Category Archives: Australia

Be flexible on the road

Australia, Kimberley, WA

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.

Kimberley bound

Australia, AWC

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.

Flinders Island – Castle Rock

Australia, coastal, Flinders Island, Landscape, mosses/lichens, Tas, Tasmania

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.

FI Castle Rock

The Cape – Australia’s far north – the final day

Australia, AWC, Brooklyn, Cape York, landscape, Landscape, Piccaninny Plains, Qld, river/creeks, trees, Wildlife

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

Australia, Cape York, Landscape, mountains, Qld

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.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 1 - 0141

Cape York – Day 3

Australia, Cape York, coastal, lakes, Landscape, Qld, reptiles, river/creeks

Probably the shortest day of the trip in the air, from The Tip to Weipa. The geography is not was varied on the west coast of the Cape, but plenty of rivers and lakes. Report and pictures here.

Cape York – the magic continues

Australia, Cape York, coastal, Landscape, ocean, plains, Qld, reptiles, river/creeks, sand dunes, seascape, Wildlife

The magic continues, Day 2 of the Cape York Helicopter Trip. Report and photos are here.

The croc in the tannin coloured water is a 14 foot long!

Cape York HeliTrip Day 2 - 0076

Or a WWII Bell P-39 Aircobra, recently discovered after going down over 70 years ago.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 2 - 0234

Picca in the wet season

Australia, AWC, Cape York, Landscape, Piccaninny Plains, Qld, Wildlife

Last year The Doc visited Piccaninny Plains on Cape York, an AWC event. That visit inspired the helicopter Cape York trip this year.

Bungie, who The Doc met at the Piccaninny event, was the pilot who flew him all over The Cape. This time we flew over Picca (its nickname) on Day 4. We were going to land but a late start due to rain meant we could not. The Doc took some wet season photos and the Report and photos are here.

AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary

Australia, AWC, Brooklyn, Landscape, landscape, mountains, Qld, trees

Not many people get to visit Brooklyn Sanctuary. Brooklyn has the greatest diversity of wildlife (500 vertebrate species) than any other single property in Australia. The Doc flew over and then drove out as part of his recent trip to Cape York. The short Report and photos are here.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 4 - 0870