Photo of the day - 20th August

Bordered by a wide stretch of the Murray River, home to majestic River Red Gums and a fantastic variety of birdlife, Kings Billabong Reserve is an ideal place to discover nature and history within minutes of Mildura.

Local Aboriginal people enjoyed the billabong's rich life-supporting wetland food supply. Shell middens (kitchen hearths), burials and scarred trees indicate a lifestyle celebrated on these banks for centuries.

Kings Billabong took its name from Captain James King, who navigated the Murray River and its tributaries in the late 19th century. The Chaffey Brothers, supported by Alfred Deakin who later became Prime Minister, selected Mildura (originally a sheep station) as a suitable location for Australia's first irrigation settlement. The reserve was logged until the 1950s to supply fuel for steam-powered paddleboats and pumps. There was also cattle grazing, cultivation and dried fruit rack sites in the reserve until 1989.

Photo of the day - 19th August

I just came to read the following piece of news:

Largest Wind farm to be built in the southern hemisphere

The largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere is to be built in Victoria's southwest. The 140-turbine, $1 billion Macarthur wind farm, which will produce enough energy to power more than 220,000 homes, is slated for completion by early 2013.
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Wow, 140-turbine wind farm. This is definitely something unheard of in Australia, something I thought would never be accomplished in Australia given the lack of political will to invest substantially into renewable energy.

I thought the Greens will be shouting against this scheme, participating in rallies, holding placards with the mobs against building the wind farms to protect some native plants specimens or some migratory parrots.

Before everybody started accusing me of being a supporter for the climate change camp, let me put this straight. I believe that the world is warming. Whether the warming is caused by purely human activities or but some natural factors, the verdict is still out there. The science is still rather inconclusive. But I believe we all have a part to take care of our environment the best we can. We know that burning fossil fuel is definitely not the way forward for generating our ever increasing energy needs. We need to look at something more sustainable, cleaner and cheaper! Wind energy should definitely be part of the solution.

It is surely good to see that Victoria is getting some meaningful investments into renewable energy. I sure hope my home state of WA will do the same one day. The size of the wind farms in Esperance and Albany are just pitiful but nevertheless encouraging. I do hope that Verve Energy that runs the Albany Windfarm and Horizon Power that runs the Esperance Wind Farms will put up more wind turbines than their 12 and 15 respectively.

Note:The photo above is in fact taken at the Albany Wind farm last year.

Photo of the day - 16th August

Crossing over the border from Victoria to South Australia, I had to stop at the quarantine roadblock for vehicle inspection. Noticing in the distance field across the road, 5 trees stood in a neat row. I soon parked my car at the roadhouse just beside the quarantine station and crossed the road to snap this.

Photo of the day - 11th August

It has been more than a year since my last blog post. I have been too busy with both family life and my newly established photography business.

God has been gracious to us and we are truly blessed with things that are both good and bad. A healthy, stable and happy family, and time to enjoy family life and pursue a bit of my passion, what more can I ask?

Well, I am trying to recommit blogging more, perhaps putting up more photos and sharing a bit of my thoughts and latest happenings.

Here a photo to share. This was taken on two Saturdays ago. Woke up on a foggy morning to drop my sister in law to the airport, I saw beautiful scenes all along the highway to and back from the airport. I grabbed my camera and headed down to the river near my house to capture this awesome photo. The sun was just rising above the distant hills, piercing through the thick layer of cloud and fog. Alas, I was a touch too late to capture the purplish hue in the sky when I finally parked my car and got my cameras out of my bag, but nevertheless, a beautiful sight of the rising sun over the bridge still to behold.

Thank you God your for your lovingkindness as it indeed never cease, for Thy compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.