Charlie's WorldChristmas 2013 – Walk round Point Peron
Posted on January 28, 2014
We decided to have another adventure with just the three of us – this time going for a long walk around one of my favourite parts of Rockingham – Point Peron. Technically it’s actually Cape Peron but who’s counting!
Point Peron is limestone, joined onto the land by a thin strip of sand that one day will erode away and Peron will become another of the many islands that dot the coast.
We walked up to the old WW2 gun emplacement and then down onto the beach, poking around the rockpools for crabs and other goodies. Read More
It’s Chriiiiiiiiiiiisssstmaaaaaaas.
Posted on December 26, 2013
Yes, it is, as yelled by Noddy Holder in that old faithful seasonal refrain, ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’
I hope you had a brilliant Christmas – I certainly have!
But first, a small apology Read More
Well, that really was most bizarre
Posted on February 11, 2011
Went in for my last day at work, mostly just to hand back my laptop and phone and stuff and it was very strange. I had nothing to do, being my last day, so I just read the news and whathaveyou, chatted to a few people, went out for coffee, surfed so more. And that took me to 10am.
I called my boss – that was fine, he’s a nice guy and I really like working with him. I called a few other folks, most of them were out.
I got more of a farewell from the receptionist (who is lovely and like a lot of girls in that kind of role, really undervalued) than from my actual colleagues.
So in the end, it was just a couple of the guys for a pint at lunch and that was it.
As I said, bizarre.
Anyway, Monday, new job, I already feel welcome. Can’t wait.
Tonight – awesome sunset. But I didn’t have faith that it was going to real shine and stayed at home. Bugger. It would have been awesome down at Point Peron, on the beach with the rockpools. Ah well – live and learn.
I did take a pic from the front garden tho
And now, I’m about to go get a bottle of wine to celebrate the end of one job and the start of the next.
Onwards and upwards, to insanity and beyooooonnnnnd.
Sydney
Posted on November 10, 2010
So, I got sent to Sydney.
I wonder, is that a bit like being sent to an Australian version of Coventry? – (which by the way, if you’re not familiar with the expression – being ‘sent to Coventry is an ‘old’ English expression which means to be sent somewhere bad).
All good fun you may think, I get to large it up on company expenses, stay out all night drinking and partying and can snore all night long in a hotel bed that gets made for me every morning.
Awesome.
Well, actually, not awesome.
The sad reality of being away from home and staying in a hotel on my own means meals for one, working late (*its 11:30pm and I’m still working) and eventually sending for mediocre (actually, I’ve just ordered butter chicken curry, and it’s not too bad) room service as I’ve kind run out of enthusiasm for yet another trip out to find food.
Joy.
The other think I don’t like is that the hotel I’m staying in is a good walk from the office. About 30 mins to be exact. And Sydney is very humid.
*Melt*
Anyway, its not all doom and gloom – well, actually, thats not true – its is all doom and gloom – its been terribly overcast here so far – thick cloud, heavy rain, thunderstorms etc. So I’ve been somewhat stunted in my ability to take any photos. Well, that and the long work hours.
I did get a few shots on my first day here, before the heavens opened and the mother of all storms rolled in – so, here, for your viewing pleasure are some photos 🙂
weird stormy skies from my hotel room
Apocalypse Sydney
incoming...
convention centre
morning skies from my hotel room
Darling Harbour at night
So, there you g0 – its either work or shots from my hotel – hopefully tomorrow it might be sunny and I can take some photos of a nice bright city…
Holidays, part 2 – Lancelin to Kalbarri
Posted on October 4, 2010
We left Lancelin early, as frankly the hotel accommodation left everything to be desired and we couldn’t stand being there any more. That and we had a huge drive to Kalbarri to do before the end of the day.
Before last week, there was no road north from Lancelin, you had to go east inland 30km or so and hop on the main highway, which didn’t really come back to the coast again until Geraldton, 3 hours or so up the coast. But the highways agency in Western Australia have been busy and have pushed a new road straight through the bush, joining up with the small coast road at Cervantes 100km or so away.
The new road is awesome and goes through utterly deserted bushland. Deserted as its is part of a military firing range! There are hardly any cars and nothing but huge wide expanses of virgin bush as far as the eye can see – perfect!
