iceman
05-10-2013, 02:47 PM
Hi all
Sorry I haven't been around much lately, been away for 2 weeks on holiday and purposely restricted my internet browsing and emailing - so it was the occasional checkin on Facebook, occasional check of email for anything urgent, but otherwise it was mostly offline.
I've been in WA - for a holiday prize I won as part of the Tourism WA competition earlier this year.
We went from Perth to:
a) The Pinnacles
Just for 1 night. Went and saw the Pinnacles on the afternoon we got there. The light wasn't the best and we were so tired and hungry we didn't stick around for sunset, and it was terrible rainy and windy - so didn't get to head back at night unfortunately.
I was impressed with them, though not as spectacular as I probably had built up in my mind. The town of Cervantes is very small - and avoid having to buy much at the grocery store if you can help it! :) The accommodation was great though, new and modern and spacious for our family of 5.
b) Kalbarri
Just 1 night.
Our sunset cruise along the cliff edges got cancelled because of massive swell, so we did a drive along the edge of the cliff lookouts and took some photos. Clouds came over just when the light was getting good.
I didn't get out at night - again just too tired from hours of driving. I wished I had a chance but this wasn't a photography holiday - it was more about spending time with the family :)
c) Monkey Mia
3 nights. Beautiful place. Fed a dolphin, went on a 4WD tour up to Cape Peron, went on a wildlife spotting cruise and then a sunset cruise. Got out 1 night for some beautiful nightscapes. Such a dark place - though a fair bit of light from Monkey Mia itself and a bit of glow from Denham.
The whole 5 of us in 1 room - man that's hard!
d) Coral Bay
5 nights. Wow, the highlight of the trip.
The coral, the water, the snorkelling, the tropical fish, the sea turtles, the dolphins, the sting rays, the manta ray, everything was brilliant.
Relentless wind, but sunny days and nice water.
Heaps of snorkelling, I swam with 3 sea turtles (a highlight!), saw glimpses of the manta ray (though the water was murky that day unfortunately), quad biking on the sand dunes and on the beach, to some remote snorkelling spots right off the beach.
I managed to get out for some nightscapes on 1 night here, though almost every night was clear.
Drove to Exmouth to fly back to Perth for 1 night, then back to Sydney yesterday.
We had planned to spend 2 more nights in Kalbarri on our drive back, but changed our itinerary the day before we left to fly back down, and so were able to spend 2 more nights in Coral Bay. The thought of driving 1500-700 kilometres in 2 days was too much.
Did a bit of photography, and a few nightscapes as I mentioned, but it wasn't a photography holiday so I didn't grab as many opportunities as I would've liked.
Almost every night was clear and the locations were brilliant, but ... when it's a family holiday it's a family holiday :) Have to remember my priorities :)
Will no doubt be posting some photos in the coming weeks, have a huge backlog from ATCA and Coona still!
Anyway, back to the grind and back to work on Tuesday!
Sorry I haven't been around much lately, been away for 2 weeks on holiday and purposely restricted my internet browsing and emailing - so it was the occasional checkin on Facebook, occasional check of email for anything urgent, but otherwise it was mostly offline.
I've been in WA - for a holiday prize I won as part of the Tourism WA competition earlier this year.
We went from Perth to:
a) The Pinnacles
Just for 1 night. Went and saw the Pinnacles on the afternoon we got there. The light wasn't the best and we were so tired and hungry we didn't stick around for sunset, and it was terrible rainy and windy - so didn't get to head back at night unfortunately.
I was impressed with them, though not as spectacular as I probably had built up in my mind. The town of Cervantes is very small - and avoid having to buy much at the grocery store if you can help it! :) The accommodation was great though, new and modern and spacious for our family of 5.
b) Kalbarri
Just 1 night.
Our sunset cruise along the cliff edges got cancelled because of massive swell, so we did a drive along the edge of the cliff lookouts and took some photos. Clouds came over just when the light was getting good.
I didn't get out at night - again just too tired from hours of driving. I wished I had a chance but this wasn't a photography holiday - it was more about spending time with the family :)
c) Monkey Mia
3 nights. Beautiful place. Fed a dolphin, went on a 4WD tour up to Cape Peron, went on a wildlife spotting cruise and then a sunset cruise. Got out 1 night for some beautiful nightscapes. Such a dark place - though a fair bit of light from Monkey Mia itself and a bit of glow from Denham.
The whole 5 of us in 1 room - man that's hard!
d) Coral Bay
5 nights. Wow, the highlight of the trip.
The coral, the water, the snorkelling, the tropical fish, the sea turtles, the dolphins, the sting rays, the manta ray, everything was brilliant.
Relentless wind, but sunny days and nice water.
Heaps of snorkelling, I swam with 3 sea turtles (a highlight!), saw glimpses of the manta ray (though the water was murky that day unfortunately), quad biking on the sand dunes and on the beach, to some remote snorkelling spots right off the beach.
I managed to get out for some nightscapes on 1 night here, though almost every night was clear.
Drove to Exmouth to fly back to Perth for 1 night, then back to Sydney yesterday.
We had planned to spend 2 more nights in Kalbarri on our drive back, but changed our itinerary the day before we left to fly back down, and so were able to spend 2 more nights in Coral Bay. The thought of driving 1500-700 kilometres in 2 days was too much.
Did a bit of photography, and a few nightscapes as I mentioned, but it wasn't a photography holiday so I didn't grab as many opportunities as I would've liked.
Almost every night was clear and the locations were brilliant, but ... when it's a family holiday it's a family holiday :) Have to remember my priorities :)
Will no doubt be posting some photos in the coming weeks, have a huge backlog from ATCA and Coona still!
Anyway, back to the grind and back to work on Tuesday!