10 Amazing Remote Destinations to Photograph
Ten favourite remote destinations from a photographer’s perspective that are only accessible by 4X4.
Karijini National Park, Western Australia
Photography is all about capturing colour and light, and nowhere is colour and light better than at Karijini.
Over eons, tectonic forces combined with torrential wet season storms have carved spectacular gorges with vertical walls up to 100 metres deep from the iron-rich rock. Water tumbles over myriad small rock ledges in the gorges, while reflecting the hues of the Pilbara sky and the red rock towering overhead.
The landscape here is unique. Soil is replaced by pulverised rock which contrasts with the spinifex and brilliant white bark of the local Snappy Gums that dot the landscape. The coloured rock, polished smooth by water, offers plenty of opportunities for great photos. A must see attraction is Kermit Pool, a water-filled cavern where visitors can cool off.
Located 360km south-east of Port Hedland between the mining towns of Tom Price and Newman, Karajini has a campground, eco-tent accommodation and basic bar/restaurant facilities. While reached on sealed roads, the Park’s internal roads can be rough and corrugated.
In summer temperatures of 45°C can be expected, so the best time to visit is March/April, after the wet season has ended but the gorges still have some running water. Many of the walks involve some wading and in winter, the water in the deep shade of the gorges can be brass-monkey cold.
Lake Eyre, South Australia
With a catchment of a staggering 1.2 million square kilometres (one-sixth of the Australian land mass, and one of the largest in the world), Lake Eyre covers 9,500 sq km and, at 15 metres below sea level, is the lowest natural point in the country.
The Lake is arguably more photogenic when dry. Then the hard white salt is crazed with small ridges that light up with the first (or last) rays of sunlight, making images of colourful sunrises and sunsets so otherworldly, they could be from Mars.
The Lake fills only a few times each century, attracting waterbirds from across the continent and beyond. It’s estimated that up to 80 per cent of Australia’s pelicans come to feed and breed in these times of plenty.
The Lake is reached by a 60km 4X4-only track from the small settlement of William Creek on the Oodnadatta Track, 823km north of Adelaide. As well as a hotel, William Creek offers scenic flights over Lake Eyre and has a campground with powered and unpowered sites.
The cooler months (March – September) offer the best travelling conditions as summer temperatures are often over 40°C.
The Kimberley, Western Australia
The 647km Gibb River Road in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia is one of the country’s iconic road trips. With sections gradually being upgraded it’s no longer the challenge it once was and Grey Nomads now ply this remote road.
There is spectacular scenery wherever you look, whether it’s one of the many gorges along the Gibb, the impressive Mitchell Falls, Montgomery Reef off the coast, or the Boab trees which dot the landscape.
Bell Gorge on the Gibb River Road
The Kimberley has its mysteries. Where did the Boab tree come from? Its closest relative is the African Baobab and while there are other theories, the most plausible is that it was introduced by human migration predating even that of Australia’s indigenous people. Experts also cannot agree whether the abundant rock art here (estimated at between 17,000 - 40,000 years old) was created by the ancestors of current aboriginal tribes, or by some earlier human migration. Whatever the answers, it’s humbling to walk around a rock art site like the one at Edward River, just off the Kalumburu Road, and see paintings thousands of years old which seem to have been created only recently.
When the Kalumburu Road from the Gibb towards Mitchell Falls hasn’t seen a grader for a while, it’s possibly the roughest road in Australia. The surface can be badly corrugated and sweeping bends treacherous with small stones like ball bearings. Mitchell Falls is stunning - but getting there with a commercial tour operator is a better option than ruining your own vehicle.
Mitchell Falls
Much of the Kimberley is impassable in the Wet Season and with summer temperatures approaching 50°C, May to August is the best time to visit.
Purnululu, Western Australia
While known to local cattle station hands and mustering pilots for years, Purnululu was only ‘discovered’ less than 50 years ago after a chance sighting by an ABC camera crew filming a documentary.
The 50km track into Purnululu from the Great Northern Highway, with its numerous creek crossings, steep ascents, and sharp corners, is designated 4X4 and single axle trailers only, yet there’s a caravan park at the Highway turnoff.
A helicopter joy flight gives a spectacular perspective of the ‘beehive’ formations, but the walks here are stunning.
