Robert's Ramblings

As the wind and salt spray wear away the eastern sandstone cliffs of Bare Island an ancient pattern has been brought to the surface.

Oblivious to its origin or meaning, fishers cast from the nearby rocks, children search for crabs in tidal pools and couples take selfies. Above the wall and hidden from view the iconic Bare Island Fort stands testament to a Sydney fearful of a Russian invasion more than 137 years ago.

Here on this cliff wall these patterns would have been wrought tens of thousands of year ago. Perhaps they were part of the chaotic labyrinth of an ancient worm. Perhaps an ancient root system built the precursors of this intricate pattern.

What ever created these patterns, they will only be with us for a short while as time wears all things down. A hundred years from now who can saw what will remain.

This ancient braille being nothing more than a brief moment in time.

#Bareisland #laperouse #sydney #botanybay #sandstone #textures #sydney #botanybay #sandstone #textures

Djesse, JC or Jacob Collier. By any other name he would sound just as amazing.

Thursday night we were privileged to have Jacob here performing within the intimacy of the Thebarton Theatre.

For more than two hours Jacob and his band had us all spellbound and singing in harmonies from the floor, seats and balcony. It would be no exaggeration to say that I have never experienced any performer combining so much on stage presence, energy and audience intimacy as Jacob.

Thank you for coming back to Australia, coming to Adelaide, and making us all sing out loud.

#Jacobcollier #adelaide #thebartontheatre #jazz #musician #concert #djesse #performingarts #2022

It’s been a long wait, 21 years in fact, since the Corrs last performed in Australia.
Here on the grassy reserve of Hope Estate we wait patiently for their return.

#Hopeestate #thecorrs #corrs #concert #huntervalley #2022

Twenty five years ago this young Irish band came out of nowhere to capture the hearts and minds of young and old around the world, mine included.

Their music was addictively catchy. They were all young and beautiful with fantastic stage presence and wonderfully produced video-clips. Along with my friends we loved the music of the Corrs and would sing along with abandon to our favourites. At the time though I did not make going to concerts a priority and had spent years regretting never seeing them live.

This weekend we all put right what went awry! Andrea, Sharon, Caroline and Jim along with their long-time guitarist Anthony Drennan and bassist Keith Duffy came back to Australia after a 21-year hiatus for a one-off concert in the Hunter Valley. We made it our mission to be there too this time!

#Hopevalleyestate #thecorrs #corrs #concert #huntervalley #2022

It’s been more than six months since I have been submerged. So many reasons, priorities and excuses, but finally the surface tension’s been broken an I’ve slipped under the waves again.

Despite years and years of diving I still experience a little trepidation when I’ve been dry a little too long and am about to get back into the water again. The moment I drop below the surface and take my first breath underwater that apprehension vanishes and I feel like I’ve been welcomes back again.

It feels like meeting old friends again, the leatherjackets, sweep, silver dummer and old wives. On this dive we had a rare daytime buzz by a large wobbygong shark who cruised nonchalantly past within inches.

One of my favourite Port Noarlunga critters when they are around are juvenile Port Jackson Sharks. It was a great delight to come across this little critter resting on the sand taking in the salty world around her and reminding me how privileged it is to join her down here.

#scuba #diving #juvenile #portjacksonshark #portnoarlunga #shark #underwaterphotography #fisheye

Last Tuesday night over five hours we watched our moon transition from moon-rise in partial shadow, through full lunar eclipse to shining fully bright.

As the moon rose above the horizon it glowed red due to light scattering both ways through the Earth’s atmosphere atmosphere. As it rose, the dark umbra crept across a lunar face transitioning from red to white. At totality the last of the moon disappeared in a blinding white crescent leaving a muddy red faintly glowing orb in its wake and a dazzling sky full of stars and galaxies.

For the next hour that muddy red glow shifted around the face until finally the base began to grow light again. Emergence had begun and this image was taken during the last moments of umbral shadow.

As the earth’s shadow moved further away a dazzling white crescent reappeared and the remainder of the moon was plunged into darkness. As shadow receded, the lunar face came back into view banishing all but the brightest stars from the sky. At midnight a white shining moon had returned to the night sky even though still in the Earth’s penumbral shadow.

It was not until we got home well after 1 am that the full moon had been restored to it’s full brightness again.


#astrophotography #bloodmoon #celestial #fullmoon #landscape #moon #penumbra #shadow #southaustralia #palmer

Seven years ago we stood here at the Palmer Lookout waiting with pregnant expectation for that orange globe to rise above the eastern horizon.

