Walking around Melbourne in early November

2024-11-20

Earlier this month, I met an echidna out on a hike with some friends. I've never seen one in the wild before. On of my friends had just been to Tasmania for hiking and said they'd seen heaps there, and that they weren't too shy. I got some nice photographs of this little one. Of course, this is wildlife, so I did not touch it... but I have to say it looks very fuzzy and soft between the spines :)

Shortly after we left this little one behind on the trail a family of 5 or 6 kangaroos leapt out of the bush and dashed across the trail ahead of us, maybe 10 metres in front. Astounding. I'd seen kangaroos from afar, and even interacted with some up close in Brisbane at the koala sanctuary and in Fall City, Washington at the Wallaby Ranch, but I'd never seen them bounding, full steam ahead, right in front of me. They were fast! And the sound of their feet clop clop clop as they hit the ground hard. Absolutely beautiful, and lucky to get to experience with my friends.

Further down the page there are more recent photos from later in the month. It's been so bright outside and so many bugs, I broke out my macro extension tubes to try and get some shots. It turns out they go really well with the Lumix 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. That lens works well because (a) it's super lightweight and (b) has a very flat, un-bulky front piece. You can really get close to stuff without the lens getting in the way of your light. I can't believe the photo of a fly I got with such a basic setup. And the last photo of decaying flower petals I particularly liked, as they look rather unsettling at this scale.

It's been a good month for photos, and glad I've gotten back to it. I hadn't pulled photos off my camera in a while and had to get over a bit of hump to actually develop them in Darktable.