Publish or Perish

In Which Al tricks his Audience.

2012-01-27T17:44:00.004+11:00

Well no one guessed what this image was. Some people got part marks for the power-line in the background. But no one guessed a statue! I suspected when I cropped this part of the Digger's leg (wrapped in puttees) that people might guess a palm or coconut palm. It does look something like a palm taken out of context. This statue of a Digger (Oz lingo for an Aussie Soldier) is atop the war memorial in a tiny little town called Bonny Doon.
I guess he is suitable for an Australia Day post for two reasons: First copies of this statue (or a version very alike) are on memorials scattered through almost every small town across Oz (and many suburbs in bigger cities). He is an iconic Oz image. Second I actually posted a piccie featuring this Digger two years ago on Australia day. Which reminds me I showed a memorial of a different kind in that post. A memorial to three policemen murdered by “armed criminals” in 1878. I said I might post about those criminals later, but never did. Well strangely one of those three “armed criminals” has been back in the press again after over 130 years. I guess I should finally get around to keeping my promise and posting about them!

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-25T19:56:00.003+11:00

Tomorrow is a Public Holiday down here in Oz.

The 26th of January is Australia Day!

So I get paid to stay home!

Yay!

Now for What is it Wednesday?

I think I have picked a very tricky one today!
What on Earth do you think this is?

Hiding in the Carlton Gardens.

2012-01-23T21:49:00.004+11:00

If you walk from the centre of Melbourne into the Carlton Gardens you can wander through graceful avenues of elm trees. Then at the end of the avenue you notice there is a massive fountain. Your eye is drawn further and you realise there is a grand building in the Gardens. The Royal Exhibition Building. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris this structure was built as a temporary affair for an International Exhibition. To be precise the 1880 Exhibition when Melbourne was the richest city in the world (thanks to 30 years of gold-rushes) and wanted to show off. Well they demolished half of the structure at the end of the exhibition but a last minute change of heart saved the rest.

The Royal Exhibition Building had a brief break from its normal duties in the early part of the 20^th Century when it acted as the first home of the Federal Parliament of Australia (our second and third Parliament buildings are in our Federal Capital Canberra). Since then it has returned to its normal duties as an exhibition building, It is said to be the only grand 19^th Century exhibition building still fulfilling its original function. When I was there between Christmas and New Year it was temporarily closed so they can lay a new floor. I had a peek inside, to give you an idea of the size those are trucks and forklifts down the other end. Not a bad landmark to have tucked away in a garden!

Too Easy!

2012-01-20T22:21:00.004+11:00

Well I said the last “What is it Wednesday” was too easy.

Myrna Foster hit it in one with “It looks like a rock. Is the orange part some kind of lichen?”.

And almost everyone else was pretty close to the money.

I can see I am going to have to put on my thinking cap to find a tougher one for next week!

Anyway here it is, lichen covered boulders on the coast at the Bay of Fires on the North East Coast of Tasmania.

I shot this when we were down there last year.

Once again I have been criss-crossing the city today. I am managing the roll-out of funding for a dental health program for disadvantaged people across the whole State. At the moment I am holding meetings with public and community dental health units to finalise agreements. One of the feel good moments of working for government!

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-18T19:57:00.001+11:00

Well, tonight I am home late from work thanks to meetings on the other side of the city. I'm supervising the roll-out of a state-wide program which is interesting but a headache at the same time.

So straight into “What is it Wednesday?”I think this is a really easy one. What do you think?

By Public Demand

2012-01-16T18:31:00.004+11:00

More Piccies of the Twelve Apostles.
Not strictly one of the Apostles, this is one of the popular viewing points. The people on the top give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs.
In the old days the Twelve Apostles were called “the Sow and Piglets”
Then some marketing genius suggested a rename.

After the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge these are probably the third most photographed scenery in Oz (Uluru – Ayers Rock is probably no. 4)

The Apostles lie on the Great Ocean Road only three or four hours drive from Melbourne (depending which way you go) and as you can see very beautiful.

I hate them because they are so busy (by Oz standards).

But I love them because they are so beautiful.

These next three photos show part of why I like them so much.Every five minutes they change colour

Two of them mid afternoon on a sunny day. (I took this Sunday past in a gap in the storms).

This one was taken about five minutes after the one I posted the other day (just before sunset last Saturday).

And this one was taken about 15 minutes later.

Stone, sunlight, wind and cloud all combining to create visual poetry.

By the way I don't think the Apostles are the most stunning part of the coast.

More of the coast next time.

Wild Weather

2012-01-13T19:39:00.002+11:00

Well that one wasn't too hard: four out of eight people who commented said water or ocean. Although some of those did have a bet either way :-)

I was really impressed with some of the other guesses, pencil, ultrasound and wood.

Well here it is

I shot this on Saturday during my break. Deb and I acted as tour guides for Deb's sister down along the Great Ocean Road. It is meant to be high summer down here in Oz, but it was blowing a gale most of the time. And on Saturday evening it really clouded over. You can see the sun is bravely trying to poke through the incoming storm!

Fortunately there were periods when the clouds blew off but the wind was constant.

It is a beautiful section of the coast and I can never get enough shots of it. I will post more over the next little while but I simply haven't had time to sort them yet.

A sample though, The Twelve Apostles at sunset the evening before. Unfortunately the clouds had built up out at sea and robbed the evening of the rich sunset colour.

This was taken the same afternoon as my “What is it Wednesday” shot. I thought it illustrated how wild the sea was getting. These cliffs are about 45 metres (147 feet) tall. Those are navigation masts on top not golf flags!

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-11T20:33:00.001+11:00

We got home from our break late last night.

We had a great time but it was back to work today!

Anyway it's Wednesday so what on Earth do you think this is?

Surf's Up!

2012-01-06T21:57:00.003+11:00

Well this week's “What is it Wednesday” was a bit harder than I thought. There were some very creative guesses, for this image but it was Carolyn V of Checkerboard Squares who guessed “Okay, I'm guessing differently. Is it a surf board?”

Yes it is, well spotted! I guess the colour threw the guesses off.

It was a grey day. I took this image one cold midwinter morning in July (Summer is at Christmas time in Oz remember). Deb and I took a one night trip to Phillip Island to get away.

It was freezing on the Sunday morning as Deb and I walked along the beech but that wasn't deterring the die-hard surfies.

I posted another piccie from this sequence back then and a sunset from the night before.

So in the spirit of photo sequences here is another from the sunset set.

Now tomorrow we are off for brief trip away. We are heading out to the western coast of Victoria.

I'm not sure if we'll have internet connection where we are staying so I could be off-line till I get back on Wednesday.

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-04T17:54:00.003+11:00

Well I am tired tonight and I have guests, to this is going to be a really quick post.

What on Earth do you think this is?
Not too hard this time (I think).

Happy New Year and an Answer

2012-01-01T20:03:00.006+11:00

Well this week no one was even close to guessing what this image was.It really was droplets of water cascading off our excited pup Lilli on Christmas day.Many of the places we go on our weekends are National Parks so dogs are banned. But for our Xmas BBQ last Sunday we went to a spot on the Yarra River where dogs are welcome. Our Girls and Lilli had a great time in the water.

A ball, water and getting to run around - a mix that is pretty close to heaven for a Labrador!

You will have to forgive me but this rather silly story has just popped into my head while I look at these photos.

"I can't see my ball. Can you?'"No mate, I can't""Lu, I've lost my ball, can you see it?""We can't see it either""Found it!""Now back into the water."Lilli did actually lose two balls on the day.
Lucky we travel with spares.
As to the Kookaburras, they were busy hunting for food for their young on the ground along the river.

What is it Wednesday

2011-12-28T19:46:00.002+11:00

First of all I would like to wish you all a belated from Melbourne. I had intended a quick post on Christmas day but my plans were derailed.
We went out for a very non traditional BBQ for Christmas (almost no washing up).
Very relaxing (did I say no washing up?)

Why a BBQ? Well remember Christmas means summer in Oz and the weather seemed perfect.

Anyway we headed home in the early afternoon just in time to beat a terrible storm that lashed Melbourne late Christmas Day.

There was hail, terrible winds, and rain that caused flash-flooding across the city.

A section of the railway line I commute on every day has apparently been washed away (I haven't had a look yet). The shopping centre where Lu does her part time job has lost half its roof.

As for us we had two trees come down, one of which managed to fall between two of our cars (mine and our eldest's) without hitting either.

Our power went out for hours which kind of meant no posting!

Just as the sun set the storm began moving across and I braved the elements to capture this eerie sunset peeking under the edge of the storm (and droplets of rain still overflowing our gutters.)Speaking of droplets, to the business of the day.

What on Earth do you think this is?

Bingo!

2011-12-23T19:02:00.007+11:00

Kathleen, Marcy, Pearl, Sarah, and Michelle hit the nail on the head with their guesses of a tin roof, or corrugated metal etc for this image. The image is cropped from a section of the roof of this very old, and very small garage.As you can see from this sign it is now closed for business A few weeks ago on one of our weekend rambles Deb and I wandered up to Lake Eildon. Rather than taking the sensible way home we continued clockwise around the lake following unsealed mountain roads up over Frenchman's gap and down into the near ghost-town of Woods Point (where the garage resides).

This tiny isolated town was first settled in the 1860s in one of Victoria's many 19th Century gold-rushes.
By 1864 the town had grown until it had 36 Hotels!

Most of the gold played out by the 1890s. Although the last mine did not close until 1963.
Being so isolated and with no other industry the population collapsed to about 40 in the 2006; census around the same number as its previous number of pubs! As it is an Aussie town there is still a pub there today.

With new technology and the high gold price new mines have just started up nearby. so it will be interesting to see if the town grows again.

Scattered all through the bush around the town are the relics of the old days. The remains of a 1940s Blitzwagon (referred to as a Canadian Military Pattern or CMP truck in Canada and the UK)

The main street is lined with tiny miner's cottagesIncluding this one, the smallest miner's cottage I have ever seen! It seems barely big enough to fit in a bed and a chair! I've seen bigger cubby-houses!

The post office.It was late when we arrived so we did not stay long. The road (dirt track really) climbed through switch-backs into the mountains towards Marysville. It was around 160km (100 miles) home about a third over dirt. I am used to dirt roads so I expected it would take about two hours, the road was so bad it took us nearly four hours! Over half the time in that first third.

Just before dark I paused to shoot this rill, which cascaded down the mountainside and under the road.

One of the better sections of the road.Actually, this bit is like a highway compared to most of the rest!

Now finally, in case I don't post again before I should say to all of you; thank you for a great year and have a very Merry Christmas!

What is it Wednesday? + Uncertainty for Christmas

2011-12-21T19:04:00.004+11:00

Well here I go again,

What do you think this one is? With my Aussie eye I think this is an easier one than last week. But I guess we'll see ;-)

Well our Government has decided to cut numbers in the Victorian public service by 10% over the next two years.

Personally I'm not worried, they can't cut me very easily without cutting the program I run for them (and they just made it ongoing). Also, I am fairly employable so if they did let me go I'd find something else. But I have to say a lot of my colleagues are feeling very let down at getting that message at Christmas time.

Also contrary to my expectations before joining the public service last year things are pretty lean in terms of staffing levels. How the work will get done is a mystery to me.

Potography Hiatus, Writing Bonanza

2011-12-18T18:49:00.004+11:00

Well this one was too hard for people.
I guessed when I posted this that people would think "railroad sign".
Like a railroad sign it is a warning sign, but in a very different place.

This is a channel marker in Port Phillip Bay. I took this at the Bellarine Peninsula on the far south-west side of the bay. The Bellarine is near the mouth of the bay close to the city of Geelong.
Melbourne is about 100 km (62 miles) to the north where the Yarra River flows into the bay.
The mountain in the distance is on the far side near Dromana and has the lovely name (I think) Arthur's Seat.

I have taken very few photographs over the past few weeks (the ones of Lilli being the few exceptions)
I have kept my eye out for waterfalls and took this at the Murrindindi river in the central highlands.The semi-hiatus in photography is probably due largely to my putting a lot of creative effort into my writing.

I have finished the next draft of Veiled in Storms. I mentioned a while ago I had read the previous draft to Deb (she liked it).

