Fraser Island is famous for its nature. Swamp wallabies, echidnas, possums, sugar gliders, Goannas, snakes, lizards, skinks and frogs are all present on the island. And the surrounding waters are host to Humpback Whales, dolphins, and sharks. Countless species of birds inhibit the island but the most famous animal here is the dingo. It is said the Fraser Island dingoes are the purest breed of the species due to isolation from the mainland. Their resemblance to the domestic dog, and rather casual approach to people gives a false impression that they are friendly. Dingoes are wild animals and this cannot be forgotten during visits to Fraser Island. They can be outright aggressive when feeling hungry.

The dingo in this photograph stole fisherman’s catch just minutes after I took this photograph. They are daring and bold. It is said their population on the island ranges from 120 to 150 individuals. The resort we were staying at was fenced off in order to keep them away from tourists, but on the eastern side of the island where majority of tourists stay on camping grounds the presence of dingoes is more visible.

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• dingo
• fraser island
• Photography
• wild animals
• wild dog

One cannot write about Fraser Island and not mention the sand. To most people the Fraser Island is instantly associated with the 75km long, pristine beach on the Eastern side of the island. In fact lets not forget Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world. However, there is more to the sand than just the beach.

Erosion, and endless layers of varied coloured sand have created spectacular sand formations in many places along the beach. Best known of these are Pinnacles and Cathedrals. The Pinnacles, expose rich textures and shapes resulting from nature’s sculpting elements: wind and water and are truly one of Fraser Islands natural wonders.

Multicoloured cliffs ranging from white to deep brown and endless variety of red, yellow, and orange sands form The Cathedrals, which are located approximately 18 km south of Indian Head. They are easily accessible but you need to be there while the sun is in the Eastern sky for the best photographs. The sand cliffs formed by natural erosion into series of pinnacles and are best viewed in the morning light, which highlights the richness of the sand colour gamut.

Rainbow Gorge is another destination of Fraser Island where you can also find interesting sand formations.

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• cathedrals
• coloured sands
• fraser islands
• Photography
• pinnacles
• sand cliffs
• sand island

Here we see a woman photographer taking shots of the S.S. Maheno shipwreck. The rich colours and textures of the old rusted through ship provide many interesting photo opportunities. This lady photographer and many others including me ignore the 3m safety warning zone to get the optimum view or angle on some piece of the Meheno. Rust makes for excellent photography as the metal oxides can vary in colour from light yellow to deep browns within small space. In addition the rust get the bubbled up texture and layering adding to the complexity of visual appeal to the photographer.

The girl photographer in this capture is apparently a pro for an Australian magazine enjoying her holidays on Fraser Island.

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• fraser island
• lady photographer
• Maheno
• metal oxides
• Photography
• rich colours
• rust
• shipwreck
• textures
• woman photographer

The S.S. Maheno must be one of the Australia’s most famous pieces of beached rust.

Maheno was built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for Australia to New Zealand crossings. The ship was in service until 1935, when declared outdated it was being towed to Japan for scrapping. Caught in strong cyclone the Maheno got beached on the eastern beach of the Fraser Island, where it quickly become a major tourist attraction. Battered by the weather as well as RAAF training bombing runs during Second War War, the Maheno is a very dangerous piece of rust and caution is advised, but hardly any one takes notice of the 3m safety distance warning.

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• fraser island
• Maheno
• major tourist attraction
• Photography
• rust
• shipwreck

Bark up the wrong tree
It is all Greek to me
Grin like Cheshire cat
Pass the buck
On the spur of the moment
Neither rhyme or reason
Discretion is better part of valour

Come hell or high water
Hamlet without a prince
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here
To the bitter end

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• abstract
• bitter end
• coffee cup
• Photography
• rhyme

Today was a public holiday in Victoria to celebrate the Melbourne Cup. This Melbourne event however gets national following and there has been calls to make it a public holiday nationwide.

In Sydney you can see the punters placing their bets in a massive tent at Martin Place. The queues were lengthy thus I can only assume the volume of cash was substantial too.

However, Melbourne Cup is not only about betting and a horse race. Melbourne Cup is also all about fashion. Many girls in Sydney dressed up for the occasion making the city more colourful. There were also more smiles all around.

PS: I drew a dog in a horse race.

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• fashion
• girls
• horse race
• melbourne cup
• melbourne event
• Photography
• punters
• smiles
• sydney

Some time ago I have captured a photograph of homeless man sleeping in a window of a building in Sydney and I have titled it “Inner city apartment“. Few days ago, as I was rushing to catch my train home, I have noticed the same homeless man sleeping in an alcove of a garage door, which looked a lot more sheltered, was lit and looked even more like a livable space for homeless.

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• garage door
• homeless
• inner city apartment
• Photography
• sydney

There is no visit to Byron Bay without climbing few meters of the Cape Byron to the Lighthouse. Recommended times are sunrise and sunset.

This most easterly position lighthouse in Australia was built in 1901. It is initial light strength was measured at 145,000 cd and by 1956 when it was converted to electricity the light reached 2,200 000cd.

The lighthouse is in pristine condition and is fully operational to this day. A great piece of Australian history or a simple destination for a romantic walk in the evening or early morning for the more determined. (We did both)

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• australian history
• byron bay
• cape byron
• lighthouse
• lighthouse at sunset
• Photography

Byron Bay is famous for its alternative lifestyle. I was hoping to add many street photographs capturing the people who live there. To my disappointment, todays Byron Bay is very much a mainstream tourist destination and the town itself is very much as commercial as any other city of this size.

There were a couple of exception and this photograph of a girl with the sign “tribal” across her belly was one of them, or so I thought. I have asked if I could photograph her belly and quickly agreed. Being a curious creature I have asked what does the word “tribal” signify. The answer was a bit of a surprise. Her belly was just a clever marketing billboard for a travel company, which uses “go tribal” term as its slogan. Clever advertising, but no alternative lifestyle.

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• alternative lifestyle
• byron bay
• marketing
• Photography
• slogan
• street photographs
• tourist destination
• travel company
• tribal girl

After a couple of days of leisure in Byron Bay we needed some time away from the beach and a bit more activity. We drove to the Nightcap National Park and followed the track to Minyon Falls. They were waterfalls only by name, as over 8 weeks without the rain meant not a simple drop of water was falling down the impressive vertical drop. The valley at the bottom of the Minyon falls looked very inviting but after referencing local guide we found that this deceptively close destination is a 7 hours walk. We did not have that much time. Instead we opted for a 2 hour return trip through the bush.

Very close from the start of our escapade and only few hundred meters from the falls I have noticed this old, fallen tree log half submerged in a pool of water, which in less dry conditions would be the creek leading to the falls. The tree’s trunk was cracked in a peculiar twisted patterns. I have found a reasonable angle to capture the log with the still water surrounding it. Monochrome treatment in Adobe Lightroom brought out the contrast of the light grey colour of the trunk and the darkness of the water.

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• minyon falls
• patterns
• Photography
• still water
• tree
• trunk
• waterfalls