Category Archives: rock

Cape York – Day 2 – Revisited

This morning we leave Haggerstone Island, then see downed aircraft, crocs up and close, Captain Billy Goat Waterfall and finally we land near a WW2 wreck of a P39 Aircobra which crashed on its way to Papua New Guinea.  Flying up the coast we see bauxite deposits, sands, rivers and finally hover over the tip of Australia. Then an aerial trip around the Torres Strait, we did not land as you can wait for hours before customs turn up (they work on Island time). Last stop Punsand Bay Campgrounds to stay.

Day 2 was as stunning as Day 1 – Revisited here.

Click on an image to a slideshow. Enjoy. Viva Cristo Rey.

Morning

Northern Cape York – eastern side

The Tip and Torres Strait

Punsand Bay after sunset

Arkaroola Revised – Part 2 – aerial

Part 1 is here, with much of the commentary.

In Part 2 the images are from the surrounding Flinders Ranges, rather than Lake Froome. You get to see the extraordinary variety of rock formations of different colours and textures.

On average the images were taken from 270 to 380 metres in the air. The GPS Datalogger also gives you altitude.

 Enjoy, Viva Cristo Rey. Click on an image to see the slideshow of images at full resolution.

The Bungle Bungles revisited from the air

Next The Doc jumped into a helicopter and had a short flight over the Bungles. You take off and 30 seconds later you are over the bee hives and from this perspective you begin to understand how the “bee hive” formations were eroded from the surrounding plateau. In fact, the Bungles are still slowly being formed today. Viva Cristo Rey.

Amazing Pilbara images

Reading older blog posts The Doc noticed he has said there are lots of Pilbara images, but had not posted them. That is now remedied, here is a selection. Images from Karijini National Park, it surrounds, Millstream Chichester National Park and surrounding areas. Viva Cristo Rey, enjoy.

Devil’s Marbles revisited

The Doc reprocessed some images from his Northern Territory trip, since he cannot travel due to treatment. This time the Devils Marbles south of Tennant Creek. A few image this time. Click on any image to see the slideshow, enjoy.

The Buccaneer Archipelago, with a little of Yampi Sound thrown in

Below is a satellite image of Derby, King Sound (that great big “harbour”) and on its northern edge a group of Islands known as the Buccaneer Archipelago. The Derby mud flats are obvious on the southern edge of King Sound, near the Derby township. Towards the top right is the Walcott Inlet, which leads into Charnley River and its gorge, yesterdays spectacular post.

The helicopter trip continues. Here is small selection of images from the Buccaneer Archipelago. Wikipedia states “The archipelago, covering over 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi) is located at the head of King Sound and is composed of about 800 islands found between King Sound and Collier Bay near Yampi Sound.”

Yampi Sound also has a major Army training base inland from the Sound itself. The images towards the middle with a burn off taking place, from memory, is part of Yampi training grounds. Often Yampi is boring open grasslands. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy helps the Army conserve part of the training grounds set aside for conservation along the coast.

The massive tidal flows are obvious in several images, with the disturbed water during a tidal change.

To see a larger image click on a thumbnail.

Charnley River Gorge, Artesian Range, The Kimberley

When posting some Kimberley images recently The Doc realised he has not posted images from his 2-day helicopter trip out of Derby in 2015 (better late than never!) – except 2 or 3 images.

Starting with Day 2, here are images from flying along the Charnley River Gorge, Artesian Range, The Kimberley, Western Australia. It was a thrill of a lifetime, breathtakingly beautiful place. We had permission from Australian Wildlife Conservancy to do the trip over their property and land. With both the pilot and the passenger being AWC supporters helps!

The Artesian Range is the only part of Australia that has not suffered any mammal extinctions since European settlement, but the cane toads got into the area in the last few years. So that may change.

Where the river bed is a muddy light grey, the river is tidal. The clearer water is beyond the tidal zone and is fresh water coming down the river.

We landed and took pictures of Aboriginal art, which had some very rare figures. The Doc may post one or two later.

Make sure you click on the image to see the full size slide show.

Stanthorpe – start of the Outback Queensland trip

At the beginning of the Eromanga trip The Doc drove from Ballina to his mate’s place at Stanthorpe. He stayed two nights and got to ride in Tony’s Ford 350 – wow what a great tow vehicle!

The next morning The Doc was just touring around Stanthorpe and found the Mt Marlay Lookout. Just a few images from the Lookout. Click on that first panorama, because at full size it has amazing details.

The Doc really liked Stanthorpe and for the first time since switching to part time work, thought about moving out of Sydney.

We had lunch at the Jam Factory and later that day Tony took The Doc to Donnellys Castle Recreations Reserve. Plus a few textures from the reserve.

Tony made a great choice to live in Stanthorpe, part of the Granite Belt. The Doc will be back.

Interactive map from Ballina to Eromanga here. Enjoy.

Buckaroola Station – Outback Queensland

The Doc’s friend Steve Young got special permission to visit Buckaroola Station. These images are from the second visit, as The Doc forgot to put his memory card into his camera during the first visit! Buckaroola Station is westward out of Eromanga along the Cooper Developmental Road and is not open to the public.

Textures of the Australian Bush: Northern Territory

New report of the textures of the Northern Territory has been posted, here.