For a couple of years now I have had a side project called Best Aussie Online that I envisioned as being a showcase of Australias best websites to the world. Being a patriotic and proud Aussie I really believe that our great country has alot to offer the world, not only online but in the real world as well.

The site was doing OK, but not doing what I had hoped, as every website had to be entered manually, and I didnt have enough fingers and toes to really build up the content to the level I envisioned. So I started thinking about scrapping it completely and selling off the domain, but then the world decided to have a little bit of a meltdown.

When the Global Financial Crisis hit I started rethinking what my core vision for the site was and I started to think more locally. I really feel that for Australia to survive this ‘crisis’ its going to be up to the people of this country to put our foot down and put our money where our mouth is. As a nation we are great at pulling together in times of need and its up to us to look after Australian jobs and businesses by spending our money within Australia, purchasing not only Australian owned, but Australian made products and services. Thats the easiest way for us to help keep our jobs alive and stop manufacturing going offshore where it may be a little bit cheaper to produce.

With this I decided to do a knockdown and rebuild on the website and completely start from scratch. My main focus is now to showcase Aussie Websites to Australians and try and help people make informed decisions about spending their hard earned money within Australia. I know its a big task but I believe its what we need to do.

BestAussieOnline.com.au has now been revamped into an automatic submission directory where owners of Australian websites can list their Aussie websites for FREE within a standard listing, without reciprocal links, and with search engine followed backlinks. This is my way of giving back to the online community that has given so much to me in so many ways. There are no catches, will be minimal advertising and this really is a site by an Australian for all Australians as well as the world.

All submissions will be reviewed by my team before being accepted to keep the quality of the directory high. I plan to do a monthly showcase of noteworthy websites and or products and hope to give away a featured listing every month for the site of the month. Hopefully some sponsors will come on board as well and we can run some competitions to give away some Aussie products too.

Featured listings will be able to be purchased for a small fee and in time advertising spots will be able to be purchased as well. But as I said before advertising will be kept to a minimum, just to cover the costs of running the site and  to keep the annoyance factor for viewers down.

For all my fellow Aussie bloggers there is a dedicated category just for blogs. It will be broken up into subcategories that will hopefully cover all the topics that Aussies blog about. So make sure you head over to Best Aussie Online and list your blog for free. If I have missed any categories you can suggest more via the contact form and I will do my best to accomodate everyone.

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Just want to wish everyone a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2009 has been a pretty exciting year workwise for me where unfortunately my real job has been so full on that I havent been taking as many photos as I would have liked, but my New Years resolution is to get out there and take more. We have a 4×4 on the way so there shall be plenty of trips away and I hope to really work on my landscape photography.

In this festive season make sure the camera never leaves your hand, the batteries are always charged and your memory cards have plenty of room.

For those of you getting out there between Xmas and New Years to photograph the fireworks dont forget to check out my tutorial on How To Photograph Fireworks. It might just come in handy.

For all the kids who want to check out Santas flight path over Australia on Christmas eve, Air services Australia is tracking his progress again this year. You can even check whether you made the naughty or nice list and have a look over santas sleigh.  The Aussie Santa Tracker is well worth a look. Just make sure your asleep in bed before he reaches your house.

As always the NORAD Santa Tracker is following santas progress from America.

I wish everyone a wonderful safe festive season and hope that 2010 will really be your best year ever.

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View down my street. Street lights are still on at 9:30

Woke up this morning to what I thought was a brilliant sunrise creating an orange glow around the curtains, but when I opened them I found it was a massive DUST STORM!! It was really bizzare to look at, as the wind is really cold but the only time I have ever seen the sky this colour was through the bushfires. At first it was hard to tell if there was a heavy miscoloured fog, or if a bushfire had been lit overnight with the lightning from last nights storm.

Dust Stom in Bolwarra Heights

Its amazing that this much dust can travel through the air to create such a blanket over the state. All over the news there are stories about Sydney and the dust down there. Ferries have been cancelled and international flights have been diverted to Brisbane. Never seen a dust storm like this

Sun Trying to shing through the Dust Storm

Theres so much dust that the sun cant even shine through properly. That little dot is the sun at 9:30 this morning.

