the hair cut....

While I've been away Kym and Annie have managed her hair. And it's long hair. Level with the bottom of her butt long hair. We usually brush it out every morning and plait it for school. She wears the same plait while she sleeps. I've never really had any issues with her hair and found it fairly simple to maintain.

I've been after her to cut it a bit shorter for a while, but she was always against the idea. She has changed her mind over the last week so I whisked her off to get it cut while she was still keen.

She's had about 20cms trimmed off, and it's still long as far as the length goes, just not as long as it was. She's happy with it and that's what counts.

KI - day 7

Up bright and early (5.30am) to have our last chance of sunrise on Remarkable Rocks. I would strongly recommend beanie, scarf and lots of layers if you go there. I was warmly rugged up, but some others felt a bit chilly in the pre dawn light. Only 3 of us this morning. Jacob chose not to come and Ange with her partner had their alarm clock fail on them. (not happy Jan!!)

Well we had a spot of sun that lasted maybe 1 and a half mins and man, did our shutters go mad. We were all in one spot and as soon as we had that one in the bag, we all sprinted on the rock to the other side to get another angle before the light disappeared. I think I had one image done at the new spot before that sun went. And that was it. It didnt come back.

In my room at the resort there was a lovely shot of the rocks that really captivated me and that was the one shot that I dearly wanted to get.

GOT IT!!

And talk about timing. This crow flew over as I took this shot. I love it!!

After a sumptuous breakfast and check out and we travelled from one end of the island to the other to catch the ferry. 

We pulled a swifty on Pete while he was in the reception settling the account. We all piled in our bus and took off to a spot out of site. :O). By the time he found us we had played around with the enterance sign for a group shot. Taken with Ange's camera balancing on a fence post.

We had a quick stop back at Pennington Beach to see it in all its glory with the sun out.

And another quick stop at Island Beach to see it in full sun. This is the best beach of all the island in my eye. Much like Farm Beach at home.

Quick stop to grab lunch before we boarded the ferry. While we've been travelling anywhere we are all on our laptops processing flat out or Facebooking our images (when we had signal lol)

At Cape Jervis we said goodbye to Ange and Brian. Lots of hugs and promises of keeping in touch via Facebook. Dave was dropped off next. I felt a bit sad to say goodbye at this point. Jacob was dropped off at the Airport to catch his Melbourne flight. He promised to take me to the best Russian restaurant if ever I'm in Melbourne.

Pete ended up having dinner with Ann, her daughter and I at their unit in North Adelaide. This was a great chance to really relax and talk about all sorts of stuff. No holds barred and no topic uncovered. Havent laughed so hard for the longest time.

Ann and I kept working on our images after Pete said his farewells. It was late before I got to bed and up early to catch the 8am flight home Tuesday morning. As it turned out Lincoln was fog bound until 10.30am when we boarded. (2.5hrs late). I didn't mind at all as I hadn't have anything pressing at home other than Gymnastics in the late arvo.

Ann and I sat in the Qantas Club and I continued to work on either my blog or images. Very comfy seats in there.

Pete's doing a photographic tour on the Great Ocean Rd in Feb 2012 and I've booked my seat. I had a yarn to Kym and he's so supportive of my going... so very thankful for that. Just as long as it's in the later part of Feb as Kym's away shooting for the Clay Target State Team in the first part of Feb. From what I've heard from Pete, Kym and I are both able to do what we would dearly love to do.

What have I learnt from this trip.....???????  A whole lot more than the camera and images. I've learnt to not take anything for granted, to find the passion and keep it firing hot, to search for and appreciate the little things that are around us, the motivation from being around other like minded souls and the value of friendship. And as Pete is known to say... KEEP ON THE PROGRAM!! (location joke)

I'm on such a high and not likely to come down for a while. I've a very large weekend coming up with a Scrapbooking Retreat! Luckily I've already trained in sleep deprivation from being away.  lol.

KI trip - day 7

Sunrise today was a no go. Not even a glimmer of a chance of the sun popping through. So instead of trying to get the whole conglomerate in the one shot, I focused in one just one of the rocks. This one had the orange lichen that was just so bright!!

On our way to Western River Cove we stopped at a very picturesque spot for a group photo. Lots of cameras on tripods and using timer delay..... and a lot of clowning around!!!!

Western River Cove is such a beautiful and tranquil spot. A river runs into the sea and its just so peaceful there. I think this is my favourite beach so far....

While there I found this very new bolt and nuts on a rock on the river bank that's right by the sea. For the life of me, I haven't figured out why this is here or a use for it. None the less, it was a macro moment.

We stopped on the road while on our journey to Snelling Beach to view the vista and shoot panos.

We cut through the middle of the island via Timber Creek Rd (yes I did think of you Nadine!!!) to Pandana for a quick late lunch before we hit Little Sahara. Imagine the sand dunes at 7 Mile Beach and you'd be pretty close to what we were seeing. We climbed over the 1st dune and kept going to get to the pristine untouched by feet dune. Man, my calves and knees were burning..... but we all got there. We only just made it by 10 mins to shoot with the sun out before that disappeared. Gotta have the late sun to cast the shadow of the ripples.

Pete held all our hardware while we jumped off the edge of the sand dune. Jacob took this one with his IPhone. Talk about a man ready with a lens for every occasion..... lens envy praps..... lol

From here we went back to Remarkable Rocks to see if there was a possibility of the sun coming out. After a bit of discussion, we canned the idea and went back to the Resort. We had previously arranged to have our dinner very late, so we had plenty of time to clean up and download images off the camera.

