Year 4 - 2016

1 Couldn't help myself, I decided to upload this shot of arguably Australia's most famous beach - Bondi. Yeah it was a cold & miserable kind of day, that was also blowing a gale, but the positives of hanging out with Yvonne Cartwright & Neil Bermel, as well as capturing the storm blowing in, more than made up for it. Just remember that there's always sunshine on a rainy day - it's a matter of finding it. — @ Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia	2 Just one of those random shots you take, while wondering around Buenos Aires, that turns out brilliant ..... IMHO. — @ Iglesia San Juan Bautista, Buenos Aires, Argentina	3 According to the locals, this was a fine Spring morning in Hawkes Bay on the North Island of New Zealand. One thing I loved about the "Shakey Isles" is that you didn't know what was just around the corner. Luckily my curiosity takes me, my camera follows me and my wallet eventually catches up. — @ Te Haroto, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.	4 Our hotel in Mar Del Plata (Argentina) is one of a pair of twin buildings that stood out for not only it's sheer size, but for a long time it was the largest in Argentina - 4 floors, 469 rooms, 77,500 square metres (834,000 sq ft). BR> The red brick and limestone made for a great contrast in colours. — @ NH Gran Hotel Provincial, Mar del Plata, Argentina.	5 Hard to believe that I took this shot nearly a dozen years ago. During one of my "Hatch, Match & Dispatchs" trips (i.e. Births, Deaths or Marriages), I managed to snag a good mate of mine - Tony Steer's (Steery) Fat Boy and go visit the "zone". If I have to explain what the zone is when riding a bike is, you won't understand. — @ Alice Springs, Northern Territory.	6 Continuing on from last weeks vehicle theme - this AC Cobra replica is owned by another couple of mates of mine - Geoff & Liz Roe. Over its build time, I was able to source quite a few hard to find parts for Roey, as I was was living in the US. On one of my trips back to the Alice, Roey throw me the keys to it and says "Have at it" ... which I did. All I can say is - what a weapon! One of the best rides I've had with my clothes on. — @ Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
7 Nothing like watching the "Bush TV" and admittedly this is the "big screen" model. Gotta say it's one of life's simplest pleasures being able to sit around the camp fire with your mates, watching flames dancing in all different directions. — @ Mareeba, Queensland, Australia.	8 Have to say I was quite surprised with this quick snap taken from my HTC One mobile phone. — @ Hamilton, Tasmania, Australia	9 Built in 1836-37, the Convict Church of Port Arthur was never consecrated, due to its use by prisoners of different denominations. I wonder if that had anything do with it having no roof now??? — @ Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia	10 The rugged coastline of south-eastern Tasmania makes for a wonderful sight on a bright sunny Summers day. — @ Tasmans Arch, Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, Australia	11 Got to say snow mobiles are a ton of fun and I had a complete blast fanging around on Big John's sled around Blue Lake near Lake Tahoe. Got this shot of Big John showing us how get a rooster tail going. — @ Blue Lake Camp, Lake Tahoe, California, USA	12 I'd have to guess my shot of Flinders Street is something most 20-30 year old Townsvillian's haven't experienced sober. — @ Flinders Street, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
13 Yes, that is snow on the ground and you can just pick out where the waterfall was starting to freeze ... and it's not even winter yet. I took this photo at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone National Park and the thing that caught my eye was the complete contrasts in lighting over the area. — @ Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Wyoming, USA.	14 I was wandering around Auckland Harbour at sunrise, waiting in Doug Ashworth's "kerosene canary" to arrive when I was struck by just how cool the skyline actually was - talk about a brilliant. — @ Auckland, New Zealand.	