DSLRUsers.com

Hi,

The Awabakal Reserve is starting to bloom. The wildflowers are just starting and they will be around for a few more weeks.

The Awabakal Reserve is costal heath bushland. There are a number of walking tracks to explore. The vegetation keeps changing as you travel from Redhead to Dudley.

There are also plenty of bird life and if you get lucky maybe even some echidnas.

I was thinking of organising a mini-meet starting in Redhead. We can either have it starting for a sunrise on the beach or finish with a sunset. We can decide that later.

So if you are interested in getting out of Sydney or see your "backyard" if you are a Novocastrian, let me know on this thread.

Date that I was considering were Sat 8 Sep.

Cheers,

André

(edit: just have Sept date)

I should add that for those coming from out of town, there are plenty of other activities around Newcastle to fill the rest of the weekend, even with the Pasha gone

Andre - from experience I would say this date is far too soon for a big gathering. I'd love to come but both dates (for me) are a no go. Just food for thought?

Tempting Andre, can't commit to anything just yet though as am going out of the country on Monday - will see how we're set on my return (and how your plans are going).

Geoff,

I know it is short notice but those wildflowers don't wait

I'm happy to also organise a walk in Newcastle for late September or into October but the wildflowers are likely gone by then. As I say above, there still are plenty of photo ops in Newcastle anyway, so multiple visits will be fine

I'll see what I can do for later but I'm still taking names for those dates, at worse, I'll keep myself company

André

radar wrote:Geoff,

I know it is short notice but those wildflowers don't wait

I'm happy to also organise a walk in Newcastle for late September or into October but the wildflowers are likely gone by then. As I say above, there still are plenty of photo ops in Newcastle anyway, so multiple visits will be fine

I'll see what I can do for later but I'm still taking names for those dates, at worse, I'll keep myself company

André

Fair enough Radar - I wasn't thinking outside the square

Okay,

The next available date for this outing is Saturday Sept 8. I was in the reserve this afternoon and the flowers are pretty amazing so far

A couple of photos from this afternoon, it was a bit windy so I decided not to use my macro lens, I had the 17-35 Nikkor. That lens is sharp and certainly can focus very close



This next one is nothing special but it will show you the amount of wildflowers that are around this year and this is just the start of it. The sweet smell of the flowers is just everywhere.


Cheers,

André BTW, it is very dangerous to borrow a 17-35mm lens and this one doesn't even have a functioning AF-S

André

The 8th of September suits me - I've noted my diary.

I'm thinking Hunter Region Botanic Gardens may be worth a visit too.

stubbsy wrote:I'm thinking Hunter Region Botanic Gardens may be worth a visit too.

Could very well be. However, the variety of flowers in the reserve here is at its best right now.

I was at the Hunter Village Gardens this week after I visited a client in Kurri Kurri. They have their Festival of Flowers. I would not recommend it right now. I was disappointed to the number of flowers available. In October/November, it will be a different story as the roses will be out in force then but that will be a different outing.

Two of us, that makes it an official mini-meet

André

Just a bump, I've been away for a bit

In case somebody else is interested, this is still on for Saturday 08/09/07.

André, looks like I'm going to have to miss this one. Already got some plans that see me heading over the hills to escape the APEC madness!.

I'd be keen on an early October meet in Newcastle though.