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Gallery Pick of the Week

Instead of just showing pretty pictures only, here we have space for contributors to discuss their images every week.

This is a great opportunity to get some insight from the original photographer and the content is entirely open. It could be anything from the personal feeling of the photographer about the image to any photographic techniques or location knowledge he/she would like to share with our visitors.

Gallery Pick of the Week > October 2009

Off the Beaten Track, 29/10/09, Pele Leung

There are not many places in Australia where have not been visited by people. For those unusual places left behind without visitors, they are either too hostile or difficult to be accessed...

The Sydney Opera House, 22/10/09, Pele Leung

In 1902 a tram depot was built at the Bennelong Point, Sydney Harbour. The depot was just an ordinary building servicing the trams in the old days of Sydney. After 71 years...

Walking in Australia, 15/10/09, Pele Leung

In the old days, travel overseas was a once-in-life-time journey but now many people could travel around the world even every year. In certain sense, the world is actually getting smaller.

Whale Stranding Naracoopa King Island 2009, 8/10/09, John Nievaart

The first I heard of it was from a phone call about 11pm on Sunday night March 1 2009, the woman at the other end of the phone said she was from the Mercury Newspaper, Hobart and...

Surviving Australia 1/10/09, Pele Leung

It started raining. In Northern Territory, raining could be a sign of danger. Nobody wants to be caught by a swelling river in a remote region. Val was paddling back to her camp after a whole day canoe trip alone.

Pele Leung - Off The Beaten Track, 29/10/09

There are not many places in Australia where haven't been visited by people. For those unusual places left behind without visitors, they are either too hostile or difficult to be accessed. In certain sense, there is almost nothing people have not seen and heard about. This makes travel writing and photography even harder. Who really want to see more about the Three Sisters and Twelve Apostles particularly if they live nearby. Some do but not all. So there is a need to explore and find new stories and photos emerged from the distant corners such as deserts and the remote capes in the middle of nowhere. To challenge our readers, we have picked a few fascinating locations and they are worth visiting but not easy to be accessed.

Our criteria are

1. South West Wilderness, Tasmania

The South West National Park houses one of the few virgin temperate rainforests around the world. You will find ancient Huon pine there and they appear to be undisturbed for more than 3000 years. There are glacial tarns, numerous species of lichen, moss and fern and it is more like a place showed in the movie 'Lord of the Ring'. To visit the national park, bush walking is the only way as there is no road taking you directly to the trail head. For the best known walks in the park, Port Davey Track and South Coast Track, pre-arranged air service to the trail heads is available. please visit Tasmania Park & Wildlife Service for more information.

2. Lake Eyre, South Australia

Lake Eyre is usually dry and only filled up with water once or twice in a decade when abundant water flows from the north as far as Queensland. In normal situation, it is a dry salt lake but will spring into life when there is water. A lot of wildlife especially birds would meet and spend their happy time there. Other forms of life such as frog stay underground without any activity until water is available. When water is at extreme abundant, roads could be turned into mud tracks and would strand all vehicles. Another safer way to see Lake Eyre from a distance is taking a chartered flight over it. The fascinating patterns on the ground could only be fully appreciated from the air.


Aerial view of Lake Eyre. Photo by Monica O'Connor

3. Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

Cape York or the Tip of Australia is over a thousand kilometre north from Cairns. It is the most northern point of the mainland. After travelling north 260 kilometres from Cairns, you come to a turnoff. If you don't stop, you probably will arrive a small town near the coast in an hour. This small town, Cooktown, is named after Captain James Cook for his epic voyage to Australia. For those brave souls who decided to head further north, an unseal road would be waiting ahead for them. A staggering 750-kilometre rough journey ahead is for the determined travellers with 4WD vehicles only. Fuel availability is scarce and it is better to carry sufficient amount before going any further.

4. Simpson Desert, Northern Territory - Queensland - South Australia

The attractiveness of the Simpson Desert National Park is not only limited to its massive remote coverage across three states (NT, QLD and SA) but also its rich features of landscape and remote challlenge to its visitors. To conquer this tough land, most visitors choose to cross it with their 4WD vehicles. To experience the real Outback Australia, taking this challenge is certainly a good pick. However, precautions must be taken as this place is not for the unprepared travellers.


Simpson Desert. Photo by Barry Allwright

5. Kimberley, Western Australia

Three locations or routes are definitely worth mentioning. First of all, the famous Purnululu National Park. The bee-hive dome feature is unbeatable and you won't see the same thing elsewhere in the same scale in Australia. Apparently it is not too far away from the highway - only about 50 kilometres but this could be the worst 50-kilometre journey you have ever experienced in Kimberley. Although all visitors come with 4WD vehicles, sometimes they are still stranded helplessly by the rocky river crossings. Challenging? Do you want more? Gibb River Road should be the next on your itinerary. This 664km dirt road from Derby to Wyndham / Kununurra could be a nightmare when it was wet. However, as long as you are well prepared with plenty of supplies, it would be an excellent adventure of the back-country. If you are brave enough to take a side trip, you can head north to Mitchell Plateau. The extra 300km would take you to the coast of Timor Sea. Mitchell Falls is the spot you should not miss.


