Day 3 Photography Trip – Jervis Bay North
Another great homemade brekky at Berry B&B with Pete and Mandy. After munching breakfast, I gathered up my camera and tripod and set about taking images inside Chevy’s Rest. This cabin is situated at the front of the Bed and Breakfast accommodation. Chevy’s Rest is very picturesque and rustic inside and out. It has modern facilities inside which have been carefully selected to enhance the feel of the place. Pete is particularly proud of his bathroom design and rightly so, as it looks amazing.
I particularly wanted to show off the inside of the cabin and the surrounding gardens visible through the glass doors. The Canon 5D has a High Dynamic Range (HDR) option which takes three images with different exposures and then produces a single image of the blended exposures in camera. Normally, digital cameras cannot capture the brightest and darkest detail that the human eye can differentiate between in a single image of a scene. HDR allows this as it blends the dark and light exposures. But remember, to get a sharp image a tripod must be used!
I also used the ”Art” feature, that Canon offers “in camera”, to add some vibrant colour into the shots. I don’t usually play with, what I call, camera setting gimmicks, but I was quite happy with the results. I think the fabulous cabin lends itself well to the HDR technique. I think my images bring out the character of the accommodation without appearing fake and overly edited.
Our decision was to get going along the Kangaroo valley road. The clouds had broken up a bit and we witnessed some great scenes as the clouds rolled over the ranges around Berry. Stopping briefly at Cambewarra lookout where the vista was misty and moody with sun spots shining down on Bomaderry, Nowra and the Shoal Haven River below. Nowra was on my radar as I wanted to buy a circular polarizer for my 24-70 with an 82 mm fitment. A circular polariser is a crucial lens filter for watery landscape images. The polariser is adjustable to show through the water reflection. For best effect, it is good to use a polariser at a 90 degree angle to the sunlight. By turning the adjuster ring you can reveal underwater detail or show some reflection of the clouds. I love the sharpness of the 24-70 Canon lens and it is fast becoming constantly attached to the camera.
With new circular polariser in hand. Thanks to “The Photo Place” Nowra. Our plan was to head around the north of Jervis Bay and Currarong. Finding the boat ramp at Abraham’s Bosom Beach was good timing as the sun was starting to break through the clouds in rays. The boat ramp was a peaceful spot and there were a few Pelicans lounging around.
Our travels that day took us to Huskisson. There was a Motel with a vacancy sign just as we drove in to the central part of Huskisson. I secured a room at the Jervis Bay Motel with a sea view balcony and we were set for the night. The room was well appointed modern and clean. Oh of course, food time! Along a raised esplanade there was a fish and chip shop called “World Famous Fish N Chips”, it looked OK. “Wow”, another great meal, that has to be the best fish and chips we have eaten in a long while.
Day 4 Photography Trip – Jervis Bay South.
An unusual event, I woke up early, before sunrise!! I jumped up to look out of the window. The sunrise looked interesting with mottled clouds. Quickly I gather camera gear and head to the beach. I quickly found an interesting rock plateau which had a grid like pattern. I took a few shots there, the water remaining on the rock as the tide ebbed reflected the clouds. A glance further along the beach revealed a handful of wheelbarrow sized boulders. I bee lined for these to set up before the light changed. Wet shoes again, but I captured the shot below. I edited this in Lightroom. I am finding I can create some good colourations. Add to this radial and linear filters to enhance parts of the image and I hardly visit Photoshop much these days.
The southern part of Jervis Bay encaptured us for the rest of the day. The beaches are fantastic, coupled with the colour of the water the place infuses into your soul. We traveled around to Gov Head and stayed a while watching the waves smashing between the head and Bowen Island. Then, once more down the highway towards Batemans Bay. Looking at online accommodation, I found a great looking place to stay. It is called “Chalet Swisse Spa”. Getting good with the GPS in the Renault now, I dialed in the road name and we headed off.
The road was quite busy and twisty. It had just turned dark and I noticed the odd dead wallaby on the side of road so I was keeping an eye out. I didn’t want to run into one with this Renault. By the time we arrived at Chalet Swisse it was about 8:30 pm and I was feeling a bit tired. Our hosts Herbert and Elizabeth welcomed us in and showed us to our room. At first impression the Hotel was stunning with a classical grand staircase. The theme was Swiss and the decor and ornaments reflected this theme very well. The Hotel had a great atmosphere to it. We had’t eaten so we headed into Batemans Bay. I got a bit confused as to where the center of Batemans bay actually was and drove up and down a bit. The next day, looking at the map we had driven around in Batehaven not Batemans Bay!
