing, and prepare the legs for the bigger hike. That way, I can figure out what gear I am missing, what works, what doesn't and get some more match fitness in when it comes to shooting the scenes.

So with that plan I have decided on the following:

The big hike will be a four day trek at Wilson Promontory, including the southern most tip of mainland Australia. I have heard this is quite a challenging walk, but if we do it over 4 days, that will mean about 12-15km per day. That will probably be enough, so we can get to the bivouac site each day with plenty of time to care for feet, have a rest then get out during the magic hour to shoot.

I have asked a few friends if they were interested and so far it looks like four of us will be going. Then my two older kids aged 13 and 15 also said they wanted to come. They are young fit, and I can think of nothing more than letting them have some "men" time in the bush with the grown ups.

With that many going, we have yet to secure a date, with Easter and Anzac Day being too busy, it looks like it will be in May. Stay tuned for when we set the date in concrete. May will be cool, without being winter, so it will be nice walking conditions. Of course, I will expect there to be four seasons in one day at Wilsons Prom, so we will need to be well equipped. I have started putting together pack plans and lists so we don't forget anything, and that will be ironed out with some of the practice hikes.

The first practice hike we decided to do was to do some day walks in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. This included the famous 1000 steps of the Kokoda Trail Memorial Walk. I will blog on this experience soon.

The following weekend we did some day walks in and around the Bellarine Peninsula, because it was a lovely summers day, and a walk and swim in the oceans was a great call.

So that brings me to where we are now. As this blog develops you will read about me making plans. You will read about me getting off my backside and getting out into this beautiful country. You will read about the treks, what to avoid, what to do and hopefully they will encourage you to see a bit of the country yourself. You will see some of my photos, and in some cases I will describe what equipment and methods I used to capture the shot.

But for the record, I do not have anything really flash when it comes to equipment. I would love a you beaut Canon 5D with L series lenses, but for now I only have an old Canon entry level 350D. Like me it is getting old and knocked around a bit, but it still works, and cameras don't take photos, people do. One day I will upgrade, but in the meantime part of the challenge is to capture what I can with my little old baby.

My list of gear is:
 

Canon 350D

Sigma 18-50mm EX DC Macro ( a beautiful standard lens)

Canon EF 50mm f1.8 (The mandatory nifty fifty)

Sigma 70-300mm APO DG (still my favorite lens...great for wildlife)

Canon EFS 18-55mm (crap kit lens...just leave it behind)

Canon Speedlite 430EX (good enough for now)

Various filters including ND2, ND4, ND8, CPL, GND, IR, UV

Various Gadgets including Shutter Release Cables, Tripods etc - if there is a gadget, I must try it!

 

The Opening Word

Well I guess this is just to find out whether this works