Australia Day 2012 Jan 1st or 26th?

The Australia Day national holiday on the 26th of January only started to be celebrated nationally from 1935 and not until 1994 consistently as a public holiday on that date. The challenge of making the 26th of January a day all Australians can accept and enjoy is the fact that the 26th of January originated to mark the beginning of British occupation of Australia by British pioneering settlers, symbolised by the raising of the Union Jack and later the Australian flag which bears the British flag. This gives rise to Aboriginal Australians referring to it as 'invasion day'. Maybe the same spirit of the current Australia day could be achieved by changing it to January 1st and focus more on celebrating Federation, when Australia became an independent nation on 1st January 1901. Anyway happy Australia Day.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 35mm f2D @ ISO 200, 35mm f2.2, 1/500 sec

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Gong Hey Fat Choy - Xin Nian Kuai Le - The Year of the Dragon 2012

Moonambel

We took the ute on a 4x4 trek today. We went from Redbank to the town of Moonambel via The St Arnaud Range National Park and the Redbank Nature Conservation Reserve. Moonambel is situated in a sheltered valley in the heart of the Victorian Pyrenees. Victoria's Pyrenees District is a wine region centred on the Pyrenees ranges located in Victoria, Australia near the town of Avoca. See our track mapped here on the MotionX-GPS site. I use MotionX-GPS on the iPhone.

 Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 13mm f8, 1/320 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f8, 1/400 sec

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Q. Where are your Buccaneers?

A. under your buccan hat. Our Elephant Ear plant is flowering, a rare event by all accounts. Must be the master gardener at work. Alocasia is a genus of broad leaved tuberous perennials from the Family Araceae. There are 78 species normally occurring in Tropical or Subtropical Asia and Australia. I think this one is a Alocasia brisbanensis. its common name is native lily or cunjevoi and has large, spade shaped leaves on long, fleshy stems. The flowers are a perfumed, greenish-cream colour that is similar to an arum lily. Red fruits follow the flowering. We will see.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 360, 105mm f3, 1/80 sec

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Fotoshop by Adobé

I'm pretty sure anyone who uses Adobe Photoshop or reads magazines will find this video amusing.
 
Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Bountiful Harvest

We have our first crop of grapes since planting two vines for shade on the back deck 18 months ago. We got 6 small bunches of one vine. We also have nectarines and peaches coming on. Update will follow . . .

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/640 sec

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