Fashion should be fun and with my photography I love to create those fun moments.

Travel

Wilpena Pound Scenic Flight

_SYD1503
While staying at Arkaba, one of the things you can do besides Derek's 4WD tours, bushwalking, relaxing, is to go on a scenic flight around the geographically amazing Wilpena Pound. So I thought it would be a good idea for the story to get a picture of the plane with the mountain in the background, and the pilot getting the plane ready for take off. So Pat, the Arkaba manager took me down there, and this is Georgina Paterson , originally from Armidale, now captain of the plane_SDY1220
Captain, fule station, plane and Wilpena pound_SDY1245
I get her to show me the plane, and ask her, as she is about to do a scenic flight, where would be a good spot for me to get a shot of the plane taking off and the moutain in the background_SDY1268
Near the wind sock she says_SYD1513
But then she invited me to come on board for the ride, woudl I be interested ? Hello, is the pope a catholic ?_SDY1261
So here's me on take off . I gave Pat my other camera so he took the take off picture_SYD1524
ok.... woauw_SYD1536
the wilpena pound looking west _SYD1542
closer_SYD1546
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The dry arid country side, only made worse by decades of grazing sheep,  they eat everything, including tree seedling, and their hoofs trampling the top layer , so when it rains ( and when it does it's more like a flood ) it gouges through the the now loosened top layer of soil, make the country more barren_SYD1556
But the most fascinating part still remains the "rubbing" of teutonic plates millions of years ago, causing these mountains to "pop " up from the earth, clearly dispalying the different layers of millions of layers, keeping in mind , that this area has been through several ice ages, and once this was part of a vast ocean. Even not so long ago , they found evidence of a coral reef, fossilised in rock formations, and now it is the driest state_SYD1568
St Mary's peak, the highest point of the southern side of the wilpena pound, and here, the Arkaba property extends to in the north of their property. Inside the pound is national park, and the border is the ridge of the mountain range_SYD1575
Can you see the S _SYD1601
This is about 15-20 min later into the flight and we are now on the very southern end of the pound with the "Aligator's back ridge "  aka Aroona Valley_SYD1610
Just makes me want to go and do some more exploring down there_SYD1625
The faint white patch you can see blending in with the horizon is Lake Torrens, which is a salt lake, I'm sure, bigger than the country Luxembourg_SYD1638
Bridle gap going into the center of the pound, with Wilpena resort, but the reason I took this photo is because of the 4.5 million dollar solar panels ( the bright reflection in the middle of the photo )  which supplies about 40 % of the energy to the resort. _SDY1279
safely landed_SDY1299
That was fun and informative, plus visually , a delight. Highly recommended at 130 dollars per person, for half an hour, well worth it.
Now for more information on Wilpena pound, you can try Wikepedia , or maybe Eva will now correct me ona few things or add some more info
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