This week I have been jumping forwards and plotting out books 3 and 4 in the series. Till now they have been very rough ideas, now 3 (working title Veil of Iron) is starting to look like a proper outline.

Well I have given a copy of the current draft Of Veiled in Storms to a friend to read (Cheryl did some copy edits on the first book Veiled in Shadows).

Once I get feedback from her I will put a bit of effort into tidying errors up and then in a month or two probably look for a couple more readers for opinions.

Anyone interested?

What is it Wednesday? Or is that Thursday?

2011-12-15T19:05:00.003+11:00

I'll keep this short because I was home after midnight last night (hence no Wednesday post).
Nothing unpleasant, we had a Christmas do.

I'm also late home today so without further ado
Any ideas what this object is?

Lilli

2011-12-13T20:50:00.005+11:00

A quick post about our pup Lilli.

Lilli continues to grow and is now getting close to adult size.One of her favourite things is the time almost everyday when we take her down to a local cricket ground so she can play with other dogs and chase her balls.

A lab running with a ball, the epitome of happy?

As you know Labradors have really floppy ears.

A bit more dignified.

But then Lilli's latest trick trying to catch the ball when Lu throws it straight up.

Dang Missed!

And again!

By the way the train in the background is the one I do my writing on to and from work.

Hard to trick!

2011-12-10T17:30:00.006+11:00

Well Anne who guessed first pretty much hit the nail on the head with her guess of " a lizard or iguana..." And most of the rest of you were pretty close with guesses of other scaly creatures

This mystery object was cropped from this close up portrait of a Shingle-back lizard. This was a guy I moved off a road in NSW about five years ago. They are slow moving with stumpy little legs so they definitely do not mix with cars.

We don't have iguanas in Oz (except in zoos) but the land down under is a kingdom of reptiles. We have 860 known species of reptiles hundreds of which are lizards, from tiny skinks a few centimetres long to giant 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) Perentie goannas (Varanus giganteus).

Anyway shingle-backs (Tiliqua rugosa) are a blue-tongued skink very common to areas west of the Great Dividing Range (and on dryer parts of the range too).
This is another portrait of an animal I moved off a road in the Grampians on my last visit.I think they are so ugly they are cute!
You can see from their shot tails why they get the name "bob-tail" which is their common name over in WA.

This piccie of my Grampians one shows why "shingle-back" is also apt.They vary in size quite a lot with adults between about 30 to 60 cm long (1' to 2'), most of them towards the shorter end of that range. They are one of my favourite lizards, and totally innocuous.
Relying on bluff to try to scare predators away. They pop open a bright pink mouth and flop out a very blue tongue to look alarming. The Grampians one obliged me with a show.
They have small blunt teeth, if you handle them carelessly they can bite, but their bite will not break the skin (it is like being squeezed by a pair of pliers). Certainly their bite is unlike dragon-lizards which I can attest from personal experience have a painful bite full of needle like teeth.
By the way all native reptiles are protected by law in Oz and should be left alone (but I can't help but move the poor sods off roads before they get cleaned up by a car.)
I have very warm memories of these guys, when I was a small child we had some living in our garden. That is a good thing because just about their favourite meal is a juicy snail.

Now I can see I am going to have to try to make the next mystery object much harder!

What is it Wednesday?

2011-12-07T20:43:00.002+11:00

Well I'm on the way back computer-wise.

Unfortunately after spending about 20 hours reconfiguring my machine it blue-screened again with the same result - dead Windows. It was a little old so not easy to get new parts. I decided to pull the plug on it.
I caned the credit card to buy a new machine which is running nicely. Now I just need reinstall my piccie libraries etc. A couple more days and I should be back up and running.

Now for tonight another What is it Wednesday.

Any ideas what this is?

Deja vu: computer style

2011-12-05T19:50:00.005+11:00

Thank you all for your comments about my Kookaburra post. I was surprised to hear so many people knew the "Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree" song. The song has been in the news lately I must tell you about it soon, but probably not for a few days at least

It was only back in June that I was offline for days with computer problems.
Well my machine is causing me headaches again.

I had the blue screen of death on Saturday morning and windows wouldn't start again afterwards.

So I loaded Ubuntu via a cd installation and managed to get off all my un-backed up photos which took me most of Saturday.

Now I have begun reinstalling windows. It seems to be working but I have a niggling feeling it is a hardware problem. I can't really afford a new computer at the moment (I have an expensive camera habit to support) but the old one is just too old to be worth fixing hardware issues.

Anyway it is likely this will be my last post for a few days.
As a tide you over two random photos from my web archive.

Working windmill, Oatlands Tasmania

Rainbow Lorikeets NSW

Three Things

2011-12-01T19:38:00.003+11:00

First, those of you who guessed “feathers” hit the nail on the head.
Yesterdays, image was cropped from this piccie of a Laughing Kookaburra, (Dacelo novaeguineae). I ~~caught~~ photographed this fellow last time I visited my Mum.
These raven sized birds are common on the east coast of Oz. Kookaburras are the largest kingfishers in the world. Unlike most kingfisher species they hunt small animals on the land, including mice and similar-sized small mammals, large insects, lizards, small birds and nestlings, and most famously, snakes.
That reminds me of a funny thing I saw once. (Maybe a tale for another time).

Second, one of my piccies is featuring on Marcy’s MaineWords blog at the moment. Apparently the piccie has inspired her latest WIP! What a lovely thought that one of my piccies has inspired someone else’s writing.

Finally because I want to, two of my recentish piccies.

A mountain stream near Marysville.And Deb and I went to the National Gallery of Victoria last Saturday. I was inspired to practice my own version of art there.

What is it Wedneday?

2011-11-30T19:34:00.003+11:00

Just a bit of fun.

A cropped part of one of my archive piccies.
Any guesses as to what this is?

The Lake that Came Home

2011-11-28T19:04:00.004+11:00

Almost exactly 18 months ago I posted about one of my weekend trips.

I was talking about the impact of more than a decade of drought on Lake Eildon in the Central Highlands of Victoria.

Well if there is one thing certain about the Aussie climate it is that a period of drought will end in periods of flooding rain.

I went back to Eildon yesterday and the contrast couldn’t be greater.

Gough’s bay in 2010Almost the same angle in 2011The southern shore in 2010And in 2011.And a close up to emphasize the difference.
The lake is over 25 metres (82 feet) deeper!

The light at the end of the…

2011-11-23T19:08:00.005+11:00

Well my guessing game wasn’t much of a challenge.

It was indeed the light at the end of a tunnel.On Sunday Deb and I drove up to the mountains of the Great Dividing Range north of Melbourne.Not far from the town of Yea is an abandoned railway. In recent years the rail lines have been torn up and it has been turned into part of a trail for bush-walkers (hikers), bicycle and horse riders.

On the trail is a single tunnel the Cheviot Rail tunnel. Completed in 1889 it was built from hand made bricks fired locally.
Now I won’t bore you with the details too much, but I recently bought a new lens for my camera.

As you may remember I paid my new camera off over several months. The camera is a beautiful piece of gear but it came with two cheap and just about functional kit lenses.
Well I have finally managed to buy my first professional quality lens to go with the camera. At $1,200 I won’t be getting any more in a hurry (I have about another $6,000 worth of lenses on my wish list).

Anyway to cut a long story short I had a great hour or so in and around the tunnel just playing with my new lens.With a good camera you get an awful lot of control over the image you produce.

The bright light I posted last time and this shot were taken from the same spot.
The difference: controlling, aperture and exposure for a different look. I think the tunnel frames a small slice of Oz quite nicely.

This young family were surprisingly thrilled by the idea of being silhouettes in my piccie
These next two were taken from halfway through. The first a long exposure with no flash to show one of the safety bays; this is actually a little brighter than it was to the eye (no lights in the tunnel)
The second is with a flash.Enough for one night.

A Quickie

2011-11-20T22:36:00.002+11:00

A Quickie
I am home really late from a day out and have to get ready for work in the morning.

So no proper post instead a tease.
I caught some shots of this little fellow.

But my main target for the day is featured in the piccie below.

This one didn't quite work.

Any guesses as to what it is?

Mental blank.

2011-11-17T20:52:00.003+11:00

Tonight when I sat down to type this post I couldn’t think of a single thing to post about.

I seem to be using up my creative energy on my WIP and on photography at the moment.

Ah well I’ll just have to rely on the second of those for a post tonight.

Back to the Grampians tonight.

During our second day there we visited a second Aboriginal rock art site.

Like Billimina this site is also protected behind a wire barrier.

The mindless morons who vandalized this panel of figures show why the protection is needed.This panel has a faint parade of figures across it. I wonder if they represent the people who lived here or spirits.

Finally two sections that give the shelter its name Manja,Manja means ‘hands’ in the language of the people of this land.

This last photo is one of my favorite ever.Technically it isn’t a great photo but I really feel it captures the essence of this place. It feels to me that the people of old have reached down through the centuries to touch us today.

In which Al limps his way along.

2011-11-14T19:08:00.004+11:00

I mentioned a while ago that I was beginning to read the second draft of my second novel to Deb. As a creative tool I find this wonderfully useful.

I get to weave my way through the narrative, and really hear the rhythm. Deb is a great listener and gently critical when the plot (or the writing) needs it.

So far we are about 10% through and on the whole Deb likes it. But the downside is she has identified some points where I need to do more to develop the relationship between two characters. So as you can see very helpful!

Now I am going to digress to one of my other favorite topics waterfalls.

Weeks ago I took a trip to the Otway ranges in Western Vic. Unlike the Grampians they are just behind the coast so they are wet, very wet.

I wove my way down through the rainforest in search of the Beauchamp Falls.I caught a few shots of this amazing fungi,And from underneath.Finally I reached the falls. After climbing down these stairs I got this shot from a viewing platform about half way up.Never one to make things easy for myself I decided to leave the formal path and climb down to the river bed to get shots from the base of the falls.

I’m glad I did because I saw this little fellow.He was hunting for insects in a small patch along the river banks.
The shots aren’t great because it was really dark under the forest and he would not sit still.

I have no idea what he is, I have never seen one before. I presume he is quite a local species.

About now I did something very silly and slipped on what appeared to be quite dry and stable rocks.

In saving myself I managed to bash my knee and soak my clothes.

Fortunately, when I am crossing ground that I’m unsure of I carry my camera in a padded bag. So no damage to my camera, I think I would have cried had I broken it.

I limped on upstream to the base of the falls and caught some more shots.The misty look is caused by spray from the falls. When I looked at the rocks I saw why I had fallen. Continuous drifts of moisture from the falls has caused them to grow a slick film of brown algae. What looks like rock is actually as slick as ice.

Kind of content I had the fun of climbing back out of the gorge, then climbing the stairs and finally a mile long walk (or should I say limp) back to the car.

As I said this was weeks ago, and I am all healed up. But it is a good lesson extra care is needed. Good shots are not worth an injury.

A promise

2011-11-10T21:07:00.006+11:00

I promised my third post on my latest visit to the Grampians would feature wildflowers.

On our third day I went for a very short walk (about 800 metres) to get a shot of this amazing formation which was once called "the Jaws of Death"
Now I would like to say more but I am out of time tonight so I will let the flowers speak for themselves. This is a sample of the dozens of species I saw along that short path.

Most of these are flowers I have never seen before. Oz flora is so diverse that you travel a few miles and you will find a very different plant community.
No idea what this one is
Or this one, I guess from the structure that it is an orchid.
There was a little patch of them growing in one boggy area.
I would guess from the flower structure that this is a Melaleuca species (but I could easily be wrong)
Some kind of native Iris (I think)
This is a tea-tree of some variety (a much larger flower than most)
I know these
Holly Grevillea opening
And fully open
and a whole bunch with a pea flower of some kind in the background.

Dozens more to come

Wonderful Waterfalls

2011-11-07T20:52:00.006+11:00

As you may have already gathered in our little vote Aboriginal Rock-art took the vote with five votes.

Waterfalls came second with four votes. So without further ado I begin with the Mackenzie Falls on the Mackenzie River.
The Mackenzie falls are in the heart of the Grampians and I think really beautiful.
I climbed down the stairs you see on the left to get a shot from the base of the falls.

This part of the Grampians is well and truly on the tourist trail, but we arrived late on a Saturday as it was getting dark and threatening to rain.

