21/02/2010

From Alice Springs to the Western MacDonald range and gorges

I continue to be fascinated with the trees and rocks in Australia and they just seem to get more magnificent  each place I visit – on the advice of my Melbourne friend Kate I took this trip out to the Western MacDonald ranges and here are some of the images I took – i have had no time to edit the photographs in anyway so they are straight from the camera. This is where I was heading

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the first stop was at Simpson’s gap – a waterhole several kilometres out of Alice Springs then on to Stanley Chasm

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Yes the sky is really this blue!

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Tree bark- the river gum tree

The ochre pits below are a sacred Aboriginal site where they obtain the red, yellow and white pigments for skin decoration – the pigments are mixed with fat to intensify the colour.

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I love the way the pure white bark of this tree protrudes from the red rock face

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Heavy rains a few weeks ago have caused the waterholes to be unusually full and rivers to flow – a rare event in this part of the world! This is Glen Helen Gorge below.

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And finally some tree images of course!

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Can you believe the bark on this tree – I thought it looked clothed!

4 comments:

nancy neva gagliano said...

reminiscent of my beloved northern new mexico, the rio grande gorge...excited about my annual mid summer sojourn, WITH my new camera!! thanks for a peek.

Unknown said...

Wow!! Love these shots. The last one is just gorgeous.

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

What a photo tour...love the names of these places, exotic sites with ordinary names. You are having one wonderful adventure and I'm having a great time checking in to the latest update!

Char said...

beautiful shots!! i really love the bark shot