The utes at Ootha

Ootha, up the road from Yarrabandai on the the way to Condo has a turnoff to the south which takes you to an out-of-the way art installation called Utes in the Paddock. As the name suggests it is made up of a line of Holden utes mounted in particular poses and painted or crafted in a number of styles. The work is done by both local and known artists.

Its not a bad spot to grab a drive-break and take a look at the latest art-work and say G'day to the Llama.

I have my own idea to add to the line-up, but freighting my work to Ootha may pose a financial problem.

the children have entered the forest.......

From the photo files of late last summer come a few pics to remind me of next summer.

A rarely visited creek on the central coast always gives me my forest fix. Its not too far off the beaten track, a good camp spot and a half hours walk is rewarded with a cascading waterfall and cold deep pools. Strip off and ease yourself in, just the thing to ease the 7 Mile Beach sunburn.

Last visit we saw eels, fire-flys, a lyre-bird, a big golden snake and stinging trees.

The creek winds down out of a deep gorge filled with slow swirling reflections and carved sandstone. The water rings and gurgles out of shaddowy plunge pools. There are the remnants of old mines and tracks which have been taken back by the bush.

A quiet place to free the spirit.

& Long Cold Nights

11.00 pm and nothing to amuse myself with..... well, lets go out and try a little night photography.

With the mercury dipping down below -5 deg C, I trundled out with the camera into a frozen evening. The full moon was up, the mist was rolling in off the top paddocks and the world was still and silent.

The snappy-happy digital cam allows you to prioritised the shutter speed and let the aperture work itself out (or you can set an aperture)... leave it on the tripod and let it do the work.

Needless to say, she was a bit nipply out there for the hour wander, and not a creature was stirring.... not even the rabbits. ..

11.30pm, the moon through the big Ribbon Gum. The upper part of the tree was covered in silver frost, but the underside was still dripping from the fog. The full moon was casting long beams down through the leaves all the way to the ground.

The family plot... well it looked that way. The rolling fog stopped at the front yard fence and the full moon lit everything up in silver.

The vegi garden gate with the wormwood shrubs was frozen solid.

I lit the lanterns in the slab-hut and let the camera work it out with 20 second shutter.

The big gum at the dam was majic. (Apart from the ice drips down the back of the shirt). The moving fog through the leaves gave the 20 second time-lapse a bit of a fuzzy 3D effect. With a longer shatter speed, The stars would have come up nicely too.... but it was too cold!

The next morning sat at -6. It has been the coldest morning we have seen for years. The chooks were still on the perch at 8.00. Frosty morning, but beautifful winter day following.

Head in the Clouds

As a compulsory cloud watcher, I take notice when the barometer drops and the cumulus begin pushing their way into the stratosphere. A ripper bubbled up over the mountains in the east a little while back. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots. (which again.... didn't do it justice for size and majesty).

Of note has been the absence of good lightning storms. It has been a number of years since I have sat on the verandah at night and taken in a good thunderstorm.

As promising as these appeared, there was no light display that evening, although Katoomba got a neat inch of downpour.

.... and that roof needs a paint too....