Some colour and beauty today -- a cold late Autumn day. Just a reminder that Summer will come again!

Another fungi image taken in the beautiful temperate rainforests of Tarraleah in Tasmania.

This is one of many images I collected on my trip to Tarraleah in Tasmania a couple of weekends ago. The walk from the resort to a waterfall close by took me through some beautiful temperate rain forrests where there were so many different varieties of fungi. I have no idea of the name of these fungi but they were beautiful. I hope you enjoy.

"Butterfly on Lavender" ... in memory of lazy, sunny, Summer holidays!

Tonight I got Photoshop CS3 on my computer so I had to have a play. This image was chosen at random to open and play with. I find the difference in terms of texture and feel of the image between the colour shot and the desaturated shot just fascinating. To my mind the colour image feels so rich and silky, sultry and just felt. The desaturated image to me still feels silky but not rich ... more stripped but the contrasty feel draws my eye and I still feel drawn to the complexity of the image... if that makes sense! I thought it would be interesting to post them side by side as one image. What do you think?

You know how it is when you are trawling through your photos and you come across one that hits you between the eyes and you think ... why have I not noticed this before? That's what this photo did to me this evening.

The image is of a sculpture located outside the Melbourne Arts Centre. It was taken back in January this year late at night on a still night. I'm still analysing why I like it so much so, while I'm doing that, I hope you enjoy looking at it.

While trying to take photos to a set of criteria (which I found very very difficult to do), I took this image of the major entry to the Southgate shops on Southbank. Enjoy.

These two photos show the front and back of The Lodge at Tarraleah, Tasmania. This is a 4 or 5 star accommodation, top of the range of the many and varied types of accommodation available at Tarraleah. The inside of this Lodge is so beautiful and is soooooo luxurious that one day I would like to spend a night there, preferably when it is snowing. This Lodge sits right on the edge of the mountain. From the sauna (where the back view was taken from), you sit in the sauna and look straight out over the valley and across to the next mountain. I can imagine laying back in the sauna and being served a champagne and then suffering a massage (;-) before heading off for a top class meal beside the roaring log fire. Bliss!!

While scrolling through my many folders of photos, I came across this one of my mate Clinton and Blossom taken on my holiday at Bruthen in April. It brought a smile to my face. I hope you enjoy it also.

These cute critters are Highland Cows, part of a herd which roams the hills of Tarraleah in Tasmania. If I remember correctly, a group of these cows are called a 'fold' not a 'herd'. They are small in comparison to Australian cattle and they are sooooo cute, especially the babies.

I have just returned to Melbourne from Taraleagh, a beautiful holiday resort in Tasmania. Friends of mine have moved there to work and invited me over for the weekend. These red toadstools were growing outside the Scholars accommodation (the old schoolhouse).

Taraleagh was once a hydro electric town: that is, the town existed to house workers on the various hydro electric schemes being built in the area. Once the electricity plants and accompanying structures were built, Taraleagh slowly closed down as workers moved on to other work.

Recently the property was bought and has been restored as a holiday resort. There is a range of accommodation available from five star luxury at The Lodge, through cottages (all beautifully restored), The Scholars, Backpackers, powered and unpowered caravan and tent sites. There is a general store/reception area, a cafe and a tavern.

Over the next few days I will post other images I took from the area. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Red Toadstools!

Bees and flowers -- flowers and bees! I was kept entertained and very busy for a few hours watching and photographing these bees working very hard mid morning one day of my holidays. It is so difficult to capture them in focus as they move pretty much constantly. I must say, they weren't too concerned about my lens being a 1 or 2 cm from their workplace. I hope you enjoy these images.

Last weekend in Melbourne, The PMA Inaging Technology Expo 2007 was held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre (Jeff's Shed!). After I had wandered around for a couple of hours, I surfaced to the world along the Yarra River at the Spencer Street end. The first image shows the south-western corner of the city -- mainly corporate buildings and apartment blocks. The second image is of the heliport on the Yarra and the third looks up-river from the heliport toward the south-eastern end of the city. It was such a beautiful afternoon and lots of people were out and about enjoying the beautiful Autumn afternoon.