We stopped off at the Pinnacles, a national park with strange limestone rock formations that just stick straight out of the bright yellow sandy desert. The Aboriginals who once lived in the area avoided the place and in stories said that the rocks were the fingernails of those who ventured there and got sucked into the sinking sands.
There were spectacular views across the bush to the Indian Ocean, 10km or so away.
The Pinnacles has to be one of the most accessible national parks areas in Australia, as they have actually laid out a track right through the desert that you can drive on, right through the rocks and emu. No need (if you are spectactularly lazy) to even get out of the car. I’d recommend having a look in the discovery centre and actually walking about though – it’s an amazing place.
The girls got told off for this – apparently you’re not supposed to climb on the ancient and unique monuments… 😉
After an hour of exploring and driving round the little stone edged desert track, we headed off to get some lunch and petrol in Jurien Bay, a little town an hour or so up the road. Refreshed and loaded up, we headed on up to Kalbarri – which was still 6 hours, or 400km or so away.
The old Indian Ocean Drive snaked its way through deserted and sometimes scorched bushland, the road half the width of the new sections earlier on and only affording small glimpses of the turquoise ocean as it headed towards the Brand Highway at Dongara.
We popped in for coffee in Geraldton and realised we still had a lot of driving to go, so we cracked on, heading for the pink lake at Port Gregory – its a huge lake, right on the edge of the ocean, that is totally pink. Sadly, we just didn’t get there before the sun went down, and without the right light, the colours just weren’t there. The scenery on the way was gorgeous though, fields and farms and rolling hills, lit with soft and dreamy light. Light that shone right into my eyes for nearly an hour of driving, meaning my view was a light washed bug splattered windscreen with occasional views of the road!
Another couple of hours of driving along deserted roads in the dark, and we arrived in Kalbarri and to the Tudor Holiday Park, where we had a little cabin for the night. What a difference from Lancelin – this place was very cool – clean, quiet with lots of restaurants only a short walk away.
We got a really good night’s sleep before heading off early for the next leg..
Next post, “off roading” to Kalbarri Murcheson River gorge and the drive to Shark Bay..
Holidays, part 1 – Perth to Lancelin
Posted on October 4, 2010
The drive to Shark Bay is, in theory, too far to do in a day, plus there are lots of interesting things to see along the way. Ok, so not lots, there are vaaaaaaast stretches of nothing much at all, but there are some worthwhile places to see, so we planned to break it down into 3 stops.
The first being Lancelin.
We packed the trusty Kia up early and headed off to Lancelin, our first port of call on the Shark Bay trip.
Lancelin is a little way for us southerners to get to – a little over 2 hours drive north from where we live and way beyond the limits of the northern reaches of suburban Perth. Its quite a pretty drive once you get out of the city – national parks, pine plantations, natural bushland (lots of that) and fruit farms. In no time at all, we were there and pulling up for lunch. I did wonder if we’d gone the wrong way, as there was pretty much nothing there, a few shops and a couple of takeaway places and that was kind of it, but no, that’s really all there is to Lancelin town.
What we came here for were the sand dunes. Lancelin is famous for having enormous dunes just behind the town and people come here with dirt bikes, quad bikes, modified 4×4’s etc to bash up and and down the huge lunar like sand hills.
The dunes really are amazing, almost pure white sand (that gets everywhere) – combined with clear blue skies (and a polarising filter) – the resultant look could really be from another planet.
On of the other things you can do is to hire boards and go sandboarding.
Oh yes 🙂
I had to have a go too!!
Ok, I fell off within a few seconds of this shot – I should have hired the ones with the foot straps if I wanted to stand up!
We had a great time but it was so hard to climb back up the dunes that we could only manage an hour before we had to take our burning thighs and return the boards and go find ice creams.
The hotel was, erm, how can I put this.. crap. The little unit we stayed in was small, old, smelly and I was really glad we were only overnighting. The restaurant was very good though, if a little expensive.
We set off the next day for part 2 of our journey up – The Pinnacles and Kalbarri.
shark attack
Posted on June 15, 2010
We live on the most beautiful coast – the west coast of Australia 40km south or Perth. The beaches are clean, unspoiled (once you get past all the shipyards and such just south of Perth), the water is warm, crystal clear and turquoise blue and the weather, for the most part, fine and warm.
Trouble is, we’re not the only ones to love this place – the ocean around here is full of potentially lethal creatures from great white sharks, hammerhead sharks, blue ringed octopus, cone shells, Portuguese man o’war jellyfish, sea snakes, stonefish – you name it, we have it and all of it will do you no good whatsoever if you come into close contact.
