Charlie's Worlddown south, part 1
Posted on January 24, 2010
As the girls were spending the weekend with their dad, Jay and I decided to take a day trip south to Cape Naturaliste and Dunsborough. Its a couple of hours easy driving down there and the weather was beautiful as usual.
We were aiming for a Yoga retreat with a vegan eaterie as our first port of call – Samudra – or Ocean in Sanskrit, apparently. We had a lovely coffee and then really yummy vegan lunch before heading to the ocean to cool down a bit.
Armed with new swimming togs thanks to a surf shop, we headed down the track to the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, which was a disappointment as you had to pay to walk up to it. Pah to that, we drove down to Bunker Bay, which was ber-you-ti-ful!
Deserted beach, white sand, blue sky, azure sea – perfect. We went for a swim in the deliciously clear ocean, which turned out to be brass-monkeyingly cold. Very refreshing though. I must swim in the sea more often.
Bunker Bay was lovely, I’ll definitely be back.
More in part 2…
scorcher
Posted on January 19, 2010
Was very hot in Perth yesterday – 43 degrees according to the news and I don’t doubt it. It was already over 30 at 7am when I caught the train and when I went out to get lunch, the air was so warm it felt like it was burning the inside of my nose. You know when you get a blast of hot air from the oven when you open it – like that.
The office started to heat up a fair bit in the afternoon, so I came home early – just as well as all the trains were on a slow timetable because of the heat. Over 40 degree days happen every summer, so why on earth would you build a railway that can’t take it? The A/C on the train was really struggling too, especially as it was packed full 😦
Anyway, I got home (via the bottle shop and 12 bottles of cold beer) and was melting by then – I really must retire my English smart office trousers – they’re too thick material for this country.
Was bliss to get my shoes and socks off and get into shorts!
Went out to take some photos at Point Peron as the heat was causing some clouds to appear over the ocean – good chance of a nice sunset, but the clouds really rolled in and the sunset wasn’t like it could have been. There was another photographer on the beach – a Belgian guy called Tim – who was pretty cool – had a good chat whilst snapping away. He was getting some great pics straight out of the camera – I really miss my filters that got broken when my camera fell into the sea.
Despite the sunset colours being nothing to write home about, I got some corking photos. I messed about a little in Lightroom and was pretty happy with what came out.
blimey
Posted on January 17, 2010
Its hot today
Over 40 according to my thermometer thingy.
Not as hot as I’ve felt here, but close. Hot enough to make the grass too warm to walk on. Probably hot enough to fry eggs on the drive, not that I would, detesting eggs like I do.
Gonna go out to take some pics at Point Peron after dinner, hopefully get some nice low sun/dunes/plants etc shots. We’ll see.
From yesterday..
kite surfing
Posted on January 15, 2010
a few minutes drive from where I live there’s a little shallow sheltered cove where the kitesurfers like to play.
I havent been there to take pictures for almost a year, so I figured it was about time this afternoon. I left it until almost 6 so the light would be better and the breeze nice and strong. When I pulled up in the car park though, I was surprised to see lots of people were packing up, but there were a good few people still out on the water.
Took almost 2o0 shots in the hour and a half I was there, which is a lot of pics for me, I’m getting a lot more economical these days. Less is the new more. Or something.
Anyway, I focussed on a few lads who seemed to be trying harder than the others to get huge air and faceplant themselves into the water – here’s a selection of the best shots..
sunsettage
Posted on January 8, 2010
Jay burned her hand picking up a pyrex dish from the oven with an oven glove that had the heat resistant properties of a wet tissue and has been stomping around with her hand packed in ice all evening.
So when the sunset started to look promising I suggested we go to the beach and get some air and chill for a bit.
Speaking of chill, even though it was warm out, her hand being packed in ice kinda made her cold, so whilst I took photos, she sat shivering on the sand- LOL!
On to the pictures – one panorama and two experiments with motion..
trips to the beach
Posted on November 17, 2009
went down to the beach last night at sunset with the girls – the sunset looked promising (it wasn’t really that special in the end but its no biggie) and we had time before the girls needed to be in bed.
I picked up the cameras and a jumper too as it was a bit chilly in the evening air (isn’t it supposed to be summer already? I remember last year it was properly hot by now) and jumped in the car (I know, its only a 10 min walk, but we didn’t have that much time)
Was lovely down there and I took some wicked photos (for which you will have to wait as I’m in the city today and my photos are at home and I’ve not quite finished processing) – abstract and motion blur ones. Took a couple of portraits too which came out pretty well, although I wish I’d thought to being the flash gun to add a little fill light to one of the shots. Next time – I know what I want to achieve in the shot and how to get it now.
The girls went off up the beach jumping over the waves and splashing about in the twilight – they got totally soaked too – they are going to have to wear their bathers when we go again, they just can’t help themselves!
So yeah, was a nice night, relaxed, creative and fun.
Oh, and for those of you who want to know where I live – well, I’m not telling you specific details for obvious reasons, but here’s a general view of the bay from Google Maps.
The bay where I live
Nice, huh?
facing west
Posted on September 29, 2009
I love my home office -the window faces west, which is in the direction of the weather for the most part. Being close to the ocean – only a few hundred metres – we get storms coming rattling in fast, and from my study window I get to see the fronts rolling in.
Today we’ve been getting sunshine, then skies like this…
weather front
Charlie's World 