Preparing for my australian photo odyssey – and a solar powered mossie repellant!

As of yesterday I am unemployed for the first time in more than 12 years. I have quit my job to go travelling and to challenge myself to try something new – after the trip we will see what the future holds for me. Bit of a weird feeling to not have to go to work. Not that I don’t have heaps of stuff to do, I am leaving for Australia on Tuesday and have to attend a family birthday this weekend so I’m keeping fairly busy. I did find myself at one point yesterday lying flat on my back on my sofa drinking Coke Zero and watching McLeod’s Daughters on the telly (see the picture and hey it’s an aussie show, takes place in the outback and I was a bit hungover, couldn’t be helped). Daytime soaps have me hooked already and I’ve been unemployed for one day only, bugger!

Speaking of the outback, I got some wicked presents from my dear colleagues including an Ipod shuffle, the Sony GPS unit for geotagging my pictures and tracking my trip (or maybe they’re tracking me?) and a solar powered mosquito repellant that I am looking forward to testing in the outback! The little green box is a matchbox sized solar powered high pitched ghetto blaster! When switched on it produces a barely audible (not true, bloody annoyingly audible more like it!) very high pitched tone that according to the 32 page manual makes the mossies think I am a dragonfly! Amazing contraption! The manual goes to great lenghts to explain that since this is a solar powered device it will not work at night! (really?) But have no fear, this is where you light the small tealight citronella candle and stay mossie-free all night! (actually please don’t light candles for real in the outback…ever heard of bushfires?) Inspector Gadget would be proud and I will upload photos of the solar powered gadget in action in Australia soon – thanks Carina for definitely providing the funniest present!

I am super exited to say the least about going on a photo odyssey in Australia for 2-3 months. I am bringing heaps of gear including my laptop (and all my new gadgets!) and will spend as much time as possible ‘playing’ full time photographer for my photography company. So stay tuned to my blog for upcoming posts and photos! I will leave you with a shot of Darwin International Airport where I touch down next Thursday (click for full size):
Ok, so it’s actually my photo from last year of the airstrip at Moreton Telegraph Station in outback Cape York

A lone Mangrove at The Tip of Cape York Australia

To shoot the fourth picture in my image blog header (4th from the left) you have to go to the very remote Cape York in Queensland Australia and drive to the northernmost point of Australia – simply called “The Tip”. Click here for a google map of Cape York.

At the very tip there’s a lovely bay (just DON’T go in the water – heaps of crocs!) on your left and at low tide I shot this lone mangrove tree – click to see full size:

The colours of Australia, the deep blue sky and the golden yellow and red sand and a classic composition come together and create a simple but striking landscape. Most of the work here was done by Mother Nature, I simply captured the scene as is and worked the RAW file to recreate it. I tend to “break” the rules of composition a lot but here I went with the classic “thirds” composition.

Half the fun in shots like these is getting there. You can fly to Bamaga (close to the tip) from Cairns, but where’s the fun and adventure in that! No mate, do it the real way so you experience the real Cape York. Cape York is the size of Britain but with only about 20,000 inhabitants. Do a 4WD trip up the ole’ telegraph track with Wilderness Challenge from Cairns to The very Tip to experience the proper Cape York! This is without a doubt the most fun and also the roughest and bumpiest corrugated dirt road I have ever done in Australia (and I have done heaps of them, including the telegraph track on the south coast). There’s a reason these roads are called ‘washers’ it truly is like driving on a mega washboard! Highly recommended and the reward is gorgeous bays, beaches and landscapes – just watch out for those crocs!