Preparing for Next Trip - Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies

I should be staying at home base post processing images from my recent America trip. But, with the few public holidays available at Easter, I've decided to do a quick field trip to South Australia.

Although this trip is substantially shorter than most of my trips (10 days thereabouts) it should be long enough to capture what I want. I intend to beeline from Hobart (via the vehcle ferry from Devonport, Tasmania) to Melbourne, Adelaide, and then onto the Flinders Ranges. The distance one way is approximately 2200 KM (one way). I know of three locations in the ranges (off the beaten track and only accessible with a four wheel drive vehicle) that provide the opportunity to photograph the rare and endangered Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus).

These wallabies are relatively small in statue and are probably one of the most beautifully marked wallabies within Australia. Photographing them well, in their natural habitat, is challenging. The "yellow foots" spend most of the day high on the cliffs seeking shelter within small caves and overhangs, and only venture down to lower terrain in the very late afternoon to spend the evening grazing on grasses along banks of streams, etc. In the early morning they begin their climb once again to the dizzy heights of the rocky escarpment.

Therefore, shooting is usually in very low light, in the we hours of the morning, or very early evening. Add to this the extremely dusty (and often windy conditions) in the desert and you have a situation not exactly conducive to acquiring good photographs.

It' unfortunate that my shooting partner couldn't make this trip, due to being involved in another shoot. Therefore, I will be alone and bush camping from my four wheel drive vehicle.

In addition to shooting at the three locations I know of, I will also be reconnoitering a few other locations in the area seeking areas to shoot on my next visit to the ranges. Other animals I expect I may encounter are emus, euros, kangaroos, lizards, and of course the usual selection of Australian endemic parrots.

I hope to keep this up to date on the trip via satellite internet - we'll see.