This scene is what I would normally expect to see on True North in places like theKimberley and PNG, but no it was taken at Rottnest just before the Australia Day sunset.

The cloud build up was the precursor to the lightning show we were treated to later that evening, or at least what my guests were treated to whilst I was cooking dinner!

Another hot night in paradise with a beautiful start to the day…now should I go for a surf or a dive…decisions decisions!

Australia Day at Rottnest Island, on board the good boat Polaris. The sun smiling it’s bright hot rays complimented by a warm easterly wind, and the temperature hovering around 40c degrees. The clear, beautiful and refreshing ocean playing host to some superb surf, swimming, diving and snorkelling. All taking place under the bluest of skies. The skiest of skies. The bluest of blue. We can almost reach out and grab perfection.

Come sunset  dramatic clouds and lightning entered, to bookend this particularly beautiful Australia Day. Taking a run at the clouds were Peta North, Flemming and I. All the man-made fireworks in the world is no match for Mother Nature’s sunset and lightning bolts. I make this picture, hoping to do Mother Nature’s lightship justice, freezing a  beautiful moment in time.

I thought I would post a typical Australian Landscape for Australia Day tomorrow.

Shot a few months ago with Brett Morgan out in the wheatbelt.

Just before Xmas I was out with Mr. Spool doing a walk around Freo and we came across this little gem with an awesome Mackerel cloud background.

There is a lot of this style of historic architecture in Fremantle and well worth a walk around if you are interested in such things.

As I mentioned in my comment on the last post, a rethink on what I was trying to portray suggested a rework of the concept I posted yesterday.

I think this is more like what I had in mind with the look and for me anyway, I do prefer this result.

Hopefully you do as well!

The statement, ‘Stairway to the Moon’ evokes a lot of emotion and often fond memories of places like Broome where the moon reflections on the mudflats create a stairway of light to the moon.

When I saw this statue on the weekend, it certainly evoked some intrigue within me and off the back of that intrigue, I played around and created this composition.

To me the little guys are on a mission to get somewhere…and why not shoot for the moon!

Over the years I have spent a fair bit of time with Horses and even was employed as a riding instructor and trail guide at Rottnest back in the early 70′s and I never get tired of watching their antics, especially between other horses.

That was a really cool way to see Rottnest I can tell you!

These 2 were having a good old nuzzle for quite a few minutes.

I have Flembot back staying with me all the way from his adventures in South America.

He was somewhat broken after getting food poisoning and living in very cold areas for a few months but a short taste of Aussy summer, a strict diet issued by Lee and a relaxing weekend down with Christian and Jenny Fletcher has just about brought him back to normal.

We both worked up the same image in 2 totally different ways this evening and we would like some input as to what the crowd prefers.

Let the comments begin!

Lee and I went down south to stay with some friends on their horse stud this weekend and had a ball.

As I drove past this young colt he was lying down and just as I took my camera out he decided to roll in his sand patch.

Some amazing statues have been strategically placed around the place and this perspective caught my eye at sunset on Saturday.

In recent times I have been experimenting with some HDR techniques and on all of these occasions I was out with Mr. Spool, Neal Pritchard.

We had some fun walking around Freo on one occasion and then around the parkland under Kings Park.

I am quite pleased with how these turned out!

Whilst out fishing this morning, I had an idea about how to rework the Endeavour shot I took yesterday, so on my return I out the ideas together.

The Endeavour and the history behind the vessel and her crew are a huge part of our history and as such the vessel and the memories themselves are timeless.

What I have tried to portray with the effects on the photo is the timeless and ancient history behind the vessel.

I think it came together pretty well.

I went out for a photo shoot just before lunch at Rottnest and on my return I looked up and saw this little gem sailing by, so I jumped into my trusty True North tender and shot out there to get some shots.

I initially thought it was the Duyfkin but after looking at the Duyfkin site I think that the Duyfkin is considerably smaller.

I have since found out that it is the Endeavour thanks to my blogging mates and troops on Facebook!

It was a bit of a handful out there trying to drive the tender and get the shots…but I managed to get a few off!

I am also pretty sure I saw Colin from Birds Eye View out there in his trusty heli…I got a friendly wave from someone inside the heli, so pretty sure it would have been Colin…gidday if it was!

Don’t these old replicas look just so majestic on the sea with all their sails out!

The top image is for Sean from yesterday’s comment on my blog as he was asking to see more of the waterfall at Jacquinot Bay in PNG. This shot was taken right next to the waterfall that flows out of the mountain side with freezing cold fresh water. As you can see it flows out to a sand bar and then around to the right where it flows out to sea.

It makes for a great water ride and many of the guests did a few runs floating down the river.

The bottom shot is of a Toucan pet at the Nusa surf village in Kevieng. This friendly little takka was all about and was constantly checking us out with those big eyes of his!

A few posts ago I posted a shot of Longreach Bay sunrise and talked about how steamy it was that morning. This shot is only a few minutes later on the other side of the hill and looking West out over one of Rottnest Island’s most beautiful bays, Jordie Bay.

There was little or no wind so the boats were all swinging each and every way.

All in all a very nice way to start the day!

I woke up early yesterday morning because of all the moisture in the air. Not sure I have ever seen so much dew anywhere and at about 0400 there was not one cloud in the sky.

As the early morning glow started to happen the moisture quickly became clouds, almost mist in fact and it was quite surreal watching it all develop before my eyes.

This was the first capture from yesterday morning and then I cruised over to Jordie Bay, where there were some equally good opportunities that I haven’t worked up yet.

I hope you all had a great New Years eve and that 2012 will be kind to you. The world is still pretty broken from the excesses that caused the GFC, so lets hope this is the year is the year of everything settling down so that we can all focus on real news stories rather than every day seeing stories about the European debt woes!