The track to Cathedral Gorge enters via a narrow cleft in tall sandstone cliffs which opens into an immense amphitheatre. A testimony to the power of water, this natural wonder was carved out of the rock by a waterfall which, after rain, still pours in through the cavern roof.
The sheer walls of Echidna Gorge gradually close in on each other as you go deeper into the gorge until the path ends in a much smaller bowl. At certain times, sunlight reaches all the way to the gorge floor, making it look like an open blast furnace.
The Flinders Ranges, South Australia
The Flinders Ranges offer a choice of destinations including various station stays, Wilpena Pound and further north, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
Sir Hans Heysen, one of Australia’s famous landscape painters from the early 1900s, clearly thought the landscape here was spectacular, as many of his works were painted near Aroona Homestead, north of Wilpena. The valley is especially photogenic in the early morning as the sun strikes the Heyson Range which lines the western side of the valley. If you are fortunate enough to visit the area after good Spring rain and new growth of grass and wildflowers soften a landscape that is otherwise dry and dusty.
Moolooloo Station a little further north is another favourite location - best described as being “like Wilpena without the tourists”. It also gives access to the Nuccaleena Mine ruins and by arrangement with a neighbouring property, visitors can drive an old gold coach track from the late 1800s.
Arkaroola at the northern end of the Flinders is technically a desert and best visited after significant rain – something for which you may need to wait several years. In a good year the rugged ranges are painted with colour from wild hops, native wildflowers and shrubs making the most of the short time of plenty. Arkaroola has a campground with facilities as well as bush camping alternatives
Victorian High Country
There is camera fodder aplenty in the High Country. No visit would be complete without a photo of the iconic Craig’s Hut made famous by the Man From Snowy River films in the 1980s. While constructed for the film and not an original cattleman’s hut, there are numerous genuine huts dotted throughout the rugged ranges .For example, Wallaces Hut near Falls Creek, was built in 1889 and is the oldest surviving cattleman’s hut in Victoria.
Sunsets from Mt McKay lookout at Falls Creek can be spectacular, as can the views from any high point that offers a view across blue range after blue range stretching into the distance.
Catching a sunset or sunrise from the summit of Mt Pinnibar and looking across the Murray Valley to Mount Kosciuszko is worthwhile too. A 4x4 track runs over the summit, making Mount Pinnibar not particularly hard to reach but it isn’t a drive you would want to make in the dark, so the price of seeing the dawn or dusk is having to camp out on the top of the mountain. A good caravan-friendly campground can be found at Tom Groggin on the Murray River
Shark Bay, Western Australia
Wrapped around Peron Peninsula, 830 km north of Perth and arguably best known for the dolphins of Monkey Mia, Shark Bay’s photographic potential is a hidden secret - one best seen from the air.
There are three aerial photography locations near Denham – a saltworks and a sand dune complex on the opposite side of Shark Bay, and a shallow lagoon system near the tip of Cape Peron. The local air charter operator removed the rear door of a high-wing Cessna so there was no Perspex to soften our images (and nothing between us and the ground two km below!). A shutter speed of at least 1/800th of a second is needed to counter engine vibration. Keep the lens out of the wind and don’t lean on the plane’s frame to steady yourself or the vibration will pass through you to the camera.
An aerial view of Shark Bay saltworks
The colour of the saltworks’ evaporation ponds varies depending on their salinity and the intensity of the sunlight. Cape Peron must have the reddest sand in Australia – it puts the Simpson Desert to shame. Several large, shallow lagoons of turquoise water intrude into and contrast with this vibrant red sand.
Big Lagoon at Cape Peron in Shark Bay
Simpson Desert, South Australia
At 176,000 sq km, the Simpson Desert is the world’s largest sand dune desert; it was first crossed by vehicle just 60 years ago. That crossing was remarkable because there were no tracks to follow and it was undertaken by a husband and wife with two children under eleven. In the 1960s oil exploration companies built a number of access roads across the Simpson and today those rough 4X4 tracks are arguably the last truly challenging road adventure in Australia.
When it hasn’t seen rain for some time, the Simpson can be a dry and unwelcoming place. However, after significant rain (perhaps a once-in-ten-year event) the land comes alive. Covered with new vibrant growth and painted a kaleidoscope of colours by all manner of wildflowers, the desert is a picture wherever you look.
