About 20 years ago I happened on a very scenic little pool at the bottom of a small waterfall on a creek in Tasmania. I had just done a 'Taking Better Pictures' sort of photography course, and recognised the potential in the colours, shapes, and textures. I liked the resulting picture, and more importantly, the lady who ran the photo printing booth in the local K-Mart was over the moon about it.
In those days you viewed photos on pieces of paper, called prints. Your camera used rolls of
film, and you had to take said rolls to K-Mart or elsewhere to get the
pictures developed and printed. The people there made more money if they
could persuade people to get enlargements made, and my lady used
examples of customers' work, enlarged to various degress, stuck on the
wall behind her, to illustrate what you could get and what it would
cost. I was flattered and delighted when she asked whether my shot could
be her new demonstration image. It was there for several years.
The other day, walking in the
Budawangs, I came across another Pool of Photography, one to rival that
earlier Tasmanian one. So I got to work again. Here are the results.
I got away for a few days recently to the Budawangs, the terrific little mountain range, the best of which is in the Morton National Park, rather than the neighbouring Budawangs National Park.
It's about 200km south west
of Sydney, and it's very much worth the trip. A good introduction is the
short but sharp ascent (450m) up Pidgeon House, named by Captain Cook
for its appearance (to 1770 eyes at least) as a pidgeon house.
I took the picture at top of the
main Castle Group, which I was to explore during a big day walk, from the top of Pidgeon
House. You can also see Byangee Walls, Mount Owen, Mount Nibelung, Mount
Mooryan, Mount Cole, the Seven Gods Pinnacles, and the Shrouded Gods
Mountain. And what a bushwalkers paradise it all is!
My big day walk involved ascending via the Castle Walk up to Meakins Pass, then up into Monolith Valley, past the most beautiful Pool of Photography I've ever come across, into the Green Room, and on past the Seven Gods Pinnacles. Then it was time to turn around, but there was still time to ascend Mount Owen, via a difficult ill-defined scrambly route, and back down quickly before nightfall.
As for the Castle itself, well you always have to leave something for the next visit, and I've left this one. A bit scary to look at, and those who've been up it try to spook you in the usual way with stories about the big drop and the exposure. But I understand it's not that hard really, very few people actually fall over the edge, and it's therefore quite do-able. So next time, I'll do it!
