Rosie and I had a great day out at the Club Outing at Chesterfield Farm on Sunday.

As it was both of us had been ill for several days with a malady U don’t really want to hear about. Be-that-as-it-may we both hauled ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning feeling sufficiently adventurous to make the decision to join the group on the Sunday Outing.

We got there just after 10:30am and we made up the numbers of WCC members waiting. Included in this group was none other than Natalie. Natalie has been swamped with work recently and it was great to see her again resplendent in her hall mark red top. Great for photographs. Thanks for coming Natalie.

It was also wonderful to see 2 ladies from the Novices Group Elizabeth and Michelle who spent the day assiduously following Pete Davis’ instructions on how to shoot images in poor light conditions – Right ladies?; John was there, as was Paul. It is great to see the new members taking advantage of an opportunity to make images with some of the more experienced ones.

Among the oldsters were Diana, Anne and Leo, Leif, Rosie and I of course. Leif was a great help to anyone who cared to listen and the first thing we did was up the iso rating on our cameras to match the poor light conditions of the afternoon.

Interestingly enough the roosters, turkey gobblers, peacock, guinea-fowl and other critters didn’t seem to mind the weather which through the late morning and into the afternoon got darker and more threatening – they say it rained in East Bentleigh but we were quite dry all day.

Some hours later we wandered off to the steam engine museum but there was nothing exciting happening there so after a quick walk we decided we would leave and return to the comfort of our respective rocking-chairs and hot-chocolate. And by the way if you believe this last bit then I you might also be interested in this block of land in Brisbane I havnt seen since the floods!!

Cheers Andy

Hi all – the next scheduled WCC Sunday Outing is  Sunday the 6th November at Chesterfield Farm and the Traction Engine Museum. The address for Chesterfield Farm is 1221 Ferntreegully Road Scoresby 3170 and the Melways Reference is 72 D8.  You must pay to get into the farm but the traction engine display is FREE.

I have put an emphasis on scheduled because there has been at least one other unscheduled suggestion this month.  The take-up for the unscheduled suggestion was not good.

Just opposite The Farm at 1200 Ferntreegully Road Scoresby is the Traction Engine Museum.  This is a collection of traction engines maintained by the Steam and Traction Engine Club in the South Eastern Suburbs.  They have a large and varied collection of steam engines including ploughing engines, steam rollers, portable engines and a large collection of industrial engines, marine engines and stationary steam engines. THIS IS A STATIC DISPLAY.
On Sundays they also run a miniature railway.
They are opened from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm each Sunday and entrance to the museum is FREE. There is a small donation box.

But on the LAST Sunday of the month which is Sunday the 30th October they will ‘raise steam’ and run as many of the engines as they have volunteers for, in the areana.  So all you steam buffs, if you want to make images of steam engines working in a captive environment then go down there on Sunday the 30th October first. I think Rosie and I will.

Given the farm is opened reasonably early but the steam museum is opened after 11.00am i’m suggesting it will be a longer day with lunch in the car so together with wide angled lens, tripod and flash unit dont forget to bring along a picnic basket, a drink or two and some water.  Rosie and I will try to be at the Farm reasonably early and stay ontill the Traction Engine display is opened.  I love trains  – dont you!!!

One thing I havnt been able to confirm is the weather for the 6th November but who in his/her right mind will try to predict the weather in Melbourne several days ahead?

Cheers folk and have a great day- Andy