Slow Shutter Photography

I love to capture water falls in a slow shutter action so that it looks like a sheet or freezing water.
Where ever I find a water flow and water falls, I would waste almost close to 2 hours capturing the water falls in the camera. I normally carry a small tripod in my camera back pack which is very handy and light weight. Most of the shots I have taken are using this small tripod. Very rarely I have used the bigger tripod.

The best time to get the freezing motion or sheet effect would be early morning or late evening after 4 pm when the light is less. It would be even better if the sun rays are not visible. Any lens with a max aperture > 18 can be used. So far I have used an 18-135mm and 18-105mm lens for most of the shots. Other additional things which you need to carry are a ND – 4, 8 (Neutral Density Filter) which would cut down the light so that you can take the picture with more exposure settings. I have used manual settings to control both aperture and shutter settings. I would recommend using matrix metering if you are using Nikon camera and Evaluative metering if you are using a Canon camera.
Make sure the tripod is steady, quite often my camera has been saved falling into the water since it was on a rock.
Carry an umbrella with you, which is always handy

Photos from Slow Shutter settings.

Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains

One of the most favourite destinations visited in NSW, approx around 125 kms from Sydney CDB.
There are various reasons why the mountains were called Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour. (Source Internet)

I took an explorer bus to roam around the Blue Mountains. Total 29 stops Hop on Hop off anywhere on the 29 stops.


I like capturing water falls in freezing motion (Slow Shutter). Weather was also good, misty weather and low light will be an added advantage for long exposure.
I decided to visit Leura Cascasdes and if possible Gordon falls. The trail was slippery due rain. After hiking about 40 mins i could see the Leura Cascades.



I wanted to go to the base of the water fall, so that I could get some clear shots. But the evening light made it tough to walk to the base of the water fall. I took some photos on the way back.





Leura Cascades Hiking trail


The trail was slippery due to rain, I wanted to get down of the water fall but couldn’t manage to get down of the water fall.
As the light started to fade I hiked back to the station.
Reached YHA hostel for a good sound sleep


Woke up little late, due the cramps. I guess this happens if you trek once in a while.
The plan for the day was to visit the Scenic world and then hike to Katoomba Falls.

Back on the explorer bus stop number 10 to Katoomba cascades. After that back to stop no 12(Scenic World). The silver pass is valid for a one way single ride on the each of these Scenic Railway, Cable way and Skyway.

One the way best way to use the silver pass is to take a scenic railway and then Scenic Walkway, way back to scenic world via cable way. Return to stop no 9 via Skyway.

Scenic railway: It is the world’s steepest railway, inclined @ 52 degrees
Info from Web: World's steepest incline railway (Guinness Book of Records 1997+)
Maximum gradient: 52 degrees or 1 in 0.82 or 122%.
Length of incline: 415 metres (1360 ft)
Vertical descent: originally 229 metres (750 ft), now 178m.


Scenic Walkway: This can be done in 10 mins to 45 mins depending on your fitness. I decided to take the longest route. It took me about an hour to finish the walk. It was worth going through the rain forest. I was able to watch couple of Lyre female birds on the trail which is one of the rarest sights. The Lyre bird could imitate any bird’s voice, even human voice.
The major difference between both is the two long feathers that the male Lyrebird has on his tail which he develops after he is two years old

Cable Way: The Scenic Cableway takes you on a 545 metre ride into - or out of - the World Heritage-listed rainforest of the Jamison Valley.

Skyway : Nowhere else in the world can you experience this thrill.
The Skyway takes you on a 720 metre journey, 270m above ancient ravines and dazzling waterfalls. You are suspended over Jurassic rainforests as you glide smoothly across the sky.
The 360 degree bird's eye view from the Skyway takes in the Three Sisters, Katoomba Falls, Mount Solitary and the never ending expanse of the Jamison Valley.

The best part of the skyway is an Electro-Sceniglass floor. At the flip of a switch, breathtaking views are revealed through the cabin floor. This gives a complete view the canyon.





The katoomba falls looks gorgeous from the skyway, falling down approx 801 ft in three layers.

Back to Busstop no 9, while waiting for the last explorer bus i took some photos of the Autumn beauty at Blue Mountains.



The maple leaves looks beautiful during autumn. Autumn color change of leaves around blue mountains cover the canopy.


It was worth spending couple of days at blue mountains, I wish i could spend a week to cover all the water falls around blue mountains.

