Went Wandering in Western Australia


Here's one of favorites to kick start the journey
Many thanks to Ryan for the inspiration
Planned to be at the seaside cliffs during the new moon, far far from civilisation
Cold, windy, dark and chilly with marauding kangaroos around the tent and campsite
Still so worth it, I have never seen so many stars in my life...

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My heart skipped a beat when i saw this. ( i miss NZ. .. )
With such a beautiful starry night, you would have self inspired yourself to take the shot anyway ;)

Ryan
 

nice photos, dude. can't wait to see more landscape shots...

thanks a lot for sharing.
 

My heart skipped a beat when i saw this. ( i miss NZ. .. )
With such a beautiful starry night, you would have self inspired yourself to take the shot anyway ;)

Ryan

Haha no really, after seeing your NZ shot, I planned my trip just to try this - coincide with the darkness and being 140km from the nearest town
And wouldn't have had any results if I didn't read up on how to shoot the night sky
Thanks thanks

nice photos, dude. can't wait to see more landscape shots...

thanks a lot for sharing.

Thanks, asterixsg. Unfortunately at this point in the Park, all I did was .... take more duck encounters! ;p

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Headed up north rather than the usual south
Brought my folks and brother along with the wifey - we've never had a family trip in ages and I saved enough to take them for hols abroad
Least I could do now that I'm making my own dough

Here's one of favorites to kick start the journey
Many thanks to Ryan for the inspiration
Planned to be at the seaside cliffs during the new moon, far far from civilisation
Cold, windy, dark and chilly with marauding kangaroos around the tent and campsite
Still so worth it, I have never seen so many stars in my life...

<1>

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wow this is awesome. i wish i can see stars like this too. it's so difficult to see such sky full of stars in singapore!
 

subscribing. nice thread with nice commentary. if you dont mind, can share your itinerary?
 

Thanks for the comments guys, appreciated.

It'll take a moment to remember my itinerary, but basically headed up north hugging the coast then back down through the outback and inland towns
The idea was to cut in when it became warmer for wildflower season (not such a brilliant idea unfortunately)
Stopping based on distance traveled (don't want to drive too much every day)
But there was some hard driving involved, can have a lot of same-ish land to cover before one reaches the next town. Makes the drive itself less interesting

Should be easy to plot the same course in Google maps based on our nightly stops
Kalamunda
Jurien Bay
Kalbarri
Denham
Point Quobba/Red Bluff Station
Exmouth
Mt Augustus
Cue
Scrapped wildflower plans midway and headed back to Kalbarri
Jurien Bay
Toodyay
 

PMed and followed zoossh's footsteps for this part of the drive up north, at least up to the Pinnacles
Check out his awesome thread: Nambung to Margaret River rejoiced (H series)

Stopped by Lancelin for lunch
Though I didn't intend to do any sand surfing as we had my folks with us, my brother was game after listening to my description
Of giant white sand dunes
So he trotted off to the nearby sports store to find out about renting the sandsurfing boards
And returned with a glum look, for the kid in line ahead of him took the last two!
Hahaha we decided to drive down to the beach instead for a peek

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Rejoice!
Grinning ear to ear with childlike glee
I peeled off my shoes immediately
Fine sand between my toes = good

And then it hit me...
Fine sand with camera = not so good

But still, couldn't quite resist the ubiquitous holiday beach shot of shorn footwear

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The wifey's favorite ... for reasons unknown
Ornamental kale
Brassica oleracea

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Vvery nicely taken as well. the thin dof works great blurring the unwanted details

ryan
 

nice series!
I only made it to monkey mia the last time i tried a sojourn up north...indeed, the stars call out to you at night.
 

Vvery nicely taken as well. the thin dof works great blurring the unwanted details

ryan

Thanks, glad it turned out well too.

nice series!
I only made it to monkey mia the last time i tried a sojourn up north...indeed, the stars call out to you at night.

Had initially planned to stay 2 days in the MM area, but moved along instead after advice from another forum.
Worth a visit though, we had a great time at Shell Beach
Would have loved to get close to the Useless Loop though (one heckuva salt mining operation). Can see the mountains of white salt from across in Denham.
 

So we took off our shoes and walked down the beach
More than 1km down to where it bends out of sight
A few utes chugged past us to get to the bend
Two got bogged, even after leting air out from the tyres, one had to turn back
Dogs gamboled on the surf, tongues lolling, drunk with freedom
A large beagle, happy loopy grin on face, came bounding towards us
Breathless owner embarrassed, chasing

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Thanks for dropping by!

>>

Loved how the land simply turns into
Crumbly man-high cliffs of sand
That slope down to meet the sea

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Here's where it gets ... exciting
The road from Lancelin up north
My planned coastal route always puts the ocean visible on our left, a personal driving preference

But when our car sighted a Road Closure / Detour on the highway
A heady and dangerous mix of gung ho, blind faith and sheer idiocy made me decide
To turn away instead of stopping to ask the road maintenance personnel
He'd ask me to go inland and the Brand highway; I made up his reply
No worries, I've got my GPS, we'll figure something out
More foolhardy words my brother the driver have yet to encounter

And so I traced the thin grey lines on the small screen of my smartphone
Take the backroads I instructed, we'll meet up with the main road later
Google Maps said so

It was the most harrowing drive I've ever experienced
The roads started to narrow, sealed, to gravel to sand, until the trail was hardly visible
Bushes, taller than the car, screeching as their fingers clawed the sides
Fenced in, glimpses of barb wire from between
And yet I pointed my finger ahead, 'Go, go, go'
Passengers mumbling in discontent and fear

Until Google Maps stopped saying so
The blue pointer blinked in a wide grey expanse and admittedly, I began to doubt

Relief! For not further on, a clearing in the bushes opened up to the joyful sight of a tarred road
And then the tyres picked that moment to sink in, trying to crest the sandy bump
Please please please, I stuffed my cold clammy hands underneath my legs
Reverse and floor it

Forty nerve wrecking minutes

And then there we were in the Pinnacles Desert
Paradise of rocks

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Tall, stumpy
Dark, light, orangey or pale yellow
Rough textures, some surfaces smooth
Molded by the wind
Curved yet jagged
The diferent areas yielded different varieties

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Wow nice series, keep sharing!
 

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