Setting off on my trip from Perth to Sydney, packing my bags, I was left wondering how I would find good compositions for photos. This 4,000km journey will take me across some of the most vast and sparsely populated regions off Australia. From the longest straight road in Aus (146.6km), to the great treeless Nullarbor Plain, landscape photography would prove difficult.
Thankfully, knowing this trip was coming up, I added a new piece of arsenal to my collection. The Sony 100-400 GM is my first full frame tele-photo lens. Having previously used the APSC 55-200mm on my Sony a6000, I was extremely excited to go out and test this new lens is such a landscape. I was not disappointed with the results.
Leaving Perth at 3am, I spent the first day heading east passing through small WA mining towns. After a rather uneventful 12 hours I finally made it to Norseman, turning left onto the Eyre Highway. From here its effectively now just one road all the way across Australia. I found a rest stop just short of Fraser Range for my first night and was greeted with a fantastic sunset.
Balladonia, WA
Cocklebiddy, WA
I started again at 4am the next morning hoping to find a nice spot to shoot the sunrise. Just as I came over Fraser Range, heading towards Balladonia, I found a spot to pull over and test the new lens. With a max 400mm reach I actually felt overwhelmed with the compositions available.
With a wide-angle lens, the low light scene would have been dominated by a bright sky and a silhouetted foreground. With the tele-photo I could really take my time to enjoy the small details in the landscape. With the mid ground undulating I decided to use a higher F stop, around f/11, to ensure I had enough depth of field to keep the closer objects in focus. This meant slightly longer shutter speeds, but the in-built stabilisation still allowed comfortable shooting in the hand.
300km down the road, passing across the longest straight road in Australia “the 90 Mile Straight”, you hit Madura Pass. From here you have endless views of the Roe Plains. Between 15 and 45 million years ago sea levels repeatedly advanced and retreated in this area of the Nullarbor. Large rain clouds were sweeping across this ancient seabed when I arrived.
Here, I opted for a lot more vertical shooting, as I was looking down onto the landscape. I wanted to capture the edges of the rainfall and shoot the contrasting light it brought. Focal distance allowed me to move between tight details of the tress and the overall scene with the clouds.
It takes a while to drive the Roe Planes. Roughly 200km later you find yourself climbing back up onto the Hampton Tablelands to find the town of Eucla and the South Australian border. Next stop, the Nullarbor Plains!
Cocklebiddy, WA
Madura Pass, WA
Nullarbor means "no trees" in Latin, but in reality, the Nullarbor is covered with bluebush and mulga scrub, and even wildflowers after rain. Overall though, not much the photograph... so when you see the road signs for a lookout you naturally pull in. The Bunda Cliffs are truly spectacular. I’ve been lucky enough to come here on previous occasions and witnessed a sunset. This time round the sun was still quite high but at my back, giving me an opportunity to shoot the Eastern side of the cliffs. Here I tried a few vertical panels to create a panorama, but since I didn’t bring my tripod down from the car, I did this free hand with varying results. Looking west, I used the sun to capture the waves as they slammed into the cliffs.
Hoping for clear night skies, I brought my Sony 14mm GM along. I swapped over at this location, but as I suspected the focal distance just made for plain and often boring shots.
There was enough daylight left to make Nullarbor Roadhouse, so I pushed on. I arrived just in time for sunset and a well overdue shower. Later that evening I set up for some astro photography. Although it is the wrong time of the year to capture the milky way core, I was still able to capture a lot of stars. By positioning the camera facing the highway, I was able to use the passing road trains for a bit of light painting. Using the 14mm, a 20 second shutter gave the trucks enough time to completely pass through my shots, whilst keeping the stars nice and sharp. Nothing like stars in the outback!
‘Bunda Cliffs’
‘Last Stop’
Setting off early the next morning, I had an easy run to Ceduna, but by the time I reached Kimba, a large storm cell had begun to move down from the north. Storms in the outback are incredible. A large rainstorm had picked up a dust storm ahead of it and was pushing it along, creating a mud storm.
Photography took a backseat from this point onwards. I found a semi dry place to camp for the night beyond Port Augusta and got some much needed rest. The next day had me facing some of the worst flooding in decades, spread out along my path, spreading from Central NSW to Western Victoria.
It was a long day. Road closures, multiple hour detours and many water crossings had pushed me further and further north, until I reached Griffith… 14 hours later. At this point, I had been informed by the locals that things will only be getting worse, so I grabbed dinner and started the drive through the night. I got through safe and pulled up on top a hill at 1am.
Things did get much worse for those still in the area, so I’m grateful for their advice.
I arrived into Sydney, 5 days later, with a few thousand photos to go through! What a trip! Special shout out to our beloved Rav4… you will be missed!