Melbourne Grandprix 2010

Melbourne Grand prix 2010

Things wouldn’t have got much better for the year 2010. I had watched Formula 1 Live in the year 2009 in Albert Park.

I had bought a grand stand ticket for this year. Senna Grand Stand ticket for all the 4 days. I should have booked the tickets earlier for the Schumacher stand. Schumacher stand would have been good to capture nice shots. I realised it after visiting the grand stand.

Thursday : No free practice session, there was qualifying session of V8 cars. Wanted to know where my seat would be so that I can get my camera gear based on the seating location.
To my disappointment it was in the 3rd row from the front. The barricade blocked the complete view. Right in front of the last turn, where the car would start to accelerate to achieve the maximum speed. So getting a good shot would be tough, until I would have a fixed aperture tele zoom lens. Nothing could be done, now.
Being Thursday there was very less crowd, I need to be in the senna stand itself.
I went to the last row of the grand stand to get a clear view, the view was clear it was at a far off distance.
Took some photos, the weather was not that promising for photography.


Friday: I missed the afternoon free practice session. The weather was good in the afternoon. Kubica was 1st during the 1st free practice session.

The crowd was less for Friday, during the 2nd practice session. Few cars were on the track. The weather was cloudy and there was a possibility of rain. I took some photos, but had reduced the ISO settings, the pictures looked dark. Changed the ISO settings and there were grains on the picture.
As expected typical Melbourne weather, heavens opened and rained for few mins. That was more than sufficient. Renault took the max advantage of the changing weather conditions and did max number of laps, which gave me an opportunity to capture some good shots. I was expecting a dry weather, so that I could capture all the 24 cars in high speed action.
Last 30 mins of free practice was much fun filled tricky weather. All the cars were on the circuit to get some practice. This was the best time to take some photos, I could go to the last row and avoid the barricade. At the end of the free practice session, I got some good photos.


Saturday: Final Free practice session was good, all the cars on the circuit to get used to the circuit.

Qualifying session started on time. The mclaren’s and Ferrari’s were the last one to come out of the pit lane. The only way to identify the driver is by the color of the helmet. The cars would easily do 180 kmph at the last corner and accelerate. I was lucky becoz of the fewer crowds. The cars would slow down to enter into pit lane. Crowd filled in as the time went by. I decided to go back to my seat, which was a good option, although I wouldn’t be able to capture good photo because of the barricade blocking to get a clear view. By the time camera would focus on the car, the car would have disappeared on the straight line.
There was racing of other cars other than Formula1 cars. Before every start of racing or qualifying session the safety was deployed. The medical car would be followed by Safety car. The track marshals would clean the circuit to clean up the sand, rubber and grass that would be left on the circuit, caused by the cars which went off track.

V8 Super Cars

Mini Cars

Ford Formula cars

Sunday: Race day.

All the grand stands were filled up, not even a seat was vacant. I was able to get the clear view of the drivers during the driver parade.

It started to drizzle before the start of the race. All the cars started with Intermediate tyres and did few laps before some pitted for dry tyres. Jenson Button was early to pit and change the tyres. With refuelling banned for this year, the tyre changes were done in 6-7 seconds. Webber pitted a lap later than vettel, he should have pitted earlier. Webber lost some track position due to pitting late for the change of tyres. Vettel was leading and a decent gap to Jenson, followed by Robert kubica. Vettel retired on lap 25th that allowed Jenson to lead the race. It was a fun filled Sunday race day. Only 14 cars finished on the race. There were incidents of cars taking each other on the race, which provided much entertainment to the crowds.

Leh Trip Report

Leh Trip

What would you call if you want to do an High altitude trek applying leave for 15 days? Carrying backup, without proper food, Getting Tanned ………ETC. Do you call that as a Stupidity or Crazy? I call it passion towards trekking and exploring news places.
We had been planning for High Alt trekking in Leh from past 2 years. We couldn’t make it during the year 2007. I was the last one to join the trip for the year 2008 Aug. Forward Journey. Bangalore – Delhi -------> Flight, Delhi -Manali ----------> By BUS.

We hired a Qualis with JK Reg to reach Leh from Manali. You would need about 2 days I guess to reach Leh. It is one of most famous routes for Bikers. This route is open only from May to September. The view enroute was good, lot of apple orchids. Water droplets on the apples looked good, I couldn’t get a close shot. We reached Rotang pass @ 5:30 pm. It was cold outside, did manage to pull out my camera and took some snaps.

