Tiara J's photo journey in Tasmania part 2

these shots were taken at sunset on Ocean Beach, Strahan. We had been driving all day through Tarraleah, Zeehan and Queenstown to get here and the weather wasn't the greatest today, so I was told I wasn't going to get the sunset I'd driven all the way out west for, but the "degil" in me insisted on giving it a shot anyhow, and guess what? The clouds parted just for a few seconds to give me these gorgeous shots...

After spending the night in Strahan, we boarded a yacht called "Stormbreaker" for an overnight cruise on the Gordon River. (Photo from their website)

these shots are probably one of my favorites from this trip mirror image shots of pristine World Heritage Wilderness on the mighty Gordon River, at sunrise (yes, approx. 6.15am - and i never, ever do sunrise, usually). We were on our way back to Strahan by this time, and it was tricky framing and focusing my lens on a moving yacht, but i'm quite pleased.

i woke Dani up at sunrise to keep me company, and his pay-off was the opportunity to do some kayaking on the Gordon River. Poor kid was freezing, but he says it was absolutely worth it. Where we had parked the boat overnight upriver, the water was absolutely calm and still in the early hours. I have beautiful pictures in my mind for my next meditation session. Unless there's a new fatwa out proclaiming meditation is haram too. (I can't believe the news from back home about yoga being proclaimed haram - have these people even spent a minute of their time doing any yoga at all? okay, i won't get into that, not right now anyway. Heavy sigh.)

these shots were taken at Heritage Landing and Sir John Falls, on our cruise back to Macquarie Harbour. What intrigued me was the water looked like tea, which contrasted beautifully agains the greens of the forest. The tannin was from the tea tree and the red soil that's native to the north-west of Tassie.

this is me blissing out in paradise... just me, my camera, my faithful turquoise winter jacket, my now famous hiking boots, and a world of solitude around me.


Thanks for dropping by and thanks for the kind words of encouragement, guys! It really does appear that I've become quite attached to my little Nikon D40x now... still, the camera cannot quite capture everything the eye sees somehow, it's just so much more beautiful in real life.

My sojourn through this fascinating state 42 degrees south of Australia has opened my eyes to many things I seem to have taken for granted before, or passed by in a hurry without stopping to appreciate, all this time... the wonder of God's mighty hand. And more so here in Tassie, where time seems to really have stood still for centuries, and commercialization hasn't weaved its ugly spell upon this land. I shudder to think about whether Hasting's Cave or the National Forests would have been infested with souvenir stalls, people hawking t-shirts, plastic toys, jagung bakar and artificially colored drinks if it was in Malaysia instead. Worse still, if we could have the same respect for our own national heritage and not litter our forests and picnic areas, or insist on carving names on trees and paint graffiti and rude words and symbols onto the walls of our beautiful caves.

My heart bleeds when i think of my own beloved Malaysia. Where could we have we gone so wrong? I hate to point fingers at our education system alone, but it seems to have grown into a much more complex problem now, with a don't-care attitude that reflects just how little we seem to care. It's worse when i see first hand how other people in a state that's far less developed compared to Kuala Lumpur, can have successfully impressed upon her citizens the importance of being socially responsible. It amazes me to see public toilets in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE, reasonably clean, (with tissue paper too!) - it really just takes a moment after all to think, "ooops, my piece of toilet paper missed the bowl... aiyah..pick up lah, otherwise someone else will have to." instead of thinking like everyone else and thinking, "no one else would have bothered, why should i". It only takes a spark to get a whole fire burning.

There i go. This was supposed to be about photos wasn't it. Stop ranting, Tiara! Here are a few more photos i took through our journey in Tasmania, which after 3 1/2 months has seen us cover almost every square inch of the state from north to south, east to west.

In one week's time, it's gonna be "back to Life, back to Reality..." for me. Ah well, I'll always have these memories with me, and who knows? I may miss it enough to return for more.