Photos from my life

A Day (and Night) at the Cricket

2011-03-11T11:23:00.002+10:30

Australia Day
26 Jan 2011
Adelaide
One Day International
Australia v England

Shade

Light

Guess who won!

Burra

2010-04-05T09:34:00.000+09:30

Sunset - 2008

Cavalry

2010-03-30T23:53:00.000+10:30

Christmas Pageant 2008

Sunrise

2010-03-28T11:54:00.001+10:30

Winter 08

Frogs

2010-03-27T23:55:00.004+10:30

In the front yard.

Bedroom

2010-03-26T22:54:00.000+10:30

Shabby Chic Snooze

Stringybarks and Kangaroo Tails

2010-03-19T23:42:00.002+10:30

Deep Creek Highlands

Kangaroos

2010-03-17T23:52:00.003+10:30

Backyard neighbors in the cabin at Deep Creek, 2008.

Secret Waterfall

2010-03-16T12:25:00.001+10:30

Near Deep Creek Conservation Park.

Mishka

2010-03-13T23:20:00.000+10:30

Too many kids.
June 09

Hornet

2010-03-12T14:20:00.001+10:30

Pre car race

Largs Pier Hotel

2010-03-11T22:18:00.000+10:30

Boy in Pipe

2010-03-10T21:19:00.000+10:30

Dawn at Lyndoch

2010-03-09T19:01:00.001+10:30

June 08 - Shabby Chic holiday getaway

Buddah Anniversary

2010-03-08T11:43:00.004+10:30

A year ago today, the Buddah arrived in our yard.

Smiling.

Sunrise July 09

2010-03-07T01:07:00.002+10:30

Sunset Jul 09

2010-03-07T01:05:00.002+10:30

Bubbles

2009-06-17T22:28:00.003+09:30

From a recent wedding.

New Life

2009-06-07T17:19:00.003+09:30

I've started a new blog here. It will be used to showcase slideshows which I have uploaded to Photobucket. The photos will be 'raw' in the sense that they will probably have not been processed at all, and the only exclusions will be those which are totally hopeless, obscene, etc.

I am thinking that the photos I work up out of the bulk slideshows I'll put up on this blog as a bit of a showcase.

Not sure, will see how it goes.

Whoops

2008-06-10T08:32:00.001+09:30

Wow, it's been a year! I'll have to pull my finger out. Have still been taking photos, lost most in a computer melt down. Back sooner rather than later.

I hope.

"Season Creep"

2007-06-05T00:06:00.001+09:30

And I thought it referred to the expanding length of both cricket and football seasons! Look here for the 'official' definition.

Hiatus

2007-05-30T22:26:00.000+09:30

Wow. It's been a month and a half since I last had a brief spurt of posting here. That is really slack of me and I apologise to those loyal few who might have come calling in the meantime.

I think I can say the hiatus has been a result of two main factors:

1. We got a newish computer. That now has the internet connection. Our older computer has all the photo software and photo libraries on it. That will take time to transfer across - which I haven't done. Thus, not a one stop thing to do to get a post up.

2. I had to spend hours a day more out of the home on work related activity. Something had to give. Sadly, this blog was that 'something'.

There's a cool article about the trials of blogging here. Reading that inspired me to write this.

I think we're getting the computer and work issues sorted out, so I should be up and active again soon.

Silvereyes

2007-04-14T01:05:00.000+09:30

Above: There's a wee gang of wee silvereyes that's been swooping through our front trees when they think no ones looking. Below: Occasionally they stop for long enough to get a photo.

Below: If you can see one, if you look carefully you'll find another.

Cottager Backyard

2007-04-10T18:59:00.000+09:30

Above: Backdoor area of cottage. Below: New garden beds begin to take off. Judging by evidence elsewhere, it has taken a bit of persistence on behalf of the owners of the property to get things established. It will be good to see what the end result is in a year or two.

Fountain of Love

2007-04-10T18:56:00.000+09:30

Easily the dominant feature of the backyard enclosure of the cottage we stayed at in Clare was this fountain/statue. It's continual burble was gentle music through the night.

