Kings Canyon Virtual Tour – Outback Australia
Kings Canyon (Watarrka) National Park is a stunning place, 4hrs drive from Alice Springs in the middle of Outback Australia. It also happens to be 4hrs drive from Uluru (Ayers Rock) You can include it as part of a loop, driving west along the Macdonnell ranges from Alice Springs on Larapinta Drive, then heading to Uluru from Kings Canyon, which is what I did. (4wd recommended) There are 2 main walks at Kings Canyon, a short walk along the valley floor at the foot of the canyon walls. It’s about 500m (1600ft) and takes 30mins at a leisurely pace. Near the end is a beautiful rock pool, depending on the season/rain. The 2nd walk is a much more serious affair of 5.5km (3.5miles) which takes around 3.5hrs to complete. Seeing as this is in outback Australia, which is a HOT place, it’s best to start this walk very early in the morning… or perhaps later in the day. The walk beings with a killer uphill slog, known as heartbreak hill. By the time you reach the top your legs are jelly & your heart pounding. Interestingly this used to be the end of the walk, but lots of people injured themselves coming down the steep hill after walking for 3+hrs. So the park rangers reversed the track to make the hill the start & now have virtually zero injuries. After spending 4hrs shooting virtual tours on the track, my legs really were jelly coming down the gentle slope on the other side of the canyon, I was VERY glad to not be coming down heartbreak...
Kakadu Virtual Tours – Anbangbang Rock Art
Earlier this year I was in Darwin shooting for the Northern Territory Library. I organised for one extra day in my schedule to allow me to zoom out to Kakadu & shoot some virtual tours. It’s a 3hr+ drive each way from Darwin to Jabiru in the Kakadu NP, so I didn’t expect to have much time for shooting. Plus the wet season wasn’t over yet, so most places were inaccessible. Even so the couple of places I could get to were amazing. Official Kakadu National Park Link The Nourlangie and Nanguluwur art sites are a short drive from the Kakadu visitors centre and about a 1.5km (1 mile) walk. The art & rock shelters are amazing to see, and very...
Port Arthur Virtual Tours – Tasmania
Quite some time ago I was in Tasmania shooting hundreds of virtual tours. One morning while staying in Hobart (capital city) I got up at 4am to drive out to Port Arthur (1.5hrs away) to shoot virtual tours at sunrise. Driving 1.5hrs for a sunrise shoot is always a little risky. It’s still dark when you leave, so all you have to go on are the weather reports from the night before & what clouds you can see locally in the dark. Fortunately this morning was beautiful. The Port Arthur ruins are some of the oldest in Australia and sit on a beautiful waterway. If it wasn’t for the cruel & severe life convicts endured here… I’m sure it would have been quite lovely. Port Arthur Ruins at Sunrise Port Arthur is the most popular attraction in Tasmania, the heritage listed park is wonderfully maintained, with a large and informative visitors centre. Port Arthur Ruins of the church. Port Arthur map containing virtual tours. Port Arthur FullScreen Map Link Official Port Arthur Website...
Floriade Canberra
50+ Floriade Virtual Tours. The Annual Canberra flower festival – Floriade is on right now… up until the 11th of October 2009. If you get a chance… go, it’s beautiful. Now I’m not a flower lover in particular, but they build all sorts of images in flowers, it’s amazing stuff. Official Floriade Site Link When I shot the festival last year I happened to arrive in Canberra about 1hr before it finished for the year. I not only witnessed the amazing flowers, but the aftermath, as festival volunteers got to dig up whatever plants they wanted. Floriade Aftermath. (Only for volunteers) The fact everything was about to be destroyed also meant I could walk all over the flower beds as well, getting to the middle of them for virtual tours, which was great. I would have loved to shoot pole panoramas there as well, but unfortunately time didn’t...
Surfers Paradise Dust Storm
With all the noise about the Sydney Dust Storms this morning we here in Queensland were watching with interest… until about lunchtime when the dust storms hit us as well, 1000km (620 miles) north of Sydney. Surfers Paradise Beach – Under Dust. I figured if the dust got so thick I couldn’t see buildings about 300m (1000ft) away I’d head into Surfers Paradise and shoot some virtual tours for posterity. As it turns out we got the pea soup thick dust, so I took the shots. Surfers Paradise Beach – Typical Morning. Here is the full set of 4 virtual tours I shot today. You can also check them out on maps in the virtual tour player. Click the ‘map’ button, on the lower right control...
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