Autumn colours, finally

Autumn is my favourite season - the weather starts cooling down, the mornings are nice and fresh and the leaves on the trees all start to change colour before they drop. But isn't autumn supposed to begin in September? Either at the start of that month, or on the 21st depending on whether you hold with the meteorologists or the astrologists. We've had the odd tree here and there turning colours over the past month or two, but nothing special. Then, over the last week they've all gone in one mad rush. Maybe this happens every year and I've never noticed it before, or maybe the warm September and October we had really are signs of global warming.

Anyway, I went out on my bike on Saturday morning to capture some of the colour before it all starts to disappear for another year. I went down from my house to Teardrop Lakes, which is only a short distance away, and spent a pleasant hour ambling around shooting a bit. The trip was cut short due to getting a puncture in my front tire - I'd have like to have stayed out longer and gone on somewhere else, but decided to head home and see what I'd got. Here's my favourites. Click the pics for larger versions.

Nikon 18-200VR at 20mm, f7.1, 1/100sec

 

18mm, f7.1, 1/30sec                        18mm, f8, 1/200sec