Category Archives: States

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!

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

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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.

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Flinders Island – seascape

Australia, coastal, Flinders Island, Landscape, moss & lichen, rock, seascape, Tas, Tasmania, Textures

No carcasses today, although The Doc did photograph a few including the Bennett’s Wallaby and a Potoroo, at least I think it was. A Potoroo is a kangaroo-like marsupial about the size of a rabbit.

He is a seascape from a beach close to Emita Beach, a beach without a name. Looking this good it should have one. That is lichen growing on the granite. Two pictures stitched together, cropped slightly, some saturation and sharpening. Click on thumbnail to see full size image.

FI-Rocks

 

Flinders Island – Little Penguin

Australia, birds, Flinders Island, Tas, Tasmania, Wildlife

The Doc booked an appointment with the hospital to take out my stitches on Friday. I have about 10 after the operation to remove a skin cancer.

The Doc explored this morning and this afternoon went for a walk, taking landscape and textures photos around Emita Beach and Marshall Bay, including Castle Rock.

He also found a Little Penguin carcass wash up on Emita Beach. It was no older than 48 hours, showing no sign of predation. It appeared it died at sea and washed up on the beach, no signs of rigamortis . Lots of carcasses around Flinders island because of the abundant wildlife, at least was not roadkill.

 

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One of the secluded beaches The Doc visited. Lichen growing on granite creates some awesome colours. Click on picture to see the large version.

FI-Rocks

Flinders Island – wombats

Australia, Flinders Island, marsupials, Tas, Tasmania, Uncategorised, Wildlife

Having visited Flinders Island previously, you hit the ground running. An early change of plans however, because it is a public holiday today, so The Doc cannot buy food. So off the pub for lunch. They are generous helpings and The Doc still feels full at 9pm.

When driving around the Island there was a lot of roadkill, especially wombats. Rowena at the car hire firm had mentioned at least 4 juvenile wombats were being looked after. She described them and they sound quite cute.

A quick rest then off to West End for wildlife, quite a few Bennett’s Wallabies and Pademelons. The Doc is still sorting the photos so only a wombat today, roadkill I am afraid, as the live ones tend to avoid people. They tend to give you their behind, often just running into the bush leaving their backsides showing, one today did a similar thing on the road, which increases the chance of becoming roadkill.

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