Some more Mornington Magic. A sunset shot at Sir John Gorge, at AWC’s Mornington-Marion Downs.
AWC also announced today an historic deal with NSW Parks and Wildlife to bring back long extinct animals into NSW National Parks. Press Release here.
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Buccaneer Archipelago
The Doc was in the helicopter today flying over the Derby mud flats, King Sound and the many islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.
The tidal movements can be as large as 10.5 metres in Derby, high tide today was 11.33 metres.
The mud flats contains natural fractals. Fractals exhibits a repeating pattern that displays at every scale.
The Doc flys over AWC’S Artesian Range-Charnley River Sanctuary tomorrow.
A map of today’s trip.
The R44 at Derby Airport and on a deserted Island in the Archipelago.
Kimberley Carnage – dropping like flies – 22 May
When The Doc arrived at Drysdale River Station on 19 May the damaged trailers total was three. The tally started on 1 May. The bushfires had closed the road for a week, so the total was for 2 weeks only.
Drysdale River Station is located on the Kalumburu Road, off the Gibb River Road, on the way to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu.
On returning from Mitchell Falls on 22 May the total dramatically increased that day. The day’s total included:
- wheel fell off a Jayco Expanda caravan;
- damaged wheel bearing on a camper trailer;
- spring fell off another camper trailer;
- a new Nissan Patrol had 2 tyres slashed on the side wall;
- a Mitsubishi Triton came in with a bent chassis, too fast into a floodway towing a caravan;
- sheared studs on another caravan;
- a steering rack shaken loose on a Toyota Landcrusier; and
- a camper trailer had been abandoned just before Drysdale River Station.
While the Kalumburu Road is not great, the Mitchell Plateau Track to the Mitchell Falls is a shocker, this is what did most of the damage. Some of the damage is preventable by not over loading the vehicle and driving slower. However, the road was so bad there will always be damage, even if you are prepared and cautious.
ASCII
Qoubba blow holes
Murchinson River, Kalbarri National Park
Be flexible on the road
One of the lessons of the Excellent Adventure is to have a general overall plan and be flexible. It probably started out as have detailed plans and cover all your targets.
Another lesson: knowing how big Australia is, is not the same as travelling the vast areas. You often get a sensation of only scratching the surface, although the occasional flight helps address that. The Doc never got that sensation on the 4 day helicopter trip around Cape York.
The Purnululu (Bungle Bungle Range) trip was originally to be 4 nights but The Doc changed that after finding out about Mitchell Falls. If The Doc left 1 day earlier and returned to Kununurra to refuel and resupply The Doc could visit El Questro and Mitchell Falls along the Gibb River Road and still make it to Mornington, AWC’s Wilderness Camp by 4 May.
It was not to be. While at Purnululu The Doc felt moisture on his forehead, where the skin cancer had been removed. So he placed a bandage on the area, as it has been slow in healing. When returning to Kununurra it became clear it was infected. A quick fix on the road (having a good first aid kit is an essential), then to Kununurra Hospital to have it looked at and treated. The heat and humidity are not helping. The wound was opening in 2 places, so it was cleaned again, butterfly strips used to close the wound, re-bandaged and The Doc given anti-biotics. The Doc hired an air conditioned room at Lake Argyle for 3 nights to help the healing. It would be foolish to enter the remote Gibb River Road until the infection is clearing up.
A change of plans again, visit El Questro, then Mornington and head back to Mitchell Falls afterwards. The roadhouse where The Doc was refuelling is between Mornington and the Mitchell Falls turnoff. So only little back tracking is involved.
Next report Katherine to Kununurra.
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The Doc has turned off comments for this trip. He has been getting a lot of spam recently. Comments are only visible after they are approved by me, that is why you never see the spam.
Kimberley bound
The Doc leaves for the Kimberley tomorrow. The trip should take 4 months. One month up to the Kimberley, then 2 or 3 weeks at AWC’s Mornington Sanctuary, then a month travelling around The Kimberly, Derby and Broome. Then the trip back, perhaps down the WA coast and across the Nullarbor Plain.
Killiecrankie Bay
View from the base of Mount Killiecrankie , Flinders Island, looking across Killiecrankie Bay at Killiecrankie. Click on image to see full size.
Flinders Island – Castle Rock
A photo from The Doc’s recent visit to Flinders Island. This is Castle Rock a granite monolith on the edge of Marshall Bay. The rock is 4 or 5 stories high. The “small” rock on the right side is taller than a human. That is orange lichen growing on the rock, something not uncommon in Tasmania. The earlier image The Doc posted had even more lichen, click here.
The picture is two images stitched together. The Doc was testing a new tilt + shift lense. Nothing special in post processing, just a small re-crop, plus some saturation and sharpening.
The Cape – Australia’s far north – the final day
The final day of the trip from Weipa to Port Douglas, via Piccaninny Plains, Oyala Thumotang National Park, Archer & Coen Rivers, Coen, Lakefield National Park, AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary and its luxurious mountain rainforests of this World Heritage Listed area.Report and photos here. Enjoy.
Cape York – tricks used
There are a few challenges spending 4 days shooting from a helicopter. A few tricks The Doc used:
- he fitted a 24-70mm lense. This gave enough range to take different landscape shots from the helicopter. This Canon lense is very sharp. Because you are further away from the subject in a helicopter you, can shoot at F8, rather than F11 or higher. However you cannot zoom close in, the reason why the helicopter got close to the first crocodile. You could have 2 cameras, but that becomes hard to handle – The Doc tried and gave up after the first session;
- focus one third down the frame. So The Doc moved the focus point to the bottom of the frame for many, but not all photos;
- be conscious of the horizon. In a helicopter it is changed all the time, tilting left, than right or up and down. Be conscious of the camera being level when shooting. Exceptions can be made, for example, when the horizon is not in the shot;
- take several shots, you have fewer keepers. Extra memory cards are much cheaper than hiring the helicopter again;
- constant autofocus was used, not one shot mode as the helicopter is moving most of the time;
- use the camera which has the best autofocus, one that can lock focus quickly;
- the closer your focus point is to the helicopter, the more likely the photo will be blurred. Pointing sharply downwards needs a higher shutter speed, than looking straight out the door. More blurry pictures resulted from this than all other causes added together on the Trip.
- There is harsh light around the Cape, so early on The Doc attached a Singh Ray Circular Polarising Filter (CPF), perhaps the best choice he made. The CPF reduced significantly, but did not eliminate, the harsh reflections. The CPF needs to be readjusted occasionally.
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