Glen Helen Gorge (-23.68847  132.67651)

About the Gorge

Glen Helen Gorge is in the West McDonnell ranges, around 135 Km west of Alice Springs.  The gorge has an almost permanent water hole and is part of the Ormiston Pound.   

Viewpoints

One oe.

  1. From jualls.
  2. From side.
  3. While ys.

How to get there

The only way to get there is via car, and mostly from, or on the way to Alice Springs.  The road is sealed and fine year round. 

Accessability

Not known yet.  

Best time to visit

While this is the 'outback' it is not the northan outback where you need to worry about wet and dry seasons. It is fine to visit year round. The summer can be hot during the day, but this is a nice place to swim anyhow. Winter provides more slanting light and longer twilight, so is slightly better from that point of view.

Where stay

There is hotel accomodation in Alice Springs, and after all, this location is only 1.5 hours out of Alice. However there is a Discovery Park at the Gorge. (-23.68575  132.67296) This has cabins and of course allows caravans, RV's, camper trailers and tents.  The park also has a camp kitchen, resturant, retail shop, laundry and swimming pool. 

How I photographed the Gorge

What I took - what was in my kit

firstly, I have not been there yet.

I will take my LowePro Backpack loaded with Linhof Technorama with Velvia 50 film for the panorama, and Canon 5DSR body, Canon 24 mm TS, Canon 16-35mm and 50mm Sigma Art Lenses, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant.

As with any of the West McDonell areas, I love the reds and blues that can come from these ranges. There are wildlife around - mostly small wallabies - but they are hard to get close to and even harder to photograph in as part of the scene. The scenery is awe inspiring in its size and scale, and of course a small kangaroo is neither of those. It becomes lost in any scene.

Techniques

Viewpoints

There are XX main choices:

  1. From the Upper Lookout. I dont particularly like this view. If you cant go down the steps, then it is clearly a chance to see the falls, but from a photography perspective there is too much bush in the way for my liking.
  2. From the Lower Lookout. Here you are in the river valley, and facing the falls straight on. The sides of the valley limit the range of perspectives avaiable, but they dont stop your cropping and composition. Changing the perspective to the right of the platform gave the images below. The second image being just a crop of the first to elimate the bundle of sticks at the bottom right hand side.

How I photographed the XXXX

What I took - what was in my kit

I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DMkII body, Canon 24-105mm zoom, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I tended to shoot 28-55mm

Techniques

As with any waterfall, I want to blur the water but not the surrounding vegitation. That means using a long exposure and a tripod. I could have used NR filters, but in this case I didnt. I simply changed the aperature to suit. I was already shooting at ISO 100.

Other things to look out for

Nearby to Esrkine Falls are the Staw Falls, Splitter Falls, Cumberland Falls, Sheoak Falls, Upper and Lower Kalimna Falls, Won Wondah Falls, Henderson Falls, Cora Lynn cascades and finally the Phantom Falls. In addition for waterfalls, there is the is the beach, surf, and a range of tourist attractions.

The area is a temperate rainforest, with a range of interesting plants and wildlife. Jenny loves photographing the various fungi that can be found in these places

Location

XXXXX FWV7+69 Lorne, Victoria Erskine Falls Access Rd, Lorne Vic 3232 ///seatbelts.stilts.contributing (-38.50591, 143.913509)

Techniques used

Kit used

How to get there

XXXThe best way to get to the falls is by car. It can be accessed by bike or walking from the town of Lorne. The falls are about 150km from Melbourne (2.5 hours drive) and about 9km from the town of Lorne by road and 7.5 via the walking track (past Splitter and Staw Falls).

XXXIf taking a car from Lorne, take the Erskiine Falls Rd, turning off this road onto the Erskine Falls access road on your right. There is a car park near the falls.

If walking from Lorne, the walking track is well made and starts on the Esrkine River at the Caravan Park in Lorne (near the vistiors centre).

Best time to visit

XXXXv As with any waterfall, the winter / spring post rainy period is the best as more water is likely to flow over the falls and the bush around the falls tends to be greener. During the summer months and holiday periods, Lorne is also a busy holiday town, and there is likely to be tourists near the falls or getting into your photos. For this reason, if you have to visit of a summer weekend day, I would suggest going early.

Accessability

XXX There are two viewing platforms: the upper viewing platform and lower. The upper is a short 5 minute walk from the car park, while the lower platform is down some 240 steps to the bottom of the falls.

The photograph above was taken from the Lower Platform. In this case the weather was overcast and the sky just a uniform grey. While I love a bright blue sky contrasting with the lush green to found around waterfalls - I dont like grey at all, so I composed the shot to crop it out.

Where to stay

XXX Erskine falls is just outside of Lorne - one of the more well known and well liked Victorian Beach towns. There are plenty of places to stay here, from tent sites through caravan sites, bungalows to nice hotels.