So we pretty much had the falls to ourselves.
Climbing back up the falls I paused to catch this shot of water cascading over these shelves on the way to the top of the falls.Another climb and I paused to get this shot of a native violet (probably Viola hederacea) in the half light.The clouds lightened a little so just as the sun set I quick marched about another quarter mile upstream to catch the Broken Falls (also on the Mackenzie River).Two days later it was time to leave the Grampians, but before we did we took an 128 km (80 miles) detour to the Wannon River.

On the Wannon are two more well known falls in the Grampians Region. I didn’t know how soon we’d be back so an extra side journey was not going to stop this waterfall nut when we were so close.

The first falls on the Wannon were the Nigretta Falls, which drop into a popular swimming hole near the town of Hamilton.Back in the car for another short drive this time. This time to the Wannon Falls. I really struggled getting a decent shot because the setting sun was shining into the camera lens.
A wait of half an hour and the sun went behind a cloud long enough to get this.
Then our Grampians break was over and it was back in the car for the four and a half hour drive home (we got home just befor midnight).
But I haven’t finished with the Grampians because next post is Grampians’ Wildflowers.

Nga keeat Billimina

2011-11-04T20:30:00.008+11:00

In the rugged Grampian ranges.Along rough bush trailsHidden in the high ground around the valleys
Often under shallow overhangs like thisLie special placesNga keeat Billimina
In the language of the people of the land “Welcome to Billimina shelter.”

Billimina is a special place, this shallow overhang which lies behind a cleared dance –floor has a rock face literally covered with thousands of markings.

In fact this is the single largest collection of symbols in one shelter in the whole of Victoria.

Most are like these simple vertical strokes.“Tally marks” early and unimaginative European explorers called them. The archaeologists who explored this site can tell us that it was in use for thousands of years

And that the paintings here were made across a period of at least hundreds of years.

Some are vivid as if painted days rather than decades or centuries agoOthers are faint and faded and slowly being covered by the dark blotches left by the natural weathering of the rock
Some are clearly human-like figures.Maybe representations of the people who were here, maybe of spirits.

The knowledge is lost, or perhaps the descendants of the people wish to keep their secrets.

But do not mistake secrets for hostility most of the people are welcoming.

In the words of a local community elder:
“We have always lived here.
Now you have come,
Respect our culture.
It is now part of your heritage"
And most do.
But I must finish with a sad side of these ancient places

Over 100 are known just in the Grampian Ranges. Only 5 are made public
The rest lie hidden

Because while most respect these places for what they are the few…

Mean that such sites must be protected.In a few days more rock art

Next: Waterfalls in the Grampians

A Vote (because I am too tired for a proper post)

2011-11-01T20:25:00.004+11:00

I promised more piccies from the Grampians.

Well once again I have returned with 1,000s of photos.

We got home after four hours on the highway which followed a long day in the Grampians. So I am as we Aussies say buggered! (Which means tired in Aussie lingo).

So rather than making a decision I am asking you, my good readers, to decide which do I post about first? (NO votes for all of the above, I have way too much to fit in one post!)

Ancient Aboriginal rock art:Wonderful waterfalls:Or Beautiful Wild flowers:

A Long - Weekend Break

2011-10-29T22:29:00.004+11:00

A quick post put up via my mobile phone. (photos from my camera)

Deb and I have again nipped away for a quick break.

This photo gives a clue as to where we are.

You might recognise the colourful rock-face on that mountain in the distance.

It is the Taipan Wall in the Grampians

Back in September I posted about a climb I made up one end of this mountain (following yellow arrows)

I haven't done anything that energetic yet because we arrived quite late.

So only a drive to the west and a half hour walk to get photos of this.

More piccies in a few days!

A long time coming.

2011-10-25T20:12:00.006+11:00

Both aspects of my post tonight took a while to arrive.

First as I promised a waterfall. In fact it is the same waterfall as I posted last time.

This is the Hopetoun Falls in the Otway ranges west of Melbourne.No Spelling error by the way, it is Hopetoun Falls with a U.

I took these shots about a month ago and haven’t got round to posting them ‘til now.

The river downstreamAnd a closer shot of the falls.Now the slowest delivery from Amazon I have ever experienced!

A while ago I ordered a copy of a blogosphere friend’s book.

To be exact I ordered a copy of Wendy Robertson’s The Romancer.Wendy is a British author who has literarily dozens of books to her name. The Romancer is about her life as a writer.

So just after Christmas last year I put in an order with Amazon. And waited…
And waited…
No book arrived.

I checked my credit card statement, no debit.

Ah, well I thought I’ll organize it another time.

Then just the other day Deb asked “Did you buy anything on Amazon?”
“Not that I remember.”
There was an item on the statement from Amazon. I kind of remembered ordering something for my Mum so I forgot it.

Wendy’s book turned up today!

And here is the delivery slip showing my order made 29 December 2010!
Now you have to excuse me I have some reading to do!

A neglected Subject.

2011-10-23T20:44:00.001+11:00

Unless I am very wrong I have not posted about my writing and my WIP since mid July.

That seems unbelievable. This work is so much part of my life, yet I haven’t shared it.

Yet in some ways I have not done much that I could really talk about. My last news was that I had completed a first draft and was sorting the sections into the order they will remain.

OK I can say I’ve completed that.

Having said that I have to admit the past couple of months have not been very productive with the WIP.

To be fair to myself I have been plugging along fairly steadily at it. Most days I would be spending an hour or an hour and a half on rewriting.

I have also written a few sections from scratch (when I put the whole together there seemed to be a few gaps). But until last week I have to say I really felt like I was going round in circles.

I was actually beginning to wonder if the whole work was missing something. I like the characters, I like the overall story, but it felt like it was not working.

Then over the past week, I am not quite sure why, I felt much more positive. I made some changes in a few chapters which led me to write a couple more “filler” sections. Now I feel like I am back on track.

It might sound odd, but I am just about to begin reading it aloud to Deb. That is a step I took with my first novel Veiled in Shadows, just before I sent it out to other readers.

I find reading aloud really positive. It let’s me pick a lot of stupid errors. And as a bonus I get my first external perspective. If it passes muster with Deb I am then game to share it with others.

Then I can start thinking about finding Beta-readers.

Gratuitous Waterfall shot.Next: Can you handle more waterfalls?

Killers in the Cemetery

2011-10-19T20:27:00.004+11:00

Back to Queenstown Cemetery tonight. I couldn’t leave it at the few flowers I posted.

Tonight a few more of the flowers. The only one I can confidently name is this Showy Parrot-Pea (Dillwynia sericea)

I photographed dozens of flowers and in this small area (probably only an acre) there were probably dozens more species.

I quite simply ran out of time.

At a glance these two look to be the same species.But if you look closely the stigma and anthers seem quite different. I would guess a botanist would say they are two varieties.

This one was one of my favorites. I “know” this flower I am sure. I have been racking my brain and just can’t recall it. More research is called for.

The only trouble is there are literally thousands of Oz flowers many only known by their scientific names.

These tiny flowers were lurking down among the grasses, to give an idea of the size each petal is about the size of a rice grainSpeaking of lurking.

Nestling down in the grasses across this site are dozens of killers.

There’s one A bit closerAnd a real close upThese fascinating little plants are Sundews
Sundews are carnivorous plants. The glistening droplets are a sticky trap. Small insects that land on them get stuck then the tendrils fold in like a sea-anemone trapping the victim which is then slowly digested.

This final piccie is one I shot a few years ago (with my old camera) if you look closely you’ll sea this little plant is busy eating a number of ants.NEXT: I rabbit on about my writing

Death and Wildflowers

2011-10-17T20:14:00.004+11:00

A very quick post tonight.

Yesterday as is our wont Deb and I got out and about.

We stayed relatively close to home, deciding to have a late breakfast and head for an abandoned gold-rush era cemetery.

After a light shower in the morning it turned into a beautiful spring day.

You can see from this piccie what a bright sunny afternoon it became.
Welcome to the Queenstown cemetery which was in use from 1860 until 1981.

Most of the 380 recorded graves were from the gold-rush and pioneer era.

Showing the standards of the time there are believed to be a significant number of unrecorded and unmarked graves of Chinese gold miners. Evidence of most graves including the recorded ones has vanished, destroyed by a bushfire in 1962.

My intention was to make a record of the graves and cemetery (I love cemetaries).

But I was quickly distracted. Because spring means wildflowers.

There were hundreds, many of which I have never seen before. Remember I have only lived in Victoria for a few years and Oz has an incredibly regionally diverse flora.

Just two of the beauties I captured were a Spotted Sun Orchid (Thelymitra merranae)
And a close up. Isn’t it exquisite?

A white Hyacinth Orchid (I think) I’m not sure of the species, more research is in order.
Speaking of research I posted this piccie of a cute bird, but didn’t know what it was. It turns out s/he is a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis).

Thanks for the reminder Amanda

Next: Killer Plants

In which Lilli the Labrador becomes…

2011-10-13T20:34:00.004+11:00

A bucket-head! Our beautiful pup Lilli is now 6 months old which means today she went to the vet to be spayed.
She was dropped early this morning and the girls picked her up this afternoon.

Our vet fits a smart collar to every pet they do surgery on.

No messing with stitches for Lilli! The poor thing looked so ~~funny~~ mournful when I got home that I had to share. She has to keep this on until her stitches are removed. Somehow we are meant to keep her quiet for the next 2 weeks.

Not hard today, but I don’t know how we are going to keep a bouncy half grown Lab quiet after the initial discomfort wears off.

Russells, Russells Everywhere.

2011-10-10T21:40:00.005+11:00

This blog of mine continues to amaze in terms of the links it fosters.

Ages ago I posted these photos of two graves in the Indian city of Jabalpur. They are the graves of two of my great-great-grandparents. I was sent these piccies by a gentleman called Byram who also had ancestors from Jabalpur. He found me through this blog.

An amazing contact formed through the blogosphere.

Well it has happened again!

This little blog has brought me contact with two people from the UK (to be precise England) researching their genealogy. Only this time the people in questions are actually distant relations of mine.

Great- great-grandfather William Alexander Russell who lies in the Jabalpur grave was one of eight siblings.

As a quick aside his sister Ellen also happens to be my great-great-grandmother. Before you go “eeewwww” or “give me six” (as a friend facetiously did) they did not marry each other. WA's son (my great-grandfather) married Ellen's daughter (my great-grandmother).

Actually, at some point I am going to have to write about how the two cousins came to be hitched. It is quite a romantic tale. But as I say another time!

Now where was I?

Distant Russell relations.

I received an email from a Susannah Russell who lives in England.

She introduced herself by saying she enjoyed my blog and went on to say “I have just started to research my own family tree and I am sure that we must be related. Like you I am descended from the Russells of Jabalpur and the names Postance and Anley also feature in my tree.”

It turns out WA and Ellen had six other siblings.

One of these Edwin Arthur Russell is Susannah’s great-grandfather.

While another brother of WA and Ellen was Augustus Morrell Russell who is the great-great grandfather of yet another distant cousin Bill Russell.

The internet and the blogosphere are making this world very small and giving me very long lost relatives!

Two last points on family links:
Bill (or William) Russell is a family name that has continued down my line too. My pop's brother was another Bill Russell, my dad is Rupert Anley William Russell, and one of my nephews is also a William Russell.

Susannah's father was a scriptwriter (and actor) for the BBC and her grandmother (also a Russell) was a novelist!

It seems there are some latent writer’s genes in this Russell’s family!

Now that is enough because you are probably all as confused as I was to start!

Now a piccie from Mum's place.

A juvenile Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)

Home Safe

2011-10-06T20:43:00.001+11:00

A quick one tonight.

I got home safe from Mum’s house late on Tuesday night.
I had a lovely time but all good things come to an end.

Mum lives 1300 km (800 miles) away so I don’t get to see her nearly as often as I would like. It was quite heart wrenching to come away. She is still fit and healthy but at 82 years of age I am painfully aware that she won’t be around forever.

Mind you having said that she comes from a long lived line on her mother’s side so I hope she will be around for a good while yet!

That’ll do me for tonight except I have as usual come home with a pile of piccies. I will share just two tonight.

A pair of fire-tail finches (Neochmia temporalis) also known as red-browed finches. These native finches are about the size of a sparrow. They form pair bonds and these two seemed very cozy so I guess they are mates.