Crossing the Simpson in a standard 4X4 is something anyone with some basic sand driving experience can attempt.
Chambers Pillar, Northern Territory
Located near the geographical centre of Australia in the extreme north-west of the Simpson Desert, this spectacular fifty metre-high solitary column was recorded in 1860 by explorer John McDouall Stuart.
Prior to the coming of the railway in the 1920s, Chambers Pillar was an important landmark in guiding early pioneers through this otherwise trackless and challenging land.
The Pillar is a 350 million-year-old sandstone column where the darker stone at the top marks an ancient ground level. Being slightly harder than nearby stone, the cap resisted erosion over the eons while the surrounding land was worn away. Sadly, wind and rain will eventually win out and the Pillar will fall, to become just another mound of rubble.
In dry conditions the access road is generally passable to smaller semi-offroad vans driven conservatively. Conditions were significantly impacted by heavy rain in early 2022 and a call to NT Parks and Wildlife is advisable before travelling.
The road south from Alice Springs largely follows the route of the old Ghan Railway and travellers need to be watchful for old rail spikes hiding in the dusty road surface and waiting for a passing tyre.
Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
The image of Dove Lake beneath the jagged peaks of Cradle Mountain is synonymous with Tasmania. Listed as a World Heritage National Park in 1982, the area is internationally recognised for its natural beauty and unique flora and fauna - some of which dates back to the Gondwana supercontinent 55 million years ago.
The weather can be challenging, with an average of only 35 clear days a year.
The image the Dove Lake boat shed in the snow was taken in the first week of December (25°C one day and -2°C the next!).
Photographers flock to Cradle Mountain every Autumn for “The Turning of the Fagus” when one of Australia’s few deciduous trees, the Deciduous Beech (aka Fagus), paints the high ridges around Dove Lake with autumnal colours.
If waterfalls are your thing, they abound in Tasmania and Liffey Falls, not far from Cradle Mountain, is one of the most photogenic examples that is well worth a visit.
All these locations (with the exception of the Simpson Desert) are accessible with a semi-offroad caravan, or there are caravan-friendly campgrounds nearby, although power, toilets and running water may be in short supply. When travelling in remote areas, it’s prudent to plan for the worst and to be self-sufficient in respect of food, water and fuel, drive to the conditions and remember that Outback roads need only a little rain to become impassable if towing.
What's the Secret to Better Photos?
Many of the photos in this article were simple single shot captures, without any fancy Photoshop tricks applied. Most people take happy-snap memory shots which get filed away on their computer, but a few want to know the secrets of taking images of the quality you’d be proud to hang on the wall.
There’s no easy answer because for consistently good photos, the rules of composition, how to use your camera’s settings and a basic understanding of image processing software need to be understood. Photoshop is the gold standard for image processing, but one of the simpler, cheaper packages is all most photographers need.
Landscape photos need to be sharp from foreground to background, have a horizon that doesn’t ‘slope’ and be neither overexposed or underexposed (ie. still have some detail in the highlights and shadows).
Sharpness and correct exposure all come with understanding your camera’s settings, how they interact with each other and their impact on the final image. Something often overlooked is that photos rarely work without a subject that captures the viewer’s eye.
Always try to take photos with the light behind you. The hour after sunrise or hour before sunset is usually a better time than midday for photography because the light is warmer and shadows create more depth in the image.
All images straight out of the camera need some touching up – brightening up shadows to bring out detail, adjustment of contrast and colour, removal of blemishes like sensor dust spots etc. Software like Photoshop also allows you to capture panoramic landscapes so wide they can only be covered by taking several overlapping images and then ‘stitching’ them together as one seamless image.
Most cameras save images as JPG files; this is the most common format which can be sent to friends, posted to social media etc without any viewing issues. Before creating a JPG image, cameras save the data in a proprietary format (RAW), effectively a digital negative, and the format photographers use. JPG is a format that dates from a time when data storage was limited, so small file sizes were good. The JPG algorithmy discards all the information it thinks won’t be missed by a human eye. Saved as a RAW image at about 110Mb, the JPG version is only 45Mb – meaning that 60 per cent of the original image data has been discarded, severely limiting the ability to make a large print or further enhance the image. It isn’t a bad idea to save your data in both RAW and JPG. If you get a real ‘trophy’ shot, taking the RAW image to a shop to be enhanced and printed will give astounding results.