VettasM – Professional Photographer, Vlogger, Drone Operator » VettasM - Professional Photographer, Vlogger, Drone Operator

I will preface this post with one message, ‘Stop whatever you are doing and jump on a flight to Central Australia or Outback Australia, you will be BLOWN away‘, ok but really you will be.

A few months ago I was lucky enough to travel to central Australia on a rally job (KKR), Alice Springs to Victoria with so much in between.

Prior to the rally Matt Mead and I decided to explore Uluru for a few days, we arrived in Alice Springs and drove the 400 or so kilometers to Uluru.

A word of warning when traveling to this magical place, its expensive, everything is expensive, in particular the rental car, I managed to find a pretty good deal for a new Holden Commodore, I think $90 or so dollars for almost 3 days, however the catch is you only get 100km per day of usage free, its almost 450km just to Uluru, one way, so we were up for excess km, quite a few excess km :), so bare that in mind, but really at the end of the day it doesn’t matter when you get to experience what is on offer.

The drive from Alice surprised us both, sure it was sparse, the dirt was a beautiful rich red colour but it wasn’t as flat as we had envisaged, that would all come later on the actual rally.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
About 120km out of Uluru you see Mount Connor, if you haven’t seen Uluru in person you might mistake Mount Connor for it, we did but soon realised that wasn’t the ‘rock’. About 50km out of Uluru you start to see her in the horizon, I must admit, from a far she doesn’t look that impressive, Mount Connor looks far more superior :), its not until you get up close that you realise just how big she is, how beautiful she is, and what an amazing part of the world you are in, it is really hard to explain but for anyone who has seen her in all her glory they will understand.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock is a large sandstone rock formation in the Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (thanks wikipeadia).

The next day Matt decided to walk up to the top and I did a bit of exploring to kill time, I also had a helicopter flight booked for that afternoon.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Thats Matt on the far left, that little dot 🙂

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
It took Matt about 3 hours to climb up and down, before you say anything, yes it is a sacred site and yes there are signs that ask you not to climb, but it is a request, it is not law, it is open to climb, the Aboriginal owners simply ask that you don’t, I am not here to argue if it should be allowed or not, Matt did it, personally I didn’t because I am not fit enough, the biggest problem for me is tourists who go to the top and leave rubbish everywhere, they try and break parts of the rock off to keep and as there are no toilets up there when they need to go they go, this is what bothers me, Matt and I are both respectful of these things, anyway it is what it is and Matt did say the view wasn’t that good anyway.

Now finally what I had been waiting for, the helicopter flight, 36min at sunset, flying around Uluru and Kata Tjuta aka The Olgas, wow doesn’t even come close, one of the highlights of my life, these huge rock formation just in the middle of knowhere, speechless.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
The Olgas from the air are truly spectacular.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - AmazingThe next morning which was also our last we headed to Kata Tjuta for sunrise, we both agreed sunrise at Uluru wasnt that impressive, sunset however, amazing, anyway there is a specific sunrise viewing platform for the Olgas, of course it was full of people, nonetheless an amazing sunrise and in actual fact the same spot offers a great silhouette view of Uluru, we also did one of the small Olga hikes, the Valley of the Winds, about 45min as you walk up through the rock formation.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Our next stop, back to Alice Springs and the start of the rally.

The Rally route was Alice Springs > Mount Dare > Coober Pedy > Wilpena Pound > Broken Hill > Mildura > Ouyen > Moama.

The route to Mount Dare was practically flat landscape for as far as the eye could see, it is hard to fathom until you experience it.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Mount Dare was a very special place, not only for its remoteness, character and charm but for the simple fact I got to sleep in a swag for the very first time, I wasn’t sure how I would go but I have to say waking up in the middle of the night unzipping the lid and seeing nothing but stars is really special, I cannot wait to do it again.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Next stop Dalhousie Springs then on to Dalhousie Homestead, abandoned since 1925, it was built in the late 1800’s as a base for the Overland Telegraph Line construction team.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Alongside Uluru I would say going to Coober Peddy was one of the other stops I was most looking forward to and I experienced more than I could have imagined.

Central Australia - Amazing
Coober Peddy is most famous for its Opal mines, we were lucky enough to be given a tour of a disused mine which was part of a Motel, not at all what I expected, fascinating, but what really impressed me were the ‘Breakaways’.

