On queue for the weekend the cloud has dispersed and the wind dropped with it, leaving a beautiful morning at Urangan. Living on my boat, these were the morning I always loved waking up to. Have a great weekend

So in a nutshell (as there’s a lot to catch up on) I arrived in Cairns safely on Friday 30th November, was there for 3 days. Went to Kuranda, the village in the rainforest, on Saturday 1st December (my first official full day) where I hugged a koala and visited a butterfly and bird sanctuary where anything (including poo) can land on you, pretty busy day but great experiences throughout! I took the skyrail over the rainforest and had a lovely scenic train trip back.

On Sunday 2nd December, I did the Great Barrier Reef and went for my first dive which was pretty cool. Didn’t see as much as I’d hoped though, no turtles, reef sharks or rays saw some boobies though (as in the birds) although I may need somebody to identify the particular species.

On Monday, I made my way up to Port Douglas. On Tuesday I did Daintree Rainforest and Cape Trib and saw a crocodile in the wild on a river on the way back.

I went out with some cool guys from Sydney on Tuesday night as it was our last night there and had a really good time in Iron Bar.

On Wednesday, I headed down south to Magnetic Island, were I spent 2 nights just chilling out. I saw a cassowary on the way down…hoorah! It was a fleeting glimpse as we drove past so I have no photographic evidence I’m afraid!

On Friday, I headed down further to Airlie Beach/Whitsundays. I did a sailing trip on Saturday for 1 night, where I met some really lovely people from all over the world. I also got to watch the sunset over the Whitsundays, sleep underneath the stars on the deck of the boat and experience Whitehaven beach, we saw plenty of rays there!

I was supposed to head down to Hervey Bay/Fraser Island on Monday night, but changed my plans because I can Decided I needed to recover from the boat trip after 2 days of solid sun and too much wine and a little motion sickness! I spent Tuesday with James, from Melbourne, who I met on the boat. We went to the local airport and flew in a tigermoth over the bay doing loops high up in the sky… mental, but well worth it! Thanks James!!! An experience, I will never forget. Brilliant. Amazing

So this evening, I am taking the night bus down to Hervey Bay. I’ll be sad to leave, but got to make it down to Sydney for Christmas and I’d still like to pass through a few stops on the way down.

I’m doing a camping trip on Fraser Island for 2 nights, so I’ll be staying in a hostel tomorrow night and then heading over to Fraser on Saturday where I hope to see lots of dingos

Photography can be a mind game. This morning I sat quietly for around 45minutes wondering if I had done the right thing, chosen the right location, maybe even should have stayed in bed, as the early light grew listless and grey. It was like all the colour of the place had been sucked out of the scene.
Then, as if to make a statement, a huge golden ball burst out of the grey and shed a fiery luminance into the cloud which lasted around 4minutes before settling into the business of rising into the sky!
Yes it was worth it, and it certainly gave a kick start to my day

First stop was Hervey Bay, a beach town about four hours North of Brisbane. After the long drive, we hit the local campsite and set-up our newly acquired home. A $12 tent from K-Mart.

Once our new home was fully completed and furnished, we decided to hit the town and check out the beach. The town of Hervey Bay was a fairly quiet place with not many people around, but the beach was beautiful.

After an interesting night in our new home, we packed up our things and got ready for our two day trip to Fraser Island.

Fraser Island, a 120km long island of sand off the coast of Queensland was a truly memorable experience. After adjusting to some rugged offroading in our massive outback tour bus, we got to see numerous amazing sights. Some of the highlights include Mackenzie Lake, Champagne Pools, Indian Head, and numerous wildlife including (but not limited to) manta rays, sharks, a sea turtle, and a dingo.

In addition to all the great sights, we made some new friends and really enjoyed hearing about the adventures that other people had been having. It made us very excited for the future, but also sad that after two days it was time to head back to the mainland.

Although we had a blast at Fraser Island, we are now on our way South to the Gold Coast where we will soak up the sun and practice our boogie boarding skills for a few weeks.

Awoke to threatening clouds and plenty of wind in Hervey Bay, but that didn’t stop the walkers, riders, fishermen and even the eagle that dropped by to appreciate the first light at Urangan Pier.

Well, the downside about my current travel style (quite fast without staying long anywhere) is that it poses some problems regarding food: Food quantities in Australian supermarkets are a bit larger proportioned than in Germany. That makes it almost impossible to find something to cook for just one day without exposing your stomach to a quite intense pressure afterwards. All the quantity discounts don’t really help to feel better.

