MELBOURNE APUG OUTING No. 3: NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

1 hour and 35 minutes from rainy Hawthorn...

Marc!

Marc, my niece in Morang Road Hawthorn is reporting rain, cold wind and descending gloom. And not much prettier here in the Deep South...

10.30 start, and then sunset is a long day at one spot, i think we need a second site for the earlier times and then a walk to the rocks for late afternoon. It not as if you can just wander back to the car from the rocks. There plenty of little benches to photography, weather permitting.

SMBooth said:

10.30 start, and then sunset is a long day at one spot, i think we need a second site for the earlier times and then a walk to the rocks for late afternoon. It not as if you can just wander back to the car from the rocks. There plenty of little benches to photography, weather permitting.

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This makes good sense to me. But I don't know Phillip Island well enough to suggest other little beaches, beside that rugged coast around the penguin colony.

Poisson Du Jour said:

This makes good sense to me. But I don't know Phillip Island well enough to suggest other little beaches, beside that rugged coast around the penguin colony.

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Maybe push the meet-up time out to later in the day? Between 11 and 3 isn't much good for how/what I shoot, so I'd be happy to do an arvo run down to the Island.

3pm still leaves 5-6 hours to shoot...

LJH said:

Maybe push the meet-up time out to later in the day? Between 11 and 3 isn't much good for how/what I shoot, so I'd be happy to do an arvo run down to the Island.

3pm still leaves 5-6 hours to shoot...

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A good suggestion with likewise points concerning times and subject matter relative to my preferences also. What do others think of an afternoon start?

Works for me. Plenty of other places to explore before the gathering.
/Frank...

I like the idea of the afternoon/evening shoot.

Marc any chance of a lift?

That should be fine Andy - neither me nor Christine are big fans of driving in the dark, but the days are longer now...

Marc!

Totally agree. An afternoon-to-evening shot it is. I'm very much looking forward to it. I am having vivid dreams of a beautiful Belt of Venus rising over the Pinnacles as the sun dips down...<sigh>. Hang around for that. I can guarantee the effect is bewitching from watching it in the mid-North of South Australia.

You could have come to my rescue yesterday Marc as I sailed into trouble thick and slow through Hawthorn, Camberwell and Kew having got totally lost coming back from Noojee! Never seen such colossal traffic jams and badly behaved drivers, ever! After a 5-hour hunt, I finally got out of Melbourne by accidentally locating Worry Jerry Way and onward to home. Phew...

How was Noojee?

LJH said:

How was Noojee?

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Lachlan, well, taking away the trail bike riders, dim types in 4WDs and close to indescribable quagmire that is the top campground, I would summarise the time there as good and productive in keeping with thinking about the positives. I have seen worse.

However, one thing that struck me was the apparent poor state of health, or deteriorating health, of the verdure lining either side of the footbridge — the view upstream if you will. Nothing like the beauty in March. It looked pale and gaunt; the usual green livery was gone, replaced with a jumble of wind-toppled debris strewn around the river. This was a repeating theme just about everywhere I went on the walk half-way to Toorongo Falls (I wanted to concentrate on some downstream sections below the falls). The further I walked toward Toorongo Falls, the better the colour of the environment, and everything, everything was flourishing and I had a wonderful 2.5 hours in calm, mild and slightly foggy conditions working Pentaximus and pinhole in several scenic sections.

I don't think it can be recommended as being worthy of a long drive there if you want to see healthy green rainforest; it is not extant there at the footbridge: quite ugly and lifeless would be the right description. But further up it is indeed rewarding, though still a lot of debris from recent storms.

Camping there is forgettable: the top campground had just one 4WD-based camper there doubling as a tow truck to one by one pull out hoons spewing mud all over Creation. That, trailbike riders, hoons in 4WDs driving around at night with lights on... not good. Some aspects of vandalism to infrastructure (a new gate erected to stop vehicles/trailbikes from progressing into rainforest) was noted. It's overall been turned over to the dogs. But I exposed two rolls of Velvia in perfect conditions and came home content and happy with that. Just the odd navigation error that saw me ad 3 hours to a standard 2-hour drive.

Noojee town was good though as usual so quiet that a dog could sleep on Bennett Street without a care of being clobbered, and a suitably delicious latté consumed amongst a group of Ducati riders, a stonemason too, giving a demonstration of stonewalling along the front entrance of the Red Parrot Café.

I'm over it and that drive. Now we can look forward to The Pinnacles!

I'm envious of your proximity to both the Surf Coast and the Otways.

If I lived in, say, Pt Lonsdale, I doubt that I'd venture to Noojee over the Otways.

I wonder whether there would be the same numbers of knobs down there?

