Saturday 17 July 2010

Awash with colour


In the early ‘60s the Ord River in the north of Australia was dammed to create an irrigation area. During my recent tour of the Kimberleys, I took a three hour trip from below the dam wall of Lake Argyle down to the outskirts of Kununurra. This was no lazy-Sunday-meander. There were two speeds: hang-onto-yer-hat-fast & stop.


Over the millennia, as the Ord cut through the red rock of the Carr-Boyd Ranges, towering cliffs were left to overhang the river. On our whizz-bang scoot down the river we carved out a massive wash. This wash played merry hell with the previously immaculate reflections.



A member of the Weekend Reflections community.

49 comments:

jabblog said...

Glorious colours! Those photos are well worth the time and effort you took.

Small City Scenes said...

Beautiful images--great clor.
Thanks for risking life and limb for the chance to show us the Ord River. MB

Joop Zand said...

FANTASTIC pictures and beautiful colors...... my compliments.

Greetings, Joop

Gattina said...

Gorgeous pictures ! Love the colors !

Unknown said...

breathtaking reflections!

Gemma Wiseman said...

Grand shots of the outback ochres! What an adventure that must have been!

Sylvia K said...

Stunning captures, glorious colors and definitely breathtaking reflections! Wow! Really superb captures for the day! It does sound like a wonderful adventure! Hope you have a terrific weekend!

Sylvia

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Frabjous colors Julie! I love the term "immaculate reflections" ;>

Wish I were on that boat!

JO said...

wow! I'm speechless! those are simply awesome photos!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Suburban Girl said...

Nice, looks so modernistic. You'll LOVE your 50mm.

Anonymous said...

I learnt about the Ord River irrigation scheme when I was at school. Seems it was a failure.

brattcat said...

Fabulous.

Julie said...

It was a failure when they tried to grow rice in that area because the birds ate all the seed. However, they have mile after mile of mangoes and are now going into sandalwood trees - not that I am a supporter of the latter which is an element of the perfume industry. I would much prefer to see this sort of enterprise used to grow food for export.

jeff campbell said...

Julie...that first reflection is way cool...the scenery in all the pics is striking...very nice...love your stuff ;-) Thank you for your visit and gracious comments about my post...nice to meet you...Peace and blessings

Matty said...

Wow, these are nothing short of breath taking. I had to go back and look at them several times to really appreciate them.

Ann said...

Wonderful. They way you've captured the swirls and movement in the water is beautiful.

Joan Elizabeth said...

That countryside is so lovely. Interesting that you mentioned the wash ruining the reflections. I wonder what it is doing to the banks ... boats going too fast is a real problem on some rivers, it is breaking down the banks.

Julie said...

Keep reading Crikey for my very strong opiinon on that, Joan. It was horrific.

Jayne said...

Love the photos and the images, interesting to follow up on the Ord River scheme.

Dan said...

Amazingly beautiful pictures!
Very good camera that you play water reflections!

Dimple said...

Love these! Water is such a variable substance for reflections.
Thanks for the visit!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful canyon and river. Looks like it was a great trip.

Rinkly Rimes said...

Those colours! To think that when I first came to Australia I thought them harsh!

Unknown said...

Incredible colors! Amazing shots!

Unknown said...

Absolutely wonderful, Julie! Colours are stunning too.

Birdman said...

I'll say! Some fabulous colors at work here. That first one is my favorite.

Hilda said...

The colors reflected in the water are just gorgeous, Julie! Such a dramatic landscape!

Virginia said...

Capturing the rushing water is an art. You've learned it, I have not!
V

diane b said...

Amazing colours and reflections. Did you see the bats? Bill wasn't impressed with the stops/talks. He calls it information overload.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous colors, neat compositions and interesting results...Thomas

VioletSky said...

Your photos look gorgeous - but am wondering if there was a specific reason for the "hang-onto-yer-hat" speed?

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

That is an incredible place to visit - the colours in the water make the place look magical as if someone was mixing paint in the water. Your title caption is perfect. :) Rosie

http://centreofinterest.blogspot.com/2010/07/river-almond-perthshire-conglomeration.html

Life Is A Road Trip said...

Some of those photos are surreal. That must have been a fun trip.

Julie said...

Violetsky: I think the hat was because of the distance/time constraint. Many of the passengers considered the 3 hours to be far too long. It was quite dark by the time we finished.

Jim said...

What amazing effects and colours.

EG CameraGirl said...

The colours are amazing!

Serline said...

Ummm love the twisty reflections!

sebi_2569 said...

superb

Gerald (SK14) said...

o wow i would love to have journeyed along there.

Jilly said...

Oh my goodness, the colours, the colours. As you know I envy you this trip and thank yo for such amazing photographs. What a joy and privilege to have seen these scenes. There is nowhere like Australia!

Louis la Vache said...

Amazing colors!

Anonymous said...

Marvelous series Julie. The swirling colors are magnificent.

Anonymous said...

Wow, incredible shots! Great reflections and colours.

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Ciao Julie
questi effetti d'acqua mi piacciono molto :-))
Grazie per la tua visita.

Julie said...

I like these effects on the water a lot.

Thank you Rosa.

SKIZO said...

"

Pam Lane said...

Beautiful colors and textures!

Thanks for visiting Downey Daily. I've been (silently) enjoying your blog for several months now. :-)

Julie said...

I thank you for reading along. It gives me great pleasure to know that there are folk like yourself who return quietly.

Unknown said...

fantastic shots.