The good traveller

“The good traveller has no fixed plans

and is not intent on arriving.

A good artist lets his intuition guide him wherever it wishes.

A good scientist empties his mind

Dropping the conceptual,

Favouring the actual.

Thus the adept travels the way

Helping all, refusing none,

Attuned to the quivering moment

He apprehends every situation

And acts nakedly in response,

Using inherent possibility

And wasting nothing. “

-Lao Tzu

Looking along the spine of Mt Farrell, Lake Mackintosh. Nov 2022 Pentax MX, Cinestill 50.

Mt Farrell from Victoria Peak’s shoulder, Lake Mackintosh. November 2022, Pentax MX, Cinestill 50.

Panorama from the shoulder of Victoria Peak. Nov 2022, Pentax MX, Cinestill 50.

Green Shrubbery

“As I started following the ‘open’ lead, I found myself pushing through tea-trees between 6-12 ft tall. The thicket wasn’t terribly dense and I was able to part the trees with my hands and walk through without too much struggle. I did hit some open buttongrass, and it made me feel like I was right on Hellyer’s heels. Then a 100 m later I was in the wiry bauera, looking for a way out, feeling certain the country has gotten more scrubby since people have stopped burning it regularly. I was able to follow some wombat pads through the worst of the bauera tangle.”- A.S. 16 Nov 2022, near the Sophia River.

Lake Herbert, Mt Murchison beyond. Pentax MX, Nov 2022.

The scrub is always thicker than it looks. Pentax MX, Nov 2022.

‘Open’ Buttongrass Country. Pentax MX, Nov 2022.

Victoria Peak has a distinct trig point on her summit, and formidable scrub on her shoulders. Pentax MX, Nov 2022.

On the way through…

… from here to there.

This highland yabby froze up when it saw me. Playing dead? Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

The lone pencil pine. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

Clearing mist on the ridge. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

The mighty range and snow peppermints. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

This year will be the year...

…when we let our souls free.

Proud cutting grass. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

 

Scattered snow peppermints. Pentax MX, Nov 2022.

 

Patches of button grass plains among the tea tree thickets. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

-A.S. 2/1/2023, Lenah Valley.

The year that's been...

…in pictures.

The middle finger. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, Jan 2022.

Goon Dog. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, Jan 2022.

Talking ents. Pentax MX, Cinestill 800, Feb 2022.

Waterfall on kunanyi. Pentax MX, Cinestill 800, Feb 2022.

Pencil Pine Bluff and Little Plateau. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

Cracroft Valley. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Feb 2022.

South West Skyline. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Feb 2022.

Frozen Gateway. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, July 2022.

Sunrise on frozen dolerite cluster. Hasselblad 500C/M, Ektar 100, July 2022.

Alpine herbfield. Hasselblad 500C/M, Ektar 100, Feb 2022.

Morning mist in the Labyrinth. Hasselblad 500C/M, Cinestill 800, May 2022.

Lost World Crags. Hasselblad 500C/M, Ektar 100, August 2022.

Tree Tower. Hasselblad 500C/M, Portra 400, Oct 2022.

A heartfelt thanks to my dear readers of 2022. :) This blog exists for you.

It’s been a big year, and I can sense another big year ahead…

I’m going to continue playing around with double exposures on the Hasselblad and plan to frame a really big print for an exhibition later in the year. I’ll keep you all posted as the plan unfolds. :)

I’m wishing you all a kind, wild and wonderful year ahead!

-A.S. 31.12.22, Lenah Valley.

The point of no return...

Sometimes, there is no going back to where we started.

Pentax MX, Cinestill 50, Nov 2022.

A tipping point signifies a moment in time when an irreversible event takes place. In other words, an event that cannot be undone. We can tip our hat, and we can put it back on our head straight. So this event is not really a true tipping point.

Spilling a jug of milk on the breakfast table is slightly different. We can’t simply ‘unspill’ a jug of milk. We can wipe it off the table, but the spilt milk is not getting back into the jug. At least, not all of it. So this action could be considered a tipping point.

Granite Boulder in rainforest. Pentax MX, Ektar 100. Nov 2022.

A point of no return is a form of irreversible action as well. We pass a point of no return when the idea of turning around exits the realm of possibility. We can encounter a point of no return when we jump; we can’t change our trajectory once we are in the air.

Light circling a black hole can also reach a point of no return, called the event horizon. Once light gets close enough to a black hole, it falls in and never escapes, drawn in by the black hole’s incredible gravitational force. Therefore, no events are going to be visible beyond a black hole’s event horizon. While the light should and must go somewhere when it enters a black hole, all we know is that it goes in but doesn’t come out.

One may wonder, where does all the light end up that gets swallowed by black holes?

This boulder is not going back up the hill. Pentax MX, Ektar 100, Nov 2022.

-A.S. Lenah Valley, 25/12/22.

Absence

The empty nest,

The silent forest,

The dry creekbed.

Missing something,

Waiting for something

To happen.

Elsewhere,

Not here,

Far away,

Beyond.

-A.S. 6/12/22, Lenah Valley

Lake Mackintosh, Pentax MX, Cinestill 50, Nov 2022.

Afternoon light in forest, Pentax MX, Cinestill 50, Nov 2022.

Lake Mackintosh, and two peaks named by Henry Hellyer in 1828. Pentax MX, Cinestill 50, Nov 2022.

Patience

If we are patient, we accept and resolve the problems we encounter in a calm and effective manner.

The echidna must be a patient creature, given its diet consists of eating lots and lots of ants . Pentax MX, Jan 2022.

When our patience is tested, it’s because things are not going the way we thought they might go. When our expectation finds its demise in the reality of the situation, this is the moment when our patience is called upon. The future we have imagined can be quite different to the future that makes it to the present. Patience endows us with the ability to accept this disparity without working ourselves into a frenzy.

White moth. Pentax MX, Jan 2022.

Patience is when we wait for our cup of tea to cool down a little bit so that we don’t burn ourselves upon attempting to drink it. Patience is when we choose not to react to a sub-optimal outcome. Patience is waiting for the morning to arrive, no matter how long we perceive the night to be.

Pointy mountain, rainforest, open plain. Pentax MX, Jan 2022.

-A.S. - Lenah Valley, 28/11/22

Blizzard on the plateau

The storm doesn’t always come when we expect it.

Kitchen Hut, with only the top door showing. Aug 2015

I am happy to report my return from my most recent solo mission. I managed to walk, crawl, wrestle, wriggle, stumble and drag my way from Tullah to Cradle.

My objective for the trip was to follow the route of Henry Hellyer’s desperate journey from November 1828 in which Hellyer and his men got hit by a blizzard up near Pencil Pine Bluff and were left with no alternative but to descend into Fury Gorge.

Kim Ladiges braking trail for his clients, July 2016.

The details of this trip I will save for a feature article I intend to write for Wild Magazine. For now, let’s just say that I am happy to have returned. It was a big trip, and I have taken a lot away from it. The country that I walked through is wild country, thick, steep and merciless to the unprepared, but also incredibly rewarding to those who are willing to persevere in the face of many difficulties.

Windy conditions near Pelion Gap, July 2016.

The two rolls of film I shot on this trip are currently in the lab, being developed and scanned. So the images you see in this post are not from my recent trip, but from winter trips I have guided on the Overland Track in the past. I simply thought I would include them here because the conditions they display are not unlike the conditions I experienced in the last two days of my journey. They were also not unlike the conditions Hellyer and his men experienced 194 years ago.

So this one is just a quick memo to say I made it out in the nick o’ time.

-A.S. 26/11/22, Lenah Valley

Clear dawn, Waterfall Valley August 2015.