Travel in Australia:best place for landscape photography

[diegobuono]

<p>Hello all,<br />I will travel to Australia in August (arrive Sydney 18th August, leaving from Melbourn 8th september), I'm planning the travel and, togheter with my friends decided to go/stay in Sydney, Cairns, Darwin (if possible to stay in Kakadou park), Alice Spring (Uluru an Olgas), Melbourne (kangaroo Island).<br />Do you have some good place (or particular point related to the place I mentioned) to recommend for landscape/seascape photography around the place I mentioned or along the way to reach it? I considered to take the plane for the major internal trip but could consider the car if some place worht the trip (i'm thinking about the Whitsundays islands).<br />Any further tips and suggestion about best hours of the day for some particular place, or any other tips?<br />How about the weather?<br />Finally, I will use films (over all slide films) and would like to avoid to x-ray it in the airpoprt, it's possible to have it hand-inspected or not? Do you know (in the major cities) good professional lab that can develop it with 1 day (max) tourn-around? How does it cost to develop a roll (120 and 220) of slide film?<br />I know it's a lot of question, sorry, but it's not a trip I can do frequently, so I would arrange it the best way I can.<br />Thank you in advance.<br />Diego.</p>

[rainer_t]

<p>There is no such thing as a "best place", but there are many nice location near the spots you want to visit.</p>

<p>Sydney ... besides the city itself (which offers many many places for nice shots, like "the Rocks" and the opera house as well as around circular quay), you might visit the "blue mountains" which are about 1 hour (with a car) west of Sydney. If you like landscapes, you shouldn't miss "Wentworth Falls"...but there are a lot more very nice spots up there.</p>

<p>Alice Springs ... If you visit Uluru/Ayers Rock and the Olgas, you might have the time to go to "Kings Canyon" as well. Also, "Trephina Gorge" about 100Km from Alice is a nice place.</p>

<p>Melbourne ... a nice day (or two day) trip is to take the "Great Ocean Road".<br /> Also, "Wilsons Promontory" (a national park about 150Km east from Melbourne) is extremly nice.</p>

<p>Kakadou National Park has many very nice spots in it. You should plan more than one day for it.</p>

<p>If you fly from city to city, you miss a lot of interesting spots in between (like the wellknown "Devils marbles" on the way from Darwin to Alice. Not a "must have" shot, but very impressive if you're there early and grab some shots in the morning light).</p>

<p>If your slide films aren't extremly sensitive, I wouldn't worry about X-ray. Just make sure you have them in your handluggage.</p>

[jenna_kikani]

<p>The Whitsunday Islands are beatuiful. Probably the nicest beach I've seen. The whole east coast has lots of ops for seascape photography. Also look into a trip to Fraser Island. The Great Ocean road from Adelaide to Melbourne. In Sydney you could go to Bondi beach or Manly Beach. I have some pics of these locations on my website. <a href="http://www.pbase.com/jkik2478">www.pbase.com/jkik2478</a><br>

Check out Uluru and the Olgas from the distant at sunset, the sky turns really colorful shades of pink, red, purple.</p>

[znabal]

<p>Australia is a big place...just driving from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock is like 450 kilometers. It is also a big place when it comes to landscapes...from Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide to all the various sights to see in the Red Center. Even Kakadu is huge, like 1/2 million acres, similar in size to Isreal. Have fun -jeffl</p>

[paul_dymond2]

<p>I would agree with Jeff - Australia is a really big country! Even with three weeks there's a limit to how much you can see and do unless you plan to be really busy every day! The distances in the Outback are really big. Just driving from Alice Springs down to Yulara is a half day trip. At Uluru make sure you take the time to walk around the base, it takes about 3 hours and is just beautiful.<br>

Over at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) you should do the Valley of the Winds walk. It's just spectacular - particularly the view from the halfway point lookout.<br>

I am based up here in Cairns. Here the main attractions are the Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef. Most places are visitable in a day trip from town but if you want sunrise shots you'll need to stay overnight. No sunsets in this part of the world as the sun goes down behind the mountains in the late afternoon before the light gets nice. In the rainforest if you've got a sunny day it's way too contrasty to photograph at anything but the earliest hours of the morning and the late hours of the evening.<br>

Plan to visit the rainforest on cloudy days and the reef or one of the islands on a sunny day. Bring a polariser for both the reef and the forest as it cuts down on a lot of reflections.</p>