Karijini National Park, Western Australia.

If you ever want to experience how it would be like to take a journey to the centre of the earth; Karijini National Park in Western Australia, is as close as it gets.

It is a remote place, very difficult to get to.  Narrow canyons carve through the desert landscape, giving you access to a whole new world.  Getting down into these canyons is challenging, especially when you are hauling 20kg of camera equipment along.  It also requires a decent fitness, and a certain sense of experience in navigating difficult terrains.  There are steep edges, slippery rocks, and some places are simply only accessible by traversing submerged canyons with ice cold water.  The further you venture off, the better the views become.

I took this photograph after a long journey through this canyon.  This was as far as I could get.  Venturing further, would require additional rappelling equipment, which I did not have.  I leaned over this slippery edge, and took a wide angle image with my Linhof Technorama.  The green pools in the distance were so tempting to get to, but simply impossible to reach.  The canyon walls contain iron oxide, giving them this stunning brown-orange colour. 

I was the only person there, far away from anywhere.  It made me realize how ancient and powerful Mother Nature really is.  This canyon has been here long before we got here, and it will be here long after we’re gone.