A common or laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) these guys are common across eastern Oz. They are a giant kingfisher (about 45 cm long) their main prey is reptiles such as lizards and snakes. They swoop down from their perch and carry their prey back into a tree. They dispatch a snake by battering its head repeatedly against a branch before swallowing them whole!

Triplets!

2011-09-28T19:25:00.007+10:00

This past weekend Deb and I shot away to the Otway Ranges west of Melbourne.

I am still mad keen on waterfalls and the Otways are both high and wet.

On Saturday we arrived fairly late after a leisurely start and a three hour drive. Our first destination was a section of rainforest near a village with the name of “Beech Forest”.

From where we left the car we followed this trail into the forest.I paused to snap this little fellow, s/he is a species I don’t know and I haven’t taken the time to look him/her up.Half a mile into the forest you round a corner and see this.The remains of a steam engine. And nearby tramway trucks for carrying timber to the sawmill that once stood here.You wouldn’t think it but all this forest is regrowth; a hundred years ago the whole area was clear felled.

It will be hundreds of years before it is a mature forest, but nature has an amazing power to come back if it is left be.

A bit further down we came to this stream feeding into a narrow channel and around the corner the reason we had come.

The Triplet FallsThe stream divides into three channels which tumble as a triple fall.

The star for me is the right hand fall which is…Well the piccies say it all.

Now one last thing.

I am heading off for the next five days to my Mum’s place so it is more than likely I won’t post until next week.

A sampler. And a strange coincidence

2011-09-26T19:33:00.006+10:00

Deb and I were away for the weekend. We have returned home to find our internet service reconnected. Phew!

In my last serious post I asked which you would prefer I posted about:

A: More waterfalls
B: Some majestic trees
Or
C: Sunlight through clouds?

Most of you replied D: all of the above.

I suppose I deserve everything I got.
Well I guess I am going to make you wait for more (at least until later in this post).

On Friday, I had an odd moment with my WIP.
As regulars know I work on my writing on the train during my commute.

I realized that the section I was redrafting was set exactly 70 years in the past!

It might not seem so odd to you, but my character (a young Russian woman) was facing a life and death situation in September 1941 as I wrote about her in September 2011.

It was the strangest feeling. I drafted this section well over a year ago and quite by chance I worked on a redraft 70 years after the event.

Has anything odd like that happened in your writing?

Now to my little poll. Because I am very nice I am going to give you a bit of ‘all off the above’.
Photo A: is of the Erskine Falls in the Otway ranges.

Here is a second from the base of the fallsPhoto B.
The stairs back up from the fallsAnd taken yesterday, a tree somewhere else in the Otway ranges (I might say more about that in another post)

Finally
Photo C: Port Phillip Bay just before sunset last weekendAnd a second from a different viewpoint about five minutes later.Where do I go next?

A Conspiracy.

2011-09-23T15:25:00.002+10:00

It feels like a conspiracy to keep me off the web. Last weekend it was the power going out.

This week it is our phone/internet. Our landline phone was out for close to 48 hours. It wasn't just us, but the whole suburb, shops, medical centres. The works.

The phone has come back on this afternoon, but strangely our ADSL service has not. Talking to their reporting line they say 'There has been a major system failure in your area. We hope to have service back to normal over the next few working days."

So I don't disappear with out word I have again resorted to using my mobile phone as a modem to post this.

So to paraphrase a line from our Telco: normal service here at Publish or Perish will resume as technical issues are resolved.

Hopefully it is sooner rather than later.

As a token two random piccies from my "previously posted" archive.

“If you don’t like it” or Melbourne Weather

2011-09-19T19:23:00.005+10:00

They say about Melbourne weather: “If you don’t like it, just wait it will change” or “Melbourne the city where you have five seasons in a day.”

Well Melbourne is living up to its reputation just lately.

This city is located on the south coast of Australia’s mainland and two major factors drive our weather here. The Southern Ocean and Australia’s hot dry inland.

Winds here tend to come roughly from the west. If they come from the South-West they come off the Southern Ocean so things are cool to cold. If the wind veers to come from the North-West the wind comes off the desert centre of Oz then things get warm to oven- like.

Just over a week ago, to be absolutely precise 10 September (we do the dates the right way around down here) I took these photos. That is right folks that is snow taken at the Upper Yarra Valley a week ago Saturday.

Spring And that road was closed because of snowfalls further up.

When I took those photos it was 12:00 in the day and the temperature was hovering around 0° C (30°F).

But yesterday we went back to the mountains these next few piccies were taken high up across the valley from my snow shots. No snow this week!

This weekend just past we had glorious spring weather, with the temperature climbing to a pleasantly warm 29°C (84°F). I say pleasantly warm because that is how I see it, basically almost warm enough to head to the beach. Remember summer temperatures here are often between 35°C (95°F) and 45°C (113°F) so 29 is “warm”

This cute little waterfall is called the La La Falls.As you can see it was just too bright to take really nice waterfall shots.

Bright enough to capture shadows of a certain Aussie, call this one a “self portrait”.

Just finally,
I had to share this boulder in the stream and this absolutely cute bridge in the trail on the climb up to the falls. The clever national parks rangers have built this little beauty out of dry-stone. There isn’t so much as a drop of mortar in this construction.

A quick poll. For my next post would you prefer:

A: More waterfalls
B: Some majestic trees
Or
C: Sunlight through clouds?

Not a Proper post

2011-09-17T20:26:00.004+10:00

I had high hopes of posting about the waterfalls I captured last week.

However we have arrived home to find the whole area suffering from a power blackout.

I have posted this from my netbook using my mobile phone to connect to the internet.

That means no photos that I haven't already uploaded. Also it is surprisingly hard to type in the dark.

So In consolotion I offer a couple of piccies I have posted over the past few months.

The first is part of the Taggerty Cascades.

and the second the Toorongo Falls.

So on that note goodnight!

Two Missed Milestones

2011-09-14T20:24:00.003+10:00

My last post was my 300th post.

I can’t believe it 300 posts and I missed my tri-centenary!

Of course that has made me think about my blog and realize I missed my blogs second birthday back in July. On 8 July my blog was two years old!

At least it wasn’t a wedding anniversary I missed!

That is almost it for tonight, I got home really late because a train broke down on my line. It took me three hours to get home not the usual 90 minutes!

On the weekend I went on another waterfall hunting trip.
On the way there I paused to capture these shots of wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita).These beautiful parrots are one of most common birds over large chunks of Oz.I have to say they are one of my favorite birds.I think they are simply beautiful.

Following Yellow Arrows Further

2011-09-10T20:46:00.010+10:00

I finished my last post on the verge of climbing up through a stone slot on my way up Hollow Mountain. Anyway, with a squeeze and a lot of scrabbling I made it up through the slot

At the top of the slot I climbed around the base of a tree and out onto a wide sloping shelf of rock; a bit more climbing (easy compared to further down) and I reached the base of this beautiful formation. You can see one of our little yellow arrows in this piccie.

This piccie shows where this formation is in relation to the whole mountain, I have circled it on the original piccie from last post.

The dark shadow at the bottom of the vertical face is a cave which is part of the reason this is called Hollow Mountain.

I sat inside to give you a view from inside.Inside the cave if you turn around you discover that it goes right through the mountain.A detail shot of the stone at the cave mouth, I am absolutely enamored with the colours in this landscape

Leaving the cave a short walk takes you around the back of the massive block of stone the cave sits in. You can squeeze through a chasm and catch a glimpse of the sheer cliffs at the back of the mountain.By now I was fairly tired and to my frustration I had finished all the water I had brought with me (a litre) so I was pretty thirsty. But I hadn’t quite reached the top.

So reversing my way back along the chasm I followed the rock shelf around as it climbed toward the rear of the mountain. I paused to take a shot of the country I had climbed up from. Another low cave extends deep into the mountain here.

Finally I reached the top and looked down into the country behind the Hollow Mountain.

This magnificent formation is called the Taipan WallAll I can say is it was amazing in the late afternoon light and made the climb well worth the effort.You can see my shadow in both these piccies, just in front was a sheer cliff maybe 500 feet straight down. I wasn’t going any closer to that edge!

My climb finished I turned to make my way back down.

As I got back to the top of the front rock face I ran into the two young men I had met at the bottom. They had just finished climbing up “the hard way”.

We had a brief chat and they began to make their way down this time taking the easy route.

I took a shot of them climbing into the top of the slot I had climbed on the way up (and had to follow them down). As you can see it was a squeeze for this fat, unfit, middle aged Aussie boy!

In Which Al Follows Little Yellow Arrows

2011-09-08T20:38:00.014+10:00

I am going back to our trip to the Grampians for this post.

On the afternoon of the second day we strolled back to the car from the Aboriginal rock shelter. Deb parked herself in the shade and I limbered up for what I thought was another walk.

The walk we had just done was rated by the park service as “easy” grade.

Not far away in terms of distance was a spot called Hollow Mountain and parks rated the walk as “medium” grade.

Deb thought better of it and stayed with her knitting.

So I set off on my own.

The park guide said to follow the arrows to the top. I paused about quarter of the way up to take a shot looking up at Hollow Mountain"Hmmm" I thought "I wonder where the path goes?"

At the same place I took a shot of the next mountain across.And the first of these yellow arrows.
As you can see it has already turned from a “path” to a clamber up solid rock slopes.

But I thought “they said medium and this doesn’t look too bad. And the peak doesn’t look too high".

Although when I zoomed in it looked a little more daunting.
Up the next section I followed two young men who slipped past me while I took photos (and caught my breath).

As I got closer to the mountain I wondered more and more about where the “path” went.

My next stop was at the base of the cliffs in the first picture.
I took another breather and had a chat to the two young men who were now preparing to climb directly up the cliff. Now with humans in the frame you really get a feel for the scale of the place.

From talking to the guys my destination lay well above the top of the climb they were about to make.

They told me the trail zigzagged around to the left of this cliff.

For the first time I felt a little daunted. Heights are most definitely not my thing.

But I said to myself, “one stage at a time and at any point you feel unsure you just turn back”

I am well and truly old enough to not have to prove anything to anyone!

Climbing the next stage I had to pause to get this shot of this gorgeous cliff face against the deep blue sky (ok and catch my breath again)

Spinning 180 degrees from there I found my next arrow.

There it is pointing up this rock face
To the base of that little tree is about four times my height.

The pale line zigzagging up the middle is worn by boots. You can see someone has cut some notches in the rock to assist as foot holds.

The light on the right is the cliff the young guys were climbing.

Did I say I don’t like heights?

Next stop at the base of the tree. I paused to enjoy the amazing view
The rocky mountain in the distance is where the Gulgurn Manja rock shelter sits.
Hang on where does that arrow point?
Oh that is the one marking the way back down.

I turn back to the rock face.
This slot is where the climb continues. Again if I am continuing I have to climb several times my height . It looks a bit of a squeeze but it isn’t as scary because here I have solid rock on both sides (more about that next post)

In which Al answers questions

2011-09-06T19:10:00.007+10:00

A couple of questions were asked about my recent posts so I thought I would attempt to answer them.When I posted about these Aboriginal hand prints at the Grampians, Kathleen Jones asked about the images “Do you suppose it was some kind of 'coming of age' ritual?”

Well that is hard to say, only the people who made the marks could say for sure. Aboriginal people had many levels of knowledge; some of which were available to anyone and others which could only be revealed to people initiated in the right way.
I remember meeting Aboriginal elders in northern NSW who talked about much of the ‘dreaming’ of their people which had been lost. It was lost because their parents and grandparents had refused to pass it on to even their own relatives because they had not been properly initiated in the old ways.

However given that the hand prints were all of young people ‘coming of age’ was probably part of the story. But it was most likely more complex, the platform the shelter sits above has an amazing view far out into the northern plains. Any ceremony here was likely to have been about the ‘country’ that the young people belonged to as much as about them.

Now a little more ‘down to earth’
Susan Flett Swiderski asked of my last post “I take it you have a LOT of waterfalls in your area?”This is a question that is also a little complex. The simplest way to put it is that depends on your frame of reference.

