The Report on the recent Flinders Island visit is posted. Plus the short stopover in Launceston on the way to Flinders. Reports and pictures here.
Category Archives: States
Textures of the Australian bush – wetlands
This one is not to be missed, it is up there with the Sands of Mutawintji and the Sandstones of Broome. Never thought an algae bloom could look so stunning. Report and pictures here.
Flinders Island – vistas
The howling winds died down today, so The Doc managed a few shots. These photos are all stitched panoramas, usually 2 or images. Locations include Sawyers Bay, Mt Killiecrankie, Castle Rock Point (that rock is massive) and the view from Walkers Lookout across Darling Range towards Mt Strzelecki. Click on each image to see larger version.
Flinders Island – lichen
A miserable day today, raining and windy, so The Doc explored the Island, locating places to photograph. The 2 lookouts were disappointing, but Cameron’s Inlet, Lady Barron and Strezlecki National Park look promising.
Some wildlife was seen, a small echidna and a few Bennetts Wallabies. Some birds are breeding including swans, plovers and moorhens, all of which had young. The Doc saw 2 Cape Barren Geese in a field and a large number of Pacific Gulls in a field. This does seem to be a stronghold of the Pacific Gull, which mostly breeds off shore on one the 54 islands in the Furneaux Group, Flinders being one of the 54 islands.
The Doc continues to see Green Rosellas, but has not had a chance to get a nice photo as yet.
Back to Whitemark, the first township on the Island, for lunch. It use to be known as White Mark, but when the telegraph arrived and charged by the word, locals began to call it Whitemark.
The clouds are breaking up a little, but the wind remains strong. Whether that helps the sunset remains to be seen. Doing homework to photograph Mt Killecrankie at sunset. Unfortunately the wind gusts were too strong to take photos.
Granite is widespread across the Island and in many places it is covered in lichen, some amazing colours and textures. A small selection.
Flinders Island – a sneak peek
Early morning flight to Flinders Island. The Doc was picked up at the airport by Michael and Linda from Flinders Island Travel Centre. He spent the day being taken around the Northern half of the Island. Some great locations were visited. To be revisited and photographed over teh next week.
As The Doc writes this report, 6 Green Rosella are feeding outside the window of Emita Cottage.
The Doc is looking foreword to photographing places like the Docks, Killecrankie, Lady Barron and North East River. Wildlife includes Bennett’s Wallabies, Pademelons and Poteroos.
A brief look at North West River.
Launceston
A pleasant flight from Sydney to Launceston in Tasmania, although it is quite a bit cooler down here.
Bags were dropped off at the Hotel and The Doc walked around the CBD before heading to river or should I say rivers? The Doc jumped on a Cataract Cruise. For the next hour we had a short trip on the South Esk, North Esk and Tamar Rivers, including a trip into Cataract Gorge.
Time to head back to the Hotel, grab the room, shower and have a nanny nap. Discussed some details of the Cape York helicopter trip next year. That is shaping up to be a ripper.
Then back out again for a bit to eat and then a walk down Cataract Gorge. The Doc enjoyed a ride on the First Basin Chairlift, which stretches some 457metres across Cataract Gorge at the Basin on South Esk River. Then a nice walk out of the Gorge. The Doc topped the day off with a gourmet pizza for dinner. Back at the hotel after 7pm.
Need to catch the 8am flight to Flinders Island tomorrow morning.
A view from the chairlift.
Outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia
On the last trip The Doc and his friend Tony travelled around outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia. Places like the Warrumbungles, Broken Hill, Marree, the ochre pits at Lyndhurst, ruins at Farina, Arkaroola Wildness Sanctuary, Innamincka, Brachina Gorge in the Flinders Ranges, Epsilon in outback Queensland, Cameron’s Corner, Tibooburra, Menindee Lakes and lots of others.
Characters like Talc Alf, roadtrains and huge coal carrying locomotives, the odd emu and even some water in this parched part of Australia.
A collection of photos from that trip.
Planning the next trip
The Doc is back home after a recent road trip with a friend across outback New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. All up over 6,000 kilometres.
A new record on this trip, the most number of people talking about AWC . It seemed everywhere we went someone knew AWC or was keen to learn. At least a dozen people in about 2 weeks.
Since returning The Doc has been scanning AWC slides from years past. The scanning is complete but some post processing and indexing remains to be done. The quality of the slides does vary, but there are some great shots of animals like bilbies, woylies and boobies. Sorry no pictures are they are copyright. But the AWC website has a lot of great photos now.
On the trip The Doc also tested a new trailer, which has an issue or two that needs to be sorted. The car needs a service, some new tyres and some work done.
The Doc hopes to take a few trips closer to Sydney over the next few weeks. He is also booking some trips next year to Tasmania, The Kimberley and Cape York.
Lastly, a picture from Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges, a place we visited. Click on the picture to see a bigger version.
Map of last Roadtrip
A map of the last road trip. The course is marked in blue.
Piccaninny Pleasures
Just returned from a Cape York Trip visiting the AWC Sanctuary called Piccaninny Plains. Piccaninny Plains is the name of the pastoral lease if you were wondering. Report and photos here.
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