tiabunna's photos with the keyword: desert

Copied from an old slide (1971), near the remote part of the Musgrave Ranges in north west South Australia. Part of an ongoing slide copying project...

Today it struck me that I posted few flower images when I did the big outback trip earlier this year. This little flower was growing on the top of a large sand dune near Birdsville in western Queensland. I think it's a Butterfly bush (Petalostylus labicheoides).

I really should have included this image with my recent HFF posting. This shows the "Road Closed" fence and the distances to the next town (Bedourie) by the two different routes (76km / 141km).

"Big Red" is the name of the largest sand dune in the Simpson Desert - and fortunately not far from Birdsville. This is the view from the top, looking across claypans to the next dune in the west. In the PiPs are images of vehicles descending from Big Red to the claypan. It's steep! The foreground plants in the second PiP are Saltbush.

As the sky shows, more rain was threatening when we visited Eyre Creek, near Birdsville. It was hundreds of metres wide, normally it has little if any water. These floods had come downstream from heavy rain a long way to the north about two months earlier. Stitched panorama, best viewed large.

My earlier image "Bedourie Benches" in the little town of Bedourie, showed the community hall with the sign "Where the Simpson Desert meets the Channel Country". This aerial dawn image (best viewed large).shows what they mean! The country is very flat and occasional heavy rains further away bring floods which spread extensively. The country near the desert then comes to life with good pastures. In the distance are the dunes at the edge of the Simpson Desert, the world's largest parallel-dune sand desert (resulting from the prevailing winds). Further images, taken slightly later, in the PiPs.

Roadside sign in Central Australia and another image of the Breakaways area in a note. When heading into unknown territory, full preparations are advisable: who knows where we'll be next week? This seems strangely relevant advice with regard to a particular website!

Out in central Australia, between Coober Pedy and Oodnadatta, are some very eroded hills, known as "The Breakaways". They are relics of what the general land surface was some many millions of years ago before erosion took most of it away. These remain because there is some harder rock at the top. Spectacular but very bare country - no place to be caught without water in the summer months. Definitely one to view large, possibly while contemplating the latest (bleak) news on the status of the IMA bid for ipernity www.ipernity.com/group/2260604/discuss/186918 .