I did what I usually do in these situations and bought pasta (you still need two days to eat that). I had dinner together with the two girls in my lodge and we enjoyed some TimTams afterwards. TimTams are Australian chocolate bars but instead of of chocolate they are made of pure awesomeness They are the only exception from the buy-two-=-cheaper-makes-no-sense,-I-need-half-the-amount rule.

The next day I was picked up from my hostel for my Cool Dingo tour to the greatest sand island in the world. The bus took us to the ferry and the ferry took us to the King Fisher Bay Resort and the King Fisher Bay Resort happens to be on Fraser Island. From there our guide and busdriver Mike took over the lead.

We started our busride to Lake McKenzie and it turned out that the trip really deserves to be called adventure tour. The only places with real roads on the island are the resorts. The rest is just narrow bumpy sandtracks.

After ten minutes and lots of shaking we got stuck in the sand and had to wait one and a half hour for a tracktor to come and pull us out. From there the journey contiued without further interruptions and we could take bath in the lake and afterwards enjoyed lunch in one of the fenced Dingo-save areas.

Our next destination was the so-called Central Station, a logging camp back in the time when the island was not protected yet. Mike explained that all kinds of trees grow very well on the island in spite of its sandyness because there are multiple layers of former vegetation in the ground. Then we walked through the rainforest with some huge trees along a creek with crystal clear water. It was very impressive and beautiful.

Since it was getting late we drove back to the resort where Daniel (a boy from Sweden) and I went to the beach. He for fishing and I to watch the sunset. After dinner I went to bed in one of our lodges.

The next day we headed for the 75 Mile Beach. On our way we stopped to have a short look at a big sand dune. The beach is the the 53 miles long beach on the East side of the island and an official high- and runway for planes. Driving there is really fun with the incoming waves on the one and the island on the other side. We stopped to see some coloured sand and for an optional flight with Air Fraser.

Eventually we reached our destination, the Champagne Pools. They are stone pools (one of only two places on the island where there are actual rocks) and the waves fill them with bubbles and give them the Champagne-like look.

After a swim there we went to the next point of interest, the Indian Head. It is a big rock (the other one) at the side of the sea which offers a great view over the island and the ocean. It is a good place to spot turtles, rays and sharks in the waters. We saw two turtles.

We made our way back over the beach which was now narrower because of the rising tide, stopped for the Marina ship wreck and Eli’s Creek on the way. The wreck is the remains of a passenger boat which stranded on the beach during a cyclone. Eli’s Creek is another one of these creeks with crystal clear water and you can float along in it. We also had a late lunch there.

Afterwards we made our way back through the jungle to the resort. There we ate dinner and I had an interesting conversation with Alessandro, Raphaela (both from Brasil) and a Spanish girl. We ende up almost missing our ferry back to Hervey Bay (along with some others, I’m still wondering if there was an anouncement at all) but it waited for us and we made it back in time.

The next day (Sunday) I catched the Premier bus at 5:55 to Brisbane. When I arrived there I went on a sightseeing hop-on hof-off bus to see a little bit of the city before departing to Sydney in the evening.

I visited a lookout spot, the botanic gardens (really beaautiful) and the Cultural Center with lots of museums and galleries. I really like Australian galleries/museums. They are free most of the time, you are allowed to take pictures, they are interesting and modern… They certainly do better when it comes to creating cultural enthusiasm than Germany. But I’m glad I don’t use my time for a longer stop in Brisbane. In the end it’s just a nice city with some high-rise buildings in the middle and some not so high ones around them. Not really that extraordinary from a tourist point of view.

Right now I am sitting in the Greyhound bus to Sydney and write this post. Tomorrow I will arrive and then everything changes. It will be good to settle down for a while after the all the travelling of the last weeks.

Portrait taking is a skill unto its own, and one im trying to get a grip on. The best in the world use a camera that cost 45 grand, and the results show. So if your reading a flashy mag and you see stunning portrait images, chances are they have been taken and processed by pros, for big big bucks. And im saying that because young girls today try and match those images with there iphones and apps and unfortunately they just don’t cut it, if they are looking at the mags as reference points. I don’t have anything against iphones and apps, you simply have to take the technology for what it is. Im rambling now. This shoot in Hervey Bay I found very challenging in many ways, and I won’t go into to much detail, but my lesson was that the best photographs I got from the shoot were the ones I spent time crafting, or composing with off camera flash. One composed off camera flash image outdone any spontaneous shots I did on the shoot. Lesson….take control…co-ordinate..be assertive..and communicate with your models. Mitchell and Patricia were fantastic and were comfortable with the camera, and I think its a generational thing. The younger generation of today are more comfy with camera’s than generations gone by, I believe. Patricia asked her cousin Mitchell to be her escort to her formal, and when Mitchell arrived he looked the part and matched Patricia’s color co-ordination perfectly. Well done.

