Barron Falls the day after a passing tropical cyclone
It is incredible that the year is over again. We had the worst anticipation of a category 5 cyclone named Ingrid. Although used to typhoons from the Philippines, we were ill prepared for an inconceivable hit. Ingrid moved northwest and thankfully decided not to give Cairns a visit. But the rains again brought wonderful waterfalls and greener than green forests. One full moon night, we walked a waterfall trail in Wooroonooran National Park and saw the full moon rise and give light to the forest. Quite a middle earth experience.
Yogi photographing a bright red desert pea bloom
Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) on surface with snorkelers and boat off Ningaloo Reef
From May to July, we traveled to Western Australia to shoot the the whale sharks of Ningaloo Reef and the amazing WA landscapes from Shark Bay, Kalbarri, the Pinnacles and boab trees, to the fantastic gorges of Karijini and the Bungle Bungles.
Island Rock along Kalbarri coast – This resilient Island Rock was once part of the shoreline, but now stands as a solitary ‘sea stack’.
Hancock Gorge – carved by the waters of Fortescue and other rivers of the Pilbara Region. Sheer walls of rock are layered in colours from red to green and blue to pink depending on the changing sunlight
The Pinnacles Desert is contained within Nambung National Park, Western Australia. Limestone formations rise up out of the desert up to a height of 5 metres. There are thousands of these pillars, with shape and texture having been defined by calcification processes and erosion. The nearest town is Cervantes. Western Australia
Boab or bottle tree. The Australian Boab (Adansonia gregorii) is indigenous to the Kimberley region
of Western Australia
Tiny carnivorous plant with droplets of dew glistening on its petals. Dwarf Drocera. Look more closely to see sticky hairs, or tentacles, on the surface that attract and catch insects. On top of the tentacles are glands that secrete a tempting nectar, sticky compounds and digestive juices, so no victim can escape
The whole trip lasted three months and 20,000 km. We finally saw and photographed the much talked about WA light. What amazing colours. But this was a particularly weird autumn season. We arrived in Exmouth and it rained 3 out of the 5 weeks of our stay. And our friends Axel & Eske Passeck of Sea Breeze Resort said: “It never rains in Exmouth!” As a result, we have rare pictures of this area – green plants sprouting with flowers covering the red desert of Cape Range National Park!
We had to rush back home early August to do another shark story on the Undersea Explorer with our good friend, the fabulous writer/editor Alya Honasan from Manila. When she went back to home, Alya wrote a story on Stella for Sunday Inquirer Magazine: Giving It All Up for Love and Adventure – Forever stella-article.pdf. Alya kept busy and wrote a brilliant article on Undersea Explorer’s shark conservation and experience for Asian Diver’s Feb/March 2006 issue.
Coral spawning in the Great Barrier Reef every year in November 3 – 5 days after full moon
Another UE expedition for us in November was a coral spawning trip. Terribly LONG night dives waiting for the coral eggs sticking out of the polyps to spew. It got quite chilly on the second hour . . .
Flatworm swimming in front of diver Stella’s face
December was more diving the Great Barrier Reef from off Cairns and Port Douglas – a preparation for a Tauchen magazine story on diving Cairns and Far North Queensland.
2005 is very much a small taste of what Australia is all about. Visiting WA just made us realize that we saw just a spec of this big continent. It makes us eager to move on – to document a truly remarkable country.