Anyway, looking forward to the CW outing. I just checked the tides for the 24th, and the low tide is at 1416hrs and high at 2119hrs. Not perfect, but better than the other way around.

I've attached a screenshot of TPE's predictions for the 24th, showing the sunset to be almost directly in line with The Pinnacles. Interesting!

LJH said:

I'm envious of your proximity to both the Surf Coast and the Otways.

If I lived in, say, Pt Lonsdale, I doubt that I'd venture to Noojee over the Otways.

I wonder whether there would be the same numbers of knobs down there?

Anyway, looking forward to the CW outing. I just checked the tides for the 24th, and the low tide is at 1416hrs and high at 2119hrs. Not perfect, but better than the other way around.

I've attached a screenshot of TPE's predictions for the 24th, showing the sunset to be almost directly in line with The Pinnacles. Interesting!

View attachment 59117

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Erm, why would you want to live in Point Lonsdale? Sleepy hollow and bloody cold most of the time (I was down there last week to photograph the sunset on sandstone, but it peetered out on me and I returned home a little crestfallen...).
Safer to venture into the Otways! The Noojee rainforest is a remnant wet rainforest among tall regrowth forest (Noojee district has twice been razed by wildfire, in 1926 and 1939; several unusual species of ferns at Toorongo Sanctuary; much of what we see is untouched regrowth with some isolated old stands of timber close to the river). The other parts to find rainforest in those parts are around the Ada Tree and further toward Warburton. Even Woods Point has a rainforest if you look carefully.

There are hoons in the Otways: I've witnessed them en masse at Johanna Beach (New Year period), Beech Forest, Aire River (near Hopetoun Falls) and Forrest — the new brewery there attracts them like flies.

That is a strange prediction for sunset on 24th. What a treat, if the weather Gods are noyce to us. I'm after the rise of the Belt of Venus until is engorged with blue and pink (eastward, opposite the direction of the setting sun), which might be around 8.45pm by guesstimate. So there is some compass work to be carried out down there to ascertain the best position and viewpoint for this.

Isn't the granite at Pinnacles pinkish? If it is, I imagine the afterglow would send me slightly off my rocker Can't wait! But lots of little places to go in the meantime, one of which is 'my baby': Upper Sabine Falls, next Sunday, via Sabine Grand Circuit. THE place to get down and dirty.

i think im going to have to give this a miss.
my mate is having his bucks party that night.
might have to do a solo trip there sometime soon though!

I'll do a pre-final head count in a week or so to determine just who is coming on this outing. For now, I'm preoccupied with a few projects involving travel up to around 22nd November.
But on the face of it, the day looks like being well attended and the afternoon start would be unique (and well timed) for an APUG outing.

Looking forward to this one. After a number of false starts by myself I hope this is the one.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to join this time.

APUG OUTING No. 3
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Saturday 24th November
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Suggested rendezvous at Cape Woolamai car park, 3.30pm
ITEM: Cape Woolomai / The Pinnacles, whatever takes your fancy in the afternoon.

It is a 2.4km walk to The Pinnacles from the Woolamai car park.
Hang around The Pinnacles until 8.30ish, and a bit later for the afterglow.
Return to cars and either a) leave for home; or b) group dinner at Cowes (17km).

Heads so far:
Poisson Du Jour (Garyh)
SMBooth (Shane)
Munz6869 (Marc & Christine)
Oxleyroad (Andy)
LJH (Lachlan)
Mrsmiggins (Frank)
Yanluk
Briand
Another count to confirm numbers around 21-23rd. Car pooling can be organised then.
• If the weather outlook is poor for Saturday 24th we will discuss rescheduling the event, but fingers crossed it is the right place at the right time!

Right on!

Alright, I've been absent from here lately testing my hand at printing and contact printing and doing a course with David Tatnall and trying out some barrel lenses and doing more developing. If I can get an annual pass, for the second time, I will make it to the Cape, if Lachlan is still offering a ride to me and my Technika III although I am daunted by the splendor of that image Lachlan recently took.

It's a late scratching from us two! Too much going on that weekend now :-(

Sorry gang! Can't remember the last time we missed one either - will look forward to seeing the pics here...

Marc!

Hi all. I'm pretty new to these forums and pretty new to film in general. I'd like to come along for the trip though. I hope I won't be too out of place with my grubby old range finder

Thanks
Jon.

munz6869 said:

It's a late scratching from us two! Too much going on that weekend now :-(

Sorry gang! Can't remember the last time we missed one either - will look forward to seeing the pics here...

Marc!

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Who's going to take the group shot??!?!?!

Sorry to read this…

Jonno888 said:

I hope I won't be too out of place with my grubby old range finder

Thanks
Jon.

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You should fit right in, Jon!