Tonight the faces we are sharing the evening with have changed but the expectation had not. We all new what to expect, the eclipse would be well underway, midway between umbral and penumbral shadow as the moon rose above the landscape below.

It still it came as a surprise as that that blood moon to be emerged from the haze on the horizon.


#astrophotography #bloodmoon #celestial #fullmoon #landscape #moon #penumbra #shadow #southaustralia #palmer

For a brief respite between the unseasonable cold, wind and rain, the waters of Outer Harbour had become still enough for reflections to appear.

By chance I just happen to be here.


#boats #outerharbour #RSAYS #twilight #sunset #goldenhour #reflections #mirror

In the golden twilight of Outer Harbour the Japanese flagged ‘Firmament Ace’ rests before its next port of call.

This two hundred meter long, sixty thousand tonne vessel was build for just one job, to carry new vehicles internationally, protected from the harsh ocean environment.

With a dry weight carrying capacity of over seventeen thousand tonnes, its my guess that a full cargo load would be between four and five thousands vehicles.

It’s behemoths like this that remind me just how much we rely on the ocean, mega vessels, skilled mariners, and port bound stevedores for keeping the cogs of trade turning.


#Shipping #firmamentace #carrier #outerharbour #ships #ocean #trade #PortAdelaide #twilight #sunset #goldenhour #silhouette

Tonight's adventure on Garden Island was cold, windy and scattered with intermittant rain showers.

I sat for a while watching the light fade in the gloom before the rain finally stopped. There was still enough time for a few images before the curfew of maritime twilight.

The landscape was forlorn and moody but as the evening lights came on they gave their own sparkle to the gloom.

The mangroves, the power station, the industrial skyline and the yachts at roost with just a little sparkle from the evening lights.


#aerial #barkerinlet #Gardenisland #goldenhour #industrial #powerstation #sunset #torrensisland #twilight #yachts

At first it seems that the Torrens Island Power station dominates this industrial sunset but the more I look the more I see and am drawn into exploring this visual feast.

The story begins right at the centre of that striking western sunset and its reflection in the waters of the North Arm Creek and the Ship’s Graveyard.

After dwelling for a while in this golden light, the Garden Island bridge leads me north on to Torrens Island and that dominating Power Station. Behind and to the west the Port River continues north to the lights of the Adelaide Submarine Corporation and then on out to the sea beyond.

Now heading south, sandwiched between the Port River and the horizon with ships at sea, I follow the pointed Norfolk Island Pine treeline of the Osborne Peninsula down to Semaphore when I’m again drawn back east to the lights of industry, Adelaide Brighton Cement, the ARFA and BP fuel depots and the fertiliser suppliers Natrio, Wegfu and Incitec.

For a time I find myself lingering in the shadows of the foreground, trying to eke out any detail of the Adelaide Speed Boat club or in the green expanse of Garden Island.

The story comes to an end: I’m swept back down the North Arm again, over the treetops, out to sea and into that gorgeous sunset again. Or has it? I’ll go back and read it again as I’m sure I missed something.


#Portriver #torrensisland #portadelaide #sunset #goldenhour #twilight #powerstation #gardenisland #shipsgraveyard #adelaidespeedboatclub

I travel on the Port River Expressway most week days and it’s always a little highlight of my day.

Sometimes I’ll pull over and capture an image or more, maybe even go for a walk. Other times I’ll be consumed in either some great classic of audio book or something new and contemporary.

Out here on the boundary of urban and industrial sprawl, the swampy wetlands of Gilman and Magazine Creek remind me why natural spaces like this need both preserving and integrating into ongoing development.


#Magazinecreek #gilman #wetlands #portriverexpressway #commute

The golden hour is that last hour of the day when the setting sun casts the world in its warm yellow glow, draws eyes westward and camera phones from pockets. Then, like the flick of a switch, that warm glow turns to a grey-blue coolness as the sun disappears below the horizon.

But just a little while into twilight something quite unexpected happens – at least it was unexpected for me the first time I noticed a strange warm light envelop everything.

Initially I was puzzled where this warm glow was coming from. Then its source became apparent in the western sky. That hint of green-orange – however dim – on the horizon was so much brighter than the approaching night and brought a gentle afterglow to the world in the fading light.


#adelaide #aerial #cityscape #grange #jetty #panorama #photography #southaustralia #stormy #twilight #goldenhour #afterglow

A little way off the coast of Grange Beach is a steel platform that never quite disappears even during the highest tides. It was built as the seawater inlet to the Westlakes waterway and ensures its ongoing health.