15 Well good morning Townsville. Sometimes there is just a little reward, for getting up at sparrows fart and tackling Castle Hill in my ute, when it's darker than an coal miners fart. — @ Goat Track/Castle Hill, Townsville, Queensland, Australia	16 You'll find these architectural hints to Townsvilles past in little pockets around the town. The Victoria Park Hotel is typical of numerous country towns pubs you'll find all over the state, generally on the only road through town and having big wide verandahs, upstairs accommodations, a beer garden out the back and flow through ventilation in the Public or Main bar. Most pubs included a "Ladies' Lounge", furnished with chairs and tables, where women and men could drink together, but in many pubs women were usually only admitted to the Lounge Bar when accompanied by a male. It was also common for women not to be allowed to buy drinks for themselves. This all changed during the 1970's - thankfully. Like most country town pubs, the pub is usually the only place open on a Sunday, but the thing with my photo is that the "Vic" is on one of the busiest roads in Townsville and you could have fired a cannon down the road and not hit anything. — @ South Townsville, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.	17 Got to say that the countryside around northwest Queensland looks a whole lot different just after it rains Starkers and myself grabbed an LV, our cameras and trundled up the road, from the mine we were working at, to grab a few shots of the abandoned the steam powered farm equipment that was just laying out in a paddock. — @ BHPB Cannington Mine, Queensland, Australia.	18 It's not unusual to see "Road Trains" out in rural western Queensland, but it's not often that you'll see it so green & lush. I was fortunate enough to have the added bonus of being able to capture the clouds rolling in. — @ BHPB Cannington Mine, Queensland, Australia.
19 A bearded dragon. — @ Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia	20 I took this shot of Ross River with the new Samsung S7 mobile phone. Looks a bit under exposed for my liking. — @ South Townsville, Queensland, Australia	21 Just love being out in the middle of woop-woop at sunset with a few clouds in the sky - make for some great photos. — @ BHPB Cannington Mine via Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia.	22 The sun's trying to break though the clouds over Magnetic Island. After this shot was taken, the clouds closed up and the drizzling rain set in for the day. — @ Castle Hill Look Out, Townsville, Queensland, Australia	23 I was just playing around with shooting different angles and came up with a couple of keepers. — @ BHPB Cannington Mine, Queensland, Australia.	24 I went for a wander with my camera this afternoon and I thought I share with you just how hard are winters are here in Townsville. Admittedly the "breeze" could have blown a dog off a chain at times, but there was not an Arctic coat, nor thermals or any snow kit in sight. — @ The Strand, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
25 You couldn't have asked for a better winters day to wander around with a camera - here's a shot of two Townsville landmarks, the "Sugar Shaker" and the "Toaster" on Ross River from Flinders Street. — @ Townsville, Queensland, Australia	26 Even though the wind would have blown a dog off its chain and the choppy waters churned up all sorts of brown - it was still a great winters day in the 'Ville. — @ The Strand Jetty, Townsville, QLD, Australia.	27 Hard to believe it was nearly 2 years ago when we where playing mountain goats in Peru. — @ Parque Arqueologico de Pisaq, Pisac, Cusco, Peru	28 I was trying to catch the storm rolling in on us at the 12 Apostles, but Mother Nature decided to hold off until we were 1/2 way back to Melbourne. Can't complain - as getting a "bad" shot while hanging out with your mates sure beats working any day. — @ 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Princetown, VIC, Australia	29 Sometimes you are rewarded for getting up at the crack of dawn in the dead of winter. — @ Castle Hill Look Out, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.	30 You simply can not go past moored boats in the harbour, especially on a crystal clear day ... and not take a photo ... can you??? — @ Townsville, Queensland, Australia
