Impressions of Australia

Australia

The images in this collection were taken in 2007, during a visit to New South Wales and Victoria in the middle of winter.

The sun bursts through a cloud covered sky onto the mist covered islets of the bay. At the end of a long day, with only a single shot left on my card, I stopped by the road as the sky cleared enough to let the sun shine through.
Mystically beautiful, the bay is West of the 12 apostles along the Great Ocean Road running from Melbourne to Adelaide. Icon beyond measure, the opera house took endless years to complete, and went well over budget. Early morning draws crowds of surfer to Manly's outer beach. With a decent swell, Sydneysiders surf first, then hop onto the ferry to go downtown for work.
This surfer was happily outrunning the swell behind him. The Three Sisters rock formation in the Jamieson valley just outside of Sydney is an integral part of Aboriginal history. Here it is captured in the last light of the day, bouncing of a beautiful cloud. The Twelve Apostles (only eleven remain standing) are situated on one of the harshest stretches of coast known to man. From here on South, nothing but roaring ocean until we hit Antartica. 
This shot was taken before sunrise, blurring the waves. A surfer spills in the waves off Manly beach in Northern Sydney. With predictable swells and a picturesque background, these guys are out there every morning. I watched them over the course of several days and had a great time. 
After a couple hours surfing, they towel off and hop onto the ferry to downtown where the offices are. Life does not get much better than that. Two older guys check out the surf. They're down in the water any chance they get, well into their 50's. 
I watched them gear up and head out into 10ft waves to have some real fun and show the kids how it's done. A surfer heads along the face of a perfect wave in Manly, Sydney. The wind tears the spray away from the top of the wave and everything is in perfect balance for a while. We stayed for a few days in Batemans Bay, somewhere along the coast of New South Wales, towards Victoria. From our window, we looked out on the lagoon where these shorebirds and many others had made their home. Here they were kind enough to land in formation, right in front of my nose. Encircling Sydney almost completely, the Blue Mountains proved a formidable barrier for the early settlers. It was not until they followed some cows who had wandered off and around them that it occurred to them that going around was also an option.
In this image, the sun sets behind the mountains, as seen from Katoomba. These birds seem to  be everywhere and anywhere in Australia. Here, three of them fly against the evening sky in the middle of nowhere (of which Australia has quite a lot ...). Australia's gum trees are dominating the landscape. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and varieties and have conquered almost all habitats. 
This one is standing in the winter parched fields somewhere in New South Wales.

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Icon beyond measure, the opera house took endless years to complete, and went well over budget.

Sydney Opera House, Sydney

Icon beyond measure, the opera house took endless years to complete, and went well over budget.

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