Category Archives: Travel

Travel

Vivid Sydney 2016

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It’s that time again. Sydney puts on its best nighttime face. It brings out the light festival for the winter solstice.  I went a few years ago. I even blogged about it. We went back this year for a Sunday evening stroll.  This was one of the biggest shows. It extended into the Domain, Martin Place, Darling Harbour, and the north side of the city.  The Opera House has to be the limelight of the show each year.  This year, they had a rotating set of lights and images projected onto the famous sails.  The whole set lasted somewhere around 10 minutes or so, and I setup the tripod and just snapped away.  Most of the shots turned out pretty damn well.

Next year, I’m determined to get to Tasmania. Hobart puts on its own version of the light show called Dark Mofo.

Sony A7R II | Sony FE 24-70 f/4.0| 70mm | f/5.6 | 0.6 sec | ISO1000

Victoria Falls Hotel

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Ok, now I don’t normally go for the poshest hotel in the area. But there are those times that you want to splurge a little bit. You want to be a part of history.  The Victoria Falls Hotel was built in 1904. It was intended for railway workers in the early 20th century.  I imagine it wasn’t actually built for the *workers*. It was more for the ‘tea and crumpets’ set. This group likely either took the railway or managed the construction crews.  But imagine being in southern Africa in colonial times. This was over a hundred years ago at a hotel as prestigious as this.

The hotel is quaint and a bit dated. You can feel the sense of occasion that the hotel once represented, especially back in the early 1900’s.  We had only two nights there. We had a lunch. We took a walk over the bridge to Zambia. We also walked through Victoria Falls Park. This provided just enough for a taste.

Sony A7R II |Sony FE 16-35 f/4.0 | 35mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO500

Aore Island

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A year ago, we took the short 3-hour flight to Vanuatu for a long-ish weekend.  The goal was pretty simple: relax, snorkel and dive. We stayed at the Aore Island Resort, just off of Espiritu Santo. There is little to nothing on the island, a couple of small villages and the resort.  The resort was a bit rustic. It was absolutely lovely, and we were well taken care of. I would highly recommend it.  We did approximately four dives off the shores. These were organized by Aore Adventures. I reckon Vanuatu ranks among my top three dive sites so far.  The coral is great. The dives included both shallow reef dives and deep wreck dives. A pod of dolphins raced our boat. This happened as we were returning to the island after one set of dives. Fantastic island holiday.

Canon S120 | Canon 5.2-26mm | 15.2 mm | f/4.5 | 1/250th | ISO160

Cheetah at the water hole

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Our last stop in Namibia was at a large cat reserve called Okonjima.  This reserve was originally a cattle farm. However, it was transformed into a large cat reserve in the 1970s.  Most of the cheetah at the reserve have radio collars. We tracked two of them in the bush. There, we found them laying about.  We got out of our truck. We snapped a few photos. Then they got up and walked right in between our party. They literally split the group in two.  They could not be bothered at all that we were there.  Our guides asked if we wanted to track these guys on foot. They promised the cheetahs don’t like humans for food. We accepted the offer and tracked them.  We walked about 2 kms. Then they settled at a watering hole. We got a series of great shots.  I was a little disconcerted when they walked back to within about 6-7 feet of me, looking around and sniffing.  It was slightly terrifying. I could see the news reports: “American tourist eaten by cheetah in Namibia.” However, true to form, they didn’t seem all too interested in me at all.  This is one of the best photos of that little walk.

Sony A7R II | Sony FE 70-200 f/4.0 | 200mm | f/4.0 | 1/2000th | ISO 250

Sunset in Botswana

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Our last evening on our most recent trip was capped off by sundowner drinks around the safari truck.  Most of the sunset drives didn’t have great colors. This was due to dust in the air. Fires around the area also led to smoke in the air.  This evening was nearly perfect though, and was a great send off to a great week in Botswana. The moon was just showing through and the color was bright.

Sony AR7 II | Sony FE 70-200 f/4.0 | 71 mm | f/4.0 | 1/125 | ISO6400

Most Easterly Point on Australia

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Last fall we went up to Byron Bay to take in the annual Blues Fest.  This is a great 4-day music festival. It is coming up on their 27th year. It is hosted on the grounds of a farm just outside of the town of Byron Bay.

As a side trip one day, we had no acts we wanted to see earlier. We took a walk up and around the famous Byron Bay Lighthouse. We also took some time to take in the official “most easterly point of Australia“.  One down, 3 to go.  😉

Canon S95 | Canon 6.0-22.5 mm | 6 mm | f/5.0 | 1/500th | ISO80

Tokoriki

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Yep – I hadn’t heard of this place before last October either.  Tokoriki is a small Fijian island. It is a short 10 minute helicopter ride or a ~1 hour boat ride from the main island Nadi.  The island itself has only two resorts. They are the Tokoriki Island Resort and the newly rebuilt or remodeled Sheraton.

We had a great stay – 5 nights over a long weekend.  We did some lovely scuba diving, and a wonderful dinner on the beach on our last night. Highly recommended.

Canon S120 |Canon 56-22.5 mm | 6 mm | f/2.2 | 1/20th | ISO800

Fitzroy Falls

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Last year, we organized a big house down in Kangaroo Valley for my birthday.  It was us and 3 other couples.  The weekend was basically eating, drinking and a little bit o’ hiking.  On the way back to Sydney, we stopped for a break at Fitzroy Falls.  Delightful weekend.

Canon S120 | Canon 5.6-26.0 mm | 5.2mm | f2.8 | 1/400th | ISO80

Wineglass Bay Tasmania

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Ah, Wineglass Bay.  Among the most beautiful spots in all of Australia.  Rated as the 4th most important thing to do / see in Australia, according to Australian Traveler.  This may be the only thing I do in the top 10 while living here.

We stayed at Freycinet Lodge, rather rustic, but charming all the same.  Took the 2 hour up, and 1 hour down trip to the lookout, overlooking this site.  A bit challenging climb, but very rewarding in the end.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 10-22mm | 22mm | f/22 | 1/30th | ISO100