Another WTP outing

[Nicole]

OK...I think I'll get withdrawal if I do not go back to WTP next weekend (25/26th). Too many great oppotunities to practice bird photography. There are a couple of options. Hire a 4wd or take someone elses car. Mine is too small. However I'm not sure if there would be issues with taking a hired vehicle on dirt roads at the treatment plant. Does anyone know?

I would prefer to leave it until later in the week to confirm the day to see what the weather is going to be like. I have to confirm latest Friday as I have to ring up and advise who is going. Anyone interested?

[sheepie]

I'd love to come, as I'm down for a few days - but will be on the other side of the city (Cranbourne) with no transport!

[embi]

This weekend isn't possible for me due to previous commitments.

In about 2.5 months we will be picking up our new 8 seater Prado.
Very willing to do a trip with a group of D70 users ANYWHERE then.

[endymion]

Nicole,

typically hire companies don't allow the use of their vehicles off road or even on unsealed roads. How this works with a 4wd is something of a mystery to me. I'd be interested in going to WTP but I wonder if a 300mm zoom is adequate to the task. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Bruce

[Nicole]

Sheepie, i'm over that side of the city. We might be able to work something out...

Embi, boy a 4wd would come in handy. Thanks for the offer for the future.

Bruce, that's what I thought but it's been a while since i hired a car. It doesn't make sense with a 4wd. I might ring around a couple of places tomorrow. If i don't find something, my absolute last resort will be take the other car. Advance warning though...when I drive it I stall a lot!

In terms of a 300mm zoom, that may be enough for raptors in flight but not so good for the smaller birds. I always take my other 100-300 f4 and TC along. I don't use it since i've got my 80-400. If you're interested in birds it's worth the trip because there are plenty of them.

[Nicole]

Just checked out the Thrifty T&Cs:

"The Vehicle must not be used by You or by any Authorised Driver on any unsealed road (being a road not sealed with a hard material such as tar, bitumen or concrete) unless the Vehicle is a 4WD in which case it may also be used on graded unsealed roads. No Vehicle (including 4WDs) may be used on off road conditions. Off road conditions include but not is limited to fire trails, beaches, sand, tracks, fields or paddocks."

I'll call them up and see what time they open an close at Avalon airport. Looks like this may be the best option.

[Nicole]

OK I ended up getting on to Avis at Avalon. I checked with the lady and it's ok to take the 4wd on the unsealed roads around WTP. Pickup is at 7:30am and drop off before 6pm. Cost for the day is $134.80. Excess reduction is $20 but I'm not sure that will be required. I've booked it for this Sunday 26th June.

Confirmed so far is Arthur and his wife. Room for 2 more people.

[yeocsa]

OK I ended up getting on to Avis at Avalon. I checked with the lady and it's ok to take the 4wd on the unsealed roads around WTP. Pickup is at 7:30am and drop off before 6pm. Cost for the day is $134.80. Excess reduction is $20 but I'm not sure that will be required. I've booked it for this Sunday 26th June.

Confirmed so far is Arthur and his wife. Room for 2 more people.

HI Nicole,

Well done! We'll share the cost. The excess reduction is for the excess in event of an accident. Say, it the excess is $1000. It means that if the repair from the accident is $1100. We pay $1000 and their insurance company pays $100. Much like "P" plates like me, my excess is $400.

If it is $20, we might as well pay for a peace of mind.

I can do a fund transfer via internet to your bank account as i usually carry very little cash with me.

What time and where do we meet up in this case? How do we settle lunch? My wife can prepare some snacks and hot drink to bring along.

regards,

Arthur

[Nicole]

We'll sort the money out later in the week depending on how many of us end up going. I don't have to pay anything until Sunday. I'll send through my details later in the week (inc. my mobile in case you need to contact me).

We will meet at 7:30am outside the entrance to Avalon airport. You may be able to leave your car at the end of Beach Rd for the day or you can park at Avalon airport ($15 for the day and probably more secure).

We can have lunch in Geelong or Werribee based on where we are located in the treatment plant. Snacks sound good. You're welcome to bring along hot drink (although I don't drink tea or coffee).

[endymion]

Nicole,

I'm good for Sunday but Saturday would be a problem as I'm going out on Friday night and probably staying at a friend's house way out east. If Sunday is the go then I'm all for it, otherwise, perhaps next time.

Regarding paying $20 for excess reduction on a rental car, its worth it. Last time I rented a car I scratched it and that $20 saved me $2000.

Cheers,

Bruce.

P.S,. Is it just me or is not being able to use a rental car on an unsealed road ridiculous?

[Nicole]

Bruce, we'll be going Sunday as Arthur is also busy on Saturday. Hopefully it sounds like the weather should be ok. Better to be safe then sorry so we'll go for the excess reduction. I can understand the whole rental car on some unsealed roads but a 4wd...that just doesn't make sense.

