Went Wandering in Western Australia

[Zichar]

Thanks mate, was there any that caught your interests?

With the panos that you have, if the weather isn't looking too good in your shots try HDR or some post processing to give your photos some extra punch (but not too much). People often appreciate the perspectives of wide angle shots, like "wow this view is so awesome you should've been here to see it", but can be undermined by the lack of the weather (which really is a big influence on our mood sometimes). For shots like this I would think about the greatest landscapes I would often dream about like the canyons of Arizona or whatever and think about how would I try and justify this view if I was in the same place.

The ones with the rock itself are particularly stunning; regardless of sunset or midday, Uluru being isolated in the middle of a field of green is striking no matter what the time of day. There's also one with overlapping plates (looks like the a crack in the crust of a dome, merengue pie cone?), looks exactly like what I have (coming much later I'm afraid) taken at Walga Rock, somewhere off Cue,WA.

I almost always use some form of dodging and burning + DRI for the panoramas . Have a new idea on why my prev stitches didn't work - I would do them with the raw files - I think PS is running out of RAM and so gave me an error message. I could/and should convert them to the best possible JPEG before running the merge script, will revisit when I have the time.

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A triptych of Max; quick brekkie and to say goodbye

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[MRSAMO]

The ones with the rock itself are particularly stunning; regardless of sunset or midday, Uluru being isolated in the middle of a field of green is striking no matter what the time of day. There's also one with overlapping plates (looks like the a crack in the crust of a dome, merengue pie cone?), looks exactly like what I have (coming much later I'm afraid) taken at Walga Rock, somewhere off Cue,WA.

I almost always use some form of dodging and burning + DRI for the panoramas . Have a new idea on why my prev stitches didn't work - I would do them with the raw files - I think PS is running out of RAM and so gave me an error message. I could/and should convert them to the best possible JPEG before running the merge script, will revisit when I have the time.

Thanks, I like them too, the rock is the highlight of anyone's trip to the central. The problem is that so many people have taken similar shots so I wanted to try something different.

Yeah I don't use some of the more advanced features of PS for any of my photos especially now that I am using LR more. PS does a good job of stitching panos though. Are you getting PS to process your NEF/RAW files? I just convert them to TIFF which doesn't degrade the images too much. I don't trust JPG or PNG yet because of that.

 

[Zichar]

Thanks, I like them too, the rock is the highlight of anyone's trip to the central. The problem is that so many people have taken similar shots so I wanted to try something different.

Yeah I don't use some of the more advanced features of PS for any of my photos especially now that I am using LR more. PS does a good job of stitching panos though. Are you getting PS to process your NEF/RAW files? I just convert them to TIFF which doesn't degrade the images too much. I don't trust JPG or PNG yet because of that.

Everything on PS; I use Picasa as my organizer.
Am on a 32-bit machine, my friend claims I'd see a world of improvement going on to 64-bit and more RAM. But that'll mean creating a new system, ugh. Probably soldier on with the current one until its last legs.

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View from within the tent looking out through the gauzy fly mesh
If it wasn't that cold outside, I'd be on the 'patio' chair
Caught my dad just sitting there in the morning staring
Then again, I'd probably do the same; if I had a beachfront home I'd do nothing but stare out everyday!
It's indescribable, I feel calm and peaceful watching the wild waves from afar

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[Zichar]

It was novel for my parents (and I gave them plenty of reminders and warnings)
The shower with a waterbag and pulley system
And the hole-in-the-ground chemical toilet
Showering when it's cold is optional in cold weather methinks
But my mother simply couldn't do without, force of habit
Boiled water and mixed with cold in the salad bowl to prep the shower for her
An odd reversal of roles, for when she did the same for us when we were kids!

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[Zichar]

Jim spoke of 'The Aquarium'
A place of quiet and calm shielded seclusion
Less movement, clear water, the fish, corals and seabed were visible
I was sceptical with the directions given:
All with an eye on the odometer and the odd bush or two!
Trails and half-trails crisscrossed each other
With no room to maneouevre or back out
The only way to go was forward, sharp rocks and tall crests accounted for
Amazement shone on my face as I unlatched Gnaraloo Station's gate
He was bloody accurate, right down to a decimal place

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[Zichar]

My family scattered and scurried
Eyes wide open for that washed up treasure ashore
Seashells
Because my wife likes 'em
And they her

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[Zichar]

I couldn't resist the short drive up
The small hill where resides the town's silent sentinel

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[Zichar]

Could barely squeeze The Dish within the frame
Looking for angles was a chore
The rest munching chips in the car
Myself swatting flies from the corners of my mouth

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[Zichar]