View of the Dust Storm from my garage

I am now waiting to see how long it takes for all the greenies to get on the global warming band wagon. There will be the apocolyptic naysayers saying the end is nigh too but I just say its a really cool dust storm. Western NSW is so dry now from a low rainfall winter, that there is no ground coverage to hold the dirt in place. Once the winds picked up there was no chance for the dust to stay on the ground.

Hopefully we will never see a dust storm this bad again, well not in my lifetime anyway!

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Belmore Bridge Maitland

As I write this article all flood warnings for Maitland and the Hunter Valley have been cancelled. Yesterday it was a different story though with the Hunter, Paterson and Williams Rivers all rising fast thanks to the massive drenching we got this week.

Our thoughts go out to all the victims caught up in the Bellingen floods as We escaped by the skin of our teeth, floodwaters lapped at the top of levee banks at some of the lower areas around Maitland.

While I was at work I managed to stop at a few places as I travelled around to get a few pics just to show people how high the waters had risen. Thefollowing photos were taken on the morning of 2nd April, 2009 and the Rivers still rose a little bit more afterwards.

At Hinton where the River usually breaks first, the water was just lapping at the top of the levee bank. It wouldnt have taken much more water upstream to make it go over

At Raymond Terrace where Williams River merges with the Hunter River the Boat ramp and park just inside the levee bank went under overnight.

The Dunmore Bridge at Woodville has just had repairs begun and all the workers were madly scrambling to get everything to high ground. When I drove past there were a few site sheds that had wet feet. The grass in the foreground is the levee bank that I am standing on, and didnt have too much more to go before it spilled over

Just out of Woodville this lake is usually a grassy low lying area. Whenever it rains everything jsut flows into it and becomes a lake

Taken from the Dungog side of Paterson looking towards the township, the Paterson River had engulfed these river flats and created this very serene lake. You can just see the rail bridge in the distance. It looks perfect as a skiing spot, just watchout for floating trees.

Taken from underneath the Paterson rail bridge

Tucker Park in Paterson, has now become Tucker Lake

Looking from the roadside towards historic Tocal Homestead just outside Paterson. Usually there is just a small dam in front of the house that has now become a lake. If the waters spill over from the Paterson River then this lake will rise up quite a bit more.

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On a recent trip to Adelaide for work we ended up having to go south from the city to the Penola area for a job. I just cruised my way back and checked out the sights while I was there. Padthaway is a  major wine producing area with Vines Vines and more Vines for as far as the eyes can see. There are kilometres and kilometres of grape vines lining the Riddoch Highway. Some of the more well known names in the area that I saw are Seppelt, Lindemans, Hardys and Wynns.

Plantations of pine trees are huge in this area as well. Everything along this stretch of highway is done in masssive proportions. Forestry SA has huge tracts of land that are just planted out with pine trees. The good thing is that they also have areas planted with natives as well.

I was intrigued with the patterns created by the long rows of trees you see as you drive along the highway.

Naracoorte has some limestone caves you can trek through a few kilometres out of town. I didnt really have much time to stop and look so I grabbed a few photos of the sculptures that protect the entrance instead.

Murray Bridge – The first bridge to be built across the mighty Murray River.

Under the Murray Bridge

The tiny hamlet of Hahndorf is as big in character as the German hospitality you receive all through the town. I stopped at the German Arms hotel (above) for lunch and experienced the best German food and beer I have ever had. I ended getting the German Experience meal, which allows you to sample a whole swag of different foods on the one plate. The meals are massive and you wont leave unsatisfied. The rest of the town is full of trinket shops and cafes and german stores. Hahndorf is a definite visit for your next trip to Adelaide.

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I Recently went away with work to Adelaide for two weeks so heres a few random photos from the trip. The photo above is the City lights taken from the Mt Lofty Summit. The Adelaide lights are great to see of a night. They symmetry of the city’s layout is very defined when viewed from above. Everything looks ordered and clean unlike other cities where is is just plain chaos.