I discovered that after downloading the images and formatting the CF card, I had files missing. I had nothing from the macro bolt onwards. Half a day with nothing to show for it. I was disappointed and frustrated to say the least. I had a yarn to Dave (one of our group who's PC savvy) and after downloading a program and spending some time with it, he managed to recover them.

I planted a big kiss on his cheek, and jumped up and down on the bed in my joy. He is my hero!!!! And a wonderful bloke to boot.

 More dramas at dinner time. The resort has a number of wallabies and a possum that call it home. The possum became a bit of a nuisance after it made its way onto our outdoors table. Being the farmy chick that I am, I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and hind feet to take it away. I had it nearly outside when it bit into my thumb. Little varmit!! He escaped leaving a good bit of fur behind. A bit of antiseptic later and a band-aid and all was fixed.

I got to bed very late (1.15am) so I could work on my pics and catch up on time lost when we recovered those files. I only had 4 hours before I had to get up for the sunrise.

KI trip - day 6

Up extra early (5.15am) to head down to Remarkable Rocks to shoot the sunrise. Well we waited and waited and the sun was a no show as far as casting golden light on the red rocks. Never mind. Still have two more opportunities to get it.

Lovely breakfast at the Resort before we headed out to catch koalas and Tamar Wallabies in front of our lens. oh and the occasional feral Dobre  ;op

Most lovely lunch at the Flinders Chase Cafe in the Visitors Information building before entering the park to head on down to Admiral's Arch. This is magnificent area. Just breathtaking. This is my HDR effort.

New Zealand fur seals.

Headed to Vivonne Bay for a while. We were encouraged to tripod and go macro.

Early tea before roaring back to the Remarkable Rocks to catch the evening light. The cloud cover beat us to it, so we had a bit of a yarn about our options for the evening. We came back to the Resort and Ann, Dave and I had a play with light painting with great results. Dave has a very nifty red globe on his torch!

 to explain what the PO means.... its that awesome feeling when you know that shot is THE shot and its in the bag..... its a PHOTOGRAPHIC ORGASM..... (meaning and definition as 
quoted by Pete Dobre)

KI trip - day 5

 Last day at this end of the island. Looking forward to seeing the west coast as I've heard its spectacular.


Sunrise at a different part of Hogs Beach.

Cooked breakfast and then we loaded up, check out and headed off to Cape Willoughby Lighthouse. Had some fun with panos and having a person move in each shot that needs to be stitched. That's Pete Dobre in this one.

The lighthouse.

Kingscote for lunch and then straight to Hanson Bay which I shot using Ann's fisheye. I think I've found my next must have lens. The bay is in a wineglass shape the the lens captured this beautifully.

We checked into the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Resort. Lush. King size bed, wallabies outside the front door and I watched an echidna amble by the verandah this evening.

Early dinner in the Restaurant and then out to Remarkable Rocks for sunset.

Had a play with long exposure and painting with light. Ann, Dave and I really got into it and ended up being up there for an extra hour in the dark.That's the Southern Cross just above the tall rock.

Processing yesterday's shots before I went to bed ready for a 5am start.

KI trip - day 4

Day 4 started with a moody sunrise at Hogs Bay which is located right in front of Pennashaw.

After a cooked breakfast we headed out to Pennington Point to have another go in this area in much different weather conditions.

After Pennington we headed out to Stokes Bay to shoot the beach. This is my pano. Its actually 25 shots stitched together. Looks rather like a fisheye lens. (click on the picture to see it bigger in a new window.)

While at Stokes Bay I found this little cave with an amazing lit rockpool. There were Rock Cod swimming in the pool but they decided to hide for this shot. Tripod in knee deep water with a quickly rising tide.

After a drive to Kingscote we watched the Pelican feeding. Lots of up close shots.

Dinner back at the resort before a couple of us headed to the pub over the road for a beer and scotch.

KI trip - day 3

Wet wild and windy morning. We all got up for the sunrise that never happened and it was a wash out but I did manage these two before the rain set in. And these ended up being my best for the day. We all were asked to go for the long exposure to create the mist and the milky sea.

 Back for a leisurely hot breakfast in the dining room before we commenced on inhouse workshops. Lots of questions, answers, PS education, bouncing flash work, aperture explanations with practical demos, and finally, FINALLY, the sun broke thru the clouds for very brief intervals. Still showering on and off, more often on than not. Had a look at Browns Beach and spent a short time there, before we headed around to Pennington Bay.

Big wave action at Pennington and lots of sea mist coming up because of the waves smashing onto the rocks and beach. Really messed up the glass on the camera and lenses.We are heading back there tomorrow as it is just stunning and to have a bit of sunlight and a whole lot less wind. I have my shot in mind.

Dinner in the Kangaroo Island Seafront Resort Restaurant. Lots of laughs and chatter. Today our group really bonded as we were inside for so much of the morning.

Tomorrow the weather is improving and we get serious. Really seriously into shutter action. Up before sunrise again, so I best be getting to bed.

KI trip - day 2

Stayed with Ann and her daughter at their unit in Nth Adelaide overnight.
at the airport for pickup by Pete by 8am. On Ferry by middayish.

Staying at the Kangarro Island Seafront Resort. We each have one of these rooms to ourselves. SWEET.

fairly dull and damp shoot weather.

these are my best shots of the day

inspired by Laura Smith!!!! so wish she was here!

the man