5 HIDDEN SPOTS ON THE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA

Hello everyone! 

So i was going through some of my photos from my self-driven trip of the East Coast of Australia, and i realised how many places i visited that you normally wouldn't be able to see if you took the standard Greyhound bus from Sydney up to Cairns...

So i thought i would share with you all the 5 places i visited, that are more or less off the beaten track and not filled with too many tourists! 

1) Wallaman Falls

Situated in the Wet Tropics area in Queensland, this place is Australia's tallest single-drop waterfall! It is about 51km (an hours drive) from the nearest town of Ingham, driving through rural properties but well worth the journey! We managed to find a free campsite situated on the property of the Ashton Hotel, in Long Pocket which is surrounded by mountains and sugar cane fields and is closer to the falls then the paid campsites in the nearest town. 

(A beautiful sky at our campsite in Long Pocket):

(A view half way to the falls, stopped for a spot of lunch!):

(Finally we got to the falls, which you can actually walk down too but it's a very steep hike so we didn't attempt it):

2) Shute Harbour

Everybody has heard of Airlie Beach, which is Shute Harbours neighbour (only 10kms away). We decided to venture into this small port town and although you have to pay to park, we drove around until we found a free parking spot... which also happened to be the car park for a bush walk which lead to the beautiful Coral Beach. So unknown that we were the only ones there, which is why we loved it so much. Views across the Whitsundays and taurtles popping their heads out of the surf! If  you are in Airlie and fancy a walk then this is the place to go! The car park is just off Passage Avenue, before the turning to Harbour Avenue!

(There's a reason why it's called Coral Beach, and that's because it's filled with washed up coral from the reefs, and all these multi-coloured pebbles!):

 3) Inkerman Hill Lookout

This place is hard to find unless you are driving and manage to spot the 'scenic lookout' sign, well i mean Mount Inkerman is surround by flat land so when you're their it isn't that hard really...

The drive up the mountain is quite steep, but well worth it for the views. It makes a great place to stop, mainly because it breaks up a long journey but also it has picnic facilities at the top and is a great place to relax. We also met some of the wildlife, in the form of wallabies!

(The wallabies weren't too afraid of us humans, and stayed for a while so i managed to get some great photos!):

 4) Big Crystal Creek Rockslides

Most people coming though this area would go to Big Crystal Creek itself, but we decided to follow the road until we reached a gate that would let us go no further. We parked up and carried on,on foot, until we reached the rock slides. These are rocks that are naturally smooth and therefore can be used to slide into the water. A lovely quiet, relaxing place.

(On our way to the rockslides we came across this fruit and vegetable stall, owned by someone who lives in the area. The stall was full of a whole range of home grown goodies, which were being sold for almost nothing. We met the woman who was running the place and she was very very friendly, it's nice to support the locals so we really did stock up on food here!):

 5) Millaa Millaa Lookout

So this place is only a five minute stop, but i want to speak about this whole "area" in general. I lost my photos of Millaa Millaa waterfall, and didn't take any in Ravenshoe, but this lookout is in between both places and therefore should definitely be a place to stop as the views are incredible.

It's worth noting that we were on our way to Innot Hot Springs, a place i don't recommend because it's not as great as it sounds. The springs are basically just a puddle that are too hot to touch, with one campsite, that's it. Not worth the journey.

Ravenshoe is the town which is situated the highest above sea level in Queensland, which we didn't learn until we arrived. A very small place, but the main town in the area. A post office, supermarket, fuel, cafes, a few antique shops and accommodation for visitors to the many waterfalls in the area.

Which brings me to Millaa Millaa waterfall, infamous for being the waterfall featured in the herbal essence commercial and also in the video for Peter Andres Mysterious Girl. Easy to get a tour to, but then you don't get to see the surrounding area which is just as impressive.

Before i finish this post, i would also like to mention one more place. Paronella Park. I had found one leaflet on this place, and thought it looked amazing. Then whilst driving the East Coast i saw a sign for the real deal, and didn't realised how close we were. So i made us pay a visit. This place was so amazing that i'm going to give it its own blog post, so look out for that next week!