[kipper]

Excess reduction is very much worth it. Rental cars in AU is a joke, along with the excess they try to charge. In the UK I hired a brand new station wagon for a month, the equivalent over here I could hire for 10days for the same price. Plus the excess over there was like half, which I didn't bother to pay as my holiday insurance covered it.

[yeocsa]

I looking forward to it. The weather seems to be getting better. fingers crossed.

regards,

Arthur

[Nicole]

OK. 4wd spots are now all taken. Just to confirm the details.

When: 7:30am - 5:30pm (approx.) Sunday 26th June
Where: Outside the entrance to Avalon Airport
Cost per person: $30 (includes 4wd hire and excess reduction)
Location: Western Treatment Plant (and we may take a trip out to Serendip)

So we have Arthur and his wife, Bruce, Darryl and me.

[robw25]

hi nicole
saw your wtp subject line and realised i live only two kilometers from a water treatment plant, so i went for a look and luckily there was someone there and i asked if i could go in and take a few pics but he wouldnt allow it until i've been inducted... which he can do friday morning ! he also said there was about 73 different species of birds.... so i'm looking forward to take some pics.... so thanks to your post i now have another place to take pics... hope it doesnt smell too bad

cheers rob

[Nicole]

Good stuff Rob. They are excellent places for taking pics of birds. Kind of like a refuge. In spring/summer you can see 100+ different species of birds in Melbourne. All the migratory birds return for summer. Hope it's a productive spot for you and that the smell is ok.

[fozzie]

Nicole,

OK. 4wd spots are now all taken. Just to confirm the details.

When: 7:30am - 5:30pm (approx.) Sunday 26th June
Where: Outside the entrance to Avalon Airport
Cost per person: $30 (includes 4wd hire and excess reduction)
Location: Western Treatment Plant (and we may take a trip out to Serendip)

So we have Arthur and his wife, Bruce, Darryl and me.

In Adelaide all this week we have had stong winds and plenty of rain. From here on in, the weather is expected to improve, so hopefully by Sunday you expedition to 'WTP' will be OK.

Just taken from the 'AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT - BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY - SOUTH AUSTRALIA REGIONAL OFFICE'"

Wednesday Max 14 Winds and showers easing.

Thursday: Min 5 Max 15 Shower or two.
Friday: Min 3 Max 16 Fine. Partly cloudy.
Saturday : Min 6 Max 16 Fine. Sunny periods.

Happy shooting.

[Nicole]

Thanks Fozzie. So far they are going for Fine on Saturday and Fine and cool for the days after in Melbourne. Fingers crossed.

[redline]

boohoo! i wished i was able to go
working today, need more time in advance to get a weekend off work.
hope you guys/girls had fun

[Holden]

Pity I'm working as it's only 10 min from my place and I used to work there in the good old Board of Works days

[Nicole]

Well what a long day! A very cold start to the morning although not as cold as yesterday morning. It was a very balmy 0.2 at Avalon at 6:06am. A bit cloudy at first but the weather really was fantastic. Picked up the rental car (Toyota Landcruiser) and had to remove the ice from the windscreen. I referred to the Landcruiser as "the tank" for the rest of the day. Big difference from driving a small hatchback. But let me just say I didn't stall once!

Attendees were Arthur, Rochelle, Bruce, Darryl and myself. It was a quiet start to the morning but the Black-shouldered Kites were being helpful as usual. We drove straight past the swans. Arthur didn't even flinch. Chased some Welcome Swallows but they were too fast. The best part was a Brown Falcon landing right in front of Darryl and myself. Sometimes you get lucky. We had lunch in Lara and then headed off to Serendip. A few ducks that Arthur probably hasn't seen so that was nice. There were also kangaroos everywhere. Just before we left we discovered a Whistling Kite nest. No Wedge-tailed Eagles unfortunately.

We finished off the day at Farm Rd. There must have been at least 20 Whistling Kites there. We also spent quite a bit of time photographing a very friendly Black-shouldered kite. Not even Rochelle could get it to move. Finally some landscape shots as the sun set. It's nice with the colours and the fog rolling back in.

[fozzie]

Nicole,

Excellent report of the days activities.

Now for the pix's someone: Darryl, Arthur or Bruce. Nicole is exempt as she did all the hard work of driving, without stalling - three (3) cheers

[endymion]

Fozzie,

Here you go:



This is apparently a brown falcon though I don't think it looks anything like a car.

I'd like to thank Nicole for organising the trip, renting the car and lending me her Sigma lens.

I'd also like to thank Arthur, Darrl and Rochelle (as well as Nicole) for making it a really pleasant day.

Cheers,

Bruce

[mudder]

That's a terrific shot Bruce. Wow... Sounds like you lot had a ball... Was thinking of you guys when we were at the Zoo today... Sounds like we both had fun

Can't wait to see more from the day...

Cheers.

[yeocsa]

We had a great time. Special thanks to Nicole who organise the entire event. Thanks to Daryl who is our scott, binoculars and gate keeper. Thanks also to Bruce for his jokes.

