PIXelations

Our final stop was in Sydney. The first impression I remember having was that it reminded me a little of San Francisco with its big hills and majestic harbor. The main transportation center is called the Circular Quay (pronounced “key”). There, it was fun to buy a “Daytripper Pass” which gave you unlimited access to their buses and ferries for the day. One of our days, we had fun ridding those ferries to the various islands and ports along the harbor. Darling Harbor was the most fun with all of its many shops and restaurants lining the harbor area. There also is frequent fireworks several times each week for apparently no reason. What a modern, architecturally-magnificent city! The harbor bridge was beautiful. And people can actually walk atop the main truss all the way to the top of the bridge. With my fear of heights, this was not for me!

Here’s a picture of what I mean:



And here’s a night shot of Darling Harbor:



Blue Mountains
These World Heritage mountains were not very tall but they were scenic. Unfortunately, there is frequent haze. The reason for this and the reason they are called the Blue Mountains is because of the eucalypt moisture in the air from its many eucalypt forests.

This next picture is from the Blue Mountains, a site called the Three Sisters:


You can see the eucalypt moisture in the air, or just call it haze!

Jenolan Caves
This is the world's oldest known and dated open cave system with a spectacular array of illuminated stalactites and stalagmites. Unfortunately, I didn’t bother bringing my tripod since we were part of a packed group of tourists, so I had to shoot what I could quickly, handheld. Needless to say, the results were less than stellar technically, but the abstract patterns are stunning! I bumped up the ISO to 3200/6400 and F8 in aperture priority and hoped for the best.

Here’s one that worked:



Sydney Opera House
Here is another World Heritage site (are we detecting a pattern yet about the quality of photographic locations in this country??) that is a mecca for the abstract photographer! I had a ball, even though, again, I was part of a group and not able to conveniently set up a tripod.

And of course, one of the Opera House:



The fairy-tale trip Jayne and I had of course had to come to an end. But we will always have these fond memories of the sites and the easy-going and helpful nature of so many of the people we met Down Under. G’day, mates and no worries ever!

You can see the rest of my Sydney series here.