Central Australia - Amazing
The Breakaways are a striking & unique example of arid scenery. From the flat – topped mesas to the stony gibber desert, they provide breathtaking views. Looking out over the breakaways it is hard to believe that over 70 million years ago, a vast inland sea covered the area. The region is rich in Aboriginal and European history and is home to many native fauna and flora, which have successfully adapted to one of the world’s harshest environments. Definitely one of Outback South Australia’s best-kept secrets.

The Breakaways are approximately 33km north of Coober Pedy.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
The Oodnadatta Track, a beautiful stretch of road that is so straight it is hard to comprehend.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
As we slowly moved back in to civilisation one of the last stops before a major city we visited the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, a place I have wanted to visit for a number of years, the Ranges are nothing short of spectacular.

The image above was the route of the rally, through the Brachina Gorge near Parachilna, this route had been planned for a number of rallies but due to bad weather each time we were never able to come through, this time however we drove the entire Gorge all the way to Wilpena Pound, as you drove through the Gorge there were views that looked like the Canadian Rockies, only missing snow,  it was truly spectacular and worth the wait, I think this will be one of my first stops back in Australia next year.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
The Darling River,  an amazing route that followed the river, in some places the river was bone dry, in others it was completely full.

Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
Central Australia - Amazing
And that was it, the days after Flinders Ranges were a bit of a blur, we had all just experienced something so many never get to experience and coming back in to civilisation the trip took on a different feel, it felt like our journey had come to an end.

During the rally we traveled through literally the centre of Australia, saw some of the flattest country probably on earth and got to experience Australia like I had never experienced before, and I will end with the same message I started ‘Stop whatever you are doing and jump on a flight to central Australia, you will be BLOWN away‘.

Don’t forget to checkout our work on our social media pages, and if you need to contact us don’t be shy, we leave for Iceland in a few days so the packing has begun and the excitement is starting to build.

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I am back baby.

One of the biggest disappointments of last years travels was being sick while I was in Tuscany,  I had 5 days and wasnt able to do much, this year however would be very different.

After having an amazing few days on the Cinque Terre it was time to get back to Tuscany, it is another one of the destinations that is just special without being able to explain why, ‘it just is ok’ :).


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I am on #instagram, yes the place where a #hashtag isnt a sin :).

Check me out, I post a new photo from my adventures daily, don’t be shy come and say hello.

vettasm in instagram.

Simply click here to go to my feed.

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Following on from my last CT post, looking back you really do need 4 or 5 days here, a few sunrises and a few sunsets, a day to just explore and a few days just to sit without a camera and enjoy it in one of the many waterfront restaurants, I did that during lunch but its an entire different experience during a sunset, anyway way to much chatter with no images so enjoy a few more from Manarorla as well as the beautiful and lively Vernazza.

The Cinque Terra

The small lane ways amongst the CT, you could get lost for days in some of these streets, no cars, no people, bliss.

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5000km+, 14 days, 5 states, 2kg of red frogs, 48 cans of redbull and 3 photographers, that was the Kidney Kar Rally for 2015.

We are back, back again, after a year away the powers that be decided they missed us to much, they pulled many strings and we are back in to the KKR family, to all that helped, thank you, we had an amazing time.

The Rally began in Alice Springs, Matt and I decided to fly in a few days early and do a bit of exploring, Alan (we use his 4WD) drove the truck from his home in Bathurst and arrived a day before the rally started.

I will do a separate entry on our outback adventures, so back to KKR.

Like I said 5000+ km which included the rally and getting home, Alice Springs > Mount Dare > Coober Pedy > Wilpena Pound > Broken Hill > Mildura > Ouyen > Moama > Sydney, a crazy route on some amazing roads and not so amazing roads, that’s KKR.

Every few years the KKR runs an epic trip, well more epic than normal, a few years ago we traveled from Mandurah (WA) to Bendigo via The Nullarbor & a few years prior to that Launceston (TAS) to Muswellbrook via Bass Strait, so we knew it was going to be a long one, and epic and we were traveling to a number of places we had been to before, one place in particular, The Flinders Ranges, twice now we have tried to visit the ranges and both times we haven’t been able to due to the weather, fingers crossed this year we wouldn’t have any dramas.


