A new moon is an event marked in my photographic diary. As the nights around any new moon can be particularly good nights for Astrophotography. If the skies happen to be clear they will be without moonlight. So the astro peeps often head off to 'dark sky' areas, (or just places without light pollution)
South Australia has 'enjoyed' some fine weather this summer, clear cobalt skies and hot winds that send the temperatures up near 40C. (ok and a shade higher now and then) A fair weekend in Feb saw me heading out on a road trip to find a dark sky. 'Astro' is an interest I share with a colleague from work. David was also keen to have another go at the Milky way. Although to be fair we're both aware the best views of the galactic centre aren't till July. Still practise makes perfect, and half of the battle with astro seems to be finding 'good' and interesting places to take photos from.
Our tentative destination was Victor Harbour, on the South Australia coastline an hour south of Adelaide. It promised to be a dark sky area and the chances were good there might be a few things to see on the way.
The first point of interest on the trip was on the opposite side of the road, we passed a large troop of Kangaroos lazing in the shadows. The tunnel of trees opened to a wide expanse of water.
On a whim I turned down a side road. I find there's a distinct pleasure in just going down a road to see what's there. There was no sight of the water till the road took an abrupt series of turns. We'd climbed high above the lake, I caught sight of an irregular island just offshore. The road led downhill became a single file and crossed the top of a dam. The island was tantalisingly close but there was nowhere to stop. Of course we did stop, but not till we got to the scenic viewpoint on the other bank. We explored the minor summit finding quite a lot to interest us. The view to the water was angled to display the small dam to it's best advantage. Sadly the island that had caught my eye was an inconsequential detail of the vista.
In truth I preferred the view behind us. It was less grand, but the light was in it's favour. The tall wisps of grass gold in the late sun.
Further along the road we crested another rise to find ourselves facing north towards the floods plains that led to Adelaide. We pulled off the road onto the verge. It was a quite impressive view, sadly the lighting didn't do it justice. Out came the cameras. Clickity click click click. I made a mental note of the spot. Perhaps I'll be back for a timelapse of cloud racing across the hills.
We carried on and as it happened the road made a complete circuit of the Lake, we sped past the same troop of Kangaroos, still lazing in the shadows. Not far past the lake the road swept downhill through a tunnel of gumtrees. The sun was low casting shadows along the cultivated valley to our left. Happily stopping to catch the view was a lot easier as there were several layby's cut into the crash barrier. I nipped into the pasture to catch the view. It was only a brief stop but the quality of light suggested I'd captured a good snap.
The road passed through Normanville, a row of Norfolk pines led to a viewpoint , the carpark thirty feet above an unnamed beach. Sunset was underway, we made the short hike to the sand. Low clouds were ideal for the last pictures of the day, but didn't bode well for astrophotography. My method of stitched panorama definitely isn't a good choice for seascapes but one composition came out quite well. The last rays of light played over the clouds for half an hour, sadly never quite hitting the electric vibrancy that seems a feature of the best sunsets. Still not a half bad location. Definitely ripe for a return visit.
As it happened the clouds did close in over us and whilst we were somewhat resigned to a poor show of the stars we pressed onwards to Victor Harbour with the in car music veering quite alarmingly towards the 'death metal' genre currently inhabiting David's phone. When we arrived it was to find the town dark and mostly closed for business, which didn't help our search for a bite to eat. The poverty of options made us grateful victims of the golden arches of McD. Reliable comfort food, pretty much ideal for an evening stargazing. Luckily the breeze that had brought in the clouds had seen them off too. We had a clear sky and enough camera toys between us to make small motion picture.
Granite Island is a couple of hundred metres offshore serviced by permanent wooden boardwalk. During the day a horse drawn coach runs a regular service across the water. Happily the boardwalk also has street lighting so we could just saunter across disturbing the roosting seabirds as we went. Granite island is apparently home to a colony of penguins. Unusual for an Australian native it's quite shy and hard to spot. Needless to say in the dead of night we didn't see any. However the stars were quite bright and so we weren't overly disappointed.
Our night shoot lasted the best part of an hour. The arch of the milky way stretching over heads and back towards the light pollution of the town. I identified a view featuring a wooden staircase leading up to a small lighthouse as being of most interest to me. I tried all sorts of settings and angles, but came up short. My shot was foiled by the lights from Victor harbour, if there's a technique to pull off that lighting scenario I haven't learned it yet. Oh well definitely a shot for an SA powercut! This night shot didn't work out. The next new moon is marked in my diary, my fingers are crossed for a clear sky on that date. No guesses where I might be heading if it is.
