Project Maccullochella Phase III

Now that I have officially caught a Murray Cod (Maccullochella peelii) in my boat (released and undersized) I decided to add a flourish to it. This also follows on from the older posts Project Maccullochella Phase I and Project Maccullochella Phase II. Maybe this will bring me luck. See process below.

Finished Design

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f10, 1/80 sec

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Inspiration

Not my image :-)

Original side panel

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11.5mm f8, 1/5 sec

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Building the Effect

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f8, 1/100 sec

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 Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f10, 1/100 sec

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Lake Mulwala & Murray Cod Season Opening

Murray Cod season opened on Saturday 1 December 2012 after the annual three month breeding closure. I made camp at Kyffins Reserve on the NSW side of Lake Mulwala early Friday evening. I had camped near this spot last February (see post). I had some dinner and a couple of beers while watching the sunset, got a couple of hours sleep in the warm open air with a star filled sky for a roof before waking at midnight (opening time!) to go out on the lake. Murray Cod are a prized catch for freshwater anglers and are one of Australia's largest freshwater fish that can grow up to 1.8 metres in length and weigh more than 100 kilo's. The minimum legal length to keep a Murray Cod is 60 cm and you can only have one over 100 cm in your possession. The sky was cloudy by now but it was a full moon so visibility was OK. Trolling lures and spinner baits never got a hit so I tried freshwater Long Armed Shrimp, that I had trapped earlier. Then whack I got a 20 cm Murray Cod which I of course released. I later got one about the same size that broke me off at the boat. Around 4:30 am a large storm was approaching and with lots of fork lightning and I knew being in a metal boat in the middle of a lake was a bad idea, so I packed it in.

Sunset Lake Mulwala

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 3200, 12mm f2.8, 1/5 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f8, 1/10 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f2.8, 1/60 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 12mm f2.8, 1/40 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 3200, 12mm f2.8, 1/15 sec

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Almost Summer

Late spring in the garden.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f5.6, 1/20 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200  2.8 @ ISO 200, 200mm f5.6, 1/20 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200  2.8 @ ISO 200, 95mm f5.6, 1/125 sec

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The Otway's

Last weekend I did a drive across the Otway Ranges to Apollo Bay, along the Great Ocean Road to Cape Otway and Johanna Beach. Many of the tracks in the Otway Ranges were closed due to flood damage or not due to open till the end of November. A spectacular drive and very busy with campers, grey nomads, day trippers and tourists from all over.

Looking to Johanna Beach from Johanna Red Road

iPhone Click on photo for larger image view 

Smyth's Creek Great Ocean Road

 iPhone Click on photo for larger image view

Aire Valley

 Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f16, 1/100 sec

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Great Ocean Road

 Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f16, 1/100 sec

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Reflections Creswick

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f16, 1/5 sec

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Today is Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day and it marks the anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War (1914–18). At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare. Each year we observe one minute silence at 11 am on 11 November, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts. The red remembrance poppy has become an emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/500 sec

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Big Hill and the Coliban Channel

When you enter Bendigo from Melbourne the last and largest hill at the edge of Bendigo is the hill and cutting over Big Hill. Ever wondered where exactly Big Hill' is? Its actually a couple of kilometres to the North East of the highway see map below. So exploring in my 4x4 looking for a track to its summit I found the tacks sealed off with locked gates because the tracks are used as service roads for the Coliban channel. The Coliban Channel is 102 kilometres long and was constructed during the gold rush to bring water to Bendigo all the way from Malmsbury, some 70km away by road and from an altitude of 1,430 feet above sea level, where Bendigo is almost 300 feet lower. The gravity fed channels and aqueducts are registered under the Victorian Heritage Act. Today mostly concrete channel runs through paddocks, punctuated at regular intervals by tunnels, raised aqueduct and artificial bluestone block waterfalls.

iPad Screen Capture Click on photo for larger image view

iPhone 5 Click on photo for larger image view

iPhone 5 Click on photo for larger image view

iPhone 5 Click on photo for larger image view

iPad Screen Capture Click on photo for larger image view

Purple Iris

The Iris is a genus of flowering plant that takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colours. In this case purple.

 Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3, 1/320 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3, 1/200 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3, 1/320 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f16, 1/13 sec

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Grapevine In Spring

Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200  2.8 @ ISO 200, 200mm f2.8, 1/800 sec

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Steve

Eladio salvaged a yabbie from the Darling River.

Steve

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f8, 1/60 sec

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Eladio and Steve

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f8, 1/60 sec

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Red Dog

 Hermione decides its time for a sand bath 

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/80 sec

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Rub it in a bit more

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/100 sec

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More . . . 

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/100 sec

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Shake it up a bit

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/100 sec

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Red Dog

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/100 sec

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Contemplating the sunset

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/160 sec

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Sunset in the dunes

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f22, 1/15 sec

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Sand Hills

Nearby the Darling River camp was some interesting landscape for Hermione and Eladio to play in.

Goanna tracks in the dunes

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f8, 1/25 sec

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Playing in the sand

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f8, 1/30 sec

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Plants cling to the moisture in the dune

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/80 sec

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Spring in the arid dunes

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/125 sec

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Hermione chases a rabbit down the warren

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f16, 1/60 sec

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Waiting for the rabbit to re-appear

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f16, 1/160 sec

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