Tasmania isn't a big place. If you move around you will see a variety of weather conditions. This shot was taken traveling north from Hobart. The weather moved in and provided a subtle landscape with just enough detail. Sometimes a limited palette of colours contributes more to a photo.
2015 Tasmanian Wooden Boat Festival
Hobart turned on some well received warm summery weather for us mainlanders during the boat show recently. Well worth the trip with boats of all types on display in the water and in the exhibition halls nearby (on the waterfront). A lot of salty old dogs roaming around with many years of experience in life on the water. I had only the Olympus em5 with 24-80mm (full frame equivalent) capturing these images. Every kind of watercraft was represented from super lightweight single seater kayaks and row boats to sea going yachts and ships reminiscent of the 'old days'.
Also represented at the Festival was the Wooden Boat Centre at Franklin offering short courses in boat building. A short tour of the facility gave us the low down on this craft and a little history as well.
Surprisingly few tools are required to build your own boat according to John, our tour guide. Some of the older tools are shown on display here. A course is around 7 weeks to complete. 2-5 people are taken for each group. At the completion of the course, one of the attendees are invited to buy the finished product if they like. Materials for a 12-14ft boat are around $7,500.
Most of the timber used to make boats in Tasmania come from the bottom of rivers. They are floated to the surface then processed (dried etc).
In the background is an old style motor boat as you might have seen in a James Bond movie. There are no straight straight panels in that example.
An explanation of what goes into the making of a boat - processes, types of timber etc. One of the boats recently built incorporates timber used around pipelines, cleaned up and recycled. New timber is at a premium.
By the water
Tree reflection in water with waves. F4.5 1/10s ISO100 31mm
Cox's River Road
A turn off on the way to Lithgow - a solitary tree against the backdrop of stormy skies.
Mt Wilson revisited
What a difference 24 hours makes. Today temperature dropped 12-13 degrees and most of the mountains are covered in mist. Cue to visit Mt Wilson again - populated with private gardens available to view for the public (for a fee), there are many locations within this area that are rich resources for the keen photographer. These are a few shots captured in the course of my visit.
The waterhole
About 45 mins drive from Katoomba is a waterhole whose precise location will remain a secret for the benefit of locals. As it turns out its fairly well populated anyway on sunny days. A generous swimming area surrounded by small cliffs and a weir which takes away excess. Nearby, is a beautiful grotto like space where rock climbers do their thing.