So we avoid close contact, and went to the aquarium instead, where some other buggers have to capture and look after all these deadly animals.
The Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) is only small, but it does have a huuuuuge tank with one of those underwater glass tunnels that goes right around it. Its amazing – bloody great sharks, stingrays and turtles swimming right over your head. They even had a diver in the tank (yeah, I know) feeding the sharks pieces of fish (on the end of a big metal stick thing I might add – they’re not totally silly) – very cool
They had all the dangerous critters, including crocodiles (which aren’t found where we are – you have to go to the north of the state for those delightful animals) which were very cool. Mindful of the need to make the children go ‘ooooh’, they had a touch pool where you could pet some of the less lethal fish and little stingrays. The kids, needless to say, loved it and were busy harassing poor baby sharks and stingrays for ages until we pulled them away, dripping wet and freezing cold!
Cool huh.
Then we went to have a decidedly average lunch and waddled off for a walk around the shops to stave off the post nosh slump. At least the coffees were good.
As we were leaving, I spotted the most wonderful spelling fail – hopefully you can see it and are as aghast as I was. This was a full shop window-sized poster advertising a ferry to Rottnest Island. Speechless.
Sydney part 2
Posted on May 16, 2010
So my trip to Sydney is done and I’m back home in a slightly chilly Perth.
The training course was pretty intense and by the last day my brain was not taking in any more information – was so glad to be heading home.
Interesting things about Sydney.
1. Double decker trains. brilliant idea – fit twice the number of people on the train. Perth, listen up.
2. On the trains, the seat backs could be moved so you can always sit in the direction of travel Another good idea.
3. The coffee was pretty good.
4. The harbour bridge is brown
5. The opera house was a bit smaller than I thought but looked lovely in the sunset
6. Darling harbour is pretty at night, but lacks character
7. You can’t buy a pint – only schooners, which are just over 1/2 a pint. meh!
8. The traffic was terrible
9. The taxi drivers are nuts.
Which leads me on to the ride from the airport to the hotel when I first got there.
The guy was a psycho. I should have realised he accelerated over the speed bumps and practically ran other cars off the road and that was before we left the ramp out of arrivals. He was basically full on the throttle until just before the point of a fatal crash when he hit the brakes as hard as he could. I think he hit the speed limit on the way out of the airport and then back outside the hotel – other than that, warp nine all the way
He drove like a madman, but I suspect, given his nationality (which I won’t mention), this may just be the way he was taught. How we got to the hotel without killing someone or dying in a fireball I will never know – I was so scared my hands were dripping with sweat. Ferrari would be wise to seek him out for next years Grand Prix season.
Anyway – work, beer, food, wine, train, rinse, repeat.
Except for one evening, where I popped out to get a pic of Darling Harbour all lit up.
Darling Harbour
Can’t wait to go back with the missus and a lot more time.
new toys
Posted on March 20, 2010
I just bought some new stuff for my camera as I’m very interested in long exposure shots.
I got a B&W ND110 filter reduces light by 10 stops so enables long exposures during the day (interesting, but not *that* useful) or more importantly, longer exposures at or around sunset.
The longer the shutter is open on the water/rock/beach sunsets that I like, the smoother the water and the sky become. So focus onto something nice and sharp, like a jetty or a bold rock and set the camera to take a shot for 5 minutes, you’ll get (hopefully) amazingly smooth looking landscapes which tend to convert well to black and white.
I had a little go today, but I didn’t get anything totally fab, just the slight oddness of a daytime shot with smooth waves over rocks.
I need loads more practice, but at least I have something to aim for.
take a look at these guys if you have time
http://www.davidburdeny.com/
http://www.silverlandscapes.com
http://www.michaellevin.ca
Some target, eh? 🙂
having said I was crap..
Posted on March 17, 2010
…I take it all back. Well, not all of it, but some. back onto the subject of cool black and whites and living the 60’s Parisian cafe shooters dream
I went through some shots of Melbourne again and decided to convert a few to black and white to see if I could get that street photography look, and well I’ll be buggered – some of them look fab, with a hint of abstract (which is becoming something of a “thing” for me)
Now, I’m not claiming some kind of greatness here, but I kinda like this lot.
Charlie's World 