The local cormorants see it there own way. A safe haven to rest for the evening when away from home. It’s not substantial enough for a rookery. It’s kept clean from becoming a smelly pile of guava by the regular storms but still night after night the cormorants keep coming back.

Their little sanctuary, just off the coast of Grange.


#sanctuary #cormorants #aerial #birds #grangebeach #grange #southaustralia #westlakes

There’s a lot to like about living in our little corner of the world. One reason amid many is how our setting sun draws my eyes westward at the end of every single day.

Looking to the west the sea extends to the horizon. The sun sets on a vista untainted by humanity. There is just ocean, sunset, twilight and then the darkness of night.

What could be more beautiful than going west.


#Adelaide #twilight #goldenhour #sunset #ocean #sea #seascape #aerial #grange

Surrounded by vineyards a rainbow has fallen on a fallow field lit by the sun through a rent in the clouds.
Misty rain falls elsewhere giving this Barossa landscape a dreamy feel.

It’s not a full rainbow, and the gold at its base is just stubble. The surrounding vineyards are the true gold of the Barossa.


#Rainbow #vineyards #marananga #barossavalley #wine #clouds #stormy #gold

There is time between sunset and nightfall where the light of day ebbs and darkness flows in from the eastern sky. The lights of the city begin popping into existence as people go about their last outside work for the day.

This transition is known as civil twilight and used to be the final opportunity for outdoor workers to complete their business in the failing light. Although this idea is somewhat meaningless today in our world filled with artificial light, it is still evident in the chorus of suburban lawnmowers that fire up at sunset on a Sunday night before the weekend’s light is gone.

From my vantage point the city has become dotted with light. I can see all of it – for a while at least. I see the homes, the beaches, the parks, the waterways, and the roads framed by Adelaide’s hilly backdrop, all painted in lights of white and yellow...

...at least until the end of civil twilight, when the day that was has fled west.


#Grange #jetty #Adelaide #aerial #panorama #stormy #southaustralia #photography #cityscape #twilight

Bird hides are a great place to observe wildlife behaviour but as a photographer you are stuck in a fixed location. Wearing full camouflage over a wetsuit and risking gear in the water is one option but not something you pop out and do during a lunch break.

This is my first opportunity to try out a telephoto lens mounted to a drone as an option for wildlife images and even though the image quality is not amazing from my 12MP ½ inch sensor, the results are still quite stunning.

This image was captured with the drone hovering just above the water quite some distance away from the swan’s nest. At a full frame equivalent focal length of 162mm, the fact that the camera is being held as stable as a tripod is nothing short of an engineering marvel and I can wait to explore this new found capability.

Back to that quip about popping out for a lunch break, well yes this was indeed just such a photo opportunity.


#Magazinecreek #blackswan #nest #swans #aerial #telephoto #wildlife #birds #waterbirds #nesting #southaustralia #photography

With over 300 hectares of fresh water ponds, the Barker Inlet Wetlands is one of the largest wetland constructions in Australia and I drive right through the middle of them nearly every day.

Being at road level most of my fellow commuters have no idea of the beauty around them. They see asphalt, concrete, trucks, bridges and cars. Some pull over and take the time to visit the various walks and bird hides scattered along the way but they are not so obvious. No one pulls over to explore when they are in the autopilot daze of habitual work life.

My pelican’s eye view paints a different, bigger picture. I get to see the scale of these watery gardens. I notice the way the expressway cuts off suburban crawl almost right up to the coast. I see the opportunities to explore at ground level normally hidden form view.

I am fortunate to enjoy the Barker Inlet Wetlands being part of my daily travel.


#Barkerinlet #wetlands #gillman #twilight #sunset #southaustralia #portadelaide #aerial #panorama

What a modern marvel is the ubiquitous ‘Smart Watch’ we see adorning the wrists of our friends, work colleagues or strangers in the street. More than ten years ago most of those same wrists were bare, ‘Smart Phones’ have long before taken care of our personal awareness of time.

I know what that spell is like. My own quantified self continuously measured, tracked, analysed and reported back to me and God knows who else thinks even my doctor did not know.

