Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Light is everything

Here are a few photos of the view from Owen's deck. As the caption says: light is everything.

This first shot was taken a few afternoons ago, when there was really clear, bright afternoon light shining on some of the paddocks down from Owen's place. This is a middle distance view.

The light was so bright, it almost hurt one's eyes.
Then, as the sun started to drop in the sky I took this shot, of the far distant views of Kangaroo Valley. Mt Scanzi is central in the frame. It rises from the bottom of Kangaroo Valley, but it stands free from the hills which appear immediately in front of it (there are layers and layers of sandstone ridges, which mask the distances involved). The very far distant horizon is the southern side of the Shoalhaven Valley, near the Buddawang Ranges.
Just a few minutes later, the same scene was transformed by a soft early sunset glow.
This morning, I went back to take advantage of the clear air to take a mid-morning shot of the same grand view. If you click on the image (above), to enlarge it, have a look at the plateau in the mid-distance, in the right hand side of the image. There is a large object visible, which is the "Surge Tower" which stands on the top of the ridge, above the Bendeela Power Station (in the Kangaroo Valley). This is part of the pipeline between the Kangaroo Valley and Fitzroy Falls, and the surge tower is used as a pressure relief system, when the hydro-electric power system is being used to generate electricity. They run water back down from Fitzroy Falls to Bendeela Pondage. However, with the Shoalhaven Transfer system operating more-or-less non stop, these days, to take water from the Shoalhaven to the Sydney water catchment dams, there is little or no chance to produce power from this hydro generation system.

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