And it’s been a winter in my life too which is why I’ve not been here a real lot. But spring is on its way and with it renewed vigour for lots of things, including writing here.

If you haven’t already, you might like to visit my photoblog which is posted to daily and shows photos of different things here in Victoria and around Melbourne.  I did spend June overseas so my photoblog has many pics from there too.

In the meantime, this is a wattle tree out in full bloom at Lysterfield Lake Park, which is south east of Melbourne. Beautiful place to visit.

I’ve driven past this park many times over years as I’ve gone about my business or visited my family but it never occurred to me to visit it till this past week.

I knew it was reclaimed land that had been turned into a wetland reserve and this occurred sometime after 1994 when we’d shifted into this area.  But this week as I dropped into a business across the road from it I decided this would be my next planned photography shoot and I’m so glad I did.

Here are two links that tell you more about it:

Parks Victoria

Fisher & Fisher

For the first time in my life I saw a Flame Robin and that was thanks to a couple who regularly walk their dogs there. They’d seen me taking pictures of the birds and they pointed me towards a path they’d walked on where they had seen the robin. So when I went looking it was very obvious as the bright colour showed up easily amongst all the greens and browns.

I belong to the Southern Suburbs Photographic Society which meets in East Brighton regularly and am currently participating in a beginners course.  Why beginners? Well, even though I’ve been taking photos for over 30 years as an amateur I’ve never learnt the terminology or the intracies of using a camera so I’m now learning what Fstops mean, and aperture and all those other words.

Today we had a field trip and went to a park I didn’t know existed only a few minutes from my home because it’s hidden away from main roads and in the middle of a residential suburb.  It was a cold crisp and very clear morning and we all had a good time playing with our cameras.  I was hoping for some fog but another time.

Anyway, hope you like these shots and you can see more at my photoblog.