Bell Gorge in King Leopold Ranges, Kimberley


Mitchell Falls, Kimberley. Photo by Rob Gray

 

Pele Leung - The Sydney Opera House, 22/10/09

In 1902 a tram depot was built at the Bennelong Point, Sydney Harbour. The depot was just an ordinary building servicing the trams in the old days of Sydney. After 71 years, a new building erected on the same place became an international icon. This new building is the famous Sydney Opera House. If Uluru is the natural icon of Australia, it would be no doubt that Sydney Opera House is one of the most popular human created icons or landmarks since the recorded history of Australia.


The Sail shell is the key feature of the Sydney Opera House. The front group of shells houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The back one is the Concert Hall, the major hall.


The left shell group is the larger Concert Hall and the right one is the smaller Opera Hall.

Although Sydney Opera House had costed Australia more than fourteen times of the budget the architect originally estimated - final cost $102 million (estimated $7 million), its value as an attraction of tourism, the facilities it provides and the brand value it represents have already paid for the building investment numerous times.

The design of Sydney Opera House was the result of a public architectural competition with 233 entries submitted in 1955. Among the work from the architects from 32 countries, Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect, had won the competition. His modern expressionist design with a series of large precast concrete shell stood out from the crowd. Perhaps the original expected value of the Sydney Opera House was no more than just an excellent high class facility for performing concert and opera but this famous icon has achieved much more than that. In 2007, the Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage. It is not just a well-known building but also one of the 20th century's most distinctive and famous buildings in the world.


One of the best views of the Opera House with Sydney Harbour Bridge as its backdrop. Photo by Victoria Purdie.

From its first appearance on paper in 1955 to the completion in 1973, the 18-year planning and building process of the Opera House was not as smooth as what we wanted it to be. For such a large architectural project in the old days, it is not hard to imagine the complexity of the design, difficult budget control and the political tension generated. All these factors leaded to the resignation of the architect in 1966. This had stirred quite a storm and generated a gap in the relationship between the client and the architect that could not be repaired until late 1990s. In 1999 Utzon, the architect, was appointed by the Sydney Opera House Trust as a design consultant for future work. In 2004, the first interior space rebuilt to an Utzon design was opened, and renamed "The Utzon Room" in his honour.


The sail shells in a moody moon-lit night. Photo by Barbara Bryan.

Just like many other large architectural projects, Sydney Opera House is the masterpiece of many people's sweat and tear. If you have a chance to see this great 20th century architecture in person, do not take it as an ordinary building. Give it a second thought and think about its design and craftsmanship as well as the stories behind it.

To learn more about the Sydney Opera House, please visit the Wikipedia website in detail.

 

Pele Leung - Walking in Australia, 15/10/09

Once upon a time, I was told that in Australian standard the adventure tours in America are more like exploration in Manhattan. If you really want a real adventure, Australia is the one you should look at. I personally do not agree to this exaggerated comment but do believe that some adventures in Australia could be hard and sometimes life threatening especially if takers are not well prepared.

As the technologies improve, our world seems to be getting smaller. Nowadays we visit many more places than our previous generations. In the old days, travel overseas was a once-in-life-time journey but now many people could travel around the world even every year. In certain sense, the world is actually getting smaller. Now travellers become more aggressive in seeking challenging adventures to fill the gap. In some extreme cases, a few people would take their risk for some extraordinary journeys such as cycling Australia (including unsupported routes in the remote and hostile country) and walking across the continent (2,500 kilometres from the south coast to the north coast). If you are interesting in the stories of those adventurers, I have two recommendations here:


Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain - the trail head of the famous Overland Track in Tasmania

For those who want to take more than just weekend walking, Australia has plenty to offer. Among all the well known tracks out there, the following ones are some of the most popular and rewarding tracks for all visitors.

1. The Overland Track in Tasmania
It is a six day walk, travelling 65 kilometres from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair through the heart of the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area. If you like wild scenes such as alpine moors, craggy peaks and swathes of luxuriant rainforest, this is the one you should not miss. At a glance, this does not look like a hard track especially there is a basic hut at the end of each section. However, the weather in the alpine country could change abruptly so carrying your own camping gear is vital. To prevent overcrowded condition in walking season (1 Nov - 30 Apr), booking is required (AU$160 per adult).