The Glenelg Wharf. Very popular spot for peope to walk. Coming from the east coast it was cool to see a sunset over the ocean.

Glenelg Promenade silhouetted by sunset. Glenelg is a vibrant clean beachside town. The marina is spectacular complete with it own sailing ship in the lagoon.

Glenelg Fun Park. It didnt appear to be operating but there is a complete fun park with water slides and rides right on the waterfront.

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Had a day off work today so decided to go down to Blacksmith’s Beach to check out the filming of Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman. I mainly wanted to go down to check out the movie pyrotechnic special effects, and my wife wanted to perve on Hugh. I got to see my pyro but we were too far away to see Hugh. I only took my Olympus 1030 SW point and shoot camera after I heard about the dramas other photographers were having with their long lenses and managed to get this photo, but as you can see we were so far away you cant make much out.

The crew has been on the Wolverine set for two days now, with locals getting really excited about the action. Apparently Hugh Jackman made a special appearance for fans yesterday signing autographs and taking photos.

The setup is quite impressive with the whole of the Blacksmiths Surf life saving club carpark taken over by trucks and camper trailers. The beach appears to have been setup like a world war II beach landing scene, I think it was the Normandy beach landing. After waiting for an hour we managed to see a live run of the soldiers taking the beach with bombs going off everywhere including in the water and gunfire fights as well.

I cant wait until Wolverine comes out in cinemas. I am keen to see how what we saw translates onto the big screen. Rumours say it should be out next year some time.

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I have been travelling out west last week for work around the Gunnedah and Narrabri area. I am impressed. For the whole week I got to see the sunrise and sunset while travelling to and from the job. I had grand plans of getting time to shoot a few sunsets but unfortunately time didn’t permit. Compared to here on the coast where I live, the colours out west are amazing, they last longer and light the landscape in ways I havent seen for a long time. The beginning and end of the day is greeted with the most intense pinks, purples, blues , yellows and oranges. It was hard as a photographer with camera at the ready to not be able to stop and take a few shots to share with you.

Most of these photos, except for the bus ones, were taken from a moving vehicle as there was no time to stop. I was surprised that they came out so good. I might have to work on my technique for future trips where I cannot stop again.

In between Gunnedah and Narrabri is a sleepy little town, population 70, called Baan Baa. Perched along the Kamillaroi highway, its main purpose is serving as a grain rail terminal for the local farmers to disribute their commodities out to the world. The first thing I noticed as I was driving through was a green bus off the side of the road that at first look appears abandoned and forgotten. It was quickly pointed out to me by my passenger that in fact it was the local cricket club grand stand. Thats Aussie ingenuity for you. Most people would leave it to rot in a paddock but the locals at Baan Baa have made it into a talking piece that for me put it on the map. If it wasnt for the bus I would have most probably not noticed the few houses on the side of the road.

Further down the road stands the majestic Gin’s Leap which legend has it that an aboriginal girl threw herself from the rock while being chased by a wild aboriginal tribe. Originally known to early settlers just as the rock it took its name once the legend became more widespread. If you are travelling the Kamillaroi highway you will not miss it as it is a massive piece of stone and has a very ominous presence early in the morning with the light of dawn warming its face.

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Made it out shopping today and bought my self an Olympus u 1030 SW digital camera. Our old point and shoot happy snap camera finally died after mountains of abuse so I thought I had better upgrade. It was a tough decision but I decided on the Olympus because of its sheer toughness. No other camera could match its performance in such a diverse range of conditions. I have been missing a compact camera to take in my pocket as it can be a pain in the ass to carry my SLR’s with me every where, especially if all you want is a few happy snaps. Although it was a bit more expensive than cameras with with similar features, the waterproofing and drop resistance are worth the outlay if you have kids, work in wet or dusty environments, enjoy snorkeling or diving or even just go to the beach or pool on a regular occasion. I am pretty happy to know that if I abuse this little camera it will keep on working, and that just suits me fine.

