| Ever dreamed of travelling to isolated | | | | shows up on the satellite images confirming |
| wilderness areas to photograph the landscape | | | | what I suspected from the elevation contours |
| but been defeated by the practicalities of | | | | on the topographic map.Wilderness Landscape |
| getting there? Wished you had a helicopter? | | | | Photography Trip |
| Wondered how you could hike with a heavy pack | | | | |
| and camp out for days at a time?Well, this | | | | It's 82 km from the bitumen to Bosworth |
| Australian amateur wilderness landscape | | | | Homestead, travelling right across Arcoona |
| photographer did it. Here's the story of the | | | | Station on the way. Parking the car beside a |
| daunting task that lay ahead and how I | | | | shearers hut, and after some good geographic |
| overcame the obstacles.Background | | | | and topographic advice from the pastoralist, |
| | | | I jumped on the bike and headed out along the |
| My son works at Olympic Dam Mine situated | | | | track that follows the western side of |
| about 90km north of Woomera in outback South | | | | Station Creek to Andamooka Island and made |
| Australia, and lives with his wife and little | | | | camp as the sun was setting.Now, I've always |
| family at Roxby Downs, the town constructed | | | | wanted to camp on an island since I read "The |
| to service the mine. He's an electrician, and | | | | Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", as a boy. |
| besides taking a few pictures of electrical | | | | Andamooka Island, about 40 km long and up to |
| installations, the massive machinery he often | | | | 10 km wide is in Lake Torrens and separated |
| works on, and my granddaughter, has little | | | | from the mainland by a channel varying in |
| interest in photography.I drove for 21 hours | | | | width from a couple of hundred meters to a |
| from the Far South Coast of New South Wales, | | | | couple of kilometres.The shallower parts of |
| to visit my son and to see this arid desert | | | | the channel were dry, so crossing was no |
| region, which has become his home for the | | | | trouble. Extensive salt water holes in the |
| foreseeable future.Opportunity for Wilderness | | | | channel, super saturated and with the salt |
| Landscape Photography | | | | crystallizing out, provided micro and full |
| | | | view landscape images over coming days. With |
| Well, the desert is fairly flat and quite | | | | the sky subtly reflected in the base of salt |
| bland at first glance but that's not the full | | | | crystals covered with shallow water, the |
| story.With dry salt lakes, myall trees, stone | | | | stark vista was a wilderness landscape |
| strewn clay pans, and red sand dunes, | | | | photography opportunity to be seized. Sights |
| wilderness landscape photography images | | | | to blow your mind!Camping Out |
| clamour for my attention from Roxby Downs to | | | | |
| Andamooka and beyond to Lake Torrens.Getting | | | | Camping, as you would imagine, was pretty |
| Around the Desert | | | | basic. You can't carry much on an ATV. No |
| | | | esky means no fresh meat, but tinned tuna on |
| But how can I get around? Distance is so | | | | top of tinned beans and spaghetti goes down |
| vast and the country so inhospitable. It will | | | | well when you're hungry.Priorities in |
| kill you just for being there if you don't | | | | Wilderness Landscape Photography |
| look out. The family station wagon won't go | | | | |
| far off the bitumen. The tracks are so rough, | | | | Photography took precedence over eating. |
| and when it rains in this six-inch rainfall | | | | Each day: out of bed, on the bike and off |
| country, even a 4x4 will bog down or slip in | | | | photographing before sunrise. Back to camp |
| the clay soil. There's no way I could afford | | | | for brunch about noon. Off photographing |
| a 4x4 good enough for the trip from the coast | | | | again till late and then try to get back to |
| to the centre and reliable enough to go out | | | | camp before the diminishing glow of the |
| alone into that country. Furthermore, you | | | | setting sun left me in the dark. Although I |
| wouldn't take a good-looking vehicle on those | | | | have good lights on the bike, the country is |
| rocky, desert tracks.So I decided on an ATV. | | | | just too rough to cover in the dark.Hidden |
| That's an "All Terrain Vehicle," "Quad Bike," | | | | Dangers in the Desert |
| "four wheel motorbike." I can transport it in | | | | |
| a trailer behind the car and go to the end of | | | | Although rare, this country is known to host |
| the road, then jump on the bike.Setting Up | | | | the world's most venomous snake, the inland |
| The ATV | | | | taipan, as well as the king brown and several |
| | | | other dangerous species. There are also said |
| The bike, set up with boxes on the back and | | | | to be scorpions about. I'm told that the |
| front racks, pulls a small trailer. With this | | | | dingoes have been eradicated from this area, |
| configuration I not only get myself way out | | | | south of the dog fence, but the nights were |
| beyond where a 4x4 will go without too much | | | | still pretty scary. Every time the breeze |
| walking, but also my camera gear, tools, | | | | rustled the tent I'd wake, laying tense and |
| emergency supplies, water, fuel and my camp | | | | listening for the sound of pads on the rocks. |
| as well. In a nutshell, that's about | | | | Needles to say, I gave my sleeping bag a good |
| it.Navigating the Wilderness Landscape | | | | shake out before getting in each night.Coming |
| | | | Wilderness Landscape Photography Trip |
| Navigation is with a topographic map, | | | | |
| compass and GPS. Using the coordinates from | | | | Well, I came home with a heap of digital |
| the GPS, I know where I am on the map which | | | | images, some colour film to send for |
| is so much simpler than trying to identify | | | | processing and some B&W to process myself. |
| distant features on a flat landscape.For | | | | I'm going again, you know. Want to come with |
| months, in my spare time, I studied the maps, | | | | me? Then go to my website, send an e-mail and |
| getting the feel of the geography and | | | | we'll talk about it.Laurie McArthur is a |
| topography and comparing this to the | | | | wilderness landscape photographer based on |
| satellite images on Google Earth. This way I | | | | the New South Wales Far South Coast, |
| identified areas of likely interest. It's | | | | Australia. |
| amazing how the salt build up in Lake Torrens | | | | |