dj pettitt - gentle whispering hues

And we're off! --australian photo adventure continued

When Bevlea and I boarded the plane and headed north to Queensland, we both had jackets on as it was a bit chilly in Melbourne. When we stepped out of the airport in Cairns, we were hit with super high humidity and about 90 degrees- and it was only about 9:30 in the morning!

 Mossman Gorge -a section of Daintree National Park

We picked up our adorable lime green rental car and headed north, filled with excitement and anticipation. I was so looking forward to seeing and photographing the bird life,

Pied Heron

and the gorgeous, tropical scenery,  Josephine Falls

as well as just being there and soaking it all in.

Bevlea on Thala Beach

The plan was to drive north on Captain Cook Highway to Port Douglas for the night,
then Breakfast with the Birds the following morning, and continue up to the Daintree River area.

Cattle Egret

We would spend the night there, go on a guided 6:30 AM cruise the next morning in hopes of seeing some crocs, and then continue exploring the area for another day (unfortunately, we didn't see any crocs on the cruise, but I was able to shoot one at the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas a couple days later).

We would then spend the remainder of our holiday driving back down to Cairns, stopping at a few planned locations, as well as wherever our artistic mood took us, and then fly back to Melbourne at the end of 6 days.

the route we traveled

The trip far exceeded anything I had hoped for. Every inch of Queensland is relaxing, tranquil, out-of-this-world gorgeous, and filled with energetic fun and adventure all at the same time. The excitement of photo ops at every turn, the fun of traveling with a girlfriend who loved the birds and hearing the shutter click as much as I did,

The great zipper pull heist- and yes, he ripped it completely off of Bevlea's backpack!

and the beauty- there are just no words to describe the hypnotic non-stop beauty. It was almost overwhelming with its enchanting dazzle and spellbinding loveliness. There was so much to see and all of it a potential photo op, but how can you stop at every beautiful scene when it's ALL so beautiful? Well, you can't, but we did make a valiant effort, and managed to cover over 550 miles in our 6 days! 

We spent the first night at Thala Beach Resort in Port Douglas.
What a fabulous way to begin our holiday! The resort is situated on a private beach, with immaculate bungalows amidst lush, tropical landscape,

and a delicious restaurant perched above the treetops overlooking the Coral Sea. We were greeted with a yummy fruit drink to enjoy while our bags were delivered to the bungalow.

It was all so dreamy...and such a magically wonderful time! The following morning we were up at dawn to greet the sunrise down on the beach,

then off to have Breakfast With The Birds, and continue our trip north to the Daintree River. Bush Stone Curlew

Tawny Frogmouth -aren't these just the coolest birds ever?

  Rainbow Lorikeet 

  Blue and Yellow Macaw

 Yellow Indian Ringneck Parakeet

  Peaceful Dove

  Mandarin Duck

White Faced Egret

 Green Parrot

    Pacific Heron

         Noisy Miner Bird

 

   Lesser Sooty Owl with lunch

 Cassowary

Cattle Egret 

I still have another installment or two to share, so stay tuned!

The adventure continues!

 
After classes ended, I had a few days before we flew up north on our tropical photo safari. You'd think I would want to rest and relax a bit, but my love affair with Australia wouldn't allow it- I didn't want to miss one photo op and managed to fill just about every second of those days exploring and shooting photos.
On one of the days, Lucy and I went to a gorgeous nearby park (sorry, I can't remember the name) that had many varieties of birds, and a beautiful walking path around the lake.
mmmmmm...Black Swans with their gorgeous red embellishments, and graceful everything... make me swoooon! I love that the Black Swan is featured on Western Australia's flag, and is both the state and bird emblem. It also appears in the Coat of Arms and other iconography of the state's institutions.
Another bird I enjoyed at the park was the common Australian Magpie. Ahhhh... but no matter how common it is, I've fallen under it's spell, and adore those black and white spots and orange eyes  :-)
The Indian Myna bird is an introduced pest bird, and is tolerated with annoyance by many because they're such territorial and highly aggressive birds who compete with, and displace native wildlife for habitat areas. Even though they're a bother, I still think they're beautiful birds :-) Not sure who the guy eating the crawdad is. He was continually diving and moving, and it was tough to get a shot of him because I had to guess where he would come up after diving. No time to locate him, and then try to focus the camera after he came up from a dive because he immediately dove again. So glad I got one out of the 40 or so I took!
 