The Olympus 1030 SW (SW is for shock and waterproof) is Drop resistant to 2 m, waterproof (not water resistant) to 10m, crushproof to 100kg and freezeproof to -10 degrees. To me that also sounds like its pretty kid proof too. I have a 2 yr old who is obsessed with any kind of gadget that has buttons, lights and makes noises, so once she finds out this takes pictures too those specs are gunna get a thorough testing. Built solidly, I think anything short of a nuclear bomb wont really worry this camera too much.

As a camera the 1030SW has some pretty impressive tech specs as well. It has a 10.1 megapixel CCD sensor, 2.7″ TFT ‘Hypercrystal II’ LCD display, 3.6x optical zoom, (5x digital zoom too but I wouldnt bother with it) 29 shooting modes, image stabilisation, face detection, shadow adjustment and a whole swag of other goodies. There is also a Manometer to tell you how high up or deep in the water you are,

When you open the box the first thing you notice is how solidy this camera is built. With the outer casing made of metal with full rubber seals around all the joins and everything screwed not glued together, it even feels tough. Button actions have a responsive feel and everything is easy to access, even with my big fingers.

I have only taken a few pictures so far, mainly of my feet and computer desk and walls and stuff around me so nothing worth posting yet. As I put it through its paces over the next week or so I will post some for you to see. The screen is crystal clear and appears reasonably accurate and optical zoom is good. There is a mountain of shooting modes including portrait, night time, inside, underwater, macro etc etc and I think I would actually use alot of them. When I am not using my SLR’s I like to be able to have some control over images I take, but I dont want to have to think about settings. The scene modes appear to cover this reasonably well.

Stay tuned as I will have more for you soon.

Part II – Olympus 1020 SW Review

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In the week leading up to Groovin The Moo 2008, Maitland had 260mm of rainfall and literally no sun at all. While setting up crews were working in rivers of water flowing all over the site. Paterson and other low lying areas of Maitland had already flooded in by Friday and if the rain didnt stop then Maitland could have possibly been flooded too! Things were looking pretty bleak to expect sunshine on Saturday. That sounds pretty dramatic, but I was watching the Groovin The Moo website all Friday and they said they would go ahead, rain, hail or shine.

I think all the punters who had bought tickets must have read the same post, because they all went out on Friday and bought every last pair of gumboots you could find between Maitland and Newcastle. Someone within the Groovin The Moo ranks though has done some really good deeds lately and must have had some really good karma stored up, enough for the sunshine gods to smile and turn it on so the show could go ahead. With 12,000 people converging on Maitland Showground all at once, it was instantly turned into a giant mud wrestling pit.

Although the rain had stopped, and the sun was shining, you just couldnt escape the mud. Organisers had done their best by spreading woodchip in the really bad ares, but without any drying time the ground didnt stand a chance. Some of the punters took advantage of the abundance of oozing mud, deciding that it was a good idea to start a WWF style mud wresting bonanza. All that was missing were the bikini clad round number girls. Affectionately the festival has been renamed Groovin The Mud, 2008.

After braving the writhing sexed up mud pit that was the King St Hotel Dance Tent to photograph the Potbelleez, I decided to make my way back to the Triple J Main Stage. It was on my way there that I was lucky enough to witness the mayhem you see all round this post. It was a tag team style WWF 2008, no rules, one in all in, scene of chaos. Bodies were being slammed and the recently outlawed manouvre ‘Arse in Face – Smell my Sphincter’ made an appearance as well. No one was spared from the flying mud, and not even the useless security guards could stop the fun, they didnt want to get dirty. The crowd LOVED it!!

My camera gear escaped unscathed but only just by a whisker. The poor girl I was standing beside though copped a mud pie to the face, and most of the crowd was sprayed by flying mud. Somehow it managed to miss me. The Photos were worth the risk!! Groovin The Mud will hopefully be a one off even and next year will return to Groovin The Moo with great weather and a dry arena!

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