adventures

My Exmouth eclipse expedition could be a case study on the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ or proof that even blind persistence can pay off. Either way, it is a saga.

The key ingredients for these images were:

  • Sky-Watcher Esprit 150, Sony a1 (1575mm focal length, image scale 0.6 arc seconds/pixel)
  • Sky-Watcher EvoStar 150, Sony a1 (1200mm)
  • Sky-Watcher EvoStar 150, Sony A7 IV (930mm)
  • Sky-Watcher Esprit 100, Sony A7 IV (550mm)

Yes, that’s one 4" and three 6” refractors plus two 8K Sony cameras out of a total of nine, delivering super high resolution and a lot of data! Read on to find out more..

06
Apr

Mount Glasgow is For Sale

After ten years, Whittles Rd, Mount Glasgow is looking for a new owner and steward.

The property offers a unique combination of rural lifestyle and dark skies, while remaining within commuting distance of the regional cities Ballarat and Bendigo and connected by road and rail to Melbourne, enabling regular days in the city while working from home. There are established fruit trees of all kinds and plenty of room for all the animals your heart desires.

Third time lucky, yet still not without significant natural and man-made challenges. Our adventure in via Snowy Plains Firetrail for a week of snow camping at Cesjacks and O'Keefe's Hut and ski touring back in the Jagungal Wilderness.

18
Aug

Tawonga Huts Ski Tour (Aug 2018)

After a break last year for the solar eclipse, Tim, Eric and I headed away for another week of back-country ski touring this time around the Bogong High Plains in Victoria. More photos in the SmugMug album.

After the solar eclipse in Idaho, I couldn't resist continuing my 'long-service leave' and returning to Canada's Yukon Territory for some early season aurora hunting in September 2017. I had just two and half weeks (one New Moon cycle), based with my friends and supporters Andrea and Florian Lemphers at Shallow Bay, north of the capital Whitehorse. I had with me a Canon 5D Mark IV and a pair of Canon 6D Mark II cameras (one on loan from Canon Australia). Clear skies were always going to be the biggest challenge, especially during the fall, but I hit four clear nights in a row from the start so luck seemed to be on my side. I also managed to peg some beautiful cold clear nights and sweet aurora activity at clutch locations I explored along the way; my favourites being North Canol Road and Tombstone Park on the Dempster Highway.

The evening 'highlight' of six days back country skiing in NSW with Tim and Eric was the planetary alignment of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in the evening sky. I had only a compact Canon Powershot G1X Mark II with me and it took a few nights to get the weather and scenery to cooperate but after an hour of trapsing around and lying down in the snow and wind I managed to capture this shot on our last night out.

Planets align over Snowy Mountains

Planets align over snowy mountains under moonlight (from bottom Venus, Mercury, Jupiter)
Canon Powershot G1X Mark II, Panorama 2 x 10 secs, f3.5, ISO400

26
Jan

Another Year at Mount Glasgow

This will make more sense if you have previously read about our first year at Mount Glasgow. 2015 was more settled and sensible for Kaz and I but we still kept pretty busy!

What an epic trip.. nine days back country skiing in the Australian 'Alps'. Who'd have thought such a long, remote and rewarding ski trek could be had in our own backyard. View the full album of photos on SmugMug. If you're planning your own K2K or back-country ski in the Jagungal Wilderness, read the planning notes.

Trip Planning for Kiandra to Kosciuszko (K2K)

Kiandra to Kosciuszko is Australia’s classic long-distance ski tour, dating back to around 1927 when the route was first completed by Schlink. More realistically it is Australia’s only long distance winter tour, with walking at least part of the way a likely requirement. When planning our trip in 2014, we were surprised at the lack of consolidated information online. This page brings together some of what we learned along the way, with thanks particularly to Tracey-Ann who did much of our pre-trip planning.


Photo by Tracey-Ann
22
Jun

Mt Niles in the Twilight and Moonlight

These two images of Mt Niles were captured from the Scott Duncan Memorial Hut, on the last and coldest night of the Wapta Traverse Ski Trek in the Canadian Rockies which I did with Yamnuska Mountain Adventures in April 2012.


Click for larger image


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