We stayed @ Keylong for the night.Started our journey towards Leh, on the way reached the second highest motorable pass in the world Tanglangla. Only Sarkar got out of the cab to take a picture. We reached Leh on Aug 11th. Leh is at an altitude of 11,000 ft, you need 36 hours to get used to the conditions. We didn’t have any work for the next 2 days. We got our permit to reach Khardangla Pass. LA means pass in Ladaki. The cab picked us @ 2 pm from the Hotel, headed towards Khardangla. Approx distance 35kms. The road is closed during snow time. Due to last night’s rain it had snowed in Khardangla. Highest motorable pass in the world. After 2 hours of drive we reached Khardangla. We could get some good shots of the Snow Mountains. Tried the tea @ army camp with Goodday biscuits. Bought a cap @ the army store. I wished I could have biked all the way from Leh to Khardangla. We started our Trek towards Markha Valley on Aug 15th, yes Independence Day. There was not much vegetation we could see for the next 8 days. We had a guide, a cook and a horse man with us. The organizer had provided with enough stuff to be carried on the horse, food, tent, sleeping bags and jackets. For water we were dependant on the stream water, which runs through the valleys with all the minerals. Eight days of trek, was something which I will remember for the life time. There was not much civilization on the trek. We couldn’t find much people on the trek. Few local Ladaki’s who run the hotels on the trekking route. You will find all kinds of race people who are trekkers. There were very few Indians we could meet on the trek. Everyday we used to have breakfast @ 7:30 and leave the campsite by 8:30 am. This was a routine for eight days.The sun used to set @ 7 pm. Not much noise around the campsite. Get a peaceful sleep for 8-9 hours everyday, Of course you will have to trek through the tough terrains to reach each day’s destination. Crossing the Markha River was quite fun, we had to cross the river as fast as possible with bare feet. We did lot of stream crossing during these 8 days. We had lot of uphill and downhill. We slipped, skidded during the downhill. In the entire 8 days trekking we have reached the highest altitude of 5035 mts. And the lowest temp inside the tent was 3.2 C @ Nimling (Stok Kangri). We can find little bit of barley fields on the trek route. You will find lot of leh Berries. It might taste little sour, I didn’t try them. The last day of the trek was the longest trek. We walked for almost 8-9 hours. We were delighted to reach the camp site Shang sumdo. We visited Hemis and Thiksey Monastery on the way back from our trek. Then stayed for a day in Hotel Chospa. We left to Bangalore from Leh on Aug 23rd. End of the trek. Return journey:Leh – Delhi – Bangalore ----------> By Flight.

Nandi Hills - I wish I could walk on the clouds.............Cloud no 9

Nandi Hills

I was on vacation during the last week of 2005. Since it would be the last week and New Year round the corner, all the resorts and popular places would be full. Every one had different plans for Christmas and New Year. Nandi hills is the nearest hill station from Bangalore. Nandi Hills is 65 kms from Bangalore. I took my cruiser bike (Eliminator) on Wednesday, stuffed my bag with couple of camera, binocs and a set of clothes. I refueled my bike @ shell petrol pump in Yeshwanthpur. Shell petrol pump is the place where I normally fill the gas. Hit the Hyderabad highway around 11 am. You need to take a left turn on the high way to reach Nandi Hills one more left and a right turn should take to you the base of Nandi Hills. The curves(Hair Pin bends) start from here, 44 hair pins bends (curves) till you reach the peak. I like the straight line speed of my bike. I had touched 100 kmph on the highway already. When there was not traffic on the high way. I would stretch my legs straight, felt like I was riding a chopper bike. I wanted to enjoy my ride; there was no hurry to reach the peak. Eliminator lacks a bit when it comes to cornering. I am not sure is that my riding style or because of the length of the bike, I was little cautious while negotiating the curves. I had ridden on the same circuit on a RX135 in Nov 2004. I had enjoyed my ride on a RX 135 on the curves. The 2 stroke engine rocks in hill station. I track surface on the way to Nandi Hills is pretty hard. It will punish your tyre if you brake too often. I didn’t have a pit stop before reaching the top. I parked my vehicle in the parking lot and made all the way walking to the reach the top. I was not sure if I would get an accommodation. If I get an accommodation @ Nandi Hills I would stay back and return on Thursday or else return on Wednesday itself. After talks with the horticulture dept, they agreed to give me accommodation @ the Nehru nilaya managed by the horticulture department. I dumped my luggages at the room and carried only the cameras and binocs. Started to roam around the place, took some shots of the flowers in the garden. The VIP suite had an old fan in the 1st floor, probably that’s the oldest fan I have seen with 4 wings and blades in front. I had ordered for some food in the canteen. This canteen can only be used by the people who stay at the guest house. I had walked enough, the rice along with rasam tasted well for the amount of walking I had done. After lunch went around exploring new things near tippu drop. The fort walls are fallen down at many places. It was very windy on top of the hills next to the temple. I walked all the way to the parking lot to put my vehicle in a proper place. I parked my vehicle inside the shed. As I was heading down the sunset was nearing. The temperature gradually decreased as the sun disappeared. I took a nice walk around the campus after dinner. There was no crowd after 8 pm. How often would you get such weather, cool wind breezing and now crowd, no mobiles to trouble you? I was enjoying my last days of 2005; it wouldn’t have got much better than this. I went to sleep around 11 pm.

