Benz World Blog » Blue Mountains

New Year

Jason Benz — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:01:46 +0000

Happy New Year 2020. Like much of Sydney, I have been asking myself whether to do the fireworks this year considering the city is surrounded by bushfires. My solution is this picture, created from the sun light tinted orange from the smoke of the fires reflected in the waters of Leura Falls Creek in the Blue Mountains.

2019 was the most photogenic year so far, producing 200 stock photos. This was done by unintentionally driving across every state and territory in Australia. This year I will reduce my carbon footprint by doing less ambitious distances. I hope to increase the number of photos per mile by shooting more locations along my route.

My 2020 resolution is to embrace the spirit of slow travel.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Mark Four

Jason Benz — Thu, 09 May 2019 02:36:46 +0000

This is the fourth generation power board I have built for the van. It has been an exercise in iterative design. Fortunately, the blue gum chopping boards, which each stage has used, are easy to replace. The first, second and third designs all worked but after using them for a while I decided to remove the features I did not use and add others which might be useful.

The previous design had the unplanned issue of connecting the engine battery and home battery together if you turned them both on at the same time. This was sometimes of use when I needed to charge the home battery from the alternator. In this design, I added a button to connect them deliberately. The same button also allows you to use the USB and 12-volt chargers sockets on both sides even if you only want to use one battery.

After wiring it up I discovered the unplanned bonus of seeing how much current is flowing between the batteries via the chargers. This board also provides other useful data including the current I am getting from the solar panel. This has been a mystery for years as even the solar controller display does not give this reading.

I have also built some custom shelves to maximise storage in the van. These improvements should give me the ability to survive a whole month photographing in remote locations before needing resupply. This will come in handy in the second half of 2019 as I hope to be driving across many Australian deserts on my way to the start of World Solar Challenge in Darwin.

Blue Mountains

Jason Benz — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 22:06:15 +0000

These remarkable plants somehow hold on to these sheer cliffs in the Blue Mountains, Australia. The weather here over summer has been great. The altitude cancels out the worst of the heat and you are left with sunny days and the occasional thunderstorm to spice things up.

The last 7 weeks have been both relaxing and productive. Along with Stock Photography submissions I have done some well-needed maintenance on my van and laptop. I am in the final stages of packing before hitting the road again. From here I will drive to the coast at Jervis Bay in New South Wales. Said to have the worlds whitest sand beach.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Leura Cascades

Jason Benz — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 04:39:00 +0000

Since arriving in the Blue Mountains we have been blessed with the warmest of welcomes and an abundance of places to visit. So much so that we are already planning to revisit the area before we leave Sydney in a couple of weeks. This is part Laura Cascades which is one of many waterfalls which surround the area.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.