Wild Bird Wednesday: Eastern Curlew

Recently my husband, Michael, and I took a drive up to Beachmere; a bayside suburb north of Brisbane in Moreton Bay. It was the perfect day to test out my newly acquired Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.

We met a local birder & photographer up there, who showed us around the area he regularly goes birding. The tide was low and a number of migratory shorebirds were fossicking for food in the sand banks.

I zoomed in on this Eastern Curlew digging for crabs...

Now I am saving for a 1.4x extender to get just a bit closer! I'm loving the new lens though!!

Linking up with Stewart's meme:

South East QLD Coastal Journey - Rainbow Bay beach & Snapper Rocks

I've been a little slack with blogging of late, with literally thousands of images to edit, I have been overwhelmed but I'm back on track and ready to share. I'm going to take you on a little journey along the coast of South East Queensland and share as many beaches as I can over the next little while.

Let's start with one of my favourite beaches, especially at sunset.

Rainbow Bay Beach and adjoining Snapper Rocks Beach are the two southern most beaches on the Gold Coast. Rainbow Bay, one of the most popular beaches on the coast, is well protected & safe for swimming. It is only 300m long and ends at a small rocky area.

It's north facing aspect makes it perfect for sunset reflections, capturing the afternoon beauty of the beach and the activity of local and visiting surfers who seem compelled to enter the waves as the sky begins to shine.

Beyond the rocks (behind me) is the 100m long Snapper Rocks Beach and the rocky outcrop called Snapper Rocks.

On this particular night, the conditions were perfect for photographing sunset looking back across Rainbow Bay beach (as seen above), and then to turn 180 degrees and capture the moon rise over Snapper Rocks.

Sand pumping in the area has created the infamous Superbank, providing one of the longest surf breaks in the world. When the surf is right, it is possible to ride a wave all the way to Kirra Beach, 1 km away.

While compiling this post, I realised that I had no daytime images of Rainbow Bay or Snapper Rocks Beach, so my next visit south will definitely involve capturing exactly that!


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Lake Moogerah

A couple of days after Christmas, my husband Michael & I decided to drive out to Lake Moogerah to capture sunset. We hadn't been there since August 2012, and I had a particular spot I wanted to photograph sunset from.

Our first stop was the recreation area near the observatory. Being Summer, there was a lot of water sport happening on the lake.

Although it was a very hot day, there was adequate shade to sit under.

The view across Lake Moogerah from the observatory.

And finally, to our sunset destination; down a private road to this lovely inlet, filled with dead trees...

And then the sky began to colour up, in spite of the heavy cloud hanging about...

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Wild Bird Wednesday: Brown Honeyeater

We only have one trees & a few shrubs in our tiny Townhouse courtyard, but the largest tree is a 3-4m high Grevillea. It is regularly visited by various Honeyeaters, one of which is the Brown Honeyeater.

It's a very tiny bird, with a loud and melodious song, and rarely sits still long enough to eat, let alone to be photographed. Over a few months I managed to capture these images:

Sorry for my absence on here over the last month, life has been rather hectic. I'm hoping to end the posting drought as of today. :)

Linking up with Stewart's WBW:

Rainbow Beach, QLD

In June last year, my husband went to Maryborough (265km north of home) for work. I decided to tag along, as I had not been to the area, and I figured that I could explore while he worked. We drove up in my car (rather than flying) so that I had some freedom. I spent a day exploring all the history in Maryborough (which is a separate post in itself). I also went on 2 full day Whale/Dolphin watching tours in Hervey Bay which is another 44km further north (see my Orcas in the Bay post).

On the way home from Maryborough, we had a night stop over at Tin Can Bay and explored the Rainbow Beach area the following day before heading back to Brisbane.

Rainbow Beach derived its name from the rainbow coloured sand dunes surrounding the town. Originally a Sand-mining town, Rainbow Beach is now funded by tourism. Sand-mining ceased in 1976 and now the town is a quiet haven for holiday makers, fishermen & retirees. The huge expanse of beach lends itself to 4WD enthusiasts.

Looking north from the lookout

The beach curves around as far as the eye can see (and then some) and 4WDing can only be done at low tide.

On this particular day, the reflections were perfect.

Zooming in on the rock face, you can get a glimpse of the many colours of the sandy cliffs. Erosion has caused the cliffs to display around 72 different colours. The colours are attributed to combinations of iron oxide, leeched vegetable dyes and also the many rich mineral contents.

Another wonder above the beach is the Carlo Sand Blow; a 15 hectare expanse of sand overlooking the rainbow coloured cliffs of Rainbow Beach. Unfortunately by the time we reached the Sand Blow, a storm was rolling in and it started to rain so I was unable to get more images.

We are definitely planning a trip back to Rainbow Beach this year for more than a nights stay so we can leisurely explore more of the region.

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