COMING HOME

It may have been something about the weather or it may have been under the influence of our ‘end of journey’ spirits that created the rain on the last few hours of our journey. Is the light beyond the dark cloud and Gowrie Mountain the begining of the next CarCamera adventure? We like to think it is!!

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CAMOOWEAL TO AUGATHELLA

Lots of pubs, jump-ups, windmills and the odd Qantas Jumbo along this stretch through western Queensland. SEE IMAGES - post this link in your browser http://www.flickr.com/photos/17886401@N00

THE BARKLY TABLELANDS – HEADING EAST TOWARDS QUEENSLAND

Wide-open spaces, straight roads and boredom are relieved by taking moving CarCamera images along the Barkly and Carpenteria Highways. But there are moments of amazement when confronted by mile upon mile of grasslands – SEE images. Another border crossing is undertaken – our journey has encompassed four Australian states and two territories – this is the last crossing.

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TRAVELLING ALONG THE STUART HIGHWAY – SOUTHWARD

On leaving Kakadu we travel again on the Stuart Highway – but this time the light is on our back (This may sound strange however travelling north on the highway generally makes the CarCamera view backlit – Going south does make things look different). The road itself becomes a prominent subject and moving 1~2 minute time exposures whilst the car is moving create unique views. Following a slow moving caravan (we call them ‘white cruisers’ and ‘road dams’) for the long exposure time can be tricky but the image presents a profoundly ‘real’ impression of the experience. In other images the blurry moving road is contrasted against a cloud form, which changes little in the long exposure.

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Near Renner Springs we skip off the highway on to an older section which features a rock formation known as Churchill’s Head. An oval of rock sits on the edge of a cutting with a couple of metres of pipes sticking out of the ‘lips’ part of the formation – we make our simplified view by placing pens in our mouths.

Outback travel can be hazardous – We didn’t go the whole 500 kilometres of the road with no fuel (SEE picture) however we did travel some of its dusty corrugated surface.

KAKADU NATIONAL PARK

Leaving Darwin we headed east towards the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park. Heat and humidity have now become a significant aspect of the daily experience – quite different from the cool/cool Central Australian temperatures. But soon we will encounter something else far worse - - - M O S Q U I T O E S!!! These villains make any dusk to dawn outside activity a slap and scratch frenzy - Digital file processing takes place in the tent. Forget about sharks and crocks! The shower becomes a bloodbath and a fight for life at any time of the day!

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Most people visit Kakadu for the landforms, the wildlife including birds and crocodiles and Aboriginal culture an art. We witnessed it all, however, the CarCamera had restricted access. Wildlife is viewed by participating in boat cruises from locations like Yellow Waters – SEE CarCamera image taken from the boat ramp. Curiously while making a roadside stop to photograph corkscrew pandanus by a culvert one of the ‘top 5’ birds to see, the Jabiru, emerged from a shady spot and stopped in the pandanus thicket long enough for a CarCamera image – Vicky tried to image it with the 300D camera as well.

Crocodiles have been trained to jump out of the water for tourist’s horror and amusement. At Alligator River a statue celebrates this unusual behaviour and becomes a CarCamera subject – so does views from boat ramps that show the haunt of these reptiles.

Anthills also inhabit this region and for the material for several images – some are huge, others are shaped like people we know, and occasionally they just look fantastic particularly in burnt-out areas where their orange colours are contrasted against the blackened earth.

DARWIN

A final 350km today took us up the Stuart Highway to Darwin. Drove around all the sunset viewing areas and made some carcamera images before dark. Managed to spend the evening with Peter Solness, local photographer and wife Trish.

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The Stuart Highway has been the major feature of the journey so getting to Darwin concludes that part of the journey. Tomorrow we head off to Kakadu and then begin the 4000klm journey home - By the way the ol Tarago clicked over 10,000 ks for the journey thus far. Most we've paid for fuel was $1.50 a litre at Kings Canyon

MATARANKA-KATHERINE+EDITH FALLS

MATARANKA
After a long solid northerly drive today we ended up at Mataranka with a very flustered campground supervisor. The Mataranka Thermal Pool is just a beautiful as ever - Masses of palms, paperbarks and blue/clear hot springs bubbling-up to soothe tired limbs.

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KATHERINE
Essentailly drove through Katherine after stopping for supplies - Managed to follow a three trailer road-train for a full minute along a short double lane section of the road - see the pic.

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EDITH FALLS
Visited once before Edith Falls (also oart of the Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge National Park) was a truely remarkable sight. A pool of water as big as a city block is fed from a cascading waterfall. The pool is surrounded by pandanus, paperbarks and freshwater crocs. The campsite is like a lawned parkland edged by the natural bush. Our one day stay became two, then three and then four!! Did some adventure walks and lots of swiming - saw some Gouldian Finches - quitea rare sight.

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DEVILS MARBLES+TENNANT CREEK

TO WYCLIFFE WELL

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Travelled up the Stuart Highway today for about 580km - seemed like forever. Stayed at Wycliffe Well in a wayside stop that has the reputation of having the greatest number of UFO sightings in Australia - The Camp and Van part is decorated with all sorts of Alien subjects and encounters. We saw no UFOs but managed to photograph a spinning hub-cap over the Wycliffe service station.

DEVILS MARBLES

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Arrived a the Marbles mid afternoon and managed to score the 'best campsite of all' under a sprawling ghostgum in the shadow of some tumbled boulders - really special for those who know how many times we've been there before. Our camp was surrounded by a plague of "White Cruisaders" = old folks in big 4WDs and huge white caravans. We photographed with the car and later in the evening shot with portable digital cameras into the sunset. It was very hot - luckily there is an ice-cream van at the car park - something from Wycliffe ----maybe. Anyway the ice cream was great.

ALICE SPRINGS+Local

We have CarCamera'd all over the Central Australian region; Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon (Watarrka), Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen Gorge. It has been a remarkable experience. So lets fill in some details.

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ULURU (Ayers Rock)
After arriving at Yulara we were involved in a photographer's briefing with Deb Gardiner from Uluru Media. It was a most interesting experience being introduced to the issues, concerns and regulations that we needed to follow working within the region. We were issued with a permit and set off shooting for three days. Sunsets, mid-days and even an e-e-e-early morning sunrise. Some images are available for viewing.

KINGS CANYON (Watarrka)
It took about a day to travel from Uluru to Kings Creek Station for an overnight before spending the day at Kings Canyon - No CarCamera access here. However there were some amazing shots of red sand dunes and desert oak trees along the way.

WESTERN MCDONNELL RANGES - Ormiston Gorge+Glen Helen Gorge
We travelled out to the WMR after a few soft days in Alice Springs ina motel - Caught up with Christine MacGillivray (past student) and husband Alan and kids. Made some road shots along the way and gave the car a rest while we trekked through the gorge over a few days.

See images at the link (you may need to type in the URL)

Adelaide to Alice Springs

Well we are underway. After preliminary testing of digital camera systems, light-proofing, exposure testing and experimentation with subjects we hit the road for the Stuart Highway.

Our camera systems are Canon 300D and 20D. The special lens selected to capture the image inside the camera obscura was a Canon EF10~22mm.

While our previous experience with CarCamera Obscura work was with 800 ISO film and exposure times of 5~8 minutes in bright sun we have discovered the 'reciprocity free' digital camera set at 400ISO requires only 1 minute. This is handled comfortably by the Canon 20D with no noise problems.

The images from the first few days are viewable at this link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17886401@N00