65 replies to this topic

[Mystic]

I figured that as I have created this forum and challenge, albeit at the prompting of another member, then I had better at least kick start the game with soemthing of my own.

Car troubles have me held captive in my home town of Rosebery, but that is no great worry, as if you have to be stuck somewhere, this is a scenic place to be.

Decided to take a walk through town today, down along teh Stitt River to Stitt Falls (a nice set of falls, esepcially after rain), and returning home via the mine. A shortish kind of wander, but it takes you through a few nice little spots. The river at this end of town is more of a slow moving creek, with various pools offering nice reflections of the sky and flora surrounding it. And there is always the hope of finally spotting the elusive, but rumored to exist, Rosebery platypus.

The RSL in town has some nice gardens, that are generally well maintained and full of beautiful flowers that I love photographing. As I walked past today I spotted a rather curious looking fly sitting on a delicate pink carnation. Not really linking my chances if the creature staying in one spot I walked around the garden and started getting my macro lens ready to move in and blast this beast with a volley of shots from my trusty camera. Totally surprisingly, he just sat there, unflinching while I gathered my shots from various angles.

All in all, it was a nice wander in mild sunshine, through a reasonably nice section of town, and at least it got me out of the house for an hour or so.

My image for this week's wander is my unidentified species of fly. Maybe someone can tell me what it is?

[tassiesim]

ohh Anna what a wonderful fly but is it maybe a Bee ? isn't it cute and fluffy we could call it a Annabee if no one knows what it is , gosh I wish my eyes where that green
Fantastic shot for your first week , i look forward with anticipation to need weeks shot and see what interesting sight you find to share with us all.

[frank_in_oz]

Great shot Anna, can't believe how green those eyes are!

[Mystic]

Thank you Frank. Courtesy of mgjefferies @ Flickr the fly has now been identified as a march Fly of the family Tabanidae. It is female, and bites!

[Serrator]

Thank you Frank. Courtesy of mgjefferies @ Flickr the fly has now been identified as a march Fly of the family Tabanidae. It is female, and bites!

Cute little girl! Love her eyes!!

[Mystic]

The parts we need to finish the work on our car have still not arrived So still stuck in Rosebery for the time being.

Beautiful day here today so we took a short walk up around the mine, taking a look at some of the old equipment and such.

On our way back towards home we were treated to a passing display of another type of historical objects as a vintage Rolls Royce Rally passed through town. Luckily these things guzzel fuel, so some of them were forced to stop and fill their hungry tanks before moving on.

with any luck next week we might even be able to leave the area.

[tassiesim]

great rolls Anna what a clasic old car , well worth the wander down the street to see this beauty
sorry to read Jessica car isnt fixed yet, hope she soon is and you are all mobile again

[Mystic]

Week 3, and finally Jessica is back on the road and able to take us places again. Now if the torrential rain and summer snow would clear up, we can actually get out and enjoy a few places a bit more.

We did take her out in the horrid weather today for a good test run though, and found ourselves at the Dundas River, on the highway (A10) a little before Zeehan if you are heading north.

Great little spot here to pull off and enjoy a BBQ on the fireplaces that have been kindly supplied by Zeehan Lions Club. Bring your own firewood though, and enjoy the peaceful, slow flowing river as you enjoy your lunch.

Found this cute little mushroom, (maybe someone can identify it for me, possibly a juvenile Fly Agaric?? - they are very common in this area) growing out of the side of a tree while we wandered around between showers and downpours.

[tassiesim]

Its a lovely little Mushy Anna , so glad jessica is back on the road for you both to travel around in again, I havnt seen one that colour before what a great find it is well spoted

[Mystic]

We have been making up for lost time without transport this week, and wandered to quite a few different places, some we had been to before, and other new horizons.

My photo for week 4 was a diffciult choice, but this is one I took this morning as the early morning sun shone above the low hanging mist in the Cradle Valley. This makes a beautiful early morning area to drive through, but heading east was not fun for the most part. The light and landscape can be quite awesome.

[tassiesim]

A very nice shot Anna the mist certainly plays tricks with your eyes doesn't it giving the impression of things that arnt there very well captured its great to read you are out and about again

[Mystic]

Week 5 has been quiet, mainly getting a few things in order around the house. Did manage to get out during the week for a nice picnic at a local lake. Not sure of the name of the lake, but is most likely part of Woods Dam, near Renison Bell.

