Oak Park

Oak Park is the southernmost of Cronulla's rock pools and known for its distinctive dressing-pavilion.

Linked to Cronulla by The Esplanade which is a popular walking track, it has a rocky shoreline and ocean baths. Many scuba divers use the end of this rock pool to enter the ocean for one of the best shore dive locations in Sydney. There is a grassed area and some seating but the ocean baths are not patrolled by lifeguards.

It's a reasonable location for sunrises as a step to the right makes the most of any cloud action highlighted by the rising sun and a few steps to the left takes you to Shelly Beach where you can grab some great reflections in the pool.

View Oak Park in a larger map
 

Lesson learnt: Buy a lightweight torch for establishing focus when it's pitch black and you have to clamber over rocks.Big is definitely not best with respect to torches. Head light here I come !

At this rate I'll need my own Sherpa to lug my gear ! Minimal time to play with long exposures.

My initial visit was with two Focus buddies Carolyn and Megan in an endeavour to capture one of those elusive sunrises ( for me anyway). The minute we stepped out of the car what had been star filled, skies turned to cloud cover and the wind whipped up. It looked like it was going to pour down but with time the sun did break through momentarily, however all the clouds with colour were around the corner and by the time we reached the optimum spot they would have dispersed :-(

 

We did finally get a touch of colour near the pool but by that time it was lucky the clouds had increased or otherwise the sun would have ended up being a blown out blob - must try my ND Filters ! 

 I love the golden light which bathes everything as the sun just frees itself from the horizon

One of my favourites from the morning looking back towards Shelly Beach

As the sun rose higher in the sky it provided an opportunity to silhouette the surfers against the sparkling water

Some of the wave action was amazing as the wind increased

I always find it difficult to choose an effective crop for surfing images

My subsequent visit was with a new Focus buddy, Chris and I came better prepared this time although watching Chris made me realise what a boon ND filters are for controlling solar blow outs.It was intriguing to see what a difference the light made on the day. Same location, completely different shots.

A pretty lame attempt at long exposure but I quite like the desaturated effect.

Chris's camera inadvertently became the star of the show.

 

 The swimmers and surfers were backlit by the rays of the rising sun.

It was interesting to see the change in colour in the sky, within the space of a few minutes

The ghost of a surfer waiting to launch into the swell

The golden light of a new dawn. A dad gives surfing lessons to his small daughter

Wattamolla Sunrise

Sunrise at Wattamolla (or that was the idea) !

Wattamolla is a sheltered cove with a sandy bar at the inlet behind which lies a lagoon fed by the waters of Wattamolla Creek and Coote Creek. This lagoon  then enters the sea via an ankle-deep (so they say) stream at one end. Coote Creek finds its way down another valley, then as a beautiful waterfall, it rushes over a sandstone rock face into the lagoon below ( sourced from Wikipedia )

Although the sky was very cloudy the rain appeared to be holding off so David Mills and I decided to give it a go. Walked down the path to the lagoon where we took some shots of  the lone palm tree and waterfall, then on to the beach where we had to negotiate the narrow channel to reach the sand. David assured me the tide was going out so apart from initially sinking almost up to my knees in something akin to quicksand I was able to take some shots looking out towards the horizon. Missed a great shot of some guys jumping off the rocks at the top of the waterfall. Must go back with my wide angle.
Reminder to self : Don't ask David again for his opinion about tides ! On the way back the channel was deeper and wider :-)

Canberra Hot Air Balloon Festival

Decided to tick off another item on the Bucket List - the hot air balloon festival in Canberra, the political capital of Australia. 

I was able to stop off on the way in Goulburn and Collector, two other historical towns so it was a packed 2 days. 

 Most of the large balloons ignited but didn't launch due to poor wind conditions and most of the decent shots were taken on the ground. I spent some considerable time balloon chasing when it was decided to launch the balloons from a location other than the one I was at :-) Thank goodness I had my Navman as I ended up on the top of a large hill on a dirt road only to glimpse the balloons as they landed. I guess it was better than nothing :-)


View Balloon Landing Places in a larger map

The light was fairly lacklustre so I decided to try out Nik Software HDR Efex Pro. This one was very grainy and I can hear all the purists moaning, but I like it.

St. John's Orphanage Goulburn

Another location which keeps calling me back is the old orphanage on the hill - St. John's - overlooking the city of Goulburn. Opened on the 17th March 1912, the Sisters of Mercy ran the orphanage for its duration until closing in 1978. The building was designed to house up to 100 boys but that figure reached as high as 250 during the war years. It was a foundling orphanage which meant that children who were placed here usually had at least one surviving parent. During the Depression, it was common for families to keep older children and leave younger ones in the orphanage as there was not enough money to care for all the children.  

 I've visited on 3 occasions now, exploring different rooms each time. The last time I visited on my way down to the Canberra Balloon Spectacular and as luck would have it, there was a local wandering around inside so I was brave enough this time to explore upstairs with him. Motivation was high after discovering the following video on YouTube. It seems to be very difficult to locate much information on the internet about St. John's. 

During all visits access was easy as there was no scaffolding erected even though it is obviously going to be demolished to make way for some aged retirement villages. Until my third visit I'd been wanting to go upstairs but I thought it was unwise in case I had an accident or the floorboards were damaged.  It also gave me the creeps as the stairwell was really dark and although it wasn't a windy day, there was the sound of a door which kept banging.  On my third visit when I was not alone, it didn't appear nearly so haunting but there is still a sadness which pervades the air.

 Other links :
Boys Homes
Flickr images
Wikipedia