Roadside Views

2007-04-09T11:27:00.000+09:30

These roadside photos were taken on the road between the small townships of Seven Hills and Mintaro, at the Southern end of the Clare Valley. Above: archetypical roadside panorama of south eastern australia after a long hot summer. Below: similar, rich agricultural country (sheep/wheat mainly).

For a video (nearly 50 Mb, so be careful if you're on dialup), click here.

Roadside Dustdevil

2007-04-09T11:17:00.000+09:30

This photo was taken from swiftly moving car, between Gawler and Roseworthy. We had been seeing a pillar of dust from several kilometres away, itself moving across the landscape at a speed in the tens of kilomtres. It was whipping up quite a wind within itself, and looked like a dust devil. This high zoom photo is of its base. Not very spectacular looking, but you get an idea of its scale. I have seen these tornado like winds pick up objects weighing over 50 kgs and hurl them a hundred metres, out of the blue on an otherwise calm day.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T02:47:00.000+09:30

Above: Rose and church from Billy Goat Lookout, about a kilometre's walk from the cottage where we spent a weekend in Clare in March. Below: White Rabbit in Mintaro Maze - scene of an infamous Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

I'll be posting a few photos from our trip in the near future. Until then, have a safe and happy easter!

Cat and Contraption

2007-04-07T08:29:00.000+09:30

Above: Mishka enjoys a contemplative view from his 'contraption'. Below: This remarkable architecture was built by our friend Paul when Mish had outgrown his kitten sized scratch pole. Since he's had it, Mish has tended to be a well more well adjusted adolescent cat (he's about 7 months old). Note that His Haughtiness has registered my presence and is doing his best to ignore me.

Mishka relishes the fact that there is a bit of the house which is purr-ly his. In fact, he's quite territorial about it. He often uses it as an ambush point against people or bugs walking by. Below: Concerned.

Hornets

2007-04-04T20:14:00.000+09:30

These are my last photos of the air displays from the Clipsal 500 as viewed from our balcony. The RAAF F18 did its thing just before the races started, was bloody noisy and bloody quick. I didn't catch a photo of it at all the first day, which is a pity as it did a stalling climb which left it stationary in midair only several hundred metres from us! In the photo above it is rocketing by, I was panning the camera pretty quick. Below, it pulls away.

Just before the final race, a pair of F18s did a power climb as their 'salute'. Awsome. For a video (in which you can't actually see much because of digital degredation and the speed of the little planes combined), click here (might take a while for dialup).

Combat Maneuvers

2007-04-03T19:28:00.000+09:30

The RAAF 'Roulettes' put on an aerobatic display at the opening of the Clipsal 500 carfest recently held in Adelaide. This was one of my favorite photos (once doctored for maximum impact). The dark line across the photo is a power line on our street.

Roulettes in formation

2007-04-03T19:20:00.000+09:30

Here's a few more photos of the RAAF Roulettes, flying in formation.

...

Want to see video of them? Click here (will take awhile if you have dialup).

PC3 Orion 'Nimrod'

2007-04-02T20:20:00.000+09:30

On both of the main racedays of the recent Clipsal 500 motor race held in Adelaide, the aerial opening of events was heralded by a flyby of an RAAF Orion (coastal surveillance) plane. Above, it has just completed the flyby. Below, it arrives through the fog and mist to the North of our kitchen window. Note, it's landing gear is still down!

(Photo fairly heavily modified)

I took a brief video of it flying by the balcony. You can see it if you click here (note, it may take awhile if you still rely on dialup).

Holden Blimp

2007-04-01T20:57:00.000+09:30

Adelaide recently played host to the Clipsall 500 motor race, when the whole city puts up with traffic delays and alienation of public land for several months for the sake of four days of carfest. Part of the festivities involved flying a blimp around for the week prior, advertising one of the competing local car makes (General Motors Holden). By the way, Holdens came first and second!

But I'm biased...

Blimp at Night

2007-04-01T20:55:00.000+09:30

Floating over Adelaide's suburban landscape, the blimp looked at times alien.

UFOs trail Blimp

2007-04-01T20:48:00.000+09:30

Although it was eerie at night, the Blimp looked quite stately floating over the suburban landscape. That is, unless you look closely at the small dark objects not far above the horizon in the left of the above photo. For the life of me, I don't know what they are. Which makes them UFOs on this blog. What do you think?