For a time I slept with my smart watch, eager for the morning when I would analyse my overnight heart-rate, my breathing, my blood oxygen levels. My watch would tell me the state of my ‘Personal Battery’ and make suggestions on when I should slow down and take it easy or when I was energised to take on the world, … and then the novelty faded and I was left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Funny though, I realised that I liked having the time on my wrist and not my phone. It was hard to remember a time before quartz crystals, stepper motors, micro-circuits and liquid crystal displays. I became curious about mainsprings, gear-trains, escapements and balance wheels. I began noticing the artistry, the geometry, the mechanical complexity and artisan-ship that has been patiently doing its own things for the last couple hundred years.

I discovered that you don’t need a battery or solar power to keep personal time, just a piece of time honoured watchmaking and a few turns of the crown each day;

… tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic.


#Watch #mechanical #omega #macro #calibre1869 #speedmaster

This image has been 122 years in the making, 113 of those quietly resting on the sea floor off the South Australian York Peninsula. Forty souls lost their lives that fateful night back in 1909, more than two thirds of her crew.

The SS Clan Ranald is one of my all time favourite South Australian dives. Even today her substantial bulk remains creating a significant underwater habitat for local marine life. Here in this image the still intact boiler looms to the left while the hull structure to the right rises more than six meters from the bottom.

Every time I dive here I am surprised and delighted by the marine life that have made her their home. Blue devils, dusky morwongs, queen snapper, long snout boarfish, harlequin fish, leatherjackets, bullseyes, magpie perch, silver drummer, yellowtail whiting, sweep, talma and the list goes on. It is not uncommon to see all of these on every dive.

The wreck of the SS Clan Ranald is an exciting and humbling dive. She takes a bit of boating prowess to reach her but worth the effort and I cherish every time I get to dive her.

#Scuba #diving #deep #wreck #clanranald #fisheye #edithburgh #southaustralia #ocean #sea #marinelife

Somewhere above that lifeline leads to a tiny little boat waiting in a vast ocean for us to return to light, to air and eventually to dry land again.

To divers this is a familiar experience. Follow the rope down, experience an ever so brief encounter with life on a wreck, a reef or just the bottom of the ocean. We do this believing that lifeline will be there at the end of our dive. Trusting it will bring us back up to the safety of our sanctuary on the surface.

This why I have so much respect for free divers. They have no lifeline. They go down with both the freedom of no constraint and the discipline to find their own way back. As a novice free diver I have never been very deep, perhaps 22 meters or a little over 70 feet, unlike some of my friends. Even at that depth I have the most profound sense of the aloneness of being down there, looking up into that blue-green nothing, and knowing that it will take personal effort to swim back up to the surface and that precious air we can’t do without for long. No lifeline.

Now as a diver I often feel lazy or guilty if I grab that lifeline to the surface. It’s like I’ve given up taking my own responsibility for adventuring into that realm. Most of the time I’ll simply follow it up, keeping a distance but never venturing too far. Just in case I really need that lifeline.


#scuba #diving #deep #dark #rope #hobart #wreck #ocean #sea #lifeline

Some South Australian scuba divers love doing it on the bottom! That’s where all the benthic action happens and is a treasure trove of sights and wonders most missed by pelagic divers.

Here on the bottom amid the sponges and ascidians a world of macro activity is constantly taking place. In this image a grazing nudibranch crests a sponge sporting tiny yellow communal ascidians. Meanwhile a little three fin lurks ready to photo-bomb.

While waiting for the perfect movement the little three fin must have done at least five circuits and was just not going to rest anywhere photogenic. Oh well, just capture the image and move on.

Here under Edithburg Jetty is one of South Australia’s most diverse, interesting, and beautiful benthic habitats where the action never ends.


#Edithburg #scuba #diving #nudibranch #ceratosomabrevicaudatum #benthic #critters #southaustralia #underwaterphotography

We were treated to an amazing laser light show, ‘Monochord’, while in Melbourne for the June long weekend.

Monochord is the work of laser and audio artist Robin Fox who states that there no deeper artistic messages here other than “it’s just really cool”. And yes I agree as it created an extraordinary Yarra River foreground to the lights and of Melbourne’s Southgate and the city skyline.

To bad we missed out on the audio!


#Monochord #melbourne #risingfestival #laser #yarrariver #southgate #birrarung #robinfox

Well maybe not the sky but a great deal of rain. It seems to be the theme of the month; rain, rain, rain and more rain keeping me ironically dry and out of the water.

I am missing the diving but not the pea soup that is our local coastal waters. It’s going to take a couple of weeks of clear weather of to clear it all up. When and if the sky stops falling.

In the mean time at least there are dramatic cloudscapes to enjoy. The silver lining.