Got up @ 5 am it was still dark, nothing visible outside. Slept for some more time, got up again @ 6:30. Still poor visibility, decide to take a walk. As I walked to the hill top the view from the KSTDC restaurant was too good. I was surprised by the mist which started to pile up the hills. I couldn’t believe I would have got this spectacular view. I wish I could have walked on this and reached the sun. The mist started to rise still further and covered the hills completely. I stood here for close to an hour watching the movements of the mist and sun rise through the mist. The mist covered the gardens the dew drops looked like jewels around the leaves and flowers in the hill station. The mist completely covered the hills completely and making visibility poor.

I had my breakfast and left Nandi hills around 11:30 I stopped only once near Nandi cross for a drink and reached Bangalore around 1 pm.

My Travels in 2004

Trip to Mysore with college friends on Jan 3^rd and 4^th. (Shatabadi Express)

Start to 2004 with a Mysore trip. Mysore sight seeing trip, places covered include palace, zoo, chamundi hills and KRS.

The best was the journey to Bangalore from Mysore in Shatabadi Express.

Trip to Mysore with college friends on Jan 3^rd and 4^th. (Shatabadi Express)

Start to 2004 with a Mysore trip. Mysore sight seeing trip, places covered include palace, zoo, chamundi hills and KRS.

The best was the journey to Bangalore from Mysore in Shatabadi Express.

KSTDC pkg tour to Mysore srirangapattana (Feb)

KSTDC pkg tour includes srirangapattana also.

Belur and Halebedu with friends. March 27th

It was a KSTDC pkg trip to Shravanbelgola, Belur and Halebedu. Belur and Halebedu very well known for their stone carvings built by Hoysala dynasty. Belur has more external beauty. Halebedu is known for its internal carvings. The Whole temple can be dismantled and reassembled again.

Bheemeshwari and village

We set off to CFC and my village. On a Thunderbird with my friend to CFC and my village. We managed to do some joy fishing @ the backwaters of kaveri. We took a dip in the pond near to my village.

Nandi hills: May 30^th.

One RX135 and TVS, I couldn’t believe that my 70 CC vehicle to pull me up to the top of Nandi Hills. I enjoyed the ride on the ungeared vehicle. Got drenched completely in rain while heading back to Bangalore.

Team building @ kanakpura road

This is an official one, we had a team building@Angana resorts.

Off to Coimbatore for a Friends marriage 20^th and 21^st June

I left Sunday early morning in a train to Mysore, from there took a BUS to Coimbatore. The best was the drive through the jungle of Karnataka and Tamilnadu border. Luckily there was a CAR rally going on, I managed to see some lovely rally CARS. The mountains very fully covered with thick green grass. The drive from Hasnur to Sathi was lovely.

Hyderabad trip official: 21^st to 25^th June

I just managed to check in to Bangalore, immediately I had to leave to Hyderabad for training.

The MIST, the Marriage and the …….. 26^th and 27^th June

I just managed to land my foot back to Bangalore from Hyderabad and I had to leave to JOG falls.

It was around 7 am in the morning. The complete hill was surrounded with mist. After some time we were able to see the World Famous JOG falls.

We hired a Jeep and went to each tip of the water fall Raja, Rani, Roared and Rocket.

The best moment of the trip was the when I managed to reached the tip or Raja Water falls, Raja falls doesn’t hit the any rock before reaching the bottom.