Victoria, the state I live in, is Australia’s second smallest. It is about the size of Minnesota in the USA or about the same size as the United Kingdom

The waterfalls I have posted in the past few months are in an area 473km (295 miles) across. To a Victorian that seems like a huge space but to a Queenslander like me it seems a relatively short distance. Queensland our second largest state is bigger than Alaska (or in European terms bigger than France, Germany, Spain and Italy put together).

Now as a reward for making you sit through all that some piccies of Trentham Falls that I took on Sunday.I spent a couple of hours shooting the falls from many angles. From almost level with the top of the 82 metre (270 ft) falls
to the river bed at the base. That was quite a climb on the way back up!

Waterfall Hunting

2011-09-04T21:56:00.003+10:00

Well Deb and I went waterfall hunting again today.

We are back late so I will just give you a taste and say more in the next day or two.

Trentham Falls Central Victoria

Young People

2011-09-01T19:27:00.004+10:00

I can’t believe it was Saturday I posted last.

It has been a mad week at work. I seem to be home late almost every night and hit the sack soon after.

Still even long days give me a couple of hours to work on my WIP. I have read it all through a couple of times an am still shuffling sections around and writing bits and pieces to link those sections.

So I guess I’ve sort of begun working on a second draft, but it really doesn’t feel like it.

Now for something different I’m going to share some more piccies from our second day at the Grampians.

In the afternoon we headed towards another spot about ten kilometers (6 miles) from the Ngamdjidj rock shelter.

It was still fairly early so I paused to photograph these odd flower buds

before Deb and I began climbing the side of this rocky hill.

High on the flanks of the hill under a rock ledge very like this

is the Gulgurn Manja Aboriginal rock shelter.

In the shelter is more rock art.
Pictures of emu footprints

Seemingly abstract symbols

And what I think makes this place most special.

For Gulgurn Manja means “hands of the young people” in the local Aboriginal language.

The rock surface is covered with hand prints made by children between the ages of 8 and 12 over many generations.

It is like these young people have left part of themselves in the landscape.

I found it very magical.

A Date

2011-08-27T19:14:00.007+10:00

If we haven’t got anything planned come the weekend Deb loves to sleep in.

This morning I had her up relatively early.

Then after getting ready in a lazy way and a leisurely breakfast we caught the 12:00 –All the way in to –Because at the –The –
Exhibition is on for just a few more weeks.

And Deb is a mad keen fan of Gustav Klimt

So while the exhibition is still in town we just had to make sure Deb got there.

Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take piccies in the exhibition.

But as we came out I took a few of the inside of the NGV.
The Great hall

And the front wall of the foyer which is glass covered with a wall of water.Then as we crossed the Yarra River to walk back to the station I had to catch the afternoon light.

The new parts of the skyline.

The old, St Pauls Cathedral

And in some spots where the new dominatesIf you look closer you can see that the old has also been preserved.

Lilli the Wonder-dog

2011-08-24T20:34:00.002+10:00

It is just over a month since I last posted about our puppy Lilli.

She is now just four months old and continues to grow like crazy. In a month she has gone from 10.1 kg (22.27 lbs) to 16 kg (35.2 lbs). She is losing the puppy cuteness and is starting to look like a gawky teenager.

I had to share these piccies I took of her having one of her few baths. It is finally getting warm enough to bathe her a bit more frequently.
She is still small enough to just about fit in the laundry tub but not for much longer!
She doesn’t look like it but she actually loves the warm water of a bath, she isn’t at all sure about the camera!

Why the wonder-dog? She is just finishing up at puppy pre-school at the moment and the instructor called her that tonight.

Lilli can already:

Sit,
Drop,
Stay,
Come,
Roll,
Wait politely for her food,
Hold for a wee until she goes outside,
and is more or less heeling when we go for a walk (more or less because things in the wide world can be very distracting for a puppy)

Not bad for a baby.
Are we proud?
You bet!

Not The Grampians

2011-08-21T21:38:00.003+10:00

Tonight I was going to do a third post on our trip to the Grampians.

But when I began sorting photos I realized that it would be a long post with 20+ piccies.

I will do it as a post (or maybe two or three) before too long because I think it is really worth sharing.

But tonight it is late and I have to hit the hay for an early start tomorrow.

So instead a very quick post about what Deb and I did today.

We drove to Woodend in the Macedon ranges west of Melbourne today.

Woodend is one of many Gold-Rush era towns in Victoria.

In the gardens the daffodils think spring is already here.What really caught my attention was the 1864 St Mary’s Anglican Church.The church was open so I went in to capture shots of the amazing stained glass windows that grace the church. I’ve never managed to capture good shots of stained glass before so I am happy with these.

Here are a few samples.And of course St Mary herself.
One thing that caught my eye was this candle in front of this very Orthodox looking icon image.
I just had to play around to see how well I could catch the candle in the dim light.

Grampians Part II

2011-08-18T19:56:00.006+10:00

I woke early on Sunday. Leaving Deb asleep in the motel I went out for a stroll to see if I could catch some shots of dawn in Halls Gap.

It was a frosty morning (remember it is winter down this way) The local wildlife brave coming down into the town before people stir.

These are eastern grey kangaroos.

I was able to get quite close. It has been a good season so the kangaroos are busy raising their young. Being marsupials they carry their young around in pouches.

Cute aren’t they?After breakfast we headed out for a day in the northern Grampians.I paused frequently to catch shots of the ranges.
At one spot I caught this little wildflower.Along this bush road we came to the foot hills of Mount ZeroI paused to catch more wildflowers.All around the Grampians Heath Myrtle was floweringA close up. Further along the road we reach our destination for the morning,
The Ngamdjidj Rock Shelter on the walls ancient Aboriginal paintings

The Grampians

2011-08-15T21:35:00.010+10:00

I haven't entirely abandoned waterfalls, in fact I have piccies of at least a couple more I've shot in the last few weeks up my sleeve. But tonight I'll make a slight change of direction.

This weekend just passed Deb and I have seized the opportunity for a weekend away again. This time we drove three hours west of Melbourne to a mountain range known as 'The Grampians.'Our destination Hall's Gap a little town in the Grampians region of Victoria.

Hall's gap sits in a pass that cuts through the range.
This is the main street of Halls Gap

Although at the moment the pass is not... well not 'passable'. You might remember that back in December/January there were floods in Queensland and here in Victoria. Well the Grampians were hard hit by massive flood events. There were huge landslips throughout the region big enough for many of the maps to no longer be correct and for many of the roads to still be in need of rebuild.

Despite that the area is still incredibly beautiful with an amazing variety of heathland vegetation growing on the impoverished soils of the region.

In terms of diversity of flora Oz has a number of hotspots and perhaps ironically the most ancient and impoverished soils often have the highest biological diversity. I have heard the argument that the Western Australian heathland environments have unequalled floral diversity, matching or even beating the tropical rainforests of the world.
I won't comment on statements like that except to say, people in Oz like grand statements about 'biggest', 'best' or 'most'. Some statements like that are true others, well I'm no referee on the topic.

What I can say is Oz has an amazing variety of unique plant communities and Victoria's heathland has a similar diversity to that in West Oz. Interestingly thanks to the magic of plate tectonics Southern Africa have some communities that are related and look similarish.

Anyway back to the matter at hand. Deb and I set off to the Grampians with an agenda of bush walking (hiking), photography and knitting in mind. We were both going to walk, I'll leave it to you to work out which of us was going to knit and which photograph.

Now I have rambled enough; as it is I am probably going to need two or three posts to cover what we did and saw in just a day and a half.

So after checking in at the holiday park we were going to stay the night we left Halls Gap to check out the Bee Hive Waterfall (you knew I just had to squeeze in a waterfall)

Walking up to the falls I stopped to shoot these amazing rock formations. It isn't quite spring, but the wildflowers are coming out.
A “Wirilda Wattle” (Acacia retinades)These tiny “Cat’s Claw Grevillia” (Grevillia alpina)A “Holly Grevillia” (Grevillia aquifolium) that hasn’t quite come outIt is so gorgeous I had to show an extra closeup.As you get close to the falls you see the rock formation that gives them the name Beehive
I love catching changing light as in these of the 'beehive' wasn’t the only person keen on shooting the falls. This local photographer’s daughter obliged by acting as a scaleOn the way back down I paused to shoot this flower which I haven’t yet managed to identify. I think it might be some kind of orchid, but I am really just guessing.

Then as the evening was drawing in the local wildlife began stirring

I surprised this Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) on the trail. She hopped away because I am so scary.

Just round the corner I caught her friend, another eastern grey

I'm Back!

2011-08-11T18:35:00.006+10:00

Well I finally got my rotten computer sorted out!

Unfortunately I know too much about the things to leave it to an expert. The heap of junk crashed as I was reinstalling Windows. When I tried another reinstall it just wasn’t right. So I formatted my “C” drive and did a fresh install. Anyway I won’t bore you any more. Suffice to say reinstalling everything from scratch took what felt like forever!

Actually I probably will bore you over the next while.

As you may have noticed I have become even more obsessed with waterfalls than usual. It has been miserable wet weather down here for weeks which hasn’t stopped me getting out and about in the bush photographing waterfalls. And as this is my blog I am going to inflict them on my poor readers for a while longer.

I promised last time I would post piccies I took on our way home from my birthday paella feast.

So here we go. On the way back from Gippsland I had to turn off to catch some piccies of the Toorongo river. Long term readers might remember I shot them with my old camera a year or two ago. But as I was passing nearby I had to have a go with my new gear.

On the way up the valley I had to stop and capture this old Toyota that died in a farmer’s paddock. It now sits moldering by the beautiful Toorongo River.

Further up the valley I left the car to walk to the falls. As seems to be usual down here it was raining again.

Deb, never as crazy as me, chose to sit in the car and knit while I braved the weather.

I paused to capture these shots of the river cascading through the forest. Then I pushed on to the falls.

By then it was late and almost dark so the piccies aren’t quite what I want.

I don’t usually spend hours photo-shopping my pics by the way.

What you see is usually pretty much what I take off camera. The only thing I often adjust is light levels in my raw images.

@#$%^ Computer

2011-08-06T21:29:00.001+10:00

I'm still having problems getting Windows to behave despite reinstalling twice.

So I am still off line, and probably will be for a day or two.

A Birthday Feast, and Two that got away.

2011-08-01T19:01:00.003+10:00

It was my Birthday last week so Deb and I went out on Saturday to celebrate.

Our destination Brandy Creek Winery in Gippsland about an hour and a half east of Melbourne.
The restaurant has a couple of specialities, the one we went for was their ‘Famous Paella Feast’ (their words not mine)They cook not one but five giant paella’s while their guests eat tapas and make merry.
I think the most visually pleasing was the vegetarian.The beef and quail egg tasted nice but looked odd.
My favourite was the seafood. One word describes the event and that was FUN!

Leaving I had to stop to try photographing a pair of eastern rosellas. They are my favourite Oz parrot because they are so colourful. But they are really shy.
I took this shot from a distance because I didn’t think they would let me get nearer.
Alas I was right this was as good as it got. They saw my movement and fled.
One day.

Now I may be off line for a few days because I am having computer problems. I’m about to reformat my hard-drive. If all goes well it’ll take me a few hours, but I’m never optimistic when it comes to computers.

Next: the waterfall I caught on my way home from our feast.

Hunting part II

2011-07-28T18:54:00.009+10:00

Well I hope this isn’t a case of too much of a good thing…

From the Phantom Falls Deb and I went back to the car.

We drove further up the valley. The road (not quite sure it deserves to be called a road) got narrower and muddier, if I wasn’t a ‘bushie’ (a person who grew up in the country) I wouldn’t have dared to keep going without an all wheel drive. We actually drive a FIAT which is better suited to an autostrada than a bush track. But if you are careful and know what you are doing you can take 2 wheel drives to a surprising range of places.

As we drove we pushed into country I haven’t seen before, we saw other wonderful falls up branches of the valley that we just didn’t get to because it was too wet and too late. (I would have had to walk)
About another seven kilometres up the valley (nearly half an hour at the speed the road made me go) we crossed the Taggerty River.
Which cascades out of the forest by the road (this piccie was taken from the road bridge).

Notice the bush doesn’t seem burnt here? It’s a bit deceptive unfortunately.
This is a pocket of true rainforest in the Mountain Ash forest that surrounds it. Mountain Ash forest is a eucalyptus dominated ‘wet sclerophyll’ forest for the botanically minded of you. And like most eucalyptus forests will burn at the drop of a hat.