#Clouds #sunburst #landscape #barossavalley #rain

A diver’s watch was once that life preserving instrument that made sure we did not spend too long underwater and risk a life threatening diving injury on our return to the surface.

Big names in watches like Blancpain, Rolex and Seiko led the way from the early 1950’s creating reliable ‘tool’ watches that divers could rely on with their lives. From the mid 1980’s the first dive computers started appearing on diver’s wrists or in their instrument consoles. Today it is rare to see a diver wearing a simple dive ‘tool’ watch. Even rarer for that watch to be completely mechanical and powered by a wind up main-spring just like those watches from the 1950’s.

Today I take my Yema diving with me for the nostalgic buzz of having that tiny mechanical heart ticking away the time of the world above.

And yes, I dive with computers as well. Two just to be safe!


#bronze #divewatch #scuba #diving #ocean #photography #portnoarlunga #yema #superman #underwater #watch

Actually it’s Autumn in Edithburgh when I captured this image but I won’t tell if you don’t.

We spend a bit of time every year in this idyllic seaside town and almost always there is a yacht or two moored in the bay.

I’d been debating with myself as to the merit of showing this image. Is it any better than any other idyllic scene? Perhaps not, but maybe there is a story here to share.

The boat here is a Bruce Roberts Mauritius 44 and it has open my eyes to the world of amateur boat building. Bruce Roberts-Goodson was an Australian yacht designer who made a business out of helping amateur constructors build the boat of their dreams with their own hands by designing boats and selling the plans that people like ourselves could build themselves.

The boat in this image, ‘Maluka’, is the labour of love of someone’s dream come true at the personal effort of their own hands. It’s the idea of a ‘maker’ taken to a new level and an idea I’d never considered. Now knowing this boat was not constructed in a factory and not sold as a luxury item has given me a new found respect and painted this image and it’s untold story in a new light.

Most likely I will never learn of Maluka’s past but at least I now know there is an extraordinary story hiding in plain sight in this idyllic image.


#Maluka #edithburgh #summer #southaustralia #ocean #aerial #bruceroberts #mauritius44

Here, several kilometres off the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula lies the wreck of the ex-HMAS Hobart. It is a treasured gift to divers local and from elsewhere alike. She’s not that old but has made this spot hers as if she had always been here.

The Hobart “is big, really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is”, well perhaps I am exaggerating a little but could not help drop a favourite quote from a favourite book. With bigness, with expanses of endless blue, bottomless drop-offs, or massive vessels at rests end comes a deep and profound emotional connection with the surrounding space.

For many divers, this experience comes sooner or later as the aquatic world changes from novelty to respect and finally a deeply humbling sense of privilege and gratitude. A dive on the wreck of the ex-HMAS Hobart gives an inkling. Year’s of diving grows this into something beautiful until one day you find yourself 25 meters down, in the murky low light of the vessel’s midships and simply know what being happy in the moment is really like.

I can’t speak for Jess or Andy above me but in this moment I could not have been happier.


#Ex-hmashobart #wreck #shipwreck #scuba #diving #jess #andy #blackandwhite #Ocean #deep #murky #southaustralia #wirrina

Back in Autumn before the winter rains settled in and the sun was still shining, Andy and I took the boat down to dive the beautiful but infamous Aldinga Reef.

It was one of those special flat calm days when the universe seems to just say, enjoy. Schools of trevally followed us around the drop-off. Blue-throat wrasse abounded amongst the deep ledges. The diversity of fish variety was incredible and we just had the best day out on the ocean.

Months on now, in the midst of what seems to be the dreariest Adelaide winter I can remember in ages, I find myself hankering for a few days of slight seas and sunshine coinciding with a weekend. Adelaide gets periods of beautiful sunny, calm and cold winter days so I will just have to be patient.

Hopefully the passing of the solstice will herald some good weather again and get me back out into the ocean.


#Trevally #pelagic #aldinga #reef #dropoff #ocean #southaustralia #underwater #scuba #diving

Here’s a follow up to my last image that may interest a few of my my technically inclined friends.

Not long after I received this stopwatch I watched it stop! And it stayed stopped. I'd peeked inside by opening the cashback a few times to admire that vintage Valjoux 330 movement but now it was time to start poking around in there.
I quickly found that the gear train had jammed somewhere between the mainspring and the escapement so decided to tackle this one myself.

To cut a long story short this is the very first movement I've completely disassembled and rebuilt successfully and has since not missed a beat.


#rotary #stopwatch #valjoux #valjoux330 #swiss #time #clocks #chronograph #gears