(UFOs detail)

Local Footy Game - Trial Match

2007-03-29T21:49:00.000+09:30

The big men fly at the centre bounce of the local level footy game I went to a week ago.

The agility of some of these big men is quite amazing. Here, one of the local Para Hills hardmen dodges his way though a bunch of Croydon Hawks to get to the footy.

Here, a Hawk takes a 'mark' (catch). Play stops for him to have a free kick after he marks the ball.

This tackle shows what happens if the opposition gets to you. In this instance, the (red) Para hills player is 'handballing' the ball as he is tackled. You can't throw the ball in footy, forwards or backwards. You actually have to either kick the ball, or strike it with a clenched fist. Obviously, footy can be an aggressive game.

After the game.

2007-03-29T18:49:00.000+09:30

The West (?) Croydon Hawks gather together after their recent trial game at Para Hills. Looking at them in the photo, doesn't look like they won. But hell, it was only a trial game, and they were playing a team from a higher division. They certainly gave their all.

Wonder how they went at Wakerie (in the Riverland, maybe 2 hours drive North of Adelaide) the following week?

Change of seasons

2007-03-28T19:42:00.000+09:30

The seasons are changing here. Being classic aussie, I don't necessarily refer to the weather, but the change from cricket to footy. Couple weekends ago, for example, I went to watch a local footy game (see photos above). In the same sporting complex, however, there were also two games of cricket going. Equinoxical indeed.

What's most interesting in retrospect is that upon closer examination of the photos I took I realised that it had been women's cricket, not the male version of the game I had just assumed it had been. Good onya sheilas, and more fool me!

I'm Back!

2007-03-27T07:57:00.000+09:30

A couple of weekends ago we went to the town of Clare in South Australia's midnorth. On one of several walks, I scaled Neagles Rock on the outskirts of the town. This was the view down the valley to the South. I'll be back to my regular posting habits now, I hope.

Apology

2007-02-19T20:49:00.000+10:30

I am sorry that I haven't put up photos in the past fortnight with my usual regularity. In fact, with no pictures at all going up it is the slackest period I've had in over half a year. Why is this? Got a bit to do with the fact that we are undergoing the full summer heat - which means lots of time spent doing nothing by the pool, or being friendly with people who (with great welcome) come around to jump in the pool. And when that's all done, there's not a lot of time left for doing all those things which usually fill up the hours (if you didn't know, keeping a blog at a high state of activity over a sustained period is quite an undertaking). Anyway, It's not that I've forgotten about it or decided to leave it be, it's really something like a blog holiday.

Maybe I'll do what some of my favorite photo bloggers do - take a photos of a lot more subjects than you immediately use, and post up the (quality) excess on the days which you don't otherwise post.

Will return fully photographically refreshed in the very near(ish) future...

Orchid

2007-02-04T17:40:00.000+10:30

For the first time, we've had some success with an orchid! This happy little Dendrobium Orchid lives under our front pergola out of direct sun (it hit 42'C today). The shot below is a macro.

Comet McNaught - Jan 29 - Final PIctures

2007-02-04T17:35:00.000+10:30

I somehow think these will be my last photos of Comet McNaught. They were taken a couple days before the full moon, and the sky has since been too bright to clearly see it. I could make it out with naked eye on Jan 30, but not since. I suspect that when the moon dies off enough to allow the luminesence of the comet to show, it will have dulled to such a degree due its travelling away from the sun that it will remain invisble. Or, it's tail at least. We'll see...

Hamley Bridge Hotel Gig

2007-01-31T13:38:00.000+10:30

Hamley Bridge Hotel. As the town's rail history gets serious around 1860, I'd guess the hotel dates from then. Looks kind of naked without a balcony though.

...

The pub was the venue for 'The Negotiators Duo", featuring singer and guitarist from my band. Here, they start rocking it up...

They made the most intense stage act I've seen for these types of duos...

Obvulessly enjoying themselves!

Hamley Bridge Hotel Gig II

2007-01-31T13:32:00.000+10:30

Above,Hamming it up with the audience. Below, losing perspective in the wash of sound ...