The drive up to Exmouth was long, dry and uninteresting
Flat land, short trees and dry brush all the way
Multiple cycles of napping each beginning ending with
Cracking one's eyelids, each narrowing into a small slit
Then in instant depressing surrender, close them again when met with the same scenery
A journey that would task even the most forbearing parents of are-we-there-yet children

And so we latched on to anything, anything that would pique our interest
Our first stop along the road on the pretense to stretch our legs was also to check our these uniquely shaped structures
This one a massive 3 meters in height
I'd half expected swarms of insects to just come pouring out of all crevices (nothing though, found one small assassin bug)
Many miles down, a brown sign said Termite Hill, roughly hewn parking and stop areas demarcated by the side of the road

Termitaria or termite mounds, they come in many different shapes and sizes
In our travels further down, they took on the guise of inverted pyramids, wedge, even resembling the silhouette of a saguaro
Or crusted onto a rock or a tree
And we laughed, taking turns to point out the apartment, condominium, bungalow, mansion and hotel that we chanced upon

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[Zichar]

Almost mistook some for a herd of cattle
Hundreds in a field
Randomly spaced
Though in the next, all evenly spaced, ~2m from each other
Oh, nature

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[Zichar]

Wasn't sure to include this in, but for interestingness
Looking for the turnoff to the town, we mistakenly went straight
And landed at the Harold E Holt Naval Communications Base

I got out to ask for directions, with hoodie wrapped around my head, DSLR bobbing on my hip
The military-garbed guard took a half step from his guardpost room
His right suspended in air. lifting the handset
As our eyes met, his brow furrowed and I could have sworn everything simply stood still, a moment's tableau
I reeled in my drooping lip, and snapped my mouth shut; took a quick turn on the heel and went straight back in the car

Got my brother to stop a distance away to snap at the huge VLF towers

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[Zichar]

As it turned out, we were only 500m away, taking a right
Decided to stump a bit more for the units up on the hill;
the Irish girl at the counter handed us the key to take a quick look-see before we committed ourselves to it
her French colleague showed us the way in the park's jalopy
The caravan park was decidedly family oriented - tennis courts, playgrounds, s shell museum, tiny kiosks with sand art, etc
From the wooden patio, we could see the Vlamingh Head lighthouse perched on the cliff and as much of the Exmouth Gulf we could take in

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[Zichar]

As I trained my camera on the lighthouse, my wife shrieked in delight
Whales!
We took turns squinting, waiting for the breaching
Scanning the beach, we also spotted other spotters, armed with binoculars and even telescopes (I think)
My guess - humpbacks

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[Zichar]

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[Zichar]

Went back in to cook dinner
At $6 per, it seemed like a steal
But then we checked, not a pot big enough to cook 'em

Being Chef on the Road can be quite ... interesting
You use whatever's in the kitchen, rundown or well-maintained, improvise
Thank goodness with produce that fresh needed only the most minimal of spices

Everyone looked on disapprovingly as I tried
Though natural in this case meant the dim fluorescent lights in the kitchen

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[Zichar]

What a difference a couple of hours make
In between was the burning of the lemon butter sauce by yours truly

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[Zichar]

I placed my setup right by the door;
startrails with lighthouse in the distance;
penned and circled on my mental post-it note
Then the pit-patter of raindrops hit the metal awning on the patio

We drove up the hill in the morning after brekkie
Great view all around, the comm towers loomed large in the corner
Couldn't figure out how to depict
the road making a lazy circuit around the promontory
Ended up with a silly distorted photo after the stitch
So instead of, a regular one.

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[Zichar]

And so we took the lazy circuit, driving in and out of dirt paths such as this
All leading to the beach, us combing for shells or working the bacon from our system

The beaches were clean and clear, though not really discernible from any other
Still, that made them Turtles' choice
the nearby Jurabi Turtle Sanctuary offering night time viewings during season

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[Zichar]

Only particular character
Slabs of large shell-encrusted large rocks
Sharp edges ground down by nature's file
Black outer and white inner exposed

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[Zichar]

I nodded to the large mounds of sand looming in the distance
The chorus of skeptic glances were muted in my eyes

A trail of dust lay in our wake as we sped, straight as arrow to our intended target
Only for the car to suddenly stop; I peered out half-expecting the air outside to have turned into a cube of gelatin

Opening the car door, sand threatened to flow in, lapping hungrily at the frame
The wheels free spinning wildly, spitting grains that fall smoothly back
The engine, groaning in pain, a high pitch whirr in protest

I thumbed my nose at my brother and told him to move aside
And I slid in smoothly into the driver's seat, I pulled back down to a lower gear
Hit the pedal to the metal, and floored the accelerator

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