Sculptures by the Sea

Went down to Bondi with the UNSW Photoclub for the annual "Sculptures by the Sea". There were many interesting works of art; in fact, the event itself was interesting, as it used the beautiful coastline from Bondi to Tamarama as an outdoor art gallery.

One of the funny exhibits that I really liked was the one that looked like actual direction signs. Including the one below:

There were many other pieces of artwork, but I won't be posting them here, mainly as I don't think my shots are nice enough to reflect how the actual artworks are like.

A facination with waves...

Over the months, I went to Coogee Beach and the coastal walk several times, and I kept attempting take photos of the waves ~

Ōceanus


Enérgeia


Aequor


This one has a faint rainbow in it:



Hope to take more (and better) photos of waves ~

SSA's "Dinner and Dance"

The SSA's annual Dinner and Dance event was held at the Sir Stamford hotel at Circular Quay. While called a "D&D", it wasn't really one. Rather, it was more of a high-class cocktail dinner.

Sample of the type of food served:






















Wasn't a totally fun event, but it was interesting enough (It had a "Masquerade" theme). I suppose many of the people who went (not that there were that many in total) continued the event afterwards by clubbing or drinking, so it was probably more fun for them.

Masquerade theme:






















I did not take many photos, as I didn't have the skill to take good shots of indoor events with relatively dim lighting...

Fieldtrip to La Perouse - GEOS 3921

The field trip for my GEOS 3921 module was to Congwong Bay, La Perouse, south of Sydney. Once again, it was interesting, as I had not been to the place before.



Went down to the beach area to learn about foredune systems, vegetation types, weed management, etc...

I found the place to be rather scenic.



From the beach area lesson, we went inland and learnt about mid- and hind-dune systems and associated vegetation and management issues...

After that (which was actually the majority of the field lesson itself), our lecturer took us to look at the Henry Head fortifications, which were part of the WWII era bunker system of the area.

The track there was quite far, but quite scenic at parts:



The ruins itself were quite interesting (to me, at least):



...and the view from Henry Head was also very nice.

Fieldtrip around Sydney - GEOS 1601

On 19 SEP 09, I went fot a near full-day field trip for my GEOS 1601 module, which went to several different parts of Sydney. For me, it was an interesting learning experience, and very useful as well, being an international student who was new to the city.

The locations that we went to were (chronologically): Sydenham, Ashfield, Fairfield, Cabramatta, and Pyrmont. Of all these places, I had only been to Pyrmont before, so everything else was new to me.

The top photo is a panorama of the Pyrmont waterfront, formed by combining 12 photos. I think it was the best one of the entire field trip (I also used it for my GEOS assignment, and it did really well :D ).

Bottom photo is another panorama of the Pyrmont waterfront (in the other direction).



(I think I liked Pyrmont the most, so both photos in this post are of the place :P)

Skies of Dust

When I woke up early this morning, I found my room bathed in a strange orange glow. Curious, I went to look out the windows of the apartment and this is what I saw:




































The entire place was shrouded in orange, and the buildings that were further out could not be seen at all. The wind outside was also really strong (It was literally howling). Later on, I found out that the city (and surrounding regions) had been covered in what I would like to term a 'dust storm'.

See here for a news article on it.

By afternoon though, the skies had cleared, and my favourite blue skies were back. Many of the vehicles on the roads however, were covered in a thin layer of the red dust (To think of all the cleaning the owners have to do).

Such an interesting day (with regards to the weather, that is).

Floriade Vistas - A trip down to Canberra

From 11 - 13 September, I went on a trip with a groups of UNSW Photoclub members to Canberra for the Floriade Festival (Among other things).



There were really quite a lot of flowers to be seen and photographed (though not as much as I had imagined).





The three days was pretty fun, and apart from the Floriade, we visited a twilight market, a museum, and Australia's new Parliament House, which was rather impressive looking, I'd have to say.

Day View:


Night View:


Before we left Canberra on the third day, we also visited the Telstra tower, which gave us panoramic views of the city and its surrounds (Click the thumbnails for large images).