As the temperature pushes towards -30 C (-22 F) this week at our new home in Northern BC, the hot smokey sunsets from this time of year in Australia seem further away than ever. In this shot taken from our property in the Wollombi valley the sun is layered into ominous bands of differing intensity by thick stratified smoke from approaching bush-fires. The sun had a similar appearance to the naked eye, this is a single exposure which no use of neutral density filters or extensive post processing. Laguna, Wollombi Valley, NSW, Australia
Thought to have developed in informal competitions among the early stockmen and drovers of outback Queensland to prove horse skills, Campdrafting is a unique Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The rider “cuts out” a beast from a mob of cattle in the “camp” or yard, and then has to block and turn the beast at least two or three times to demonstrate that they have the beast under control. The aim is then to direct the chosen beast out of the yard and through a course in a figure eight involving right and left hand turns around pegs, before controlling it through the final "gate" consisting of two pegs . The outside component of the course must be completed in less than 40 seconds. The first formal campdrafting competition occurred in Tenterfield at the Tenterfield Show Society's 1885 show with this shot being taken at the Powlathanga Campdraught in Far North Queensland. Australia
The more time one spends away, and the more one travels, the more the red ochre of the Australian outback seems to loom large in one’s mind. Perhaps I am just dreaming of somewhere 70 degrees C (158 F) warmer than the frozen lake I am looking at out the window. Several days drive from anywhere of note; the red cliffs of Mutawintji Gorge are as isolated as they are beautiful. Mutawintji National Park is dissected by numerous colourful gorges, rockpools and creek beds lined with red gums. Far West region of outback New South Wales, in eastern Australia.
