Author: Jaybee

Extreme Star Trails!

I took this dusk till dawn image of the night sky rotating about the south pole at Tasmania’s most southerly point, Cockle Creek. The site was so dark and so remote that during the entire time I photographed the night sky, not one aircraft passed by and not one stray photon of light pollution illuminated the foreground. If you look closely, you can find some meteors in the image too.

I sat and stargazed under the most pristine conditions imaginable and watched faint wisps of southern lights flickering just over the tree-line.

Astro-bliss 🙂

Eureka!

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting for what to have for lunch, (Benjamin Franklin)
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote (anon).

The Eureka Stockade in Ballarat is a pivotal moment in Australian history. This gold rush town was in full swing back in 1854 and full of colonial immigrants chancing their luck in the world’s richest goldfields. Greed and corruption were rife and the ruling UK government imposed a £1-3 monthly mining tax on the locals as a blatant cash grab. This did not sit well with the miners, most of whom were Irish and already somewhat less than pleased with the UK.

On the 3rd of December 1854 the ‘Southern Cross’ flag, designed by a Canadian miner, was hoisted over a fenced in stockade and battle commenced against the army. By the morning, 27 lives (mostly miners) were lost but despite the lawlessness of those gold diggers, public support for their actions was through the roof.

Two years later, the Colony of Victoria enshrined a secret ballot for men (Ladies came some time later) which was only the second government to establish a common democratic vote after France.

And so; the site at Eureka is thought to be the birthplace of Australian democracy and the flag, now known as the Eureka flag, is its symbol. In reality the flag is a symbol of liberty not democracy – I think I’ll be flying it myself more often!

Oh, and one more thing, the site was totally destroyed other than some remnants of the flag itself. Today it’s a pleasant park, a large but ultimately disappointing visitor centre and a jolly nice caravan site where we are now 🙂

Feed me Seymore!

In the world of carnivorous plants, it’s a little bit disappointing that the ‘real things’ are somewhat less spectacular than Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, but they have still fascinated me since childhood and poor Ann has on many occasions had to suffer some bizarre house plants from all over the globe. These plants evolved in such poor circumstances that they have turned to eating insects to supplement their diet. I had a lovely selection whilst in London, and Samford is home to a rather splendid pitcher plant on our al-fresco.

So when I took a walk up the desolate granite dome of Bruce’s Rock in Western Australia, I couldn’t help but notice that the mossy, peaty dampness was prime Sundew territory.

I was not disappointed, with three distinct species of Sundew being identified in half an hour of searching. Sundews, like the better known Venus Fly-Trap, actually grab their victims in their sticky little paws. Not with the same ferocity of the Trap, but with a more gentle caress lasting a few hours.

These plants are quite tiny – The size of a 20c coin or smaller, so are often overlooked. They flower too, with their long flower stalks just beginning to shoot from the centre of the rosette.

I’m looking forward to finding more 🙂

 

 

Temple Bar

The West MacDonnell Ranges are fantastic for Astro photography. Alice Springs does offer a gentle glow of light pollution, but overall the area is very dark and the magnificent red ranges make for a great backdrop to a nightscape!

Here’s a multi-shot panorama of the range behind us on the campsite with the milky way rising:

And no stop would be complete without a star trails image taken over two hours whilst we chilled out to a movie!

And finally, for my Northern Hemisphere family and friends. As we move further North, it is possible to see old familiar constellations. Alice Springs is on the tropic of Capricorn, several degrees higher than home, and as a result, the whole of the “Big Dipper” manages to peak over the horizon! I have highlighted the main stars to make it clear 🙂

It’s a mad, Mad Max II world in Silverton.

Just outside of Broken Hill lies a historic mining town that seems frozen in time. Silverton is a film maker’s dream – a 19th century outback hamlet that has not seen much in the way of progress since its founding!

The rough stone built cottages and distinct lack of sealed roads make for easy set dressing and have attracted a number of movie producers to it. One of the most famous films that used Silverton as a base was Mad Max II and after shooting, many of the abandoned sets, props and costumes were bought/scavenged by a Pom who happened to live in the area.

And so the Mad Max II Museum was born, and a jolly interesting place it is too.

The sheer volume of stuff, which includes a mixture of real and reproduction items, has rather outgrown its current housing and could probably fare better with at least double the space. A great morning out for those of us that still love the edgy feel of the first two Mad Maxes!

Whale fishing in Victoria

I popped into the local fly fishing spot to get a recommendation for the best fly to use on the Murray River and they sold me this!

Just for comparison, the titchy little thing below is the actual fly (now looking a little frazzled) that landed a magnificent 40cm Brown Trout which fed us for two days. By my reckoning, based on that scale, they have sperm whales in the Murray. Funny, I thought that they lived in the sea.

They tell me that the true target, Murray Cod, are basically a huge mouth with a tail and will happily consume unwary mice, rats, coots and small possums that are foolish enough to go for a swim. This I have got to see!!!

It’s beginning to get messy!

It was all going nicely through Qld and NSW – A lovely linear (well slightly weaving) progression between towns for the first few weeks. And then Victoria happened!

We are loving this state with so much heritage and a great abundance of farm fresh produce to enjoy, however Victoria is a higgledy piggledy mass of towns and villages all close together with no obvious route between them. Our map has suddenly become distinctly less tidy than before as we meander across this lovely State. It’s going to get worse too as we will be giving this fine region a second go later in the year on the return trip.

Yay, some astrophotography!

Despite bad weather, the clouds parted over Chaffey Dam last week to let me see a beautiful moon-set behind the dam. It illuminated the trees just perfectly so that I could take this photo (or more accurately a number of photos that I subsequently spent ages stitching into a panorama).

Must try harder…

Our plan was to get down to the state of Victoria asap and explore. Instead we are making slow progress in country NSW. It’s just so lovely!

We managed 6km today before stumbling across the gorgeous village of Nundle and stopped again 🙂