I can't leave out Australia's Silver Gull. Love the bright red circle around his eye!

What a beautiful city! I loved that I could wander alone with my camera and feel safe everywhere I went.  
Fabulous Street Art on famous Hosier Lane:
       

 Portraits of lovely Melbourne...          Well, once again, I've added so many photos that I fear typepad will cut off part of it if I add more, so I'll stop here, and take you with me to Queensland next post! Below is a screen shot of a great interactive map that Bevlea made using Google's 'My Places' to track our journey in Queensland. Check out the live version on Bevlea's blog, and see her great photos of our trip as well!

Australia, part two!

Kookaburra

I have so much I want to share about my incredible 3 week  teaching/photography adventure in Australia!

Rainbow Lorikeet

In my previous post, I wrote about the workshops and mini holiday on Phillip Island with Bevlea and Lucy, but most of the part about the trip to Phillip Island got cut off when I published the post.
I'll  finish sharing about our time on Phillip Island, hoping I can remember it all...and then post about my trip to Queensland with Bevlea in a separate installment.

White Ibis 

While on the island visiting the Koala Conservation Center, watching the Penguin Parade, and enjoying Churchill Island Heritage Farm, we saw a pod of Australian Penguins. Such amazing birds!
Did you know that Pelican Chicks can communicate with their mothers while still in the egg? Although I have no idea how experts know that they can let the mother know when they're too hot or cold, I've read that they can. They also listen to their parents from the egg, so when they emerge, they can identify them. Again, I have no idea how we know that they're able to do that, but it's pretty cool!  

The Australian Cape Barren Goose is another cool bird that we saw quite a few of while on the island. Almost hunted to extinction by the 1950's, they are now protected, and thankfully, no longer listed as endangered. Their legs are a deep pink and the feet are black.

They have a short, black bill with an incredible, greenish-yellow cere (skin above the beak, where the nostrils are).
Such marvelous colors! I guess all that beauty makes up for the fact that their call sounds a bit like the grunt of a pig :-)

After a very full day, we spent the night at Kil’nTime, a delightful B&B in Ventnor, between Cowes (the main township on Phillip Island) and The Nobbies Rocks (home to Australia's largest colony of fur seals). 

original kiln before being converted into the B&B -image from www.kilntime.com.au

The converted kiln at the B&B is part of the island's unique Chicory farming history. Chicory has been farmed on the island for many years due to the cool, frost free climate. The root was dug up, washed, chopped, and dried in the kilns, then bagged and sold as a coffee substitute. Built in the late 1920's or early 30's, the kiln on the property was operated until the 1970's and converted into the B&B in 1990 by the present owners. Many kilns are still on the island, but now used mostly for farm storage.

one of the unused Chicory kilns still on the island

While at a nearby beach, we watched a lovely little sailboat come in for the evening. It was the perfect photo op... LOVED the bright red sail! I rarely see scenes like this, so I was beyond thrilled. And check out that cool cloud on the left. I didn't notice it when I took the shot, and was even more thrilled when I saw it after downloading. The following day, we headed back home to Melbourne relaxed and smiling. We did manage a few more quick stops on the way back though -you can never have too many photos you know!   

Black-faced Cormorant  

Purple Swamphen

The Purple Swamphen has huge feet, bright plumage, and a red bill and frontal shield. Amazing purple!

What fun exploring with girlfriends and cameras! Well, Lucy wasn't a convert yet... but she was great company even without a camera. Since I returned home though, she has purchased a camera! I'm so happy I was able to be there to help Bevlea corrupt her :-)

A couple days after classes were over, Bevlea and I hopped on a plane and flew up north to Cairns, in tropical Queensland. Stay tuned for tons of photos as I share another amazing chapter of the adventure in the next post!

