The real...

All forests are one... They are all echoes of the first forest that gave birth to Mystery when the world began. 

~ Charles de Lint

I have this thing that I do. When the world gets too busy, chaotic and full of drama, I just sit and stare at the wall and remember how small I am, how completely insignificant and unimportant. This brings me great comfort and a sense of freedom. The other thing that I do is head for the mountains and the forest. The sub tropical rain forests of the hinterland are a great reminder of how each of us plays a teeny tiny part in a larger system, and that we are not the centre of the system ourselves. The rainforest is my leveller, a place of grounding - a space in which I can shuffle the cards in my mind and find that everything makes perfect sense. If you walk through the forest the right way, curious and quiet with eyes wide open, it will reveal its magic to you. My grandfather taught me how to do this. It's the greatest gift I've ever been given.

I spent yesterday in the mountains. Here is some of the magic I found...

Great Ocean Road: Part I

Now we're into the guts of our holiday, doing the bit we really desperately wanted to see - Great Ocean Road. Known as one of the most spectacular scenic drives in the country, GOR is renowned for its beautiful and rugged coastal landscape. Thus far it has certainly lived up to its reputation. I have been blown away by the majesty of the southern coastline. It's far prettier than I'd imagined with soft undulating hills reaching down to the waters of the Southern Ocean. Hundreds of bays and inlets line the road's path and we're constantly stopping to check out the extraordinary view from roadside lookouts. We have a lot of time to explore so we're taking it easy and cruising at a relaxed pace. It's blissful and a complete luxury. To be here in this iconic party of the country for the first time feels rather strange - I never knew Australia could look like this. Being from Queensland I'm more than familiar with beaches and the coast, but the landscape down here is foreign, which makes it an adventure to explore!

There is a seal sitting on the rocks in the picture below. Not that it's easy to spot. I was hiding in the bushes in a makeshift 'ladies room' when Ben started pointing like a madman at the rock. I thought someone was swimming in the water and they'd seen me with my pants down, haha! Turns out I'd walked straight past this little fur seal who'd been sunning himself on the rock. At Ben's crazy waving and gesticulating the poor frightened creature slid off into the water and then proceeded to give us a big 'up yours' by showing off some pretty impressive water acrobatics. Then I got all stupid excited about the whole thing - "We saw a seal man, like a real life wild one! Awwww!" I do love a good wildlife spotting.

Yesterday afternoon we took a northern turn and ended up in the mountains at one of those tree top experiences. One thing you must know about me is that I am absolutely terrified of heights. It's irrational and crazy but I haven't been able to overcome it no matter how many times I've attempted to face my fears. So, I can't say I enjoyed the tree top experience all that much and the $24 entry fee was completely wasted on me. I just got dizzy and panicky and sweated like crazy the whole time. To get through I kept my eyes on the horizon and put one foot in front of the other. Benny took his time behind me and got the wonderful pictures below. On terra firma we encountered a few snarly dinosaurs. Between them and the heights thing I had a pretty stressful afternoon! I was glad to make it out of there alive!

Oh, and on a drive to the beach yesterday we came across this little dude shuffling around on the roadside. He (or she - I can't be sure) let me come up real close to take this picture. Echidnas are so freaky huh? It's nose was stuffed in the dirt sucking up ants most of the time. I got lucky when it came up for breath. Cute!

All of this is to say that we're having a swell time down here in the south. So let the adventure continue...

Summer days...

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

~ John Lubbock.

I've taken to carrying my camera with me almost everywhere I go. This weekend we borrowed my brother's 4 wheel drive and headed up to Mt Mee to visit a camping spot we'd stayed at many years ago. We got there by taking the long route and spent quite a while jangling along an exceptionally bumpy dirt road. But it was totally worth it. In spite of minimal rain there was still water in the creek and it was just as lovely as we remembered. I'd had some self portrait ideas in mind before we left, but inevitably the location wasn't really suited to my concepts, so I did what I do best and improvised, letting the beautiful locale determine the nature of the images:

I greatly admire simplicity in photography. I have a penchant for embellishment, but sometimes it is good and right to be economical and use only what is around you. I've been playing around with lighting lately as I've been shooting mostly indoors. But being outdoors reminded me that there is no substitute for beautiful natural light. I would like to do this more often - be more natural with my shooting - allow images to come to me instead of trying to create them. I embrace artifice wholeheartedly, but sometimes it's nice to approach things organically and with free intent.

Of course, photography is a deceptive art and the truth is elusive. The best I can hope for is to capture the essence of a person or place in accordance with who I am. I think about these things - it's the artist in me. It is important that I constantly assess and reassess what I do. 

But back to the weekend...blue skies, summer sun, swaying eucalypts, dairy farms, rolling green hills, rusty sheds and dark freshwater creeks. What more could one ask for? Oh, how about a best friend to accompany you on your journey? Yes, that would be swell...

The pics above are of us standing in front of the most glorious old shed. I did my best hillbilly impersonation and Ben tried not to smile. I'm always telling him not to smile when I take his photo. I love his straight face - he has the deepest, kindest eyes. 

Below are the pics I'd planned to take and use - but they really didn't work out as I'd envisioned. But admittedly, the concept was derivative to begin with so I'm not all that disappointed. I do adore the dark reflective surface of the water. It really was like a mirror. Can't say I enjoyed getting in it though - the rocks were slippery and I was scared of having my toes bit by angry yabbies!

The real star of this weekend adventure was the landscape. It was just so magic. After 5 weeks of being home-bound (we just moved into a new home!), the great outdoors proved a much needed panacea to the humdrum of domestic routine. The image below is not all that spectacular but I had never seen the Glasshouse Mountains from this perspective before. Driving the back roads of Mt Mee provided me with a number of delights like this, including a pine forest, green fields and pretty bokeh created by dappled light through background foliage (I love that!). Oh yes, it was an idyllic Queensland weekend indeed...the kind of stuff a perfect summer is made of...