Reflective moment ...

Front bar audience circa closing time...

Comet McNaught - Jan 27

2007-01-30T20:19:00.000+10:30

These photos of Comet McNaught were taken on Saturday January 27 from the disused railway station in the town of Hamley Bridge. The obscuring effect of the light of the waxing moon (more than half full) was more than made up for by the absence of big city light polution. Apparently the comet was stunning at its zenith there.

Wedgetailed Eagle

2007-01-29T23:49:00.000+10:30

I spotted this eagle soaring on the thermals above the hills alongside the road from Tarlee to Kapunda in the Midnorth. There were three in the region when I arrived, they departed after I'd taken several photos. This shot is clipped from the best photo they let me take. They are magnificent birds, wingspans of upto 5' being not uncommon. They can take pets and lambs without much difficulty. Once nearly shot out to extinction, it is nice to see they've pulled through.

Trip to Kapunda

2007-01-29T23:39:00.000+10:30

On Saturday arvo I went for a trip from Hamley Bridge to Riverton to see relatives, and took a further sidetrip to visit Kapunda to visit the cemetary where my great grandfather is buried on my return. These towns are at what I would call the southern edge of South Australia's 'Mid North'. They lie a bit over an hour's drive from home. The above photo is a roadside shot, showing the hills above which I saw several wedgetailed eagles circling. The moon has just risen above the trees to the left.

This is a picture overlooking Kapunda, with the hospital complex on the left and the main town to midright. It is another panoramic shot, originally part of a 360' view taken from a marked lookout. Kapunda is Australia's 'oldest mining town', or so the sign says. It was once a major copper mine, but was drained to support Britain's effort in WWI. It survives now as an agricultural centre of over a thousand souls.

My great grandfather lies buried in Kapunda Cemetary. He no longer has a tombstone.

Southern Cross - Hamley Bridge

2007-01-28T21:31:00.000+10:30

Me and my wife went up to Hamley Bridge last night. I went for a walk at one point of the evening and spent awhile on a disused rail platform, ostensibly to take photos of McNaught's Comet in the dark country sky. The darkest place I could find nearby was the railway station. Whilst there, I snapped this 25s exposure (ISO 100) of the Southern Cross above Platforms 1 and 2.

Hamley Bridge used to be a rail town with over 1000 people (last few decades of the 19th century) living there. Nowadays it's down to about 600. I'll be posting photos from my trip over the next few days I hope. And yes, there will be some more comet photos!

Australia Day Hero

2007-01-27T11:58:00.000+10:30

This kid was one of many enjoying yesterday's public holiday at his local skate park. It was interesting to me that, having a camera with me labeled me as paedophile or potential in the eyes of many - in joking reference but the connection was there. Such a shame that our ability to participate freely with others in our world has (had to (?)) have been overtaken by security conscious insularity. Without interaction (limited by the habitual fear), how are we to learn otherwise?

2007-01-27T11:51:00.000+10:30

The Regency Park Skate Park is an almost surreal collection of concrete shapes which takes up only a small section of this large public space. It forms part of the boundary of the 'park' area, the rest of the space being filled with golf course and a pub (where we had lunch). The central feature of the park is this artificial lake, behind it you might be able to make about about six separate games of cricket happening as maybe a couple of hundred people had their Australia Day lunch under the shade of the trees in the park.

Backyard Fungi

2007-01-27T11:31:00.000+10:30

I was out the back working early in the morning on Australia Day (Jan 26 - a public holiday) when I noticed these little buggers had sprung up overnight in the backyard. You can see the moist soil that they've pushed up as they emerged still clinging to them (hadn't yet been dried out by the sun). Quite amazing how exhuberant even fungal life can be!

Comet McNaught - Jan 25

2007-01-26T08:52:00.000+10:30

I've now taken several hundred photos of McNaught, over a total period of about 5 hours. My tripod and remote shutter control make this possible. I'm learning about technique and method. In this photo, the exposure time is 4s.

Comet McNaught Details - Jan 25

2007-01-26T08:42:00.000+10:30

These three were taken over a 40 minute period. Exposure period is marginally higher (8s) than I had it the night before. I've kept sensitivity down to ISO 100. Both tail and 'flare' (caused by solar winds) are visible if you look closely.