Rua means two and wahine woman. Hervey Bay Queensland. Mother and daughter, friends.

Hervey Bay Queensland. 2012.

during a recent trip to my whanau (family) in Hervey Bay Quensland I wanted to capture my parents and aunty who was visiting from there home of New Zealand. Our aunty Midge, is the matriarch of the ‘Peeti Whanau’ of Tamaki Nui A Rua. It was an honour to film them in there every day lives,. The shoot was organic and a story unfolded about my mum and aunty in the process of making a Korowai or Maori cloak with thousands of feathers. There were to many storys involving my father so he sits nicely during this short clip. The clip is about our elderly our humanity and moments in a day of there’s amd our live’s. I used a Glidecam to shoot the flying shots and edited the fottage in imovie. I used a 24-105 mm Canon L series lens mounted on a a 5D ii. Tripod and some insperation from the late and great Mr Jimmy Little.

I was privileged to be invited to shoot my neice and nephew Patricia Hape and Mitchel Yarrow in Hervey Bay for Patricia’s end of year formal. I shot this image using two off camer flash units, one soft box, and a defuser. The flash equipment is new in my kit and ive been learning to use it wisely. On saying that i was happy with the results, and happy I was ably to photograph my family on a vibrant occasion.

Whales at Hervey Bay

Hervey Bay Holiday

Mum, who is nearly 90, just couldn’t believe how lucky she was to be doing “All the things you see on those travel programs on TV.”

We already have our 60 page digital scrapbook album finalised and it looks really, really fabulous. Wish I could show you the whole thing!!!

Josie & John,

WorldMark Owners since 2004

Hervey Bay is also famous for whale watching from July through November as the humpbacks actually stop here for a few days to play and rest before they move on.  Gecko‘s come out at all times, always hanging around our cabin and making lots of noise.  Not to mention the countless birds, turtles, spiders, and occasional kangaroo.  It’s like a real life zoo

http://www.whalewatching.com.au

I am in a land of pink and purple sunsets,

and with the sound of the ocean, like my mothers soothing voice to me when I was young, peacefully rocking me to sleep at night.  My head, often times over run with thinking, has felt very free here. I have tan lines in between my toes and Xavier Rudd on repeat. I lay in the hammock every day and I am on my 3rd book in a week. I am learning to play the didgeridoo (well hopefully). This is a totally different place from Sydney, and though I will always have a love/hate relationship with that city, I am glad for what it was and the growing pains I experienced there.  It was all so worth it for this time in my journey.

I feel as if my purpose for this travel is becoming more clear.  Not that it will necessarily ever be completely clear.  Give back. I want to give back what I have been given.  Just like the Earth has given so much to me, all of these places I have seen and will see in this world, I want to take that and give in return.  Teaching English, of course, will always be on my list but I have had dreams about working with orphans lately.  Give to them the sense of love and adventure that I have found from this life…..I also know that this travel is preparing me for the “walk”, and other future travel (or anything for that matter) that is going to happen to me.

Two things on my mind I will share, a little food for thought the first from one of my favorite artists, Xavier Rudd:

“Follow, follow the sun and which way the wind blows when this day is done. Breathe, breathe in the air. Set your intentions. Dream with care. Tomorrow is a new day for everyone, brand new moon, brand new sun. So follow, follow the sun, the direction of the bird, the direction of love. Breathe, breathe in the air, cherish this moment, cherish this breath.

Tomorrow is a new day for everyone, brand new moon, brand new sun.When you feel love coming down on you, like a heavy wave. When you feel this crazy society,headin’ to the strand. Take a stroll to the nearest watersand remember your place. Many moons have risen and fallen long, long before youve came. So which way is the wind blowin’,and what does your heart say? So follow, follow the sun,and which way the wind blows when this day is done…”

And the second…..The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money, the he sacrifices money to recouporate his health and he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, then dies having never really lived.”

Peace love and glitter from Hervey Bay

Esplanade

The Jetty

Humpbacks