2. The South Coast Track in Tasmania
If you want to try something harder, the South Coast Track is the one. It is a 84 kilometres wilderness walk along the southern coastline of Tasmania. Walkers won't see any human signs - no huts or shelters, no roads or side tracks although there are some campsites along the track. On average, it is a 7-day track but some people may take up to 9 days to complete the walk. If you like remote beaches, buttongrass plains and rainforest, awesome scenery, this is the one. Official information is available from Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania and individual walker.

3. Wilsons Prom Circuit Trail in Victoria
This is a shorter 3-day circuit walk in the Wilsons Promontory National Park. The total length is 44 kilometres and it takes you through lush and variable coastal landscape. Sealer Cove, a pretty inlet protected by rocky peaks and tall eucalypts, is the highlight of the walk. The walk officially starts and end from Tidal River although many walkers would skip the first up-hill section and start their walk from Mt Oberon Car Park. Permits are required for overnight hiking.

4. Larapinta Trail in Northern Territory
Larapinta trail is located at the heart of Central Australia and runs along the West MacDonnell Ranges. It is quite a long walk of 223 kilometres. The 12-section design allows walkers to join and leave the trail in a flexible way. It runs through a number of key attractions including Simpsons Gap, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen. The views along the trail are spectacular and provide an excellent feel of the arid environment in Australia. More information is available on the tourism website of Northern Territory.


Mount Sonder - the final destination of the Larapinta trail, Northern Territory

5. Six Foot Track in New South Wales
This 45-kilometre 3-day track takes walkers back to the era of the early explorers and demonstrates the footsteps of those pioneers. Started from katooma, the hub of Blue Mountains, the track leads visitors all the way to Jenolan Caves via mountains landscape, lush rainforest and open woodland. More Six Foot Track information is available here.

A few other tracks are also worth mentioning:


Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Tasmania. Weather is constantly changing at high altitude.

 

John Nievaart - Whale Stranding Naracoopa King Island 2009, 8/10/09

The first I heard of it was from a phone call about 11pm on Sunday night March 1 2009, the woman at the other end of the phone said she was from the Mercury Newspaper, Hobart and that there was a beached whale at Naracoopa on the east coast of King Island, and did we know anything about it. We live right on the beach at Naracoopa so my wife Rhonda and I went out in the pitch black armed with a torch but saw nothing.
Next morning about 7ish after about a 5 minute walk along the beach from home I was greeted by about 190 beached Pilot whales, about 6 dolphins were amongst them and handful of locals helping out the distressed creatures; what a pitiful site! I could hear their crying, so sad as they were all slowly dying.



I needed to help so I hurried home and pilfered as many sheets, towels, blankets and buckets as I could muster, grabbed my new camera and threw everything into the car.
Taking some pictures was some thing I just had to do, then it was into it to try and help our poor suffering friends. There were a lot of whales already deceased but there was hope with so many still alive, some of the whales had beached themselves onto their sides but with all their frantic squirming had managed to block or almost block their blow-holes which meant they couldn’t breathe; what needed to happen was to dig around those huge bodies and as the tide slowly came in, attempt to straighten them out at the same time keeping their blow-holes clear.

What was truly amazing was the local King Island grapevine. People came from all over the island armed with same sort of gear as I had brought and selflessly taken unpaid leave of their regular employment, dropping everything else to try to save these helpless mammals. Sheets and blankets etc were used to cover the whales’ bodies as they are extremely susceptible to sunburn while the bucket brigade, non-stop threw water on the stressed whales to keep them wet to keep them cool and to stop their skins from cracking. Some creative volunteers had even brought water pumps mounted on tiny floating rafts in order to douse our sea-faring friends.

A jet ski and boat were used to tow 15 stranded whales out to deeper water and were also used to keep a new pod from swimming in, we think they may have been called to help their struggling relations; either that or they were trying to beach themselves as well – hard to say.

The order of the day was to keep the animals alive while waiting for high tide, and Parks and Wildlife offficers to arrive from mainland Tasmania. When Parks and Wildlife eventually turned up late in the afternoon, their teams and some of our local volunteers immediately sprung into action, they were brilliant. The tide was in and they just bodily man-handled all these whales to float, re-orientate and guide them back out to sea. Many came back but were sent off again. I recall some young school girls trying to re-float a baby unsuccessfully as it kept returning, no doubt looking for its mother.

Eventually, later that evening all the whales that had been kept alive, 54 in all plus a couple of dolphins were recued and put safely out to sea. They were all tagged and will be electronically tracked.

About 140 whales and 3 dolphins were not so lucky; because they had beached the previous night. Sadly, help was at hand but unfortunately too late for them.
A Tasmanian marine conservation expert says the shape of the sea floor in the state’s north-west could be partly to blame for a spate of whale strandings. There have been four stranding events in Tasmania since November involving 400 animals.