In the following photo, the exposure period is 15 seconds.

Comet McNaught over Adelaide - Jan 25

2007-01-26T08:35:00.000+10:30

My little obsession with our interplanetary traveller continues. My technique of capturing the images of it has improved, but that is counteracted by fact that it is growing dimmer to our eye as both it moves further away from us and the sun, and the moon grows steadily brighter.

Below is a photo taken within a minute of first sighting to the naked eye (about 40 min before the above two shots). I can make out the comet in the picture. Can you?

Comet McNaught - Jan 24

2007-01-24T23:10:00.000+10:30

This was Comet McNaught tonight. I didn't have the exposure time set properly, too busy thinking about everything else. To the naked eye, at its best the tail was more visible than it has been until now. There can't be too many more nights when the shots will be great, the moon is nearly half full.

Comet McNaught - Jan 23

2007-01-24T20:23:00.000+10:30

I only caught our friend McNaught as it approached the smog/light/atmosphere layer last night. Not only is it beginning to fade in terms of its own inherent light (counteracted to some degree by it being visible for longer after sunset), but the moon is definitelywaxing - and adding its obscuration to the whole affair. Apparently after tonight, it will start to fade to our eye. Can't complain so far!

Comet McNaught over Adelaide - Jan 23

2007-01-24T20:21:00.000+10:30

I only managed to get a few rushed pic's last night. This was my favorite, even though the camera was tilting.

Comet McNaught over Adelaide - Jan 22

2007-01-24T20:18:00.000+10:30

Comet McNaught details - Jan 22

2007-01-24T20:07:00.000+10:30

The view on Jan 22 was about the best we've had, what with weather and clouds. The above is a relatively high zoom and displays McNaught's prominent tail (supposedly 100 million kilometers long).

It has been travelling through space for millions of years, and apparently won't be visible like this again for at least another 100,000 years. It's moving away from us at a speed of 60 km per second. At the moment it is about 145,000,000 km distant. These are amazing numbers, fill me with awe at the imensity of the Universe. And yet, when Comet McNaught first became visible that night ...

... it was an almost intimate feeling.

Southern Cross - Home

2007-01-24T19:58:00.000+10:30

This was my balcony view of the Southern Cross at the time our view of Comet McNaught began to fade into the smog and light of Adelaide, as well as the amount of atmoshphere between eye and horizon. I set the exposure time and sensitivity settings on the camera to a lot less than those I used at Tanunda recently. Time would have been around 9.30 pm.

Real Rain Clouds Roll In

2007-01-24T00:16:00.000+10:30

Although we had a bit of rain on Friday, Saturday saw a true monsoonal front roll over the Adelaide Plains and Hills. This was the view from the balcony as it did so. If you haven't gathered, I'm pretty excited about the fact that we then got about an inch of rain over the following two days!

Blacks a Fake - 2007 InterDominion Pacing Champ

2007-01-20T20:39:00.000+10:30

Globe Derby Park

2007-01-20T20:37:00.000+10:30

Last Saturday we went to watch the Interdominion Harness Racing Grand Final at Globe Derby Park, about a 30 minute drive from home. I'd never been to the races before. There were already a few people there when we got there.

The on-course concessions (above) and betting shops (below) were already humming along nicely. It would become hard to move in this area between races as the night wore on, but at around 5.30 pm it was still all pretty mellow.

The Back Straight

2007-01-20T20:35:00.000+10:30

The evenings not all about betting and eating though, there's a race roughly every 30 minutes. In this photo, taken from where we'd parked our car on-course (very handy as a 'home base' for a long evening), 'Simplybeat Dechill' leads 'Roseworthy Lad' and 'Luck Moth' up the back straight and shows them in Race 2 that size isn't everything. 'Lucky Moth', by the way, went on to win at over 20 to 1, thus becoming our first successful bet.

Track Maintenance

2007-01-20T20:33:00.000+10:30

The track has to be maintained between races. This is done by means of tractor and truck. The tractor drags a 'flail' of chains along, smoothing the sand for the next race. The truck is a water truck, lays down a spray to keep down the dust. Both vehicles rip around the track at the same time, occasionally in opposite directions. Which made for an interesting stunt show in itself for those that were watching.

