Mount Tamborine revisit
The second day of Edmond’s Australia trip, as per his request we decided to go to Gold Coast.
We had breakfast at the pie shop at Yatala. For people living in Brisbane, it should be a very familiar name. Yatala pie shop is one of the best pie in Brisbane. Because of how popular it is, it was even voted as one of the 150 must do in Queensland too.
The cold one is as tasty as the hot ones
After pie for breakfast, we headed straight to Mt Tamborine National Park. The is a re-visit for me since the photo trip there in Sep. Was going to go to Lamington National Park but it is too far away and takes too long to drive too. We didn’t go to Sprinkbrook as well as my parents has been to Springbrook before. Mt Tamborine’s walks are relatively shorter, easier and it is also closer to other shops etc.
On the way to the Curtis Fall, we saw this hugh lizard. Not sure what species it is but it looked like a much bigger version of those in my backyard.
Having stop every 100m taking photos, it took us a while to get down to the Curtis fall. According to Edmond, the Curtis fall is like a leaking tap. Of course i realise Edmond has spent so many years in Canada. Compare to falls there, Curtis fall is really nothing and not really worth a visit =P
I didn’t take any waterfall photos this time. I reckon i have taken enough 2 months ago. For photos of Curtis fall, please follow the link below:
Saw this on the way back. Not sure if it’s dragonfly or damselfly. But i wish i have my macro lens with me.
Dad must be a little tired from the walk. He actually looked like a zombie walking in the national park.
After visiting the Curtis fall, we went back to civilization – gallery walk. Gallery walk is much like monteville. You find a lot of interesting shops there, like one that have thousand of clocks and one that sells some antique toys, but you won’t really shop there unless you are a tourist or you are looking for something specific.
Spending close to one hour walking (simply walking) in gallery walk, we went to the George’s Paragon there for lunch.
Luckily it was only a very short wait before we had a table. It was almost 2pm so probably most people had their lunch finished. This one here is an express dining restaurant, unlike the one in sanctuary cove. However, i am not sure really what’s the difference because food wasn’t ready much faster than the other one. I found the one at Sanctuary Cove is actually more tasty with better view. Besides, the whole lunch was a battle with flies. Probably because it is right next to a national park, as soon as food arrives, heaps of flies also arrives. So we had to wave our hands every few minutes to stop flies from landing on the food.
Not sure why i didn’t take any photos for other dishes. I must be too hungry at that time.
Unless you are stuck in Mt Tamborine Region, if you wanted to try George’s Paragon, try the one at Sanctuary Cove. The next stop after lunch is Cedar Creek Estate Winery. Cedar Creek Estate Winery offers a lot of nice scenaries. Unfortunately there was a wedding taking place at the chapel so we couldn’t access the Chapel but only the pond and the duckies.
The lake view from Cedar Creek Estate Winery
Thinking of not taking any duckies photos before coming, i still couldn’t resist when i see some babies birdies.
These babies actually walk on leaves that float on water. I would have thought the leaves are not gonna be able to support their weight.
The front view of these baby birdies looks pretty weird. I guess we are only able to look at their side most of the time.
Baby and mother
Mum was staring at the pond. She thought there was a snake in the pond.
Dad is relaxing while mum is checking out those duckies.
Since we don’t have access to most places in Cedar Creek Estate Wineries, we didn’t spend much time there and head to our next stop a bit earlier – the Polish Place. The Polish shop is actually an accomodation. I have always thought it is only a coffee shop. The most special thing at the Polish Place is probably the Lorikeet and the nice view. From there you can see the whole Mt Tamborine Region. Together with all the Lorikeet, we hardly have our hand off our camera.
View from the Polish Place
There must be a bushfire somewhere around Mt Tamborine.
Same as duckies, i wasn’t going to take photos of Lorikeet. But you don’t get to have such good light always.
After the battle with flies during lunch, we entered into another battle with lorikeets. Lorikeets at the Polish Shop actually feeds on sugar and your drink. Once your drinks arrive, they start to get closer to try “taste” your drink. The word taste probably not right because if you give them opportunities, i am sure they will consume your entire drink. Some even grabbed a bag of sugar and consume the whole bag on the other side of the table. At least, this is less annoyed compare with flies. We all actually found that pretty amazing. These lorikeets are even natural cleaner. After you finish your drink, they will all come lick all the content and make sure there’s nothing left.
We must be quite lucky too seeing a few kookaburras around. This one actually stands right in the middle of the Polish Shop so we can get very close for photos.
Kookaburra is only good looking from its sides. Same as all other birdies, it looks very weird from the front.
