I have absolutely fallen in love with Bay of Fires on the East Coast of Tasmania! It is, quite simply put..... stunning!
My office for a day!
Things have been pretty hectic with me lately. Aside from being invited to blog the Perth Winter Arts Festival and organising bloggers to replace me until I return home in July. I have been assisting Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail with their website content and creating suggested itineraries, shooting the winter menu for Christmas Hills and all on top of all that I've been housesitting a hobby farm with 2 boistrous dogs, a cat, chickens and a massive vege garden!!
Just a tad crayzeee!!
I needed a couple days coastal break! The sea and beach always relaxes me and I just love it in winter when they are desolate and stormy. I was hoping for wild winter weather along the East Coast...how wrong I was.
I arrived in St Helens at dusk, I had no idea where I was going to stay but when I arrived into town I saw a sign for the hostel
Working in the backpacker industry for 7 years I always like staying in hostels and having a yarn to the hostel owners about backpackers, their quirks and recent trends. Paul was no exception, lovely welcoming guy. I got my own room with an ensuite too, the hostel was immaculate I would say without a doubt it's better than some 3 star hotels you get out there.
That night I headed to The Paddle Wheeler for dinner as per recommended by Paul. Such a great place as I was CRAVING some good old fashioned fish 'n' chips and they did not disappoint!
After my fish fest I set my alarm for 5am so I could capture the sunrise, I wok up to rain pelting down on the roof so switched off my alarm and went back to sleep. I've always admitted I'm the laziest photographer around but I just know when its good to venture out or not and that morning was not going to be good.
I spent the morning in town, had a couple coffees at Quail St Emporium and perused their antique delights. As it came closer to lunch time the weather broke, the sun and blue sky appeared and so I headed out to Bay of Fires.
As soon as you hit Binalong Bay the colours of the crystal clear water and pristine white sands hit you like a slap in the face. Its just gorgeous.
Googles auto timelapse of my beach photos from my XperiaZ
I continued down the road that goes along Bay of Fires and made my way to The Garden, there I set up my office for the day.
Just bliss!!
I headed back to St Helens and hunted down a new Indian restaurant called Punjab
I'd heard about which had only opened up 5 weeks previously. Growing up on Indian food I am quite critical of it, but this restaurant was quite possibly one of the best indian restaurants I've ever eaten at!!
The next morning was perfect to head out and capture the sunrise. Growing up on the West Coast I'm used to sunsets over water not sunrises, but watching the sun rise over the ocean was nothing short of spectacular.
I spent all morning on the rocks at Sloop Reef watching the sunrise. I then headed out for another drive before heading back to Sloop Reef, I jumped out of my car and took some more shots. As I turned to walk back to my car I slipped on the rocks and landed on my butt. I had my camera over my shoulder...and of course it hit the rocks too, right on the battery! There was a little scratch on the body and the lens filter is dented!
The offending rocks!!!
Then I saw it.....the dreaded ERR 99!!
I've been so fortunate not to see the dreaded ERR 99 on my camera until now.....ERR 99 was a common fault with the 1DS MKIII when it was first released however it was a tech fault and not one from the body being dropped.
This is the 3rd time I've damaged my camera! The 1st was in Morocco in 2008 one month after I bought it, both the lens and the body were damaged. Then last year I dropped it down a boulder field on Quamby Bluff, thankfully it was only the lens that broke. Now this time the lens is fine but the body simply wont shoot!
My suppliers in Perth were in disbelief when I rang them their exact comment was "So Danielle what we need to do is find something to protect your camera....from yourself" My reply was "ummm yes"
So my camera is in getting repaired....again!! The good news is I have my beloved EOS 3 and this is the perfect opportunity to concentrate on shooting with film again..something I havent dont in years!!
Cant wait for my rolls of Fuji Velvia 50 to arrive now!!!
d*