Australia!!

through the plane window

 
Finally! A post about my trip to beautiful Australia!  Ellinjaa Falls

I feel so bad that it's taken me so long to post about my incredible trip to Australia last month. I knew it would be wonderful, but everything - absolutely EVERYTHING - far exceeded what I had hoped for.
Teaching was so wonderful, with an amazing group of women attending workshops. As excited as I was to head up north to Queensland for a photo safari with my friend and workshop coordinator, Bevlea after classes were over, I was sad when they ended. 
Some of the gals signed up for all of the classes, and it was especially nice to see the progress in their work, as well as get to know them better. My students were such sweet, sweet ladies... every one of them. It was a very special time. I told my sweet husband that if it weren't for him, family, and Tulla, I'm not sure I would have returned. :-)  

Good news though! I'm SO excited that we're planning another adventure in 2015! Not sure of the details yet, but we're thinking about organizing something in Perth. It's not even close to definite yet, but I would love to see that side of the country! If so, I think I would offer one, 3 or 4 day workshop. Not sure what I would teach ... hopefully I'll be doing new things by then.

While in Melbourne teaching, I stayed with my Aussie friend, Lucy, for around 10 days. That's a long time to visit and I felt like I was bordering on becoming a freeloader instead of a guest, and wanted to do some dishes, or vacuum, or something... but Lucy wouldn't let me lift a finger. Such generous hospitality. Thank you for your friendship Lucy (and John too!), and for sharing sweet little Otis. It was so good to have doggy fixes while away so I didn't miss Tulla so much. Isn't he adorable? Otis

I taught 4 separate classes while in Melbourne; one 4 day workshop, and 3, one day classes. The 4 day included making a journal using painted photos, beginning with a photo shoot day to capture images that would later be used in the journal. What fun it was!

talented ladies in the 4 day workshop 

For our photo day, Bevlea scouted out the best places to shoot a variety of photos and decided on Montsalvat. It's an amazing place, and is Australia’s oldest working artists’ colony. It's filled with photo ops and beautiful character everywhere you turn. I couldn't get enough of the dreamy old historic buildings, including charming mud brick cottages filled with texture, grunge, whimsy, and gorgeous peeling paint.                     
After an inspiring day at Montsalvat, we spent the following 3 days of class at a great venue where all 4 of my workshops were held. The  classroom had fabulous lighting, and even a lake outside, complete with Black Swans! I think there are some students missing in my photos, and I apologize to anyone not shown here. I get so busy teaching that it's difficult to remember who I've taken photos of. I was so inspired by the talent in all the workshops-even with one broken arm, and a bad virus or possibly food poisoning! Both gals were SUCH troopers and didn't give up! Many of the photos shown below are WIP. Instead of trying to separate the classes, I'll add them all together.                                                           
               

After the 4 day workshop, Bevlea, Lucy, and I took a short holiday to Phillip Island to watch the Penguin Parade, visit the Koala Conservation Center, and see Churchill Island Heritage Farm.

DJ, Lucy, and Bevlea

There's no photography allowed at the Penguin Parade, so I purchased postcards. The penguins were so wonderful to watch as they come out of the sea after fishing all day. What an incredible little animal. It was fun to also visit adorable Koalas at the Koala Conservation Center while on the island. I'm not sure there is anything cuter than a Koala! Well, maybe puppies, but it's close...    Churchill Island Heritage Farm was amazing as well. Churchill Island sits just off the Phillip Island coast and is bridge accessed. The farm gives visitors a glimpse of the bygone pioneering spirit of Australia. The island is only 57 hectares (almost 141 acres) and is open to the public as an historic working farm. It was a very enjoyable visit, but I think my favorite part were the rose-red Galahs! These incredible cockatoos had nothing to do with the wonderful farm other than being there, but I was so taken by them, it was hard to focus on anything else. They are the sweetest birds! They are highly social and mate for life. If their mate dies, Galahs have been known to become quite depressed, though they usually will eventually find a new mate. They show affection by preening each other's facial feathers and heads. Love these birds!

     

I also captured a few shots of the cute Willie Wagtail while at the farm. They're almost always on the move and rarely sit still for more than a few moments during daylight hours. Even while perching, it will wag its tail from side to side, twisting about looking for prey. So fun to watch.  Another interesting native bird around the farm is the Masked Lapwing. They're common and found many places, but wow, what a great face! Love the yellow wattles and huge eyes.

  

Whoops... this post was much longer, but when I published it, a lot was cut off. Not sure if it was too long, or what. Sorry! I'll post another chapter as soon as I can!