Mooning Over Bombo

I've been chasing full moons for some years and have never been able to co ordinate the required conditions to come close to capturing what I want. I choose to have a break from the practicalities of realism and create an image which requires no help from Nature but provides a substantial amount of enjoyment for me, combining my love of the colour blue, Bombo Quarry, reflections, the Blue Hour, digital manipulation, oil painting effects and mirror images. Completely liberating. It all began with Bombo.

Revisiting Solander

Always a personal drawcard, the weather at Cape Solander was far more welcoming on a return trip. I was keen to re photograph the locations I'd sabotaged on my previous visit while the cloud cover was still impressive. Sydney has been held hostage by a succession of rainy days for the last few weeks so it was encouraging to be able to spend a couple of rain free hours wandering around the cliffs.

Greasy Morning At Cape Solander

A shoot at Solander was looking most promising with two completely new perspectives. The sky had developed into a beauty with luscious, threatening clouds, the seas were up, the wind had dropped and the rain was light and intermittent. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of my cleaning cloths was questionable to say the least and it wasnt until I arrived home and uploaded my images that I realised almost every shot was blurred or marred with water streaks. At the time I thought it was simply that clarity was compromised by sea spray. I have tried to resurrect a couple of shots, in order to have some type of visual record of the morning. Although the sky changed from overcast to blue or degrees thereof the density of the clouds remained unaltered.

 
An opportunity squandered but hopefully a valuable lesson learnt.

The problem was identified when I attempted to video some footage of rainbow lorikeets at Kurnell.  There was no seaspray, but the image was cloudy. After some effective cleaning it was back to normal again.
 

Only had a chance to capture birds doing what birds do before they flew off to greener opportunities.

As always, there were compensations. Driving home my attention was captured by what I initially thought was an egret. I've lost my enthusiasm for capturing shots of these birds as I've taken so many in the past, more recently some rather pleasing closeups at Long Jetty.  However, on closer inspection it proved to be a spoonbill, a bird I've wanted to capture for many months. Generally they are easily spooked and it's difficult to get close but I was able to move in, due to some accommodating foliage.

 The texture of their bills looks like polished leather and their entire face is very similar to that of the ibis, a much maligned bird common in many areas. Apparently they both belong to the family Threskiornithidae, a group of large, long-legged wading birds.

After spending some time with a friend at Green Hills, Shelly Beach was the next destination via Cronulla. I'd never previously noticed the National Surfing Reserve sign, so of course that had to snapped.

Shelly Beach is a southern beach in Cronulla . Shelly Park sits behind the beach and Shelly Pavilion is located between the beach and the park. The pool is popular with the locals and visitors alike and protected from many of the vagaries which afflict seaside pools, such as gigantic waves and backwash.

 
Watching others exercising is always therapeutic.

The Nuns' Pool is not only a local cafe, but a sandstone swimming hole a few hundred metres towards Cronulla Beach from Shelly, where Nuns once used to bathe. Unfortunately, information about this natural swimming hole is most elusive.

Steps cut into the rock are evident.

A view from the cliff above reveals a sleeping guardian hidden in the rocks.

There are many vantage points from the walking track which winds along the route of the rockface towards Cronulla. Thanks to the clearing activities undertaken by volunteers, the view are unhindered by rampant shrubs and trees, whilst at the same time preserving local vegetation.