1st Picture : Kite

1/500 f8. Aperture Preferred. AFS 300F4 + TC1.4. Manual focus. Tripod mounted. Flash.



2nd Picture : Sunset

1/60 f22. Manual Exposure. 18-70mm. Tripod mounted.


regards,

Arthur

[mudder]

More terrific images Arthur... For some reason the first one almost looks like a portrait type of feel??? I'd clone out the bit's of stick in the b/l cnr, but what a great pose, good catch...

The second one, beautiful colours, be tempted to clone or heal out the single sun spot/glare and crop some of the top off, that'd make a great pano style...

[kipper]

Mudder, portrait feel.....hah you should of seen this bird. Arthur said next time he's going to bring his studio lights!

[kipper]

Yes lucky I ran around the park looking for you guys huh to show you that bloody Whistling Kite perched at that hide, so you could find the nest!

I tell you what, it's hard work running with 3 layers of clothing, a Gitzo G1325, D70 + 70-200VR (with TC) + SB800!!@!@!!$!

Anyway, glad I found you guys again, and good job I did bring you back to find that nest.

Would of posted pictures lastnight but I was exhausted plus I was waiting on getting a script from Willy Wombat. I didn't take as many shots as I normally do. My Archos AV420 compact flash slot died during the outing (it was on it's way out many a times before), so now I need to get that repaired/replaced. Will look at posting some today.

Glad everyone had fun, shame the lighting really sucked though in the morning. Then when the Brown Falcon practically landed on us it was pretty full on and directly to our right. So the lighting from the right of the bird to the left was quite severe.

Another interesting thing I learnt. If you ever see a bird on a road sign. Turn off your flash or switch to manual. It's more than likely that the road sign is reflective and will bounce back pre-flashes and confuse the flash. It did when we were shooting a Brown Falcon perched on one, the sign is blown but the bird is underexposed.

[fozzie]

Bruce and Arthur, thank you for sharing your excellent shots from yesterday.

[kipper]

Guess what, it's not a bird shot
Taken after the sun had dropped over the You Yangs. Fog was starting to form on the horizon. By the time we got back to Arthur's car the fog was really setting in. Used Photomatix and combined two exposure one for the sky and the other for the foreground.

[mudder]

Wow, impressive pano mate Be tempted to crop off some of the top to make it more "pano" like maybe? Great colour.

[Holden]

Nup , I love it as it is , especially the sunset over the You Yangs

[Nicole]

Ok here are a couple from me for the WTP outing.

Black Swan


Kookaburra (whilst you guys were checking out the Whistling Kite at Serendip)

[Jamie]

Great stuff kipper, would look great framed and mounted on the wall.

[Jamie]

I forgot to ask, what lenses are you guys and girl using to get these pictures? Im guessing nothing less than a 300mm of sorts?

I went for a drive down that way last week (im only 10mins away also) and tried a few shots out, but with a 300mm lens it was pretty much hopeless. BTW i know of a proper bird hide that over looks a lake to shoot from down that wayish if anyone is interested ill give you more details (have to look in the melways).

Jamie

[Nicole]

I was using the 80-400VR. Darryl was using the 70-200VR with a 1.7TC, Athur was using the 300 F4 with a 1.4TC (I think?) and Bruce was using a Sigma 100-300 F4 with 1.4 TC.

Jamie is that the hide at the treatment plant or another one?

[Jamie]

Nicole, nice pics.

The bird hide im talking about is in Point Cooke coastal park. Melways Ref. 199 E1.
There were a few raptors i seen flying about down there last week also but i didnt check out the condition of the lake. The only time i did was over a year ago and there wasnt much water in it, but that was the middle of summer also.

Jamie

[kipper]

Jamie check out Farm Rd at the Western Sewer Trunk in Werribee.
It's a new area that they're in the process of tarmacing. It looks like they're about to put up cyclone fencing. Anyway that there has heaps of Whistling Kites, everytime we're there we spot atleast 20 individuals. Sometimes they're soaring or perched in trees or on posts. At times you can watch them swooping in the sewer trunk. Which at first Nicole and I had no idea what they were trying to catch. However my Dad said something that made sense....."perhaps they're after Sewer Rats".

[mudder]

G'day Nicole,

That Swan's a good catch so well framed... The Kooka would have to be my favorite though, clean and sharp...

[endymion]

Folks,

Some other photos I took on the day that are not of birds (gasp!).



and



Cheers,

Bruce

[pippin88]

Bruce, I really like both of those shots, especially the one of the thin branches - excellent composition and DOF.

The texture and colour on the car are great.

[kipper]

Arthur, just so you know that Black Shouldered Kite (pretty sure that was the same one that I was standing underneath) has just come out of being a Juvenille. My shots that I took standing underneath it clearly show a few streaks of orangey brown in it's breast.

[meicw]

Great shots, all of you. Looks as though you had a very productive day.

Regards
Meicw