Spring Blossom

 I went for a walk yesterday to capture some Spring blossom.   I only took my OM05 with a18mm f1.8 lens as I wanted the challenge of not using a zoom.  

There's a lot of blossom around at the moment, but it seems to not last very long - the flowers in the full sun are already starting to dry out and wither and this is only the first day of Spring.

I wanted to include the sun that was backlighting the flower.

This one I wanted to contrast against the blue sky

You can't forget the wattle as well

Trees on the golf course in blossom

Little Mullligans

 This is a nature reserve close to the Mulligans Flat nature reserve. While not as large as Mulligans Flat, it seems to offer a wider variety of scenery to photograph.

I particularly like the fact that there aren't any prepared trails through the reserve, so you have to find your own path through the reserve.  This means that when climbing the ridge, you have to plan your path to avoid the more dangerous ground.  According to my smartwatch the climb to the top of the ridge is the equivalent of about 20 stories.

We hadn't had any rain for a while

There isn't a lot of scrub to fight through

Some of the dams still held water for the wildlife

Tree sap illuminated by the sun

The view from the ridge line

The border with NSW - the state to our north.

Heading down from the ridgeline

Molonglo River Park

 Time to restart this blog!  It's only been 10 years since I last posted.

Today I went for a walk in the Molonglo River Park.   I wanted to see it in Autumn on a nice cloudy day because it's hard to capture a nice forest when there's bright dappled sunlight around.   For the first half of the walk, it was nicely overcast but then the sun came out and made it more difficult to take photos.

Photos were taken using an OM System OM-5 with a 12-100 f4 pro zoom.

Next time I'll explore the riverbank rather than the forest.

The new Canberra arboretum

This weekend I went for a trip to the new National Arboretum.   I drive past it every day going to work.  It's is a collection of 100 separate tree plantations, with many of these apparently threatened species from around the world.  It's not much to look at now, but I'm sure it will get better as the trees grow.  There is also a pine planted that is a descendant of the Lone Pine at Gallipoli.

I thought that I'd take some pictures now and more over the coming years.  I expect a lot of the trees to be hidden over time by those closer to the roads and paths, so the layout of the plantings may not be obvious.

I just hope we don't lose them to bushfires like the previous forests in this location.

 Himalayan Cedars that were planted in the 1920's and that survived the bush fires.

 A different view of the Himalayan cedars.

 This is the VIP area where they will get visiting Kings, Queens, Presidents, etc to plant trees.  This seems to be the last bit of landscaping.  They've spend over 5 years building hills and valleys for this arboretum.

I think that these were Californian palm trees.  With Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of the shot and Woden (where I work) in the distance.

 When I approached this sculpture it looked like a jumble of rusty loops of metal.  Not even worth a photo.  It was only when I walked down the hill a bit that I saw what it really was.  In a few years you may not be able to see it because the trees will be in the way.  If the palms grow high it might be visible again in 10 years.

 It looks like there are some interesting patterns of trees.  Further back, there are is a plot of trees planted in the shape of the Forbidden City in China.

 This was reminiscent of a graveyard.  It reminded me of a visit to Arlington Cemetery many years ago.

 A sculpture made from old tools.

 Looking towards Civic in the distance with the base of Black Mountain to the left.

Giant Sequoia?  I don't think so.  I could jump over them.  Maybe in 200 years.