Alan always adds the little flags, we do think we are in a real rally team at times ;).

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Its that time of year again.

I am back from my overseas adventures (for now), KKR travels, and knuckling down on editing all my content from my trips, now the focus shifts to Coffs Harbour and WRC Rally Australia.

Below is a quick photo recap of what I think was the best coverage of the rally by any team last year, looking forward to having the VM @W crew back on home soil.

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Back to where I made some of my best memories for 2014, Tuscany and the Cinque Terre.

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Making a return trip to a destination is really exciting, it means I don’t have to spend much time exploring, I know exactly where to go for most things and I can really concentrate on photo locations, scouting and shooting sunrises and sunsets.

I visited the Cinque Terre last year all but briefly and really wanted to come back again, and here we are.

5 days in this area was perfect, I got to spend some time in La Spezia, got to catch up on the backlog of work, I visited a few more of the 5 townlettes and just enjoy the area.

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For anyone who doesn’t know, La Spezia is pretty much the start of the CT, here you can catch the many ferries and probably the easiest and most frequent means of transport the Train, you can purchase a CT Pass which includes free travel on the Train, the buses within each town and access to the walking paths which are part of the National Parks system, a two day pass is about $35AUD, includes free wifi when you can get on as well, definitely the best way to go, in one day I used the trains maybe 5 or 6 times jumping from town to town and in and out of La Spezia, ohh and if you have a car, don’t worry, you can park under the train station, and its cheap, all day for about $8AUD.

I was going to concentrate on Manarola and Vernazza, arguably the best two towns for photo opportunities.

One aspect of Europe in Summer which really excites me is the early early sunrise (3-4am) and the late sunset (9-10pm), with sunset though the golden light starts a few hours before the sun disappears, it means you get so much more out of a location, you can move around and get some amazing shots over a 2-3hour period or more, the adverse to this is the early sunrise and your late finish, I was finishing up in each town close to 11:30pm every night, by the time I got back and downloaded my cards it was close to 1am, then if you wanted to get out for sunrise the alarm was set for 3am, arghhhhhh, no sleep or sleep during the day :), its all part of the process.

First stop, Manarola for the day, this town for me is a photographer’s paradise, so much to shoot no matter the time of day, not to mention there is a pretty good seafood restaurant practically on the water where you can get out of the heat and enjoy a few beers while you wait for sunset, I did this a few times, and their freshly caught calamari was TODIE4.

 

The setup, my new trusty ReallyRightStuff Tripod, Ball Head, Leveling base, the OMD EM1 capturing the images and the EM5 video, also acting as a counter weight ;), I managed to hog the good spot, but hey I did get there a few hours early, so ….

I met this lovely couple from the US and kindly asked them for some assistance ;).

The Cinque Terre really is special, so that was one down, Manarola, I did come back for more a few days later, however the next day I spent in Vernazza.

Don’t forget to checkout our work on our social media pages, and if you need to contact us dont be shy.

Check me out on 500px.comhttp://500px.com/MichaelVettas
Follow me on Facebook – http://vettasmedia.com.au/facebook
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The time had come for me to leave Australia yet again for another year of travel in Europe to cover the World Rally Championship and start my travel photography projects, I have to admit I am very lucky and fortunate to be doing what I love as I know so many people who are not and will never get the opportunities I am.

For yet another year the WRC and Europe would be my home for practically half the year, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Spain, GB and Iceland, all that in a year, i feel exhausted just saying it.

My first stop, of my 4 months away, Portugal.

WRC Portugal is renowned for its crazy enthusiastic fans, fans? there are so many of them, 50,000 on the last stage of the last day, its crazy, what this also means is if I normally allow an extra 1.5-2hrs to get somewhere I now need to allow double which means less sleep and more coffee.

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Unfortunately my dramas and lack of sleep began way before the rally even began.

My first flight to Europe was with Emirates Airlines, leaving directly from Canberra after the ARC.

This was my first time flying Emirates and I was really looking forward to it, my expectations were high, I had the seat free next to me so it was going to be a great flight, well it was great till about 9hrs in en-route to Dubai, we had to make an emergency landing in Phuket Thailand due to a passenger having a heart attack, we later found out the person was fine, nevertheless a 4 hour stop in Phuket meant I missed my connecting flight to Lisbon along with many many many others.

