Introduction

Eight years and three attempts later and the shot of Wollumbin I have imagined for so long still eludes me. This blog series lays out the genesis and development of this "shot still to be taken" and underscores the long-term commitment sometimes required to achieve an envisioned shot... 

Byron Bay, in Northern New South Wales, is a beautiful place to visit, not just for the beaches, but also for the spectacular hinterland just in from the coast. Much like the hinterland behind Noosa in Queensland the landscape is replete with ancient volcanoes the most spectacular of which is the caldera formation around Wollumbin (see map).

Planning

I first took note of this 20km (12.5 mile) diameter caldera on a visit to Byron Bay in 2012 while I was researching potential locations for panoramic shots in the hinterland. My original intent was to scale Wollumbin itself and use that elevated position as a means of capturing the surrounding countryside however this concept proved ill-advised as I discovered that the mountain is a sacred place restricted to "men's business" and should not be climbed by the uninitiated. I do my best to adhere to the wishes of the local people wherever I travel so I then set about trying to identify another location for my shot this time with Wollumbin as the target.

I initially tried the lookouts along the top of the caldera wall to the West and North but quickly realized that the aspect presented by the mountain from these positions was not that photogenic and that view I really preferred was from the South. The shape of the mountain from this cardinal was quite pleasing and taking the shot from this position would give me nice light (at both sunrise and sunset) as it would be illuminating the landscape along a line perpendicular to the line of my shot and casting interesting shadows across the undulating terrain of the caldera floor.

I studied the terrain to the South of the mountain and identified a ridge in the Mt Jerusalem National Park above the little township of Huonbrook which looked promising. Not only was there an elevated (320m - 1,040ft) and direct line-of-sight to Wollumbin but the foreground of the shot had an interesting hill called the Doughboy (see second map) which could provide some interest especially if I were to use a long lens to compress the distance between it and the mountain.  

Leaning on my usual combination of the Photographers Ephemeris and Cloud Free Night I identified a relatively clear night on which to attempt the climb up the caldera wall. The map showed a path which seemed to offer the most logical access to the ridge I was targeting (I subsequently discovered it is actually a right of way across farmland). 

The First Attempt

After gathering my gear just before bedtime, I set my alarm for 01:30. I was up as soon as it went off - dressed and then grabbed my gear, packed the car and started the drive to the Huonbrook. Progress was hampered by a heavy mist that morning which slowed my driving progress but by 02:45 I had arrived at a gate marked "Private", scaled it, and struck out in the pitch black up the steep slope of, what had been marked on the map as "The Red Road", but could more realistically be described as a deep muddy washout seemingly endlessly ascending at 35°. 

"3 hours to sunrise", I thought, as I headed upward into the darkness.

The climb up The Red Road and my subsequent experiences will continue in Part 2...