The trip has begun, first stop, Adelaide

This trip hasn’t seemed liked one that I have been waiting a long time for, probably because it doesn’t seem that long ago that I said to my friend, “I’ll go with you”.

Suzzanna had mentioned that she and another of her friends had decided to go to Uluru for a holiday, but then her friend couldn’t do it. Suzzanna was feeling a bit down about it, and I thought, you know what, I’ve always wanted to go there, so I said those words. Now here we are our first day on the trip.

First stop Adelaide

One of the decisions we made was to drive to Central Australia. The downside of that is that it takes about 24 hours. Not something we were going to do all at once. So we have divided it up into 3 days. The first part was yesterday and we drove to Adelaide.

We could have continued on today, but we thought it would be good to spend two nights in Adelaide. Really what we wanted to do was see the Pandas at the Adelaide Zoo.

Adelaide Zoo

So that is what we did. We were up early to get there so we could find a park. Also, we were told they were more likely to be active first thing in the morning and they were.

They are such cute animals and I loved seeing them. So worth the extra day here.

When the pandas were outside they were easy to photograph but they inevitably headed inside. They were then behind glass and it was so hard to photograph them. So many reflections on the glass. I wish they could find a way to do the glass but reduce those reflections.

We didn’t really walk around very much as Suzzanna twisted her ankle two weeks ago, so she is hobbling around and she can’t walk too much. That meant the visit to the zoo couldn’t involve too much walking. We did go and see some of the other animals, but only a couple.

I loved the lions, but I didn’t like their enclosure much. We found many of the enclosures were small, sadly. Not like the space the animals get in Melbourne. I hope they are going to change that.

The visit was good and being able to see the pandas just made it so worthwhile. We leave here tomorrow and will be heading to Coober Pedy.

Gear for the trip

I haven’t really let you know, but I was able to borrow gear for my trip. Fujifilm and Wacom have been fantastic.

Fujifilm Australia

Fujifilm has lent me one camera and three lenses.

The first lens they lent me was the FUJINON XF100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. I used this lens this morning and all the above photos were taken with it on my X-T3.

I’m really excited to try the GFX 50s II as well. This is their larger format camera. I’ve wanted to try it for a while, so it will be good to test it out around Uluru.

I didn’t ask for any particular lenses but am happy with the two that Fujifilm Film Australia sent along with it.

I have the Fujinon GF100-200mmF5.6 R LM OIS WR and the Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 WR. They will provide a good range and should give me a good idea of what the camera and lenses are like to use. I haven’t really used them yet, but you can be sure you will see some photos with them.

Wacom Australia

I spoke recently about Wacom Australia lending me the Cintiq Pro 16 and I’ve brought it along with me to try out. So I will be processing some photos on the trip and you will get to see what I can do with it. It is like an external monitor but you have the pen that you can work directly onto your photos. I love the idea, and I will have to see how I feel about it once I get home.

I wanted to try the 16 because I think that is the size I would ultimately like.

Onwards and Upwards

We really are going onwards and up towards Central Australia tomorrow. Very early morning with a 9 hour drive. Lots of time for knitting when I’m sitting in the car. We got Michelle Obama’s book on Audible, so we are listening to it in the car. It really does help with the drive.

So I guess I will check in again when we get to Uluru. Talk to you then.