Destinations, The Official Panedia Weblog

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

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

This is an oldy, but a goody. I was shooting on Noosa beach late one afternoon when I notice 2 girls surfing which is not common. Girls surfing is, but 2 girls surfing alone isn’t. I’m shooting panos with a fisheye lens so there is no use taking pics of them, and I would ask permission first in that situation (which is of course impossible).

So I continue shooting around the area and then down by the rock wall, when they decide they’ve finished surfing and it’s time to head in. Perfect serendipity, the lead girl is leaving the water just as I’m shooting, creating one of my favourite panos. You can’t see the girls in the thumb, you’ll need to view the pano

Surfer Girl, Noosa

Cradle Mountain National Park is a very popular and beautiful spot in Tasmania. On my last shooting trip to Tasmania I managed 2 trips here. On the first one it was snowing after a cold snap in the middle of summer, this shot is from the 2nd visit about 10 days later when the snow had all melted.

Cradle Moutain Boat Shed Virtual Tour