I know there are many other places on the East Coast, but these are my top five places that are less known in comparison to places such as Magnetic Island, Airlie Beach, Noosa and many more. These places are beautiful too, but can all be reached on public transport. This post i wanted to feature those places which can only really be self-driven to, and therefore gives you places that aren't filled with tourists or backpackers who are drinking at every hour of every day. Please note that none of these pictures have people in them, and that's because there were no people except us. We had all of these places near enough to ourselves, a rare occurrence in the land down under.

Thanks for reading, xo

*As with all pictures featured on my blog, they are all taken by me unless otherwise noted. I use a Canon S120.

TESTING 35MM CAMERAS

Hello everyone! 

This post is a little different, a change from all the previous Australia themes! Now i'm very into my photography, but since being home i haven't taken much unless it's on my phone. For a while now i've had a few cameras as decoration in my room, but i'd never tested to see if any of them work. 

A few weeks ago i decided to finally buy some film, the cheapest and least quality, but film nonetheless! It was purely to use as a tester to see what the outcome was, considering all of these cameras are older then me! 

The first camera i trialled was the Praktica Super TL2. This camera was very hard to google, and therefore it was just a case of working it out for myself. Saying that, it's the prettiest looking in my collection and therefore was hoping and praying that it would work... and it did! 

Colour wise, this camera produced the most vivid colours and it has a manual focus and therefore i was able to blur the background, or foreground depending on what i wanted. The shutter speed is quite slow and therefore my pictures turned out slightly blurry because i know that my hand isn't as steady as it should be. But mostly i'm quite happy with the way they turned out:

The next camera that i tested was the Minolta Hi-Matic GF. I liked this camera, for the whole vintage effect. This camera does have a working flash, and even in conditions that looked as though it wouldn't need the added brightness, it did in fact need it. This was the only down-side. Note to self: Flash on, most of the time! 

 Last but not least, i decided to test out my Hanimex 35X, which scouring the web i had found some positive feedback, but when i put it to the test it i only managed to get a few photos off as they had all interlinked and there's no way of seeing where one photo ended and another began. So was left with a few faded photos. Though the photo at the bottom was created when my film got stuck, resulting in an accidental layering of two different photos. 

 I do have a few more cameras that i wish to test, i just need to get more film, one of which i am quite excited over as it's a Canon, and therefore i am hoping will produce some reasonable photos. I also have another lens that goes with the Praktica, so some time this year i will test this out too! 

 If you have any 35mm film cameras that you can recommend, please leave a comment so i can check it out! 

Thanks for reading, xo

A DARWIN SUNSET | PHOTO DIARY

 Hello everyone! 

By now you can probably tell that i'm a big fan of sunsets, and i also like to take many photos of each one i see. 

Travelling Australia i was lucky enough to see my fair share of breath-taking skies, and here i would like you share with you the sunset that has the number one spot! 

To set the scene: The place is Darwin, sometime in April. We've spent the day exploring, finishing it off with a rather spicy, inedible curry that i attempted to make. Our hostel didn't have too much to offer, so we decided to take a wander, no aim in sight. We stumble across a footpath that leads down through overgrown trees, so we decide to follow the path. What we see is pictured below, the photos not doing it justice. 

There was only a handful of people on the beach, and the water was incredibly calm. It was still warm, not a sound to be heard except the occasional fish jumping out of the water, or someone skipping pebbles along the shoreline. 

When i zoomed in with my camera, the colours of the sky turned even more orange. Creating what looks like a watercolour painting. Just look at the light hitting the water, creating a 'stairway to the sun'. 

 As the sun hid further behind the horizon the colours in the sky changed quickly. Once it was gone the pink and purple tones became more prominent, hitting the water and reflecting the colours. Your whole vision was filled with these wonderful colours.

One of these pictures now sits on a canvas in our living room, reminding me every day of how truly astonishing mother nature can be, and how lucky enough i was to be in the right spot at the right time and capture this moment for everyone else to see. Nature at her best. 

Thanks for reading, xo