Our evening meal was munched at the Catalina Club and was a great feed. The club is a typical sports/social club venue but is tastefully appointed relaxing and they served good food.
Day 5 Photography Trip – Tilba
A fresh start to the day with a nice continental style breakfast at Chalet Swisse. I wanted to head down to Bega so we lowered the roof on the Renault and headed south. Ha ha, as usual we spent too long stopping off along the way. There are so many great places to visit. We explored Bermagui, where close to the blue pool the water was turbulent around the rocks. The colours were amazing and in the right light would be a fantastic spot for some awesome seascape images. Time was flying so fast, we decided to head back north to Tilba. A visit to Bega will have to wait until another day.
As we drove into Tilba Tilba my wife loved the place immediately. Tilba Tilba is full of quaint old heritage style buildings, lovingly cared for and offering a plethora of craft style shopping opportunities. The fabulous buildings are certainly very photogenic. “Shopping”, did someone mention shopping? Time to buy some gifts for family and friends. I could have spent a lot of money in a woodworkers craft outlet. Maybe, if we move down this way I will surely be looking for one of the fantastically carved Kookaburra mirrors. A Cafe menu board advertised the ól “cream teas” so we had to have a break from all the strenuous walking around! I did notice a small 1 bedroom house set up as a gallery for sale. Hmmmmm, click whirred my mind……
Chasing the sun led us to the best meal of the Trip.
Having had a good look around Tilba Tilba, the plan is to slowly head back towards Batemans Bay with a watchful eye on the sunset. The drive back to Batemans takes us past many inlets and rivers. Places like Narooma Marina might be a good spot for some blue hour photography. Pulling up at water crossings I could see the sunset was about to produce awesome colours but we needed a good foreground with setting sun across water. Narooma Marina didn’t quite cut it for the scene I envisaged. I explored the south side of Wagonga Inlet along Flying Fox road but it did not yield a good spot for the shot. So, I decided to head further up the Princes Highway. The sky started to turn and I was quite desperate to capture it. I was driving around just following the water hoping to get a good view back towards the sun before it dropped behind the ranges. Crossing Tuross River the colours in the sky were really starting to pop! Grrrr. Swinging down Hector McWilliam Drive I really hoped to find a view back towards the West. “Oh well, looks like we missed it”. Now we found ourselves at a small esplanade type pull in but the light was fading. It did look spectacular though. Down in the corner, near where we parked, there was some bright lights, being my old inquisitive self I investigated. It is a restaurant with a deck overlooking the water. This brilliant place is called the Pickled Octopus Seafood and Thai Restaurant . Well, being hungry is a good reason to check it out. “Wow”, this ended up being our most memorable meal of the trip. We were the first people to sit so I took the opportunity to set up my tripod and get a selfie of us sat on the deck with the Tuross River and glowing “Blue Hour” sky as a backdrop (see below).
Writing this blog, I looked up this Restaurant on Google Maps and to my surprise someone had captured an image of us at our table with me setting up the camera on the tripod to capture the above image and posted it on the Pickled Octopus page!
So the moral of the story is don’t give up the quest you never know where it will lead you. I might have missed the shot I hoped for but the food we discovered made up for that in leaps and bounds.
Day 6 Photography Trip – Batemans Bay
At Swisse Chalet Spa Elizabeth and Herbert liked the idea of me taking some photographs of the Chalet in return for a discount room for one more night. OK, out with the tripod it was. I made use of the HDR mode again and captured some great internal shots of the Chalet. My wife decided to take some images around the grounds, our team effort came up trumps with some good images for Trip Adviser etc. We hit the road around 11:00 ish without much of a plan. I wanted to explore the ranges a bit so we headed along the Kings Highway out of Batemans Bay. We pulled up at Nelligen and stopped for a coffee. We watched a Jack Russel terrorise the waterfront, like he was the boss. Running up and down herding kids and birds. He went and got a mate another small dog to help him chase off a bigger dog. That Jack Russel was king! After he sorted out that area he took off up the middle of the road with such a swagger. Ha ha
Hire Car
I wanted check out the ranges but most access is via dirt roads and I was not supposed to drive the Renault on the dirt! Hmm. These, great fun, open top cars are not really built for dirt roads and corrugations. I heard that the boot can pop up and all sorts of alarms sound off if the car gets shaken a up a bit! Oh well we headed back towards the coast and Ulladulla. It was an overcast day but it was still nice to have the roof down on the car. We headed back towards Batemans Bay after looking around Mollymook. The sunset was a bit ordinary so we explored Batemans Bay and found a great Italian restaurant called Sam’s Pizza. We both had pasta dishes which were yum.