We managed to get down the water falls, Climbing back was little bit tire some.

We managed to get the buses in right time and reached Chitradurga @ 7 pm. Checked in to Hotel AMOGA international.

Got up early morning and ready to attend friend’s marriage. Afternoon food was awesome.

We left to chitradurga fort the very same day.

Back to Bangalore on the very same day.

Rafting @ Sita River with office friends: July 3^rd and 4^th

Set off to Hebri via Kudremukh. It was about 5:30 early morning when we left the office. Nobody knew the exact route to the Rafting site. The drive to kudermukh was awesome, lovely tea plantation every where and lit of drizzle on top of that I was sitting on the Top of the vehicle. I had to get back in after entering the forest range. There very so many waterfalls created due to rain. We managed to visit Kudremukh dam. We enjoyed the stay @ Bhagavathi nature camp. River sita flowing with full flow and a cottage next to that, you can’t ask for more than this. There were leeches all over the places.

We had to do some cooking for the dinner.

Got up early morning and left to Rafting site, which is about 48 kms approx from Bhagavathi nature camp. River Sita flows all the way from Agumbe. Rafting is conducted by CARE ADVENTURE GROUP with well trained experts. Rafting is done only during rainy season. River level was 5+, everybody enjoyed the rafting in sita river. We managed to spot some birds and a peacock while rafting.

This place is easily accessible through BUS. Probably the best time to visit is between July and August. Sugama has regular BUS services to the camp site.

CFC on bikes: 10^th and 11^th July

This was for the first time I was riding a geared vehicle for a long ride. We had booked log huts for stay @ bheemaswari through jungle lodges. We set off on Saturday early morning. All together there were 4 in the gang. I enjoyed the ride from Sathnur to Muthathi. Butterflies were hitting the visor of the helmet. One side of the road was with mountains and other side was with river kaveri flowing with full flow.

Lazing on a Hammock, I went for a quick sleep within 10-15 mins. I think that was one of the best sleeps I ever had.

There was no luck in joy fishing, went for a boat ride before joy fishing.

The evening barbeque was good. Sitting next to the river bed with camp fire and sipping my favorite drink. Only thing which was missing was some music.

The food @ jungle lodges was excellent.

Wake up call @ 6:30 am, we managed to do a little bit of trekking for 3 kms to reach the nearby watch tower. I view from Watch tower was excellent. All the mountains were covered with thick green grass.

Mysore trip with family: August 22nd

This was my first trip with my family members after a long time.

A visit to Mysore Zoo turned out to be worthy. It has just rained the peacock was @ it best, full feathers opened and dancing in the rain. The flood gates were opened during this time. KRS was almost full.

Sangam on bikes: Sunday September 5^th

Back to Kankpura road with RX135, could manage to sleep only for some time the previous night. We left at 7 am in the morning. It was around 11 am when we reached chunchi falls. We managed to get very close to chunchi falls. From there we left to Sangam which is around 10 kms approx. The water level was almost up to the chest mark when we crossed to the river. We reached this place called Goat’s leap. Water was gushing through the rocks making loud noise. The best was the drive from Goat’s leap to Sangam on Top of a mini bus and the chunchi falls

It rained heavily while coming back. We reached Bangalore @ 7 pm.

Bandipur trek – September 25^th and 26^th

I decided to join for this trip @ the last minute. There was only one seat left for the trip.

This is my second trip with Care. This is an all expense paid trip. I had never been to Bandipur before. We left to Bandipur early morning 6:30 am from City Railway Station. All together we were 20, including the organizing team and the Doctor. We reached bandipur at 1 pm. We had a safari in the evening. We had the sighting of spotted deer, peacocks, samba deer, Gaur and elephants.

Deer’s covered the entire area near our cottages @ the night. Eyes of the deer were shining in the dark when we used our torches.

Got up pretty quickly early morning, went for a morning walk. The mist had covered the mountains completely. Deer’s were running around the campus.

After the breakfast we went for a trekking to Gopalswamy Betta. Gopal swamy betta is the border of Karnataka. Madhumali and Kerla are very nearby to this place.

The trek was good. One the members of the crew managed to spot a tiger. We had covered nearly about 5kms I think.