On arrival it was chaos, in this situation I find staying calm to be the best option, there isn’t anything I can do so no point stressing, long story short Emirates wanted to put me on the next day flight to Lisbon, the problem with this was I needed to be there on Monday at the latest as I had plans already set in stone for the Tuesday morning, that flight was not an option, they even tried flying me to Finland to get a connection to Porto, that wasn’t going to happen, eventually they found a flight to Barcelona then a connection to Lisbon, it would mean I arrive in Lisbon just after 11pm which was almost 15hrs later, I then had a 3-4hrs drive north to Porto, sleep? what is sleep.

Emirates were very accommodating in Dubai, I managed to deal with the customer service manager who was extremely helpful, she upgraded my lounge access to the first class lounge for the inconvenience, she tried to upgrade my tickets to business class however it wasnt possible, the next best thing was to block the seats next to me for my next flights, perfect, anyway back to the lounge, wow what an experience, for the next 8 hours I had my own chef, a massage room, shower, cocktails, you name it it was on offer.

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After waiting in Dubai for the 8 hours relaxing I was on my way, a quick 5hr flight to Barcelona then a quick connection and I was finally in Lisbon, this is where my world collapsed, ok well it crashed, ok things went pear shaped.

When you fly as often as I do there is always this slight trepidation when waiting at the baggage carrousel, especially when it takes forever for your bags to finally pop out of that magical hole in the wall, in all my years I have never had a lost bag, well it happened, the law of averages I guess, yep bags didnt arrive, I was however positive and after filling in the lost baggage report was hopeful they would show up the next day, my other concern now was that I missed the representative from the rental car company for the pickup, they closed at midnight and it was 00:05, I managed to grab a taxi who thankfully had no idea where he was going, after a 25min for a drive that should have been no more than 5min i finally showed up, luckily for me the guys behind the counter had stuck around otherwise I would have been in an even bigger pickle.

Ok so to summarise, delayed flight = missed connection = new flights = lost baggage = 46hrs travel since I left canberra and I still had 4 hrs to drive, it was 1:30am and I was meeting Andre at 8am to start recce, I eventually got to my hotel at 430am, had a shower and managed an hours sleep, luckily Andre was running late, but… I didn’t sleep.

The rally began and for the next 8 days I lived in all but the same clothes, I grabbed some underwear and shirts, then on my last night in Portugal as I slept in my Hotel room the bags were finally delivered, at 2:30am with my flight to Rome at 8am, great timing.

Now for my little rant, actually before I do that, I have to thank Bruno at the Hotel Azores Lisboa, I met Bruno in Azores last year, he manages the Hotel Azores Lisboa in Lisbon and invited me to stay at the hotel for my last night in Portugal, he also invited me to join him and a few guests for a degustation meal to celebrate Azores, great food, I met some very interesting and influential people, and the hotel fantastic, if ever in Lisbon make sure you stay there, so thanks to Bruno for making my last few hours in Portugal more memorable than the rest.

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Ok the rant, not one person was helpful, I called Qantas in Canberra (my connection to Adelaide), Emirates in Adelaide, Emirates in Sydney (Head office Australia), Dubai, Lisbon, Barcelona and Porto and not one could give me information other than that what I already had from the lost baggage company, email address were exchanged for Emirates customer care and lost property and emails sent and i was later told they were all the incorrect areas to deal with the situation, not once did anyone from Emirates ring to apologies, I also had to travel to Lisbon airport to obtain vouchers to purchase essential items, um I am 3hrs north thats unacceptable, the entire situation left me with a sour taste in my mouth two an airline I had heard so many good things about, I honestly don’t think I will fly them ever again, its a pity because they work with Qantas who are my preferred airline.

A little update (20/7/15), still to this date nobody from Emirates Airlines has contacted me even after filing the complaint, absolutely terrible customer service

/End Rant and my return to Italy for the next 2 weeks.

Don’t forget to checkout our work on our social media pages, and if you need to contact us dont be shy.

Check me out on 500px.comhttp://500px.com/MichaelVettas
Follow me on Facebook – http://vettasmedia.com.au/facebook
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