Happy New Year to All members in the forum !!!

In the middle of Dec, I had been to Australia to visit my cousin in Melbourne. We spent a few days in town and then drive out of the town to some country area along the Great Ocean Road. We spent a week in the area around a place named Apollo Bay. There are great people, great seafood, great birds and many many great landscapes. In this trip, my original plan was to have some relax and happy time with my family. But there are surprisingly easy to see many beautiful birds around. I only took my 70-200/2.8 with me. What a shame, I wish I had my longer lens with me. Here are some of the highlights of birds and others.

Starts with the very common Silver Gull,








Superb Fairy Wren (My favourite bird of the whole trip)




Female




Red-capped Robin


Black-faced Cormorant


White-faced Heron


Straw-necked Ibis




Australian White Ibis


Purple Swamhen


Crested Tern


Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo





Little Corella


Galah




Australian King Parrot




Laughing Kookaburra






Red Wattlebird


Little Wattlebird






Juvenile


New Holland Honeyeater






White-naped Honeyeater


Eastern Yellow Robin


Grey Fantail






Willie Wagtail


Magpie Lark


Australian Magpie






European Greenfinch


House Sparrow (Intro at 1860s)


Welcome Swallow


Common Starling


Common Blackbird


Pacific Black Duck


Australian Wood Duck


Female


Crimson Rosella


Sulphur-crested Cockatoo




Other animals :
Koala in the wild








Baby Koala


Seal






Cow in a farm but free-range


Some landscapes :
However, I am not very familiar with Landscapes photog. The actual scenery is way more magnificent than what you see in the photos.

12 Apostles Stones
















Waterfalls


Beautiful Coastline in wonderful weather










Sunset and the garden






Beaches




Lighthouse


Cherries


My boy’s hands after eating cherries


Lavender


Trees

Wow, you seem to have had a fantastic trip!

So many great and some fantastic photos of birds unknown in HK. It's great to see non-bird photos from you as well, using the same fine skills you've developed in photographing birds!

Some really wonderful shots even though you've had "only" a 200mmm lens. It's the skill, experience and patience of the photographer that makes a great shot, the lens is just one of many ingredients in a great photo and definitely not the most important by far...

Now, could you get started to shoot some more non-bird photos of Lamma as well, please? You can do it as you have amply demonstrated above!

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LG, thanks a lot. You are very kind. I will do my best to record some daily activities and landscapes of Lamma.

By the way, there is another highlight of the trip. If you have a Thomas train maniac like mine, in the sub-urb of Melbourne there is a steam train line running to cater the tourist. http://www.puffingbillie.com.au It is a very different experience than our previous ride on steam trains because you can hang yourself at the side of the train compartment and enjoy your ride with your foot in the air. See what I mean below :

Wow Harry! Seems like you had a wonderful trip. There are some beautiful shots in this collection.

I certainly envy your skill in taking all those photos with only a single lens at your disposal.

Is there something in the water on Lamma that turns people into talented photographers?

Happy New Year from Vancouver!

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Lead me not into temptation;
I can find it myself, thank you.

Thanks Chuckm ! It was really a wonderful trip. Some senery shots were done with very wide angle like 12mm. I mislead you. I took lens on the short side but not longer than 200mm.