Day 7 Photography Trip – Jamberoo
After a breakfast and more of Herbert’s great coffee we took a few more photos of chalet before heading northwards. I had spent a good time studying the local maps and decided to beeline for Jamberoo. This gem of a place is brilliant, except I planned on filling the tank up here but discovered the fuel stop showing on the GPS was actually closed down. “Oops!” Oh well, time for a beer in the Jamberoo Pub! This place was buzzing, out the front of the pub gathered a group of Anzac’s with horses, I assumed some sort of parade had ended at the pub. This made for a great scene that had to be captured. The pub is a fabulous “olde worlde” historic building oozing with character. The horses and soldiers, complete with a pipe band drummer, topped off the atmosphere there. We spent some time chatting and taking photos before heading towards Albion Park to get fuel. The Jamberoo Pub has accommodation and I was tempted to book a room for the night. I wish I had done as this day ended up with us hunting for a vacant room at 9:00 pm. After fueling up at Albion Park we headed back towards Jamberoo then turned onto the tourist drive to Minnamurra falls and Carrington falls lookout. The weather was moody and peaceful, we cruised around the winding mountain roads and soaked up the vistas of low clouds roaming through the ranges and the dankness of the heavy mist. We walked through a forest to a small waterfall. It was a very beautiful place, a bit cool but tranquil and scenic, although not very photogenic in the available light.
It started to get dark as we drove towards Minnamurra and Shell Cove looking for a room. We were surprised to find everything booked out. It was Saturday night and we ended up in a Motel back down near Nowra. This meant we had doubled back south a fair way, which was not my plan. That evening, I booked a nice looking apartment in Austinmer for our last night on the coast before heading to the Hyatt on Darling Harbour.
Day 8 Photography Trip – Nowra to Austinmer
Up and away on Sunday, day 8 of our trip. We took Tourist Drive 11 on our Cartoscope Tourist Map. not far up the road we stumbled across a motocross event. It was Wollongong Motor Cycle Club and the track looks awesome. Well out with the camera dial in some action capture settings and off we went. I would like to have stayed until the A grade seniors raced. Unfortunately, that particular race was about 5 races away and I really wanted to get moving. Heading around the mountain there are fantastic views on offer. We stopped to look down on busy Wollongong before heading onto Austinmer. We found our apartment accommodation and it was spectacular. Our balcony looked North along the dramatic coast line with crashing surf and sea mist providing atmosphere. We reveled in the luxury and comfort of the room, we ate at the Bistro attached to the new looking complex that is the Headland Hotel. I would highly recommend this place. Our room was fabulous, we even had filter coffee not the usual 1 serve packet stuff you normally get.
Day 9 Photography Trip – Austinmer to Sydney
After a great nights sleep I was up for the sunrise along the beach. I found some good looking rock pools and set my tripod up. “Oh I don’t believe it”. The attachment for the camera to fit on my tripod was back in the hotel room. I grabbed my gear and sprinted across the sand and rocks, up the road and through the garden beds to clamber onto our balcony. I startled my wife as I called out “Can you pass me the tripod attachment please”? My call made her jump a mile as she was in the bathroom getting ready for the day. Attachment in hand, I bolted back down towards my vantage point on the rocks. I was just in time to greet the sunrise with a shutter finger. The car was due back in Mascot at 2:00 pm so we slowly headed that way. We stopped for a coffee at Helensburg, gave the car a wash and drove into Sydney to deliver the Renault. A taxi ride to our destination, the Hyatt Hotel in Darling Harbour. We soon settled into the room and went out to explore, we headed to the bridge and Circular Quay, I hoped the Opera house would colour up with the setting sun but it did not really happen. We headed back to Darling Harbour to select a restaurant for our evening meal.
Day 10 Airport for 10 am flight. back to Darwin.
A little sad to be ending this superb trip as I watched the sunrise over the harbour. The Taxi driver provided us with great story telling entertainment as we headed to the airport. We arrived back in Darwin and the heat that afternoon. Next Trip????
motocookster 