Australian seascape and landscape photography

landscape photos

The optical jewels at Sorrento.

My recent visit to the ocean beach at Portsea sparked a craving for more of the same photographic material.

This time I visited the ocean beach further along the coastline at Sorrento. The first visit to the beach was a spur of the moment decision. When I arrived there the sun was hovering just above the horizon, I had no time to explore the beach and it was a high tide. I took a few shots of the sun fading into the horizon and a few long exposure shots of waves swirling around the rocks.

Here’s a couple of the high tide shots –

Across the strait

Awaiting the change

The next visit to Sorrento beach was a bit better planned and I actually remembered to check the tide charts before leaving. On arrival the rock pools were at their low tide best, the sun was high enough in the sky to give me time to explore some of the rocky features yet low enough to give the area a nice warm glow.

Here’s some of the shots from the low tide visit –

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jim_worrall_tidal-pillar.jpg

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Shhhhhh, ….you can hear the forest breathing – Sherbrooke Forest

 

Sherbrooke forest is a protected area of bushland located in mountains on the outskirts of Melbourne. It’s an area of fairly thick bush with a series of meandering walking tracks for visitors to enjoy.

jim worrall

The best way to explore the forest tracks is ideally alone, …. and as quietly as possible. Many of the forest’s resident animals are nocturnal but there’s still lots to see and hear during the day if you just stay still and quiet for long enough. You can forget about seeing anything much at all if you travel the tracks in a chatty group because the animals will freeze and wait for the noise to pass.

jim worrall

When I visited Sherbrooke forest it was a stinking hot day. . The pedestrian traffic along the track was fairly light, probably due to the heat, and this allowed me to stop several times along the track, undisturbed.

 

In this forest the animals are not tame but are somewhat conditioned to the presence of human visitors. If you stay still and silent for a couple of minutes, the animals seem to relax and carry on with their usual business. You start to hear the rustle of dried leaves as the animals move around on the forest floor and if you continue to stay quiet you can sometimes catch a glimpse of one of the wild residents.

 

Sherbrooke forest - Dandenong Ranges

On the day I visited Sherbrooke forest I was able to catch glimpses of wild kangaroos or wallabies and also a wandering echidna. I must admit though, that when I stepped off the track to photograph something of interest, I was very aware that this is also “snake country” and so I was careful to check where my feet were landing.

jim worrall