Funny story — I wrote this entry a few weeks before Travel Supermarket announced that there will, in fact, be a 2013 Capture the Color contest! If only I were always so ahead of the curve. I nominate the following five bloggers to participate — Adventurous Kate, Angie Away, Camels & Chocolate, Nomadic Matt, and Stop Having a Boring Life.

Last year around this time a travel photography contest called Capture the Color made a splash — bloggers were asked to share their best five travel images, one for each of five colors: red, blue, yellow, green, and white. I shared images from my 2010 trip to SE Asia.

This year I’m bringing back Capture the Color to share some spectacular photos from Australia. Without further ado…

Red

I spent time in the aptly named Red Center of Australia to explore three sacred aboriginal sites: Kings Canyon, Kata-Tjuta, and Uluru. We hiked around 25 km (or 15.5 miles) over three days while visiting these ares. The best known is Uluru, or Ayers Rock, and it’s where I snapped the photo below. It’s rare for this area to receive rain but we just happened to be there during a spell of poor weather, so the water accumulated into mini waterfalls which cut into well-worn grooves down the side of Uluru. I love the shine on the water below and how it off-sets the deep red and orange hues of the rock.

Blue

Sydney is my favorite city in Australia, hands down. And the Opera House is its most famous landmark, so naturally I took hundreds of photos of those white peaks. I shot this one from the Sydney Harbor Bridge about 30 minutes after sunset. Don’t worry, I’ve got PLENTY of Opera House sunset shots to share. Maybe too many. This one is special because the intense blue practically glows.

Yellow

Speaking of sunset shots… I am enamored with the glorious shades of gold peeking through Twelve Apostles, which are mammoth stone formations found along the Great Ocean Road. This was the king of sunsets and we watched the sky shift from yellow to red to pink to blue. I’ll share these photos next week.

Green

I spent an afternoon hiking the rugged and majestic Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. It’s in the middle of nowhere but a simple Google Image search convinced me to add it to my ‘must see’ list, and I’m happy to report it’s worth the effort. And the colors here are stunning — not only the bold green trees and sapphire lakes, but at sunset the light reflecting on the water makes it look like liquid gold. Can’t wait to share more images from this trip.

White

Last but not least, here is a shot I snapped this past week on Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands off the east coast of Australia. This beach is home to the finest silica sand in the world; I had to take extra precautions to shield my camera from its tiny grains. I used my fish-eye lens to capture the panoramic spread of these white, fluffy clouds. This is the closest I’ve been to paradise since Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Whitehaven is a regular contender on any travel magazine’s “best beaches in the world” list.

And there you have it, an update on my more recent travels and five images to brighten your day with a splash of color!