Our trip to Central Australia

[emydura]

The family went to central Australia around May this year. There had been a lot of rain in the past few months so the normally dry desert was looking pretty nice. From a photography point of view the trip proved a little frustrating for a whole lot of reasons. But here are a few photos that weren’t too bad.

Uluru is known for changing colour throughout the day. Here is three different photos.

Not far from Uluru is Kata Tjuta (formerly known as Olgas). Personally I found it more impressive than Uluru. You can actually see Kata Tjuta from Uluru and vice versa.

Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

Mount Sonder, West McDonnell Ranges – the West McDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs was just stunning.

The legendary Finke River at sunrise. Most times the river is just a dry sandy bed.

While this area is mostly desert, there are a lot of beautiful gorges of permanent water. Ormiston Gorge is one of the nicest. A beautiful deep swimming whole with lots of fish.

 

[emydura]

Redbank Gorge

The famous Oodandatta Track. The road looks pretty good here but further along it got pretty rough. Blew one tyre and limped into the town of Oodandatta without a spare.

A couple of photos of Lake Eyre. Lake Eyre is normally just a dry salt bed. But in heavy floods the lake fills. When full it is the largest lake in Australia. It has only been full a few times in the last 150 years and was close to full when we were there. When the lake fills there is an incredible amount of bird life.

A photo of a Spinifex hopping mouse which was running around our campsite at night at Lake Eyre. They are a bit bigger than a normal mouse with an incredibly long tail. They hop like a Kangaroo. Incredibly cute. They apparently make a very good pet that is extremely easy to breed. They don’t smell as they have very concentrated urine. You can keep them in most states of Australia. Unfortunately the ACT (where I am from) bans the keeping of all native mammals. A little ridiculous that I can keep an exotic pest mouse but not a native mouse that is freely available in other states.

An amazing site at Lake Eyre is the huge numbers of dead fish. There are literally millions and millions of dead fish right along the shore. When the lake initially fills up the freshwater fish breed rapidly. As the salt crust slowly dissolves into the lake, the water gets saltier and saltier (eventually saltier than sea water). It gets to a point where the water is too salty for fish to live and they are all killed.

The last night was spent at Lake Cargelligo which had a pretty amazing sunset. I didn’t get a lot of great sunsets on the trip but I finished off with one.

 

[Hera]

The sunsets are my favorite part. Thanks for sharing with us. I know I look forward to your trip photos.

 

[quietaustralian]

Stunning Pics

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Incredible. Thanks for sharing!

 

[SlipperFan]

What a beautiful country! Thanks for sharing.

 

[TyroneGenade]

Great photos! thanks

 

[SlipperKing]

Wonderful Vacation!

 

[Lanmark]

Wow!

 

[Ross]

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

 

[Shiva]

A lovely country with fascinating land forms and beautiful sunsets and sunrises. Great photos. And for some unknown reason the name of the town Alice Springs has always sounded beautiful and inviting to me. :clap::clap::clap:

 

[NYEric]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[fibre]

absolutely IMPRESSIVE photographs!

 

[JeanLux]

Thanks David for showing this beautiful series of pics!!!! A lot of stunning photos!!!! If I had to choose a winner I would decide for the pic of the Oodandatta Track :clap::clap:!!!! Jean

 

[Wendelin]

So beautiful! Thanks for showing!

 

[goldenrose]

:drool::drool:talk about red rock, I'll think of your pics the next time I hear those 2 words!

 

[cnycharles]

amazing sites and images; would love to visit someday

 

[Heather]

Any photos from you are always welcome!

 

[Clark]

Love the crispy mirrors at Ormiston and Redbank Gorges.

 

[paphioboy]

Stunning photography and looks like you had a good trip..