First Final Prelude

2007-01-20T20:30:00.000+10:30

Before we knew it we were up to Race 5 - the first of two finals on the card. The Seelite Windows & Doors InterDominion Trotting Final was worth $200,000 to the winner. It was preceeded with some ceremony, led off by local Kindguard Cavalry. They look real friendly, don't they?

A local cheerleading club then provided an escort to each horse as it entered the arena. Lined up, quite impressive.

There was the smell of finals in the evening air and the crowd, which had been steadily growing all the while, were beginning to get quite involved. No doubt there was some big money floating around by now - but we kept up our barrage of $1 bets.

2007 InterDominion Trotting Final

2007-01-20T20:24:00.000+10:30

The trotting final was over 2645m from a 'standing start' (= rolling start under the new safety conscious rules). There was a lot of jockeying for position in the first couple laps (above). The winning driver, whose name I can't recall, threw up his hands as he crossed the line in the usual harness racing close finish.

Future Assets - Race 6

2007-01-20T20:23:00.000+10:30

Before the Big Race

2007-01-20T20:21:00.000+10:30

I heard there were around 12,000 people that came through the gates over the evening, an excellent crowd for the sport. The numbers peaked for the seventh race, the $500,000 InterDominion Pacing Final. Beside the Kindguard cavalry and cheerleaders, the South Australian Pipes and Drums band put in an appearance. They entered playing Scotland the Brave, followed up with Waltzing Matilda. Being married in a kilt in Scotland, I thought this was pretty cool!
And just in case you forgot that we were watching flesh and bone hurtling around the track, the ambulance did a few warmup laps with the horses.

2007 Interdominion Pacing Final

2007-01-20T20:17:00.000+10:30

The dusk had reached its peak during the pre-race ceremonies, and as the horses warmed up they were illuminated only by the floodlights. Above is a photo of 'Foreal' entering the main straight. I had to increase my camera's sensitivity ratings at this point, so there's a bit of digital 'noise' on the photos from here on in. Below, Reba Raja puts on a burst on the second lap.

'Blacks a Fake' came home as the favorite, for her second InterDominion championship in a row. She was a mare driven by a female jockey, making for a remarkably popular victory.

After the race her owners received their prize money and their trophy, seen held here by their representative (centre) being interviewed for cable tv after the win. Doesn't he look excited?

City of Salisbury - Race 9

2007-01-20T20:14:00.000+10:30

Final Race and Summing Up

2007-01-20T20:05:00.000+10:30

The Drivers are pretty gutsy people. They kept putting themselves on the line long after most of the crowd had left following Race 7. Above, D Douglas driving 'Angel Force' plots his way through the pack in Race 10. Below, P Cavallaro takes 'Apache Blue Jean' past 'Countessa Hest' (driven by C Lang) on the last lap of the evening.
'Tough Tussle' sweeps around the pack on the same lap.

Seeing them come up the straight for the last time to the finish line made me think of chariots.

There were still several thousand people present to enjoy the final race of the night. It had been great fun, and not too expensive. Four of us spent $35 to get in, about $50 on bets (of which we won over $30 back), and maybe $15 on hot drinks (we brought a picnic hamper along with our seats and blankets).

A good night out.

Pre-rain Sunset

2007-01-20T01:36:00.000+10:30

Just after the sun had set behind looming clouds last night we got a magnificent lightshow. The weather system is being dominated by a trough of monsoonal air coming down from the north. So, no comet.

Rain!

2007-01-19T19:59:00.000+10:30

This building on North Tce has long intrigued me, what with its only door being way off down the side street and its odd for Adelaide architecture. I quite like it though. I just happened to be catching a bus opposite it today with camera in hand, sheltering from the rain (!) under the bus shelter.

Comet McNaught - Jan 17

2007-01-18T00:47:00.000+10:30

Comet McNaught was again visible on the night of January 17 in Adelaide. As you can see from the photos, we were lucky the clouds allowed us the view they did at the time. I hear we can't expect such visibility for the next few days due clouds. And rain. Yay!

