For three weeks every year, between 6 and 11 p.m., the centre of Sydney transforms. The Harbour Bridge all lights up; the Opera House is covered in gigantic animations; all kinds of installations, big and small, interesting or not, but all of them bright and colourful, pop up here and there at the streets. This is Vivid: a mother lode for a light effects aficionado, and an interesting opportunity for a photographer such as myself.

Two months of no photography at all is way too much time with no photography at all. Enough is enough! Time to hit the road again, and even if it doesn't take me as far as it often does, there still will be opportunities to capture a good landscape or two. If the scenery, weather, and my own travelling plans all come together, that is.

To go back home, I decide to take a slightly longer road via Broken Hill out of sheer curiosity, because I've never been there before. As I leave Melrose, the scenery is still familiar (I've been a few times to this part of South Australia), but after I cross the NSW border, it's all new to me.

In the morning, I arrive at Ceduna to refuel, wash my car, and shop for a new (less powerful) inverter – along with many, many spare gas bottles, of course. However, it looks like it's a little too late by now, because the more I look at the battery, the more it appears to be the source of the problem. It doesn't hold any charge at all, and drops to 11-odd volts almost as soon as I unplug the solar. Looks like it's time to ditch the sucker... but it's too difficult to find a decent deep cycle battery in these parts, so I need to drive further to try my luck elsewhere. In Adelaide, perhaps?

I work till afternoon, which feels kinda interesting – chatting to colleagues and committing code whilst sitting in a tent in the middle of nowhere. However, I do need to find some gas to have my hot meals, after all. Which is why after 12 (Western time) I take off and visit a few more roadhouses... with the same disappointing result. No gas bottles anywhere at all! Dammit. At least I don't get nearly as many of those locusts that bothered me on my way here, although there's still more than a few to fly around.

At this point, my journey west pretty much over, really. There isn't a lot more west left to this beautiful continent now, is it? Technically, of course, we still have Steep Point, which is maybe a hundred K's further westward on the map... but I don't think I'd like to go that far just yet. Probably it's time to turn back east; and to that end, I turn on the Great Eastern Highway towards the town with a romantic name of Southern Cross.

I take my sweet time with waking up and having breakfast and packing stuff, and it's almost midday by the time I take off and head out towards Perth. Well, astronomical midday, anyway: the clock only says “half past ten”. I already mentioned the weird Western Aussie time, didn't I?

A place called Fernhook Falls is very close and is a natural destination for this morning. It's nice and warm and cloudy: perfect conditions for forest photography. The falls themselves are practically non-existent at this time of year, but I'm having a nice time just walking around the pools and taking random snaps. It's very quiet and relaxing out here, anyway.

Time to visit Albany now, along with the adjacent Torndirrup National Park. I already have the three-week pass for all parks, so I don't have to pay for anything now. Although I would, because the place certainly has plenty of breathtaking views to spare: from tall rocky cliffs to rolling hills and blue sea as far as the eye can see. And there's a fair bit of clouds, too, which both makes for softer light and lower temperatures. Win-win!

Now I'm setting my sight on another seen-before destination: Fitzgerald River National Park. The weather wasn't up to scratch last time I was there, so perhaps I'll have more luck this time?