On the 15th of March I arrive at the Split Rock Dam, which is about 40 minutes north of Tamworth, NSW. The name is not exactly poetic, but the lake itself looks quite lovely, surrounded by gently rising green hills and a surprisingly small amount of campers. This is where I am to spend the upcoming week, so let's see how that goes.

I think I like it here.

I'm in love with this cactus.

A skyhorse.

Mornings are indeed very peaceful and calm out here. Plenty of pelicans and other birds around, going about their own business and making occasional noises. Still a bit windy every day though, so no lake reflections this time for me either. Maybe some Milky Way shooting during the night? At least all these rolling clouds and strong winds produce a bit of rain on their way, which creates rather interesting views, too.

How's the serenity?

The morning is unfolding quietly.

Neighbour.

Interceptors.

No rest for the spider.

Starts to get a bit cloudy.

Love myself a good cloud formation.

Shadows and light.

A stray piece of rainbow.

A rainbow in full colour.

Rain, rain, don't go away!

Sprinkling gold.

Sunbeams poking through.

Clouds begin to get really beautiful.

Quiet rural tranquility.

Am I right?

Rain curtains backlighted.

So beautiful.

Triplets.

Afterglow.

Wind picks up again on the next day.

Whoooosh!

Nawww.

The surrounding area does give me an excellent view over the night sky. Moon doesn't get in the way either: lucky me! A few occasional campers some 300 metres away even light up a fire, which adds an excellent impromptu anchor point to my shots. And also an opportunity to finally experiment with night sky panoramic shots, which prove to be a modest success.

Under the stars.

Islands in the stream (stitched from several photos).

Our home galaxy.

Magellanic Clouds - our two satellite galaxies.

Up close.

The place is quite lovely overall, but I need to go further, so on Saturday I pack up and take off. Hopefully on my way to my next camping spot (wherever that is) I will find an opportunity to buy a new gas bottle: I have two, and one of them (quite old, purchased on a service station a while ago) seems to be a bit leaky. That's one of the worries, and the other is that weird “coronavirus” thing that people begin to talk more and more about...