Access is by a fairly rough track from the Murchison Highway a little past the pistol range. The track is not sign posted except for a pinkish tape tied to a tree opposite the start and a little bit of bitumen at the start (about 20 yards). After a couple of k/m of terrain you pass under a railway bridge and emerge at a bice little picnic area with rubbish bin and fireplace. There are a few spots around here that could make a nice place to camp.

This is not a place where I would take a motorhome or any car with low ground clearance though. Some of the ruts are pretty deep, and there are numerous water filled potholes that cover the width of the road. There are also a couple of steepish sections covered in very loose gravel that we had to slip and slide our way back up on the way out. Jessica handled it well, but I certain that car has major identity problems.

My photo for this week is a small section of the lake near the railway bridge. I just liked the shape of the drowned tree sticking out of the water and the tree ferns on the far bank.

[Mystic]

Week 6 and still wandering around the west coast, but wit all there is to discover here, that is not surprising.

Went to a few different spots during the week, but a trip out to meet Hummingbird's parents at Granville Harbour was definitely a highlight. I am joining the very long queue of those waiting to be adopted by this delightful and exceptionally friendly couple.

Granville Harbour is accessed via the Zeehan Highway, with the turnoff about 25 km north of Zeehan. A narrow gravel road leads you down to the small township and beach. From there numerous 4wd tracks would keep most people busy exploring for as long as you could spare. The coastline around here is quite rugged, though numerous small beaches can be found both north and south. Great spots for camping all through the area.

If you plan on taking your 4wd up the tracks it would be best to seek some local knowledge out first as many of them are very deep sand that have attempted to capture numerous intrepid explorers in the past and others have obstacles that should only be attempted by short wheel base vehicles.

Visitors should always respect the environment, take any rubbish out with them, and not vandalise the environment.

My image for this week is taken from private property giving a panaorama of the main beach in front of the township.

Huge thanks to Nett's parents for a very enjoyable and informative afternoon.

[tassiesim]

Ohhh wow Anna what a view , stunning shot my friend sounds like you had a wonderful time , happy to read it cant wait to come and see for myself soon ohh wow

[Mystic]

This week has been pretty much home bound. Doing work for the site, and making a few minor adjustments to Jessica.. little, unimportant things, such as replacing the badly worn brake discs on the back. With Sim coming for a trip with us over the coming weekend we figured we might make sure that the minor details have been taken care of with the car.

Rosebery has also been getting some decent rain for a change this past week, which ahs been nice to see, but limits our movements.

Today we decided we had better get out somewhere and find a pic for this week. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone that we slipped quietly through Zeehan without being noticed.

The shot below is an old rusting furnace structure at what is commonly known as the Zeehan Slag Pits. It is an interesting spot to wander around, with lots of different textures and great views of the surrounding ranges. Access is via the Strahan Rd from Zeehan, about 5 km along. You can't miss it, on your left, with an entrance just opposite the start of the Mt Zeehan walking track.

[tassiesim]

what a interesting shot Anna , it sorta looks like from a play park equipment gone rusty or from the Mad Max movies , nice rusty textures to see ,

see you soon in 3 sleeps

[Mystic]

Something i wanted to add into my post earlier, but had not extracted the audio until now.

This was recorded at the back of the spray tunnel in Zeehan. Unfortunately I think the mic picked up the sounds of the camera autobalance engine, and we did not realise it until after we got home.

The file is a sound file in .mp3 format and should be easily handled by any audio player.

 P1110086.mp3   1.54MB   23 downloads

[Mystic]

The wet seaeson has begun in the west, and we have had lots of good rains during the past week. I quite enjoy this time of year, even if it does limit our ability to explore the region. The rain helps keep our part of paradise green and lush.

Enjoyed the delightful pleasure of meeting Sim this weekend, and witnessing her delight as she discovered this area for the first time. I always get great pleasure out of watching expressions of delight and awe in others, gives me nice warm fuzzy feelings.

The west turned on the taps and rained on our parade a little...well more than a little, and we only camped out for one night, instead of two. Having to pack the tents away in pouring rain did not induce pleasant thoughts about how they would be when set up again, and the weather did not look very promising for Saturday night, so we did a lot of exploring instead and decided to camp that night at our place in Rosebery where at least everything was dry.

My shot for this week is taken from in front of the place where we camped at Trial Harbour.

[Mystic]

Week 9

It has been a strange week indeed. Snow, hail, rain, a little sunshine, and a general lethargy basically sum the week up.

Did not really feel like getting out and about this week, and my choice of image sums up my internal moods...prickly

[tassiesim]

That's a very beautiful Scotch Thistle Anna , well spotted , I think that's the general mood among lots of us at the moment , I'm blaming daylight savings leaving well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it