Rodney Campbell's Blog

Once I’d climbed out of the gorge and got back to the car I could put out the drone for an aerial view of the area at sunset

Ghosts of Kalamina

This shot looking down across the gorge away from me (and the setting sun)

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

This one looking back from the other side with the sun setting on the right

You can see the road coming into the gorge and the carpark loop. Plus that lone car there with me standing next to it

Kalamina Gorge

Finally a 21 frame 180˚ panoramic view from roughly the same spot

Kalamina Sunset

Once back near the entrance to the gorge I quickly headed past to take a look at Kalamina Falls

Kalamina Gem

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

It’s just a two minute walk to get here and in this light it was gorgeous

I wish I had more time but sunset was rapidly approaching so I just had to squeeze out a few good compositions and leave

Drawn to Kalamina

Kalamina really is a lovely spot. Really worth the visit if you can brave the relatively rough roads

Setting Gold

 

It was getting late and everyone else had left quite a while ago so it was time for me to be heading out of the main walk at Kalamina

Hanging On

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

I could easily have stayed here for a few hours more (well if the light would stay :))

But sunset was fast approaching and I wanted to shoot over the gorges with the drone during sunset and twilight if I could

The Mirror

Still with the sun near the horizon and out of the gorges it was perfect for shooting wider shots in the gorges including more of those gorgeous rock walls and the reflections in the glassy water

Green

Seams and Shards

 

 

Kalamina Gorge has two walks available once you reach the bottom of the gorge from the lookout above at the carpark

It’s just a five-minute walk taking you down some steep rock steps to the base of the gorge

To the right is a few minute walk to a small permanent pool, complete with waterfall and draping ferns

The longer walk to the left takes perhaps an hour along the base of the gorge till you reach the end at Rock Arch Pool

It’s hard to give you a sense of what it’s like down in the gorges at Karijini. Still images with the D-SLR tend to just give you a close up view of a tiny portion of the scene and wide stitched panorama’s tend to just flatten the view

As it was almost sunset and everyone else had left the gorge… and I was alone. I got out the drone near Rock Arch Pool and took this 360˚ spherical panorama so you could look around and view it in “normal” perspective as if you were here. Well as if you could float 30m up in the air at least

A little magic at the blog end and you can view the end result as an interactive 360˚ photo. Using your mouse or keyboard (arrow keys) you can control your view and pan around the scene (and even zoom in and out).
Clicking the square box icon towards the top left corner also allows you to run it full screen

The sky is all white because; it’s still very bright up there compared to the gorge which is now in full shadow with the sun low to the horizon, and the drone can’t point the camera up (more than 30˚) to take images there

The gorge walls and the water pool is nicely exposed however and lets you see pretty much what it looks like here in good soft light

If you turn around 180˚ you’ll see the natural rock arch this place is named after

Rock Arch Pool

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Possibly one of the most underrated gorge walk in Karijini National Park

Kalamina Gorge is one of the park’s lesser known attractions due to being located deep within the park and away from the accommodation options

It’s not as deep as the other gorges, Kalamina makes up for it by offering stunning reflections on still pools and glowing red and orange walls

Green and Gold

It’s also one of the more open gorges at the bottom with a wider fairly flat base. This allows you to more easily see the lovely coloured rock walls and the water pools

Alone

Reflect