It was quite spectacular tonight, visible from around 9 and only vanishing into the haze on the horizon about 9.35.

This photo was taken around 9.

Comet skyshow - Jan 17

2007-01-18T00:38:00.000+10:30

Comet McNaught really became visible around 9pm tonight. This is how it looked then, in the fading dusk. It looked very spectacular through binoculars(I have an old pair of 8x30mm Zeiss glasses).

This is what it looked like about 15 minutes later (narrow apeture and 24 times the exposure length (8 seconds)).

The track of aircraft coming in over our house to land at Adelaide airport took them directly past the comet.

For interest's sake, here's a comparison of the brightness of the comet (left of chimney)and Venus (right of it).

Comet McNaught

2007-01-15T22:11:00.000+10:30

Tonight was apparently the best night to see Comet McNaught, albeit only for around half an hour after sunset. Tonight is its brightest, although tomorrow it is visible for longer.

Tonight it was much brighter than Halley's Comet ever was back in nineteen-eighty-whatever.

The above photos were taken from the balcony in the space of about 10 minutes.

While I was watching the comet, a 'waterfight' (drought style) was happening beneath me on the street.

Southern Cross - Tanunda

2007-01-14T22:55:00.000+10:30

I've been to Tanunda (most famous for its wines and german heritage) a couple of times in the past week to catch up withcanadian relatives. It was great to see them after a very long time, and amazing how well I seemed to know them, considering. Around midnight on Friday I set up the tripod and tried to catch the Southern Cross, a constellation that features on our flag and in our folklore. You can see it and its pointers (the two bright stars just above the dark 'V' in the bottom third of the picture which point towards the actual 'cross') in this reasonable representation of a bit of our Southern Sky. I remember missing the Southern Cross when I was in Scotland in 2003!

Bushfire Sunset

2007-01-14T00:31:00.000+10:30

This was sunset on Wednesday, at the same time as the bushfire at Mount Bold (see below) was taking hold. The fire was 90' to the left from the following view of a plane coming in overhead on a flightpath to Adelaide Airport (taken from the balcony, of course).

Having recently had some Canadian relatives come through, a plane picture seems appropriate!

Bushfire Plume

2007-01-10T23:11:00.000+10:30

We are having 40'C weather again at present. There's a fire bug roaming loose in the adelaide hills. It's bad enough without that. This fire took off over a couple of hours to produce this plume at sunset this evening. It's over 20 miles away. The view is from the balcony.

Balcony Bushfire View

2007-01-10T23:08:00.000+10:30

This was the view of the fire plume from the balcony a bit earlier in the piece.

Cold rock in space

2007-01-10T22:23:00.000+10:30

January Full Moon.

Date Palm - front yard

2007-01-08T23:15:00.000+10:30

Warning - this picture is a big one (2.7 MB in full version if you click on the image, about 270 KB even in this 'blog format'). If you're on dialup internet, I'm sorry!

... The palm tree which graces our front yard features in several pictures taken from our balcony over the past few months. Here's a picture of it in its glory taken from beneath, in our front courtyard. I am well pleased with this photo, and hope it conveys something of what it is that is the pleasure of living in a house with many palms around it.

Dates

2007-01-08T23:12:00.000+10:30

Apart from the palm itself, the most spectacular individual feature of our largest date palm was its dates. Although there's a smaller bunch coming into season only now, this picture is of the main bunch at its fecund ripest in December. Since this photo, they've all fallen off one by one to the ground below.

Date Palm Birds - Wattle Bird

2007-01-08T23:11:00.000+10:30

Our neighborhood Wattle Bird likes to visit the dates regularly to feast off the bugs that hide therein.

Date Palm Birds - New Holland Honeyeaters

2007-01-08T23:03:00.000+10:30

The most frequent visitors to the dates, on insect hunting expeditions, are the local New Holland Honeyeaters. They are quite active, fluttering and swarming over the fruit in quest of food.

We've seen upto 14 on the bunch at one time, which transforms it into a hive of activity.

Victory!

