Destinations, The Official Panedia Weblog

HMAS Onslow Submarine Virtual Tours – Full Screen.

While shooting Virtual Tours of the HMAS Onslow submarine for the National Maritime Museum I discovered the Sub is a loaner from another Museum in Canberra. That’s quite a loan.

From Wikipedia:

HMAS Onslow (SS 60/SSG 60) was one of six Oberon class submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The submarine was named after the town of Onslow, Western Australia and SirAlexander Onslow, with the boat’s motto and badgederived from Onslow’s family heritage. Ordered in 1963, Onslow was laid down at the end of 1967 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Scotland, launched almost a year later, and commissioned into the RAN at the end of 1968.

Although never involved in war, three major incidents occurred during Onslow‘s career. The first occurred in 1972, when a disgruntled sailor who disobeyed orders caused the submarine to dive to almost twice her safe operating depth.^[3] As a result, the RAN changed the Submarine Service from being able to ‘conscript’ any sailor for submarine service to volunteer only.^[3] The second happened in 1981, when carbon monoxide fumes from one of the diesel generators filled the submarine, resulting in the death of one sailor.^[4]Although changes were made to submarine operating procedures, the boat’s company was not provided with any psychological counseling, and the incident report remained classified until 2009.^[4] The third was a controversial line-crossing ceremony in 1995, which resulted in restrictions being placed on similar ceremonies aboard RAN vessels.^[5][6] During her career, Onslow became the first conventionally powered submarine to be fitted with anti ship missiles, and was successful in wargames: ‘sinking’ a seven ship flotila during Exercise Kangaroo 3 in 1980, and the United States supercarrier USS Carl Vinson at RIMPAC 1998.^[7][8][9][3]

Onslow was decommissioned in 1999, and was presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum, where she is preserved as a museum ship.

Vivid Sydney Virtual Tours.

“Macquarie Visions casts a new light onto Sydney’s ceremonial street, celebrating in stunning and immersive light displays, the 200th anniversary and story of two great visionary leaders, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth.

The Macquaries’ innovations are revealed with illuminating, theatrical and contemporary light displays in a family friendly free night promenade along the length of the Macquarie Street linking St Mary’s Cathedral to the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay as part of Vivid Sydney 2010, running from 27 May to 21 June 2010.” [According to the marketing blurb, and they were right.]

Official Macquarie Visions Website – Link

Details & Interview with lighting developers

The 20th June 2010 was a long day. Leaving home on the Gold Coast at 7am for a drive to Sydney 900+km away, I typically have a rest after the 11hr journey. But this was the very last evening of the Sydney Vivid festival, so relaxation was the last thing on my mind.

Unpacking the car at the In-laws (apart from my photo gear) I drove to a nearby train station for the 1hr trip into Sydney City. At 8pm on a Sunday night the train and station were deserted. Arriving at Town Hall I briskly walked 1km to the start of the Macquarie Visions event. I was expecting crowds, being the last night of the show, but was pleasantly surprised to find the place sparsely populated nearing 10pm.

After 2.5 hours of shooting panoramas & a little video I left the Sydney Opera House, hopped a train from Circular Quay back to Town Hall, then another 1hr train to my car.  With my head hitting the pillow at 2am, I was very pleased to have experienced the brilliant lights festival.

Following on are single interactive panoramas of each of the main buildings on the tour.

1. St. Mary’s Cathedral – Virtual Tour

2. Hyde Park Barracks – Virtual Tour

3. The Mint – Virtual Tour

4. NSW Parliament House – Virtual Tour

5. State Library of New South Wales – Virtual Tour

6. Sydney Conservatorium of Music – Virtual Tour

7. Sydney Opera House – Virtual Tour

Vivid Sydney map containing virtual tours. Vivid Sydney Map, FullScreen with all virtual tours

Uluru (Ayers Rock) Virtual Tours.

Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is a place of immense beauty with a definite spiritual aspect.  It’s the worlds largest monolith (single big rock), being located in the middle of outback Australia, it towers over the flat surrounding desert.

Official Uluru National Park – Link

At present you can still climb Uluru, although the owners ask that you don’t.  The climb is located on the western face, it’s extremely steep, with chains to help climb portions of it.  The climb closes at 8am on any day the temperature is forecast to top 36°C  (97°F)  I shot the climb from the ground but am not allowed to show it.

I chose to respect the wishes of the owners and not climb. Instead I did the 10km (6.2 miles) walk around the base of Uluru. The base walk is amazing.  Even if you choose to climb Uluru, make time to walk the base as well.

IMO the best way to walk the base is to start at the south car park before dawn, then walk east, counter clockwise around the rock.  This way you walk towards the sun as it breaks the horizon… a sunning sight. As the sun gets a little higher & hotter you turn the eastern edge of Uluru and put your back to the sun walking west along the northern rock face.  On this section I was going against the flow of hordes of tourists trying to shield their faces & eyes from the intense sun beating down.

I shot virtual tours all around Uluru, unfortunately I’m prevented from showing any virtual tours of the northern & north western sides of Uluru.  The north face is VERY different from the southern views. It’s heavily pock marked with gashes and rock falls. Looks a little like a person someone has taken a knife too, cutting gashes, and removing skin to reveal organs and brain. Not pretty, but fascinating nonetheless.

Uluru map containing virtual tours. Uluru (Ayers Rock) Map with all virtual tours – Link

18 Sydney Rock Pool Virtual Tours.

Over a couple of stunning winters days in Sydney last year I shot more than 170 virtual tours from Palm beach in the far north of Sydney to Maroubra beach in the south.  In the process I visited a LOT of amazing Sydney Rock Pools, which are featured here for your viewing pleasure. [Note: Rock Pools are also known as Sea Baths & Ocean Pools]

I’ve covered less than 1/2 of the Rock Pools in Sydney, next time I’m there I plan to shoot many more, eventually having virtual tours of every Rock Pool.

If you’re in Sydney with a car, a fantastic day can be had driving all the way to the top of the Sydney coastline at Palm Beach / Barrenjoey Headland, then heading south, stopping at every beach and rocky headland you come across. The Sydney coastline is diverse and beautiful, along with its inhabitants and structures.

Sydney Rock Pool Article – External Link

Ocean Pools History – External Link PDF

North Narrabeen Rock Pool

Sydney Rock Pools map with virtual tours. Sydney Rock Pools Map – FullScreen Link

30+ Kings Canyon Virtual Tours.

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)

Official Kings Canyon National Park Link

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.

Kings Canyon Creek Virtual Tour

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 hill.

Kings Canyon Heartbreak Hill – Start

Kings Canyon map containing virtual tours.Kings Canyon FullScreen Map Link