Proper rainforest like this pocket is usually too wet to burn but in the extreme conditions of Black Saturday in 2009 the crowning fire that raced through the forest around has effectively singed off the crowns of these trees.

Many of the larger ones are dying which is a real shame, especially as many of the trees in this pocket are rare Antarctic Beeches.

Back to my story.

The section of the river that cascades under the road is just the start. To my surprise just off the road is a beautifully built path.
There are a whole series of these lovely stairs that zig-zag through the trees up the side of the ‘Taggerty Cascades’.The stairs take you past a series of views of the cascades which divide and redivide between the trees and the granite boulders.

This boulder in the middle of one branch of the stream is about eight feet across.Just below on a smaller branch the water pours through under some boulders.
Then at the foot of these sweet stairs this mini cascade let me get my favourite shot of the day.A close-up with a very long exposure to compensate for the rapidly fading light.
Remember it was raining and it is winter with short days down this way.

One last piccie to give you an idea of how dark it was under the trees when I finished shooting. For shooting waterfalls you generally want low light so you can take long exposures, but this was getting ridiculous.So it was back to the car to weave our way out of the valley.

I think I caught my trophies from my waterfall hunt.

The only problem is I want to go back!

Hunting Part I

2011-07-24T21:09:00.005+10:00

Almost twelve months ago I posted about a mountain valley behind Marysville where the forest was destroyed in the 2009 bushfires.

Deb and I went up that way again today

The trees in the Taggerty River Valley still stand like the ghosts they are. What is changing somewhat is millions of seeds have germinated so saplings are beginning to race for the light between their parents’ skeletons.

We were back because as you know I love photography. One of my favourite subjects is streams and waterfalls.

The drought of previous years is well and truly over and it has rained and rained and rained for what seems like months. The bonus of this is of course waterfalls and rivers are very healthy at the moment.

We wove our way up into the valley along the muddy goat track that serves as a road up there.

It was cold and raining so I was well rugged up. Deb took one look at the weather and elected to sit in the car knitting.

From the valley floor began the climb up this track towards the first waterfall on my hit-list. You get an idea of how rampant the regrowth is.

In the steeper sections there are well made stairs which make the going easier. I paused on this corner for a breather and a piccie. I’d just climbed the stairs down to the right and was about to climb the ones to the left.

Further up I paused again to catch the ghosts of the trees vanishing into the mist (that is the trail and some of the stairs in the right of the frame).

I crossed the stream that forms the falls further up. It's divided here into multiple streamlets that tumble over fern clad boulders.

To give you an idea of how wet it is at the moment a fairy sized waterfall beside the path.Then finally I reached my target the Phantom Falls. It finally stopped raining as I photographed so I got to wear my hat rather than trying to keep the camera lens dry.

These falls are hard to photograph because to see them you have to get really close. But I think I have done them justice.

Just to make sure a close up.

Progress on two fronts

2011-07-21T18:38:00.003+10:00

My new job is simultaneously hard work and very relaxing. First being a government job there are substantial differences to anything I have experienced in the private or community sectors. Things are quite simply more bureaucratic and every second word seems to be an acronym.
My new job is a reasonably senior position so there is a lot to get on top of as quickly as possible. So all in all it is quite tiring.

Now here is the good bit. The job is in other ways also very relaxing. As difficult as it might be I am not dealing with desperate people in extreme circumstances. I am not having to be continually on my toes to monitor the risk of violence to myself, my staff or the people using my services. The reality is people in extreme situations sometimes behave unpredictably, add in issues like mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse and you had to be careful. Always.

Having said that working with the homeless you more often see the best of people. But you have to be ready to deal with the worst.

So I am really enjoying the change of pace in that way. Also I seem to have landed a great team to work with: friendly, welcoming and helpful to the newby!

Now to my WIP, as I said I finished a first draft. This week I’ve been sorting all the sections written in different POV into order. I can’t help myself I sometimes get distracted and begin rewriting some sections as I go, but all in all the shuffling process is going well. I hope to be finished with that stage early next week. Then I will sit down and read the whole thing start to finish to see which sections need the most work.

Can you stay on task when it comes to writing, or are you like me and sometimes get led astray by the text in front of you?

Now finally a quick word about last weekend. As I said Deb and I went away, well we spent the weekend at Phillip Island which is about two hours drive from home. I say drive because although it is a real island it is connected to the mainland by a bridge. As you saw if you caught my Monday post we managed to cram an awful lot into two days.
One of my piccies was of a bird.
He was a Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) or to be precise gander, a member of the only ‘true’ goose species native to Oz. They were quite endangered in the 1970s but have made a comeback thanks to conservation efforts. I am talking about them again because I had to share some piccies of some goslings.
Just as a reminder here is another piccie of dad.Now mum with some of her broodSome cute fuzzballs And some more

Despite the weather

2011-07-18T18:52:00.004+10:00

I didn’t manage a post over the weekend because despite wintry weather Deb and I went away for the weekend.

I won’t say much because I’m only just home from work.

However I will promise more in the next few days and say our action packed weekend featured:

Verdant but windswept islands.Unique Aussie wildlife.Glorious sunsetsQuiet walksPounding wavesAnd mountain streams.Stay tuned

Brrr.

2011-07-14T18:39:00.005+10:00

I posted about snowfalls in the mountains around Melbourne on Saturday.

I’ve mentioned my new job before, my new office is on the 12th floor of a downtown skyscraper. Well yesterday the snow was a bit closer to home. I happened to glance up from my desk to see heavy snow falling past my window.

Now it snows in the higher hills around Melbourne every winter, but it basically never snows in the city which is essentially at sea level. So I was really surprised to see snow falling downtown.

I got up from the desk and looked out the window. I saw something I have only seen in the mountains before. Snow falling past me and turning into rain below. I had forgotten I was a third of the way up a man made mountain! So if I grumble about the cold please forgive me. This Aussie thinks it is a miserable winter.

On a less gloomy note, we have begun walking Lilli. We aren’t really trying to train her to walk to heel yet. But we are going to have to. As you can see from this pic of Lu setting off with her on Sunday she is getting to be a big puppy. She’s only twelve weeks old and already weighs 10.1kg (22.27 lbs). The vet she saw today for immunisation and micro-chipping says she is going to be a big girl.

On our walk we spotted some galahs feeding on a lawn (yes I do take my camera almost everywhere). These pink parrots are really common in much of Oz.As I snapped away two more swept in to land.Then after walking only a few blocks it was time to head for home because puppies get tired quickly.

A Milestone (of Sorts)

2011-07-12T19:36:00.003+10:00

My progress on my WIP continues to move along, although not as quickly as I would like. As you may know I have been working long hours recently tidying up to leave my previous job in good order and now trying to get on top of my new job as quickly as possible.

At the moment I am up at 5:30am and on the train as soon as I can get to the station. Then I am usually home late and hit the sack about an hour or two after I stagger in the door. This doesn't leave much time for anything during the week.

This has meant some things have had to slip a bit. First I have become really slack at responding to your comments on my blog, I promise I will fix this as soon as things ease up a bit.
Second I am not visiting as many of your blogs as I would like and even when I do I tend to lurk without commenting.

Part of my long day is a commute of over an hour at each end. This is normally a blessing in disguise because it gives me time to write. I'm still managing an hour of writing time most mornings. Unfortunately things haven't been as good in the evenings, with long days I have tended to sit vacantly staring at my PC screen through sheer exhaustion, plus if I leave late the train is usually crowded so I often don't get a seat for the first half of the trip.

Now that is my whining for tonight. Because despite all that I have still reached a milestone. I am provisionally saying I have finished writing my first draft of my WIP.

Relaxing Photo Break

Freycinet Penninsula (Tasmania) in evening light

Why provisionally? Well I'm cheating a bit, as I have said before I am writing each stream of POV separately with the aim of weaving them together afterwards. Well I have reached the 'afterwards' bit. Most of my narrators have finished their stories. The ones that haven't are waiting impatiently on me. If the text I have slides together nicely some of my narrators will add a few comments and I'll move on to thinking about a second draft.

But, and this is a big but, I suspect that as I go I will likely have to adjust some strands to get them to even vaguely fit. And there is some background material for some characters that I don't think I will have to flesh out if the piece sits nicely as a whole.

I hope all this is making sense. Any way apart from some frustration about hours in the day it is going well.

So what about you? Have you ever had times when your life felt like it wasn't your own?

Gratuitous Rainforest Fungi Shot

Tea or Coffee Anyone?

2011-07-09T19:54:00.008+10:00

First of all an apology. I have not responded to all your wonderful comments on my last few posts. As you know I have just started a new job which is very different from my previous one. So I have been working hard and long hours to get on top of the new role as quickly as possible.

Apart from anything else every conversation in the new workplace seems to be filled with acronyms I just don’t know! The Victorian Public Service seems to have a language all of its own! The good part is I seem to have fallen on my feet in terms of having a great team to work with.

Down to the business of today - as you can guess by the time we got to the weekend I was ready for a change of pace. Deb and I hopped in the car and drove to one of our favourite places.

I have posted about Mount Donna Buang before, but here we go again. As you know it is winter down this way and this past week we have had miserable and cold weather.

It isn’t too bad down in Melbourne but in the mountains around there has been snow.
In fact the Oz Alps are reporting a bumper ski season.

Mount Donna Buang usually has snow cover at the peak for much of winter and although there isn’t skiing there it is quite popular because it is so close to Melbourne. Any way as I said Deb and I shot up there today. By the way, a lot of these piccies benefit from clicking on to expand them.

When we reached the peak it was cold and misty.This tower was built for spotting fires in bushfire season. A bit redundant today!
I had a look in one of the shelters - there was a warming fire that someone had lit in the BBQ.People have been busy building snow men and snow sculptures. I thought this teapot was clever.
It was complete with cups.
I went traipsing around looking for objects to turn my camera on. I loved this boulder standing clear of the snow.After a while we were cold and miserable (I wonder why?).

So we jumped back in the car and drove the 4,000 odd feet back to the valley floor. Perhaps the teapot had given us ideas. Because we stopped at one our favourite eateries.

Wild Thyme Café is in the village of Warburton. It has great meals and good coffee.

But the thing they absolutely do best is cakes and pastries. The owner bakes the most amazing cakes you can imagine.

I had the baked continental cheesecake. It looked so yum I couldn’t help myself and took a spoonful before I remembered to take a piccie!

Deb had the lemon meringue pie. I am not normally big on sweets but the ones at Wild Thyme are as good as anything I have tasted anywhere in the world!

One last piccie. We sat in the front room of the café. I noticed a whole collage of reflections on the window. Nearly everything in this piccie is a reflection or a reflection of a reflection. The two legs in the foreground are actually just outside, as is the bicycle rickshaw. I have no idea where it originally came from, but the rickshaw is always parked out the front when they are open. Wild Thyme is that kind of place.
The blue car is actually further up the street and going the other way. The sunny park is about 100 metres down the road to the right.
The man sitting with his face to the picture is Alan, the owner of the café. He is not outside this window but at a table to the right on the footpath. It’s illegal to smoke in restaurants in Victoria so they have a table outside for those who have to smoke while they eat.

Abbotsford

2011-07-05T20:39:00.014+10:00

I started my new job yesterday. It all feels very new and truth be told there is a massive learning curve ahead of me.

It was in at the deep end. Half of yesterday was spent in formal induction. Then it was straight into team meetings to meet the team I will be managing and to meet the larger section we are integrated within.

Now for something completely different. On Saturday we had a bright day so Deb and I were out and about. Neither of us had much energy so we went in the direction of the city.

Once again our focus was the Yarra River. I wanted to catch piccies of a cascade known as Dight’s Falls. The falls are right near the heart of the city in the old industrial suburb Abbotsford.

Unfortunately there was a construction site on the river bank there so I couldn’t get close.Then I noticed a look out high up on the other side. I had to go a long way around. Nearly a mile downstream to cross a road bridge. Then it was into a patch of bush that follows the river almost all the way into the city.

I paused to catch these piccies of delicate Eucalyptus tree flowers. Then I had to stop and catch this view of the city. My new office is half way up one of these skyscrapers.

