Trip to Maitland

As I mentioned previously, I went to Maitland to judge my first large international photography competition. A friend came with me, and we took 2 days to get there (would be about an 8 hour trip normally), and 3 days to get home. We detoured and toured along country roads, finding all sorts of gems. The weather wasn't the best, very overcast, showers etc. In fact, we left the big wet at home and had a reasonably dry trip down considering how it was pouring with rain at home and along the coast road.
The judging was a terrific experience, and the Maitland team looked after us really well. I hope one day they will ask again!
Anyway, on the way down, we pulled into a truck rest area, as we had spotted some lovely coloured grass. Thought we would try for some photography, even though we didn't really know what we were doing. Well, as luck would have it, we actually parked almost on top of a pair of Tawny Frogmouths. They were in a pretty good position too, eye level, though the background did cause some issues, as I love nice clean backgrounds. My friend and I probably spent an hour photographing these elusive birds from different angles. They are around, but are so hard to find, and they camouflage so well!! The only reason we saw them was because one moved! I think i is a mum and bubs, but not sure.
So here is one of the many that I took that day.

                                             

So we arrived in Maitland on a high, and hoping for some sun the next morning, before I had to front up for judging after lunch. Luck smiled upon us. We were at Ash Island, near Hexam, home of the rather ferocious mozzies, lucky I had covered myself in repellant, though one saw fit to bite me on the thigh through my pants.

We found a log where several cormorants and darters stopped by. The light was variable, with the sun coming and going behind the clouds, but it wasn't raining, so that was the best part! My images looked much better on my laptop, I was a bit disappointed when I looked at them more closely at home, but here are a couple anyway.