aussie from NSW

Hello, Aussie! The extremes of Mother Nature are not welcome. Stay safe!

Welcome aussie! I, too, hope your weather changes soon and that there is rain to put out the bush fires. I visited Oz this past November and was so saddened to see the devastation from the fires last year.

Well, there you go Aussie, and we arent out of it yet with february still to come. What part are you from? Im in Sydney, just east of the Blue Mountains. Sending you some flowers and sunglasses, and cooling breezes.

I'm in the snowy Midwest - near Chicago - enjoy your time on the site, Mary

Hello Aussie, and welcome to this wonderful site!! Hope you enjoy your time here!

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I'm up in the Hunter Valley

Aussie, you can't be too far from Amelia in Medowie. My sister lives at Nelsons Bay and when I was there last June I met up with Amelia and her hubby. They are lovely people.
I love visiting the Hunter Valley - especially the wineries, although our last visit included lots of beer tasting.
Have a great Australia Day!

Hello Aussie - I just left a message on Hard sudoku for you but thought you may not see it so have cut and pasted it.
"Aussie - we were told that there is more water in Lake Argyle than the whole of Sydney Harbour."

Hello Aussie - sorry I haven't got back to you sooner.
What you said about there being 17 times more water in Lake Argyle seems to ring a bell. I remember being told that they want to pipe it into South Australia or Victoria but they forget we also need it in W.A.
I think you get told so much on those tours that you forget more than you remember. I used to keep a diary and record anything of interest but not so much these days.
Cheers
Anne

Thank you aussie, I thoroughly enjoyed looking through your photo gallery :)

Aussie, you have produced some very high quality photos. Which camera do you use?

Lovely photos, thanks aussie - from another Aussie!

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Ian, they are a mix of my old Pentax K20D, now gone to a new home, and my new Pentax K5.
Most of the close-ups were with a Sigma 105mm Macro and the longer shots with the Pentax DA* 300mm.

I have a Pentax K100D with a Sigma 28 - 300mm zoom but I haven't been able to produce photos equal to the quality of yours. It has almost been relegated now because it is such a big, cumbersome camera. I find myself enjoying the lighter, more flexible cameras now on the market.

Ian, I shoot 95% of my photos with a tripod and remote release. The only hand held stuff I do is non detail cricitical shots and the built in shake reduction helps here.

Hi aussie. Re your question about the boat - it's definitely on the Hawkesbury River, off Bar Point. Could be a Halvorsen, but don't know for sure! Her name is Georgina & no is JC478N. I've uploaded another photo of her to my gallery if you want to see it! I used a Canon PowerShot 2S Is back then, but since 2009 I've had a Canon EOS 450D! I take lots of photos of boats as they go past, particularly the nice old wooden ones!!!

Hey Aussie,
Welcome to our crazy world.
Mine is a Tigerz setup, apparently not as durable as others but for the price (and haggle) and I figure it will last me at least 5 years. Was down Echuca on the Murray in Feb and the others got blown away...not me or Bella the Basset. Bit of work for an overnight set up alone but the side awning with a fold up bed was good, not recommended for winter since it only has fly screens. Send me a pm if you want to chat.

Hi Aussie, welcome to hte land of sudoku. my photos on puzzles would have been put up in 2005-2006 ... And would be on theirsecond third or more round around. I had a traevelling job in NT...which took me to interesting pictureque places... I had a kodak snap and shoot with a great lense and got some great shots with minimal skill. I upgraded to a CANON SLR and the photos havent been any better.
Photos on my wall might have been added up to 2010.

All the best. fi

Hi Fi, thanks for the reply. Your gear may have been basic but you have a good eye for a photo. With your SLR all you need is a basic understanding of how your camera works and the quality of your shots will go through the roof.

Cheers

Kev

I thought your comment about going back to the trees to reconsider our tolerance of others was one of the best opinions I have read on Sudoku in a very long time!

I haven't been participating in Sudoku very much lately as I spend more time on Facebook now. But I am glad that I saw your comment today & it led me to check out your Page & your Photo Gallery. Wow - you are an amazing photographer! I left comments on many of your photos. will check back in a week or so to see if you've had time to answer my questions. Thank you. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of your comments on Easy in the future.

Sorry, just realized your comment on Easy was on 11 Jan, not today. By the way, are you on Facebook? Some of the Sudoku Friends in our private group there would love to see your bird photos. Are you familiar with Nal from Miami and Marg from Tasmania?

Oops, you would probably know Marg as Sacky. Both she & Nal love to take photos of birds. You can check out their Galleries if you haven't already.

Great photos aussie. I've only had a quick look this morning. Will do a much longer browse later. What a treasure trove you have posted.

Thanks Kathy and Sacky for your lovely comments.

The composition and clarity of your photos are amazing. There are some very talented photographers on this site, you are definitely one of them!
What a treat to look through your gallery. All I can say is ''Wow!'' Thank you so much for sharing!

Thanks for your replies to my questions about your photos, aussie. I'm confused about where Morpeth is. I was happy to see you have added even more pics to your Gallery!

Morpeth is an historical river town on the Hunter River about 100 miles North of Sydney and about 15 miles North West of Newcastle.
It's situated in the Hunter Valley and the main activities are coal mining, wine growing and horse studs.

The Morpeth I found in my Atlas of Australia was in Queensland. Thanks for telling me where the one you mentioned is. When I googled it I found a photo of Closebourne very similar to yours!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpeth,_New_South_Wales Do you live in the Hudson Valley area? Looks like a nice place. Wish I'd had time to visit it during my trip with Jane last year.

Hi there Aussie,

I see that you and i were on the same May Gibbs wavelength on the toigh puzzle today. I hadnt seen your comment when i went off on my own frenzy of info supply re Snugglepot, Cuddlepie and the big bad banksia men. Loved that story as a child.😄👹

Hey, Aussie,
Some of what I post, most find Ho Hum. Some of it seriously 'stirs the pot'. And once in a while I try, for a 'change of pace', to put a smile on a face or two. Glad you liked the 'letter to the bank'.

Cheers

Hello - hope you were not badly affected by the awful floods your area is experiencing.

Hello Aussie - thank you very much for your lovely comments on my photo on 'hard' today.

Aussie - I've just got home and realised that the photo on 'hard' is also the first photo I put in my gallery. So if you go to my Page and check out my gallery, you will see the photo in a larger size. Unfortunately, you will have to scroll through quite a lot of photos to reach it though.

Today's hard photo was also a well composed shot with lots of interest.

Aussie - you have some absolutely brilliant photos in your gallery. Thank you for sharing them. I enjoyed looking through them.

Aussie - perhaps we'll see you over this way again in the not too distant future??? With a working camera!

Hello Aussie, sorry I haven't got around to replying to your comment on my page. You sound like quite an adventurous person and you've done the Gibb River Road, I see. I think my son may also have done that years ago with some mates. I enjoyed my small 'plane ride last year across Oz to Longreach in central Qld. Something very different and a brilliant local pilot. Saw Australian outback in a different perspective.
Cheers, Anne

Sorry Aussie, I just re-read your comment on 'hard' page and I see that the Gibb River Road trip is on your bucket list. You haven't done it yet.

Hello Aussie, once again, I do apologise for not replying sooner to your comment on my page. Things are just all out of wack lately, plus I've had tradies here doing a few repairs.
Sorry to hear of your health problem. I do hope you are keeping in good health as best as you can. It is hard when you suddenly can't do the things you are used to doing and what you were hoping to do. Stay well and safe.
Cheers, Anne