2007-01-07T13:08:00.000+10:30

This is a press photo, to celebrate Australia's whitewashing of the English in the recently completed 'Ashes' series of test matches in Australia. We won 5 - 0! This is only the second time in the history of the Ashes (130 odd years) that this has happended (the last time being the 1920/21 series in Australia). All the games had their interest, the poms couldn't help but lose it seemed (The second Adelaide test, when they declared in first innings at 6/516 and the Aussies still won it with three overs to spare on the fifth and final day). Anyway, it was a moment that put a smile on the faces of millions of Australians.

The above photo also marks the end of an era, the last time we'll see Shane Warne (the greatest leg spin bowler ever, who's magic entranced), Glen McGrath (Ooh-Aah Glen McGrath) and Justin Langer on a test podium. Ave!

Happy New Year - 2007!

2007-01-01T18:48:00.000+10:30

Have a good one!

Last Sunset of 2006 ...

2007-01-01T18:31:00.000+10:30

Lightning Night Sunset

2007-01-01T18:26:00.000+10:30

On the 29th of December 2006, Adelaide was treated to a wild display of lightning that lasted for around 6 hours. It started with an amazing sunset, which gave not too much a hint of what came almost immediately afterwards.

Sky views

2007-01-01T18:19:00.000+10:30

The above photo was taken a couple hours before sunset, there was little indication of either the brilliant sunset or the electrical storm which followed.

As the sun sank through the horizon, the sky started changing colours in eerie ways.

This photo was taken towards the sun, but from poolside, rather than from the front of the house (most of this night's photos were taken from the balcony).

Night Light

2007-01-01T18:15:00.000+10:30

I caught this sky of curious green, and thought it might have been an anamoly with the camera process. Then next day, however, I heard someone mention how the sky sometimes goes greenish before a bolt of lightening. Sure enough, when I looked at the photographic record of my night, I noticed that shortly after the above photo was my first 'capture' of a lightening bolt.

Power

2007-01-01T18:12:00.000+10:30

The sheer power of some of the bolts was awe inspiring.

The nearer strikes crackled as they played.

Sky Dancers

2007-01-01T18:07:00.000+10:30

At times it seemed to dance all around us.

Symphonies of Light

2007-01-01T18:04:00.000+10:30

Whiteout

2007-01-01T18:02:00.000+10:30

For hours afterwards there were numerous flickers of light and rumbles of thunder, but I didn't see anything much more of the lightshow because I went to sleep!

Red Wattle Bird

2006-12-31T04:52:00.000+10:30

This juvenile Red Wattle Bird has been scrounging around our front yard for several weeks. He's pretty alert and, without appearing shy, he has generally managed to avoid my getting my camera pointed at him, let alone my getting a good shot, quite easily. This shot was taken before 7am on Friday, after he had flown into one of the big trees at the front of our place. I got this snap looking into the foliage from balcony level. I particularly like the fact that the only part of him which is still is his eye.

These guys make a squawky 'clacking' sound when they reach maturity. Quite an interesting bird, they tend to do things we associate with smaller birds. It belongs to one of the larger species amongst the 'honey eater' family of birds. I suspect it is classified in this way because of its behaviours.

Happy Anniversary!

2006-12-30T07:51:00.000+10:30

It's the third anniversary of my marriage to my darling wife! These two pictures were taken at dawn on our wedding day, looking out over a golf course in Glasgow, Scotland (I was married in a kilt).

It's hard to warrant, but some mad scotsmen were up at dawn playing in the snow!

For interest's sake, these photos were taken in 2003 on a borrowed Kodak (?) digital camera which was already then 10 years old. It had optical zoom to 10x and used floppy disks (!) to store the photos on. It could take around 25 photos per disk. Amazingly, each photo was between only 45KB and 80KB. When it was new, apparently, it cost three thousand dollars (?!). Looking back on it, an amazing piece of industrial gadgetry - evoking similar feelings to an antique singer sewing machine. Its optical zoom capacity set the benchmark for me when it came to purchasing a camera of my own.

Gingerbread House

2006-12-27T22:06:00.000+10:30

The gingerbread house which occupied pride of place on our christmas table was mainly built by my betterhalf on christmas eve, with final repairs on christmas morn. quite a labour of love actually, and much deserving of the admiring looks of the younger (or, younger-at-heart) amongst us.