31 A different view of The Strand, Castle Hill and North Ward that I took from over the near the Casino the other night. You have to love the technology with digital cameras these days as you'd never be able to take a shot like this with a film camera without blowing out all your white balance. — @ The Ville Resort-Casino, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.	32 Sometimes you work really hard for a shot and can come up simply rollin' "Snake Eyes". Other times you just park up on your hotel room patio and it simply comes to you. Love this dawn shot I took, looking out over Coolangatta. — @ Mantra Twin Towns, Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.	33 Going for a wander on the beach at dusk is simply one of the best things anyone can hope to enjoy. Being able to capture that moment and share it with friends around the globe is priceless. Gotta love technology like the Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and Facebook. — @ Coolangatta Beach, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia	34 With camera in hand, I found two of my favourite elements - a sunrise and the coast. — @ Coolangatta Beach, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia	35 Thought I'd take my new camera body out to check it's low-light capabilities and came away more than impressed. — @ Breakwater Marina, Townsville, Queensland, Australia	36 Hard to believe it's been 6 years since I went on walkabout with Jungle & Yvonne - we'll have to plan another trip. — @ Wallaman Falls, Girringun National Park, Queensland, Australia
37 Although Mother Nature would not allow me to ride the cable car to the top due to high winds, the view was spectacular none the less. — @ Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town, South Africa.	38 Camps Bay is on the northern side of Cape Town and has spectacular views of not only the coastline, but also the back of Lions Head and Table Mountain. — @ Cape Town, South Africa	39 The view across Table Bay, over Cape Town, with Table Mountain in the background. As luck would have it, Table Mountain was closed due to inclement weather (wind, rain, clouds) the entire time I was there - except for today when I headed over to where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. — @ Robben Island, Western Cape, South Africa	40 Yeah ..... it was that good ..... sitting in the Orange River on the South African/Namibian border, with an adult beverage in hand, watching the sunset. — @ Fiddlers Creek Camp, Vioolsdrif, Northern Cape, South Africa.	41 Fish River Canyon is the largest canyon in Africa, and arguably the second largest in the world behind the Grand Canyon. Either way you look at it, its a great spot to sit and watch the sunset. — @ Fish River Canyon, Karas, Namibia	42 Another good reason for getting up a 3AM and driving 45 kilometres (28 miles) through a Namib desert sand storm, with zero visibility, just to catch a brilliant sunrise in Namibia's Sossusvlei area. — @ Dune 45, Hardap, Namibia
43 Yeah OK, it may have been the 2nd largest canyon on the world, but a sunset at Fish River Canyon is still something you'd write home to mum about. — @ Fish River Canyon, Ai-Ais, Karas, Namibia.	44 Sunrise @ Spitzkoppe - for those like me who are desert rats i.e. born & bred, raised or lived in central Australia, my photo would bring back memories or the "Red Centre". The landscape around upper central Namibia in the Erongo region, compares a lot like that found in the middle of Australia. — @ Spitzkoppe, Erongo, Namibia.	45 A local couple out on their after dinner evening walk??? Absolutely loved the Serengeti for its diversity of wildlife. — @ Serengeti National Park, Mara, Tanzania	46 No matter where you are in the world, you really need to take the time to sit back and enjoy every magical moment that Mother Nature lays on for you - even in Botswana. — @ Okavango Delta, North-West District, Botswana	47 As my photo shows, sometimes it's just plain luck that you get an interesting image. — @ Cha-Re, Namibia.	48 I may still be 50/50 on whether sunrise or sunset is the better time for taking photos, but I 110% in awe of what Mother Nature has on offer and to be able to capture those moments for myself. — @ Dune 45, Sesriem, Namibia.
49 According to the "professionals" you shouldn't shoot directly into the sun. As most of you know, when have I ever been known to follow directives to the letter??? I enjoy rowing my own boat. @ at Spitzkoppe Natural Arch, Namibia.	50 Out of 650+ photos I took for the day around Sedudu Island in Botswana, I reckon this one could be a keeper — @ Chobe National Park, Botswana	51 Not a bad view from our roadside lunch stop. — @ Talabuku, Lusaka, Zambia	52 I was riding shotgun with our driver "Mr T" just outside Lisandwa and was captivated by Mother Nature putting on a show. — @ Kalonga, Kasungu, Malawi.