Cleland, the pre final visit

Kimba (Omega)
Mary (Alpha Female)

Ah, Cleland. Magic again. The bus ride up was sad. So very sad. Raining most of the way up the expressway, and upon reaching the summit of Mount Lofty, the view was nothing but a white fog bank. The bus driver mentions that usually Mount Lofty has very sudden weather changes, and things could change at any moment, and started the bus for Cleland. Just minutes from Cleland, the sun broke through the clouds, and parted the fog. Sun light backlights the trees on both sides of the road. Marvelous.

Female Superb Fairy Wren

Red Browed Firetail Finch (cropped image)

Spent some time at the aviary, and decided that I won't leave till I get at least one shot of a Firetail Finch. These birds are... wild... I guess. But there is a feeder there where they congregate. Unlike the Fairy Wrens who I've experienced flittering up to me a few times, the Firetails simply will not tolerate movement. Thankfully, I didn't need a hide, and just sat down at a convenient bench, barely 2 meters away from the feeder. And kept quiet. About 5-10 minutes later, the birds returned to feed, and I took as many shots as I could as these birds move *fast*.

Short Nosed Bandicoot

Was never ever able to catch a good pic of the Bandicoots, and as luck would have it, a nice side on shot.

Hairy Nose Wombat

The Wombats are usually munching away or snoozing. Today, one of them was posing just for me. How could I resist.

POTOROO!

Most of the potoroos in the main cleland park are evidently not too human shy. Apart from the one in the bush area. This one was happily posing for me and tons of tourists. (assume 1 tourist == 100kg, 10 tourist == 1 ton)

I leave thee today with one of our fine feathered friends.

Superb Parrot

Adelaide Zoo

The meerkat shot that every. one. has.

Visited the Adelaide Zoo last week, and they were having the new Panda exhibit going along pretty well. Slated for delivery late this year, so perhaps I'll be able to check it out when if I visit Adelaide again.

Otter!

The otters were very reclusive this time. I walked past their enclosure like 3-4 times, and only once was once of them out eating something, and only managed to take a few shots before one of the other patrons moved too close and it ran into its log.

Persian Leopard

The lion's enclosure was very packed during lunch time, and it was fortunate that everyone was interested in the lions so I was able to grab a very good spot to shoot the Persian Leopard. Only managed 2 keepers, but they were sufficient.


Emu!

A lovely emu, less about subject, just about the bokeh. 300mm at F4 is sweet indeed.

American Crocodile

The crocs were being crocs as usual. Not. Moving. An. Inch. Bwa. All the better for me, with nothing moving.

I leave thee today with a contemplative relative:

Work sucks :(

More accurately, leaving work sucks :( Today marks the last day of my time on Terminator 4: Salvation. My second project at Rising Sun Pictures, I've had a fantastic time there. Sure, all of us had to pull some a few long days here and there, but overall I loved the team and project.

Will also miss my time at Cleland :(

So damned depressed. I'm going to go pixel peep and enjoy some jazz for a while.

MOOD: DEPRESSED

I was at Cleland last week too :P

A dingo. DIIINGGO. (can't decide to print this at A3 canvas, or A2 satin.... hmmm...)

Been very busy the last two weeks in the final push to complete the show. In most every day, but I still got my time to go to Cleland. And back to office after :P Processed some pictures but had no time to blog about them. So there. Last week was relatively meh. Weather was quite warm, and my cuddly Rock Wallabies were hiding amongst the rocks again. Took quite a few shots but most went into the trash bin. Still got one in a reasonably environment-kinda pose.

Andu / Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby

I've also decided that the Andu are much cuter than the Swamp Wallabies. So there.

No, they don't have red eyes, that's the flash causing it. And no, I don't have photoshop. It's quite freaky when you actually see it through the viewfinder when the pre-flash goes off...

Cattle Heron

The Cattle Heron reside in a fair sized aviary, and they don't seem to like me, the last few times I visited their home. Perhaps my new hairstyle gets them confused them this time, so I managed to get closer and get a shot of one of 'em.

Baby Wombat peaking outta pouch!

Ok. I present to you a wombat rear, with a tiny joey sticking its head out of the rearward facing pouch. It's pretty ingenious evolution; if the pouch faced the front, the little pup would be swimming in dirt if the mom started to dig. It's times like this I wish I owned the legendary 200-400mm/4. Being legendary, these are owned by... legends. I'm not. So.... (plz ignore the horrible bokeh... thanks....)

EMU!

Emus aren't very cuddly, so if you do want to hug one my advice is don't bother. This one (nearly 6 feet tall) was in a fairly curious mood, pecking away at my lens. Thank goodness it's my damaged 55mm 2.8, so I didn't bother to much.

100% crop

Optically it is my best lens in my meagre stable. Damn, I love the old stuff :) Cheap and good :) Pain in the rear to focus though. Today, I leave thee with a final picture of the iconic Koala! (They are NOT bears!!!!)

Koala.