Then I heard something familiar, I turned and scanned the tree tops.

Can you see what I saw?
The noise was the gentle sounds of cockatoos ‘talking’ to each other .

High in the trees – a flock of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos Calyptorhynchus funereusI have never managed to get decent photos of these large (two foot long) parrots before.

So I began to stalk closer. I managed to get a little closer,But I spooked this shy fellow.

She took off with an alarm call which caused all the others to take to the air.
I managed to snap this very out of focus shot before she disappeared through the trees. You can see why they are called ‘yellow-tailed’. There is a related species called ‘red-tailed’.

I went a little further to the look out. It wasn’t a great vantage point after all. But I did manage to get a few nice piccies of boulders in the torrent.

Searching for Love

2011-07-03T22:25:00.004+10:00

I start my new job tomorrow.
Nerves and a pleasant sense of anticipation at the same time.

Because of the new job I’m hitting the sack early.
So I’ll just post a few piccies of Lilli.

These are a week old. She had grown a lot by the time these were taken and continues to grow at a rapid rate.

She is an absolute delight, very eager to please and a real character.

The world according to Lilli.

“If I look really mournful will you love me more?”“How about if I just look really cute?”“You like books, what if I pretend to be a book?”“A puppy gets tired out looking for love.”

A Near Disater in the Continuity Stakes

2011-06-30T21:30:00.007+10:00

I had a worried moment last night as I was working on my WIP.

As I have said I’ve been writing one POV at a time with the plan of assembling the units into a whole later.

I thought I had made a massive continuity error. Those of you who were reading my extracts featuring Valentina may remember Stepan. Stepan is a (possibly former)friend of Valentina’s who has been recruited into the Soviet NKVD. Like Valentina he provides ‘the voice’ for a number of sections of my narrative.

As I was tidying up a section of Stepan’s narrative on my way home on the train I had this sudden dread that I had Stepan at Murmansk in the Arctic and on the Don River in southern Russia at the exactly the same time. The two locations are literally thousands of kilometres apart!

I have a plot device to have him move from one place to the other but that requires months. Teleport devices are not in general use today, let alone in the 1940’s Soviet Union!

I got home late again last night and literally did not have the courage to look at my potential problem until today. With relief I found my panic of last night was exactly that, a panic! I have a time frame of nearly six months to work with. Last night I was thinking with a tired brain and my brain is not good when tired.

Now a few piccies from my night time excursions on the weekend.

My new camera gives me so much more control for night time shots.

A short exposure of mysterious lights.In a long exposure they become a brightly lit crane unloading an enormous container ship at Port of Melbourne.Further away these giant port cranes remind me of the ‘walker’ transport out of Star Wars.On the subject of mistakes. A real doozy was made in Melbourne’s Docklands.

Turning my camera in the general direction of the city you can see the ‘Southern Star’ observation wheel being rebuilt against the night skyline. Rebuilt because the original design was flawed and the whole thing began warping in the heat of an Aussie summer,

‘Psst guys let me tell you a secret. It gets hot in Oz!’

I thought I had made an error with my writing as big as that of the engineers who designed the Southern Star. Luckily my mistake was thinking I had made a mistake. Phew!
Have you ever made a terrible mistake with your writing (or otherwise)?

Two (small) Mysteries Revealed

2011-06-28T19:46:00.006+10:00

A quick post tonight because my long days are continuing. I am beginning my new job next Monday, so as you can imagine I have plenty of work to tie up loose ends where I am now.

As I said last post, on Friday night I was in town very late. Well I was asked by a friend for a favour. She was organising a Débutante Ball and needed someone to record the event for her.

Here is a sample of the 1300 (that is right, one thousand three hundred) piccies I took on Friday night.Not the best by any means but I don’t want to use any photos that could identify anyone without their permission.

And another as you can see the young folk were really getting into it (one face blanked out).I also posted this piccie I took on Saturday night and challenged you to guess what it was. Well Rosie C was bang on the money.

Rosie said “It looks like you're capturing a late night city and its lights, but the camera jiggled.”

I was high up on Mount Dandenong on Saturday night. I used a tripod to capture some night shots of southern Melbourne. Shots like these need a long exposure (some as long as 10 seconds) and it got so windy the camera moved several times during the exposure.

One final note, you should check out Rosie’s blog post from Monday, she posted a great review of my book Veiled in Shadows .

A long week

2011-06-26T00:02:00.006+10:00

A quick post just so you don't think I have fallen off the world. I haven't posted since Tuesday and I am usually (a little) more regular.

I have been home late every night this week. During the week it was largely during to work. Then last night I was in town late again but for a very different reason (I'll tell you why next post).

Now it is the wee small hours of Sunday so I won't chat any longer (please excuse any typos I'm not going to proof this before hitting the sack)

I will leave you with a piccie I have taken this weekend. It is one that 'failed'.
But I quite like it anyway.

Any guesses as to what is the subject of this piccie?

100,495

2011-06-21T21:18:00.002+10:00

My WIP crept over 100,000 words today. A couple of months ago I thought that I would have reached my estimated completion of about 120,000 by now. That is the down side of targets and deadlines; you can miss them.

However I am pretty much content with where I am. Things have been a little slow, because of a number of factors mostly about being tired and not writing as well as I could during my commute. But as I have said recently I’ve been distracted by thinking about some future writing projects.

But in the end my main reason has been the WIP itself. The novel begins in 1940 and finishes in 1952. I am writing it in multiple POV, one perspective at a time.
I ran into two problems. First, as I began to think about the process of patching the story together I began to worry I would end up with a bit of an anti-climax. I have moved away from sections of my original outline and I had this sudden dread that the new plot didn’t quite work. After a lot of thought I think it does, especially with a little tweaking. But in the end that is the sort of feedback I will be seeking from beta readers.

Second I have all but decided to remove one of the POVs. I like the character’s perspective, but all he really does is give a counter view of some scenes. The character will remain in the story, but the sections featuring his narration have fallen from the word count.

So to finish my first draft I have to finish one character’s perspective (probably around another 5,000 words) and write the majority of one of my antagonist’s perspective (I think about 12,000 words). Yes in my novels ‘the bad guys’ get to share their perspective. After all it is worth noting they think they are the ‘good guys’.

So finally a couple of questions.
Have you ever got most of the way through a project and realised part of it didn’t work?
When it comes to books how long is too long?

Now two piccies from Tassie.
Fungi Mount Field National ParkRainforest stream Mount Field National Park

Oh the hard work a Puppy has to do!

2011-06-19T18:31:00.002+10:00

A quick post tonight. Most of the family are ill with typical winter colds. It has been cool to cold most days and wet on and off for weeks (months really). I’ve had the bug too and am busy trying to shake it off.

Lilli is growing rapidly. She’s been with us for two weeks tomorrow. Like most Labradors she is very clever and eager to please. She has already started learning the things she will need to know to keep her humans happy.

She has well and truly already got the idea of house training. She leaves a few puddles because she is still only a baby. But already she asks to go outside to do her business. Deb taught her to sit in about 20 seconds the other day and she now knows she has to sit before she gets her meals. Hard work for a puppy!

She has been for her first few walks on a lead. She already thinks going for a ride in the car is exciting and must be going somewhere interesting.

Like all puppies she is chewing everything she can get in her mouth. Io (our middle daughter took some shots the other day).

Lili says ‘I’ll just see if this planter needs a little adjustment.’‘This old garden border looks chewable.’‘Lies all lies, I don’t chew all the time! Would this face ever be naughty?’

Al goes nuts about POV

2011-06-17T21:23:00.007+10:00

My post of the other day has got me thinking.

I talked about writing in a non-linear fashion. That is something that most people who commented did not generally do. It seems that people will generally swap POV as they go rather than jump around like I am at the moment.

That got me thinking about POV and how many I have in my current WIP. It’s quite a few. In fact my WIP Veiled in Storms has no less than five narrators.

But then I sat down and counted how many voices contribute to my first novel Veiled in Shadows. It is, wait for it… eleven.

That’s right no less than eleven characters contributing in some way to the narrative flow.

Now to be sure there are (only) six main narrators. Then there are…

Wait a minute it’s actually twelve voices. I went to count less important narrators and realised I’d missed one!

Six major narrators, all of whom narrate as if speaking. But then it gets a little more complex, two of the minor narrators also speak, but the third ‘talks’ through the medium of a record of interrogation. He is one of a few real historical persons in my book and his ‘voice’ is based in part on his actual interrogation as a prisoner in 1945.

One of the three extra voices speaks as a narrator, another takes the form a of a one page letter and the third is presented as a two page police report.

By now you must think I have a serious case of multiple personality disorder.
So what do you think, does it sound too complicated?

From my perspective it was a challenge to write, but an enjoyable challenge. Interestingly none of the people who have read or reviewed the book have said (at least to me) that it felt fractured or disjointed.

Two piccies from my archive. And given I am talking about writing I am going to feature libraries today. The first is a small rural library in the gold-rush era town of Clunes.The second is a suburban Melbourne library. The Fitzroy Library is in the suburb of Fitzroy. It is a grand structure built with gold-rush money in the nineteenth century.

Al Rambles

2011-06-15T19:07:00.005+10:00

I mentioned the other day that I had plots worked out for a couple of extra novels, one of which was a YA piece. I find it very odd to be thinking about writing YA, I've never wanted to write anything for young people before. Although I must say when my girls bought books I always queued up to have my turn reading them. Sometimes my imagination gets even more active than usual and this is one of the things that popped out.

I don't dare do more than a rough outline or I might get carried away from what I am currently writing.

On the subject of the WIP, I've taken a slightly different tack with writing this one.
Both the WIP and my first book are written from multiple points of view. The narrative is broken up so we get differing perspectives on many of the events in the plot.

With Veiled in Shadows I began at the start and wrote to the end. Generally, I switched perspective as I came to the section I was writing. So I mainly wrote from start to finish for most drafts, although I did leave sections when I got ‘stuck’.

With my WIP I am (mostly) writing one character's perspective at a time right through the whole stream of the book. Then I move back to the start for the next character. But it is all written in chunks that will be pasted together at the end.

I think this has a huge advantage in terms of keeping with the flow of each character.

But there is a downside. Because characters are not present in each scene writing the over arching narrative seems more disjointed. Also I will have to be extra careful about continuity when it comes to bringing it all back together.

What do you think - would you prefer to write from beginning to end, or would you prefer to explore characters one at a time?

Do you enjoy reading stories that are from multiple POV?

Finally two piccies from my archive. A snowy mountain road as a reminder it is winter down this way.And that relative of the platypus an echidna or spiny ant eater. These guys, like platypus, are egg-laying mammals.

Two Speed Al

2011-06-12T20:34:00.005+10:00

This is a long weekend down in Oz. We have ‘the Queen’s Birthday Holliday’ tomorrow. Normally I see myself as a republican, but I guess I’ll celebrate the good Queen’s day if it means a day off from work :-)

For those of you who don’t know, Oz is still a monarchy! We have not entirely cut our ties with the British Empire and Queen Elizabeth II is still our queen Downunder.

Now on to the two speed Al.

Work on my WIP has slowed to a crawl over the past few days.
I’ve recently been knocking over around 500 – 1,000 words a day. Over the past week this has slowed to around 200 – 300 words. Two of my characters have been fencing with each other over romance and misunderstanding. To add to the complications the sister of one has been interfering, with best intentions of course!

But it has meant that I have been delicately feeling my way rather than powering ahead. So things are slow.

However, I suspect I may have solved a bottle neck with a bit of early hours insomnia. I think I have sorted the conflict and will be able to move ahead.

Now that said I am probably a little unfair with my characters as I’ve probably been distracting myself as well. Over the past few days I have worked through not one but two rough outlines for possible future writing projects!

One is a sci-fi/fantasy piece for adults that involves time travel and is set in both the ancient world and present day.
The second is a YA piece that is also sci-fi/fantasy that take place between our world and another.
Both have taken a lot of thought, particularly the YA book because I haven’t written with a YA audience in mind before.

I like both ideas a great deal. Oh for more time to write!

I mean that pretty seriously. I have a lot of writing planned out now!