My wife must be drunk from her chocolate drink..
The Polish Place not only has a very nice view, you can also watch sunset there. However, since it’s getting quite late (Edmond wanted to have a look at the beach in Surfers Paradise), we left Polish Place just before Sunset. But before we started heading to Surfers Paradise, we stopped by just further down the road. It still the same view but without any tree blocking the view.
Edmond and my wife trying Levitation in front of the nice sunset view.
Nice attempt by Edmond but my wife is definitely jumping up instead of levitating.
Here comes a 360 degree of the view.
Every 360 degree panorame also comes together with a surreal planet photo.
We didn’t wait for the sun to set and left for surfer paradise. However, by the time we get there it was almost dark. Having done some groceries shopping we went for some japanese food before heading home.
A place that we have forgotten – Southbank Parkland
So, my long looking forwarded holiday began. We had a pretty late yum cha lunch after picking up my parents and my high school best friend, Edmond, from airport. Because of the limited time available, as we have to head back to Sunnybank for an early dinner, we decided to pay Southbank Parkland a visit. It has been ages since we last visited Southbank. This is indeed the first time since the Brisbane flood in the beginning of year. Apart from the beach area seems to be bigger, there isn’t much changes at all. We sort of did a quick circle around the park. At one side of the park, we found this places where there are heaps of sea gull around. With bird and my 70-200mm of course are more bird photos. 
We actually spent quite a long time shooting bird there. After that we headed to the Brisbane Wheel, now one of the landmark of Southbank. I have to say, Southbank is a lot prettier with than without it.
It’s almost time for dinner after some photos of the Brisbane Wheel. We stopped by Kangaroo Point before we head back to Sunnybank for dinner. From there is a stunning Brisbane city view. This is made even better with the sunset.
Astrophotography – Star Trails at Mount Coot-tha
Kinda got back to this after so many years. Haven’t been taken much of star trails for a few reasons. The change over from film to digital means the change in how it is taken. One single long exposure will result in a lot of noise generated. I just ain’t ready to learn and try at that time. Another reason is that not many people are interested back years ago and finding accompany is difficult. I would not want to go out to the forest alone. This is probably the main reason. Thanks to digital now, taken any star field and star trail photos are made much easier. It’s not too hard anymore to find accompany as photography gets easier and more popular.
The 2 images below are taken at Mount Coot-tha. Mount Coot-tha isn’t the best location and not one of the locations i will recommended. It is too close to city and suffers from very bad light pollutions. Very sadly i found the sky from my front yard is even darker than it. Surprisingly though, the star trails turn out to be alright. I reckon the way those car trails are there actually made it pretty interesting (My own opinion only). The aeroplane is an accident though. The star field could have been better with a darker sky. I was expecting to get some photos of the milky way and of course it is too bright for it, nor do i know the location. What a shame i can’t recognise any constellation that appears at this time of the year anymore. The only one i can recognise is Pegasus and that doesn’t help much.
Apart from taking star field and star trails photos, another things that i have tried is this time lapse video, something that is very popular these days.
Thunder Storm 15/10/2011
It is again the thunder storm season when summer starts. Ever since it started to get warmer in Sep, we already had like 5 or 6 storm like this, although not as severe. Hopefully people managing the dam has learnt the lesson last year.
Daddy Long Leg
While sorting out some old photos i came across some photos with these Daddy Long Legs. The only spider that i don’t mind having at home as they actually keep redbacks and huntsman away.
Hong Kong – Sunset at the peak
Some photos taken during the trip back to HK in March. Taken at the peak, which has one of the best views in HK.
Mt Tamborine Trip Day 2 – Part 4
Part 4 contains mainly landscape photos taken throughout the day.
Mt Tamborine Trip Day 2 – Part 3
Part 3 has more birds in actions. The photos of lorikeets were taken at the Polish place in Mt Tamborine near Gallery walk. Looking at the lorikeets you will know where the word “Angry bird” comes from, why it has to be angry bird and not happy bird, funny bird etc. More duckies at the Cedar Creek Estate Winery. The rest of them are either taken at the Botanical Garden or randomly during the day.
This Lorikeet is a bit camera shy at first.
These lorikeets were in an argument.
And fighting is the only way for them to solve it. How sad..
Another 2 were also having a fight
An intruder came.
Acting silly…
Waiting for the perfect moment
And this is what happens to the intruder.
Back to eating after the intruder’s gone
This is what happens when you keep talking while other’s eating. “Get out of my way” said the Lorikeet.
More ducks, in particularly, one dancing duck and couples of flying ducks..
From the front, duck actually flies like a bat
