"Rainforest Waterfall" Photo of the Day: September 6, 2015

This stunning waterfall is located in Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales, Australia.

Photo of the Day: July 24, 2015 "The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains"

This was shot within the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales, Australia. I shot this while peering through the rainforest at the "Three Sisters" rock formation during a hike. This beautiful park has some of Australia's most stunning scenery and was a blast to explore!

Photo of the Day: July 13, 2015 "Waterfall in the Blue Mountains"

Here is a photo that I took near the beginning of my recent trip to Australia, in the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales. I shot this from an observation point that gave a terrific view of this massive waterfall. Beautiful, right?

Royal National Park Birds

Hi everyone! So this past weekend I explored Royal Nation Park which is located an hour train ride south of Sydney's CBD. This park covers roughly 40,000 acres and stretches along miles of beautiful coastline and deep into "bush" environments. My group and I decided to take the scenic route in my taking a train from Sydney's Central Station to a stop called "Sutherland" and switching trains to head down a different line that ended in a cute little town known Cronulla and is where we then hopped aboard a ferry that took us to Bundeena, a small town on the fringes of the park on the coastline. From there we hiked along the coast for several hours.

Amid groups of screaming Sulfur-Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets were a couple of species of birds that are also quite unique. I have gotten a bit desensitized to the constant presence of cockatoos and lorikeets so seeing some other species was a refresher.

Photo of the Day: June 9, 2015

I took this photograph during a laser/light show at Darling Harbor during Vivid Sydney 2015, an annual festival that celebrates light, music, and ideas. For my full post on the experience, follow this link:http://wyattproschphotography.blogspot.com.au/…/vivid-sydne…

Vivid Sydney 2015!

Sydney Opera House with its world-famous sails being projected upon during Vivid Sydney 2015.

I was lucky enough to arrive near the beginning of arguably Australia's most popular festival: Vivid Sydney. It is a multi-week festival celebrating light, music, and ideas. This alone speaks volumes to me about why this city is so wonderful to me. The fact that a city would hold a festival like this says a lot to me personally.

A shot from the laser/firework show at Darling Harbor several times each night.

Vivid Sydney is absolutely beautiful; when the sun goes down images and video designed by artists are beautifully projected onto the facades of buildings and structures throughout the city. The showcase in Circular Quay remains my personal favorite, seeing the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge illuminated is absolutely stunning. There is also extensive interactive exhibits around the harbor for all ages to explore. The best way to experience the visuals is via ferry, gliding through the water. Seeing the reflections of such saturated colors on the water gives the experience a film noir feel. To top it all off, all of the ferrys have colorful lights on them to, so the busy harbor is illuminated with color from the movement of hundreds of boats.

Another shot from one of Darling Harbor's laser shows.

Blue Mountains National Park

I journeyed up to Blue Mountains National Park a week ago Saturday. The park is roughly a two hour drive inland from Sydney, further into the heart of New South Wales.  They are called the "Blue Mountains" for a good reason...they stunningly sit in a haze of blue! The reason for this? Eucalyptus trees. The mountains are completely covered in them. The leaves of eucalyptus trees are incredible oily and this oil evaporates and combines with dust and water vapor in the air creating a gorgeous blue haze over this impressive mountain range.

I visited many of the popular tourists lookouts along with exploring some trails down the sides of the mountains into the dense sub-tropical rainforest made of up primarily eucalyptus trees. Flocks of cockatoos created quite noisy conditions at times and they called to each other from their perches high in the canopy.

The waterfalls in this park are absolutely stunning. I will reiterate for dramatic effect: the waterfalls in the Blue Mountains are INCREDIBLE. Some look so unreal that it is hard for your brain to comprehend that you are seeing actual nature as opposed to a fabricated scene from the movie "Avatar".

To top it all off I got to ride the world's steepest railroad...and yes, I almost pooped my pants out of fear. Okay, not really. But it was steep! Coal used to be mined out of the mountains and a track was built up the side of a near-vertical portion of the mountain to haul coal cars up. Later, after the coal mining industry left the area, a passenger car was added to allow hikers an easy ride back to the top of the mountain rather than having to hike all of the way back to the top after descending.