Left to Bangalore from Gopalswamy betta @ 5pm and reached Bangalore @ 10:30 pm

Hostel trip 18^th and 19^th September

We left to Alnavar on 17^th night in Rani Chennamma express. Alnavar is around 70 kms from Hubli. I enjoyed the train journey from Hubli to Alnavar, both sites of the track lush green fields covered with mist and due drops. We reached Alnavar around 7:30 in the morning. BCH had already got ready for the trip. The warden had everything planned in advance. After a quick shower and breakfast we left to Dandeli. Dandeli is known for paper mill and teak wood. We managed to get into the museum @ Dandeli wild life sanctuary. Safari was not possible since the track was full of slurry.

We visited 3 power plants on that day. The view from ambikanagar power plant was too good. Water is allowed to pass through the tunnel and passes through 6 huge pipes, which in turn rotates the turbines. The river Kali was with full flow.

We stayed @ Dharwad and boarded the inter city express on 19^th September.

Karwar trip 9^th and 10^th October

Click on the link below for more info on this trip.

http://www.geocities.com/avalanchegopi/karwar.html

Bike trip Oct 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th (AOF)

Click on the link below for more info on this trip.

http://www.geocities.com/avalanchegopi/Biketrip.doc

Oct24th: Final race of 2004 (Brazil). It was an awesome race to watch JPM final race with BMW Williams with FW26 and P84 taking a chequered flag. I have captured the complete race commentary.

@ Press conference this is what JPM had to say. It has been 4 years with Williams I have had ups and downs. There is nothing like ending a season with a win.

GKVK: November 7^th

There was an article about krushi mela held @ GKVK on Saturday. I thought that probably the best time to visit would be early morning, to capture the due on the flowers. Got up @ 5:30 am and left to GKVK. GKVK is approx 20 kms from my place. To my disappointment I couldn’t see any flowers in the show. Just thought of spending some time around the campus and head back to home. Then I was about to leave, thought of asking someone if there is any other garden in and around the campus. Headed 3-4kms deep inside the campus to my surprise, there is a beautiful garden.

Managed to capture some snaps of fruits and flowers on my Digi cam.

Nagarhole trip: 25^th and 26^th December

I had some thoughts of ending 2004 with a trip. Although I had been to Nagarhole twice in 2003, I have not stayed @Nagarhole. Thought to giving a try this time, this was my 3^rd trip with Care Adventure. The only difference, I was not alone.

We left Bangalore around 11:30 pm in Friday (24^th) and reached Nagarhole entrance @ 5:30 am on 25^th. Had to wait up to 6:30 am near the entrance, since the gates would be open only after 6:30 am.

After breakfast we left to Irrupu. Irrupu is 10kms from Nagarhole. We had a trek to Bharamagiri hills. The total trek distance was about 10 kms. The view from top of the hill was awesome. We had our lunch @ Bharamagiri hills. We returned to the base camp around 6 pm. After dinner we left to the Dormitory, it was almost like a night safari. We managed to spot some deers, a tusker and a gaur. We had a sound sleep after a tired trek.

Got up early morning and returned to base camp for a safari. Managed to get a window seat, on the left side in the safari van. The sun rays were still young piercing through the trees. Still we could see some mist covered the ponds. We couldn’t spot any tigers. Probably we weren’t lucky enough. You can spot deers everywhere in the jungle, I think you will get bored after seeing only deers everywhere. Our driver spotted a tusker, just got little bit close to the tusker. Quickly took some snaps with Flash switched off. Most of the animals get attracted to bright colors, light and a strong perfume. I would advise not to wear any bright colors, while going for safari or trekking in the jungle. Especially red color dress. An Irrupu wall is one of the most amazing waterfalls of Karnataka. The water was almost @ the freezing temp. When I stood below the waterfall, I felt that some body was throwing ice cubes @ me.

Back to base camp packed everything and left to Bangalore. While returning back we took a different route. Mysore à Srirangapattana à Bannur à Malavallià Kanakpuraà Bangalore.

Banyan tree and manchanbele dam: December 30^th

This was my final trip, although this is short one I guess. Took a deviation on the Mysore road to reach Big Banyan tree. This place is aprox 18-20 kms I guess, the road is not that good. Most the branches of the tree have fallen. Just took some snaps, after a quick round of snacks left to Manchanbele Dam. I didn’t have the proper idea on the route. Some people guided us to this place. Even @ this season, still some water is left in the dam. The back drop of the dam is Savandurga hill. Manchanbele dam is aprox 8 to 10kms from Big Banyan tree.

A Weekend in Devbagh

http://www.dreamroutes.org/dreams/gopi_karwar.html