Rosemary Gales from the Department of Primary Industry and Water says experience has shown that toothed whales such as pilot or sperm whales can become disoriented in shallow water.

“With the toothed whales that are happy to come close to shore, it’s these really shallow sloping beaches where they almost always get caught at low tide,”

“So they come in and feed and then the tide goes out and they get trapped.”

Samples are being taken from the estimated 140 dead whales in efforts to learn more about the cause of mass strandings. One unfounded theory why whales beach themselves is that they are in direct competition for food with dolphins and that the dolphins have poiposly led them into the shallows.

 

Pele Leung - Surviving Australia 1/10/09

It started raining. In Northern Territory, raining could be a sign of danger. Nobody wants to be caught by a swelling river in a remote region. Val was paddling back to her camp after a whole day canoe trip alone. When she turned a fast flowing river bend she saw a driftwood straight ahead. She tried to avoid hitting the driftwood. The fast flowing water dramatically reduced the distance between the driftwood and her canoe. Before hitting the driftwood right on, she saw the eyes - eyes of the driftwood. It was a huge 'salty' - a dangerous kind of crocodile in the north.

Val tried to paddle away to the paperbark trees growing on a steep muddy bank. She tried to climb a branch but the crocodile grabbed and dragged her to the water. Just between the bites, she escaped with pain and tried to climb the branch again. The crocodile grabbed her again. After a crazy battle with the crocodile, Val managed to escape and crawl towards her camp. The 2-km took her quite a while as she had to crawl and stagger the whole distance. When she reached near the camp she could not move further due to the massive lost of blood. She used her last breath to cry out loud for help. A ranger heard her cry and came to rescue.

What is the motto of this story? To survive the danger, various skills are required but the will to live is crucial. The story of Val demonstrates how important a strong will to live is. This article is about survival in the toughest places in Australia. The first thing we need to beat the tough survival challenge is a strong mind to fight then we can talk about other required knowledge and skills later.

According to Sorrel Wilby, an Australian adventurer, the first key to survival can be summarised by a word: STOP - it does not mean stop to fight. It means

To turn negative factors into our advantages, we must stay calm and work out what we should do next. In many situations, people could have much better chance to survive if they follow the steps above.

When we are mentally prepared the next thing to increase the chance of survival is the skill. Among all the important items on the survival list, knowing first aid in the wilderness is probably one of the crucial items. When a trip member or yourself is injured and potentially in a critical medical condition, first aid knowledge becomes crucial. There is no other substitute for a well prepared first aid kit and a person with the knowledge and skills of how to use it. If you are a frequent wilderness visitor, the first thing you should learn is not to climb rock or navigate in the snow. Taking a St. John first aid course is probably your number-one priority.

Assuming you are stranded in the middle of nowhere but without immediate danger of any medical conditions, the next things to deal with are most likely the following:

1. Water
In the old days, many explorers died in the Outback because they failed to find water. In most situations, we cannot survive for more than three days without water. To find water in the Outback, there are a few ways:

If you are in the bush, the methods are quite different. Water usually can be found in the bottoms of the valleys. You can also collect rainwater, clear muddy water or drinking snow if you are in the alpine regions.


In Outback, water could be hidden anywhere especially near the base of rocky outcrops

2. Fire
Fire does not simply allow you to cook but also gives you warmth in a cold night in the middle of nowhere. Lighting a fire is easier to say than done unless you have the modern technologies such as matches, lighter or a magnified glass (believe t or not, a SLR lens can be used instead). To light a fire using the traditional friction method like what Tom Hank did in the movie 'Cast Away' is probably not for everyone. So bring your latest technologies with you when you are off for any wilderness journeys. To light a fire, remember to start with dry and small material such as dry grass first and then with larger stuff such as small pieces of dry wood etc. Ideally the lighting process would be more effective if wind shelter such as rocks is available.

3. Shelter
To survive a cold night, you need a shelter. It could be as simple as a piece of plastic sheet as wind shield or a dry tree log without other animals staying inside. You may have to improvise and use whatever material that is readily available.

4. Food
As Sorrel Wilby said, it is the first thing you will miss but the last thing you need. In a mild climate, you can survive without food as long as thirty-five days. If you know how to pick wild food, it will be an advantage here. Be careful, many of our native plants are toxic so don't attempt to eat them unless you know whether they are edible. If you are really desperate, try earthworms, grasshoppers, moths, snakes, termites and even mosquitoes. They may not be as tasteful as the food at home but sometimes we just do not have choice. Good luck and happy dinner.


Aboriginal people have been living in the toughest places in Australia for thousands of years. Their traditional survival skills in the Outback and bush provide a good guideline for the modern city people like us especially when we have not brought the technologies with us.


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