As you may know my WIP is the second in a series that goes with my first book Veiled in Shadows. At the moment I have two more planned to go with those. Each is a stand alone story (I hate “to be continued” endings) but they all feature some of the same characters and explore the events of the 20th century from different perspectives.

So if I add these projects to my “To Be Written” list I have years of writing ahead of me!

Now in the spirit of being two speed, two photos with very different themes. First Lilli, who is already very much a member of our family. She has been with us for a week tomorrow and is a ball of energy.

Second, a rainforest stream in Mount Field National Park, Tasmania.I saw a wild platypus for only the second ever time in my whole life just downstream of these rocks. They are common, but very shy so hard to spot. Alas my camera was safely tucked in its bag so no photo (sorry Susan). A magical experience nonetheless.

So dear friends a question, does your imagination ever get in the way of the task you have at hand?

A New Job!

2011-06-09T20:11:00.003+10:00

Well it is almost a month since I had the interview, but I have landed a new job!

You may remember I had an interview with the Victorian Public Service. One of the three person interview panel asked me to apply for another job the same day (I didn’t get that one).
Then about a month ago the chairperson of the panel had her PA ask me to apply for another job for which I was interviewed.

I thought I had done a reasonable interview, but hadn’t heard any more. Then last night one of my referees phoned and told me she had been contacted for a reference.

Naturally I was pretty excited last night and today I was phoned by the chair of the third panel and offered the third job! The delay was caused by an internal applicant appealing their decision.

To say I am relieved and happy to get the new job is somewhat of an understatement. The job is very different to my current one. At the moment I am managing a couple of charity services that support homeless people in Melbourne. My current job is very coal face, very stressful and exhausting. I love community service, but I am ready for a change.

The new job is very different, it is managing a policy team for the Department of Health. The link with my experience is that part of the role is oversight of programs that provide services to homeless and other marginalised people. Effectively my ‘clients’ in the new job will be charities and other NGOs that run services similar to the ones I am running now.

I won’t be starting for at least another three weeks because I have to give notice where I am now. The hardest part will be leaving the truly dedicated team of staff and volunteers that I manage now. It will also be strange moving away from the community sector and into a government job.

I’m not kidding myself, the new job will have a steep learning curve. It is going to have its own stresses. But in comparison to the real dangers we face in this work it will seem a refreshing change.

Now just a few piccies.

The Horseshoe Falls, Mount Field National Park, TasmaniaFungi, Mount Field National ParkFreycinet Peninsula, Tasmania in morning lightWave washed rocks Freycinet Peninsula

The Newest Little Russell

2011-06-06T19:33:00.002+10:00

I’m a bit excited tonight.

Because we have a puppy!

We haven’t had a dog since our beloved Molly the Labrador died in 2008.

Anyway our girls E, Io and Lu picked up a gorgeous black Labrador puppy from her breeders while I was at work today.

Here she is little Lilli.I’ve only taken a few piccies tonight because I didn’t want to phase her with a flash and truth be known I was too busy playing with her.

I also got this piccie just after we fed her. Her little eyes are asking the typical Lab question of ‘Is that all I get?’

In Which Al goes batty (again)

2011-06-04T22:07:00.008+10:00

A few months ago I posted about a flying fox (fruit bat) colony on the outskirts of Melbourne.
I posted some piccies of very cute flying foxesThen I went back after dark and attempted to get some piccies of the bats leaving on their nightly fruit and nectar foraging missions.

Alas my old camera was not up to the task and the best I got was this.Those funny squiggles are bats flying past a long exposure.

Tonight, I went back again and waited until the sun setAnd the moon came out
And tried again
Now my new camera is light-years ahead of the older model. But it seems I am just asking too much of a stills camera because these are the best I got.At least they are now fuzzy bats rather than squiggles ;-)Having said that I am not at all disappointed.

Because I had fun and…

While I waited for the sun to set some of the other wild life in the area kept me entertained.

This Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) landed right near my feet.
He/she looked at me and turned around and had another look and must have decided I wasn’t a tree and flew off in a panic!

Then this pair of rainbow lorikeets became very interested in this hollow branch.
One looked Then the other looked And the first looked again.
I guess but don’t know that they are scoping for hollows in which to nest (most Oz parrots nest in tree hollows).

Then in the last light I heard a mournful cry. Looking up I saw a flock of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) flying high overhead, presumably looking for a roosting spot for the night. These birds are beautiful black cockies with yellow cheek patches and a flashing yellow tail. I’ve seen them many, many times but never managed to photograph them.

That is me for the night. Good night!

A Two Part Post

2011-06-01T19:05:00.002+10:00

No I don’t mean to say that I am going to present this post in two episodes.
Instead I am going to tackle two sides of the way I am feeling at the moment.

First I am going to be a whiny, snivelly Al.
As you know I had a wonderful holiday last week (by the way in Oz lingo holiday = vacation, not just the special days in the calendar).
Many of you will also know I have been hunting for a new job. I think I am seriously approaching burnout after (too) many years in coalface crisis services like my current job managing programs for homeless people.
Normally I come back to work after a break recharged and ready to go again.

This time I am just as tired as when I went away. I am ready for a change.

So why two parts?

As part of my Al managing Al’s mind strategy I am now going to share some thoughts about what helps keep me sane. Because I am not so far gone that I can’t recognise I am truly blessed as well.

First I went away last week with the love of my life Deb.
It was (as far as I recall) our second child free break in over 25 years of marriage. Just the two of us was wonderful and a real reminder of just how special this wonderful woman is to me. I hasten to add that I don’t exactly need reminding because my Deb is always amazing!

Second despite the fact that they are frequently demanding sods, our three beautiful girls are mostly a pleasure to have around.

Then I have distractions and hobbies which I pursue with a passion.

My writing is the best part of my working day. Commuting by train as I have been now for several months means I get a stress buster on the way to work and on the way home! And as a bonus my WIP continues to look more like a novel.

Then (as you know) I spend a lot of time out and about chasing photo opportunities.

So dear friends I hope you forgive my whingeing. Things are mostly okay with Al.

I haven’t had anything like enough time to sort my piccies from Tasmania, but I will include just a few.
As I am a bit boring I will include two of subjects I have already shared.

First another shot of the pademelon I posted last week. Isn’t she cute the way she holds the leaf she is eating in her little paws?The Russell Falls from another angle.And finally some tiny translucent bracket fungi - they are about the size of a 20 cent coin (roughly the size of an American Quarter or a British 10p, and exactly the same size as a Kiwi 20c)

Home Safe

2011-05-29T20:39:00.008+10:00

Our Tassie vacation came to an end on Friday night.
We were back home in Melbourne in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Our last couple of days in Tassie were as packed as the first few.
Like our trip there in January I’ve come home with far too many piccies to share.
I will probably do a few posts on the trip over the next couple of weeks.

I am a little weary still from our trip and I am hitting the sack early tonight to be ready for work in the morning. So I thought I would share just a few piccies of our last couple of days there.

In Thursday we drove down through the Huon Valley. When we got to the Huon River it was amazingly still. The river’s surface was like a mirror and I was lucky enough to capture some beautiful images of reflections.

I’ve turned one of these upside down.Can you tell which way is up?
That afternoon we caught the car ferry over to Bruny Island. This piccie shows “The Neck” which joins the north of the island to the south.
I captured this sunset from Bruny Island, the strip of water reflecting the sunset colours is the D'Entrecasteaux Channel which separates the island from the Tasmanian mainland. The mountains in the distance are those north of Recherche bay which featured in my post last week..

On Friday we headed to the Tasman Peninsula.

Heaps of Banksia species were flowering in the bush.On the north side of the peninsula are the remains of the convict era coal mines. I love archaeology and ruins so I took hundreds of piccies.
These two are part of the remains of the convict barracks.

The Cold Light of Dawn

2011-05-23T22:04:00.012+10:00

Yesterday we drove from Hobart where we have been based over to Tasmania's east coast.

Our destination: the Freycinet National Park. On the way I noticed this semi-ruined boathouse and knew I had to have a closer look.It was very photogenic, and in the background the mountains of the Freycinet NP.

We took our time stopping for lunch along the way and finally reached the park just before dark.I caught a few photos, but unfortunately the weather turned nasty and we had to run for shelter. We drove to Swansea about an hour away where we checked into a chalet overnight.

This morning I was up before dawn. I drove back to Freycinet, hoping to catch the rock faces of the cliffs in the dawn light.

The difference between OK landscape shots and brilliant ones is the light. The best landscape pictures are captured in the warm light of dawn or sunset.

But it was not to be. In the ten minutes after I took this piccie of the clouds beginning to pink up more cloud had rolled in and it began to rain!I caught some shots anyway, but they were taken in a cold grey light not morning warmth.

A Taster

2011-05-23T22:04:00.005+10:00

Our past couple of days have been full to the brim.
I'm a little weary this evening, not exactly what you want from a vacation. But it is a good kind of weary. We've walked a lot and covered a lot of ground.

Yesterday we headed to the South East of Tasmania.

Just a quick couple of piccies (by the way these are well worth clicking on to get an expanded view).

Recherche Bay at around sunset.And the Lune River half an hour before.Can you tell which way is up?

Today we headed up into the South West Wilderness area.
The world heritage area is a mix of temperate rainforest and alpine wilderness.

I caught this cutie in the rainforest in the Mount Field National Park. She is a Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierii). Pademelons are a cat sized relative of Kangaroos and Wallabies. These guys were widespread on the mainland before European settlement. Unfortunately in the old days some “gentlemen” decided it would be nice to have foxes to hunt and released European red foxes in mainland Oz.

Oz + foxes = extinct pademelons

There are none of these delightful creatures left on the mainland. Fortunately there are no foxes in Tassie.

The last pics are the Russell Falls (isn't that a good name)and High in the South Western mountains... Lake Pedder, just before sunset and in driving rain.

Al Ventures South

2011-05-22T09:39:00.006+10:00

As I said earlier in the week I am on leave for a whole week!
This pause for a recharge is what I really need.

Anyway as my title says we have ventured south for our holiday.
If you venture south from Victoria there are only two places to go.

Antarctica

And a bit closer to home Tasmania.

Now my Queensland friends think I am mad going further south at this time of year (remember Downunder the further south you go the colder it gets, we do things upside down here). But we enjoyed Tasmania so much in January we thought we'd have another look.

So getting up at 6:30 to catch an early flight we were here in Tassie by early morning.

We wondered around Hobart for a while enjoying a gorgeous autumn day.Then we decided given it was such glorious day we would head up Mount Wellington which towers 1,271 metres (4,170 feet) over Hobart

Hobart literally sits on the eastern flank of Mount Wellington by the Derwent river.

Anyway, we drove up the windy road that climbs the mountain side. I paused part way up to get this shot of mountains away to the north.Once we got to the peak we went for a bit of a walk along one of the many hiking trails.

Naturally I took dozens of piccies, but as uploading using my mobile phone as a modem is a bit slow I will share just two.

A view of a formation called the 'Organ Pipes' with a glimpse of Hobart's southern suburb Kingstown far below.And a close up of some of the 'Organ Pipes'.
A word about the piccies I will post while I am away. I am sorting and processing them on my netbook. That is really handy in terms of being able to store them off camera (I take far too many piccies to rely on memory cards) but the screen is too small and the resolution is too low to really pick the best. So an apology if any of my piccies are not up to their usual standard.

Al looks to the heavens

2011-05-20T21:00:00.004+10:00

I said I’d try to do a quick post tonight. So here I go!

We have to be off to the airport at 6:30 in the morning. That’s the time I usually leave for work, but it’s a bit early for Deb!

And even earlier for our eldest daughter E who is going to drop us off!

I had a good morning on the way in on the train in terms of writing, but this evening I was tired and only managed just over 100 words. Still I think I developed an idea that will help me jump forward next time I write.

I’m taking my netbook with me so I might get some writing done while I am on holiday. If I get a chance I will put up a post or two as well.

Now a few piccies. You may remember back in March I posted this piccie of the ‘super moon’ that I took with my old camera.Well last night I walked out to meet my youngest Lu at the bus stop. I noticed the moon is close to full so I decided to have a play with my new camera.

This is one of many shots I took. The difference between an 18 megapixel and an 8 megapixel like my old camera is amazing!

And if I crop it down further the level of detail is amazing, even if it is starting to get a little pixelated.Al is in camera heaven!