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Category: photographs

Glen Helen Gorge (#26 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 25, 2023 by Pelidoug

Glen Helen Gorge (#26 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

 

Glen Helen Gorge is in the Western MacDonnell Ranges, 132 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

It was carved by the Finke, allegedly the world’s oldest river.

Glen Helen is one of not many Central Australian places where water is “permanently” visible, reflecting the sky.

If you are looking for particularly beautiful examples of “water in landscape” – whether an entirely natural landscape, or a man-made/manicured/ garden setting – you will likely enjoy a higher success rate in regions with dry rather than wet climates.

read moreGlen Helen Gorge (#26 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)
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Beautiful, but… (#24 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 23, 2023 by Pelidoug

Beautiful, but… (#24 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

 

 

To my eye, Coober Pedy is an ugly town, albeit a singular one.

So, I was delighted to see something so lovely, growing not many footsteps away from a hideous shopping venue and car park.

I love the way such tall grasses look, especially when wind whiffles through them.

Alas, however, I was admiring a very “bad” plant.

Buffel grass – Cenchrus ciliaris L, pictured above – is “arguably the greatest invasive species threat to biodiversity across the Australian arid zone.”

Some beef producers, however, still view it fondly as “great cattle feed”.

The relevant legal requirement in South Australian Arid Lands:

Land owners in this region to take reasonable steps to kill plants and prevent their spread. Enforceable by the South Australian Arid Lands Landscape Board.

read moreBeautiful, but… (#24 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)
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Grass, winter sun, “desert” (#23 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + musical bonus

Published July 20, 2023 by Pelidoug

Grass, winter sun, “desert” (#23 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + musical bonus

 

Technically, the country in which Alice Springs sits really is a desert environment.

It is, however, far from barren.

Central Australia is beautifully vegetated – botanically “rich”, not “poor”.

Trees and flowers are not its only beautiful plants.

read moreGrass, winter sun, “desert” (#23 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + musical bonus
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Incandescent rock? (#22 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 19, 2023 by Pelidoug

Incandescent rock? (#22 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

 

 

Strictly speaking, the answer is “no, of course not”.

However, when early morning or late afternoon sunshine “hits” some arid zone Australian rock faces, “incandescent” is almost the only appropriate adjective.

As you can see, this one appears to be emitting light, even if it is “really” only being affected by light.

read moreIncandescent rock? (#22 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)
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“Outback Art” #2 (#21 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 18, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Outback Art” #2 (#21 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

 

 

“Plane Henge” is the signature “permanent exhibit” in what at least one writer has described as “the world’s largest art gallery”.

Mutonia Sculpture Park sits beside the Oodnadatta Track, less than one hour’s drive west from Marree.

If you were overhead, in a functional aircraft, Lake Eyre South would also be within your field of view.

The “park” includes the ruins of the Alberrie Creek Siding, on what once was “The Ghan” railway line.

Arguably, Mutonia strains to near or beyond breaking point any reasonable definition of “art gallery” or “park”.

Inarguably, its sheer unlikeliness leaves a lasting impression on most visitors.

read more“Outback Art” #2 (#21 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)
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Easily overlooked… (#20 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + suitably sunny musical bonus

Published July 17, 2023 by Pelidoug

Easily overlooked… (#20 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + suitably sunny musical bonus

 

 

Some arid Australian plants are flamboyant, immediately arresting, intensely colourful.

However, to a hasty, inattentive human, not a few of them look “plain”, “drab”, barely-there.

Rich rewards await the more attentive: if you stop, and “zoom in”, you will discover that many such plants are exquisitely structured and their colour palette is much richer, and/or more variegated, than was initially apparent.

The petite, pictured example is probably a member of the genus Ptilotus; the name refers to their flowers’ “hairy” appearance.

read moreEasily overlooked… (#20 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + suitably sunny musical bonus
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Mount Sonder (#19 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 16, 2023 by Pelidoug

Mount Sonder (#19 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

 

Even by Australian standards, this post’s hero is a relatively modest mountain.

130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, Mount Sonder (1,380 metres) is the Northern Territory’s 4th highest peak; with the sole exception of Western Australia, all other Australian States (& the ACT) have considerably higher mountains.

Everest (which I have seen, “in person”, albeit from some distance) comprehensively dwarfs it, but is no lovelier.

Mount Sonder is one of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.

read moreMount Sonder (#19 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)
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