Game: Where-is-it? (international)

[north-north-west]

Having to haul my way up that sand dune (1 step up, slide 3/4 step down) I can very well guarantee its real!

So, one of those diagonal lines was left by your footprints?

[wobbly]

Laguna Huacachina? - the view from the pool was a lot less strenuous

[MountainMadness]

Haha yep for some reason I don't tend to do things the easy way......

Yes Huacachina it is. Very cool place - traveling a little further out the sand dunes just go on forever.......

[wobbly]

Thanks MM Peru certianly is an amazingly diverse country.

From one very cool place to another. Somewhere in Europe.

[Tyreless]

Skaftafell?

[wobbly]

Skaftafell it is. Over to you Tyreless.

[Tyreless]

Thanks. Next one is not too far from the last one....

[wayno]

don't know what its called but i bet it's hard to pronounce...

[wobbly]

Looks like Tyreless and I have followed each other around this place.

[MountainMadness]

Unfortunately I haven't made it to that part of the world (its high on my list however in reality probably far off.......) but I've spent some time dreaming..... Is it Skogafoss?

[Tyreless]

They say that, in dreams, water represents your emotions. Having seen the volume of water churning over Skogafoss I can only imagine, MM, that you are a very emotional fellow.

Skogafoss is right. Iceland is outstandingly scenic but eye-wateringly expensive.

Over to you, MM.

[MountainMadness]

Haha not sure about the emotional fellow part - the terrain in Iceland certainly does appeal to me though (pretty much opposite to what we have here in Australia.....)

Where am in in PNG?

[ribuck]

Hmm. Very lush and very flat. Feels like it might be near Lae, looking north-west towards Kabwum and Pindiu mountains.

[MountainMadness]

Not near Lae (we are a few hundred ks away) - although we did pass though that area you describe on our round-about and adventurous trip to the location in the photo. Its a frequently visited place for PNG standards.

[ribuck]

Are you in Kokoda Village, near the start of the Kokoda Trail, looking roughly westwards?

[MountainMadness]

Yep Kokoda it is.

[ribuck]

Thanks, MountainMadness.

This one is in South Africa. What is the name of the mountain?

The photo looks back on the scrambling route that I had just done. Starting at the left, traverse along the second crack up from the bottom. At the cleft, drop down to the bottom-most crack then traverse the rest of the route. This was thrilling though absolutely terrifying. It was perfect in my 20s, back in 1981. No way I would do it now.

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[MountainMadness]

Ha not sure that route would fit under 'scrambling' (looks very vertical!) but good work!

Haven't been to Africa and don't recognize the face but while I'm here I'll start the bidding of with a wild punt and say Table Mountain....

[ribuck]

Indeed it's Table Mountain, which has lots of great routes up it.

The usual way up Table Mountain is by cable car. There's also an easy walking track with log steps etc. There's a great route called the India Venster route which includes a few straightforward short scrambles plus a crux of about eight metres which is equipped with steel staples and a chain, quite similar to Tarros Ladders at the end of Narrowneck. This is the way I would go nowadays.

There are several other scrambling routes, including this one which is called the Africa route. We took a handline but there wasn't really a good way to deploy it on the tricky bits.

Over to you, MontainMadness.

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[MountainMadness]

Nice. I have read that there are some great scrambles and climbs around Table Mountain so hence my guess.

Gotta give it to you ribuck it seems you have some great classic old-school film photos in your archives. I’m assuming actual archives – not just files on hard drives taken from digital cameras like a lot of us young’uns (respect!). Perhaps I’m a little jealous that I’m not quite in the right generation for that. You have inspired me to contemplate pulling out some old film photos from the folk’s shed gathering dust - from numerous Larapinta Trail trips or the many holidays we took around Australia as kids (thanks for the fact that anywhere is close for holidays living in the Alice).

Unfortunately for me NZ is mostly where my international photos are so I’ll stick with there. Perhaps a tough one but where is the bridge my mate is crossing?

[ribuck]

Gotta give it to you ribuck it seems you have some great classic old-school film photos in your archives.

Thanks! The ones I have been posting are scanned slides. One day I will scan my prints, but they're not in very good condition.

Once digital photography became possible, I never looked back. I used to ration myself to a roll of film (36 exposures) for a one-week trip, and I missed many great shots as a result. Good riddance to film and slides I say. Maybe when you're my age (58) the younger generation will be impressed that you needed a digital camera for your photos instead of a direct brain interface.

I have no idea where your NZ bridge is, but while I'm acting the "grumpy old man" let me say that when I did most of my New Zealand walking (1980s) we didn't expect cross-struts on wire bridges. We just got three tensioned wires if we were lucky, and occasionally we encountered a two wire bridge which was really difficult to cross while wearing a pack without wobbling uncontrollably

[MountainMadness]

Well then if you were in the area back in the day you speak of you may have seen or stayed at a nearby hut that was there......

[MountainMadness]

I thought someone would get my hut reference........... The ex hut and the valley share the same name (which is the name I'm after and where the bridge is). Here is a photo of us ascending the valley much higher up

[dagsands]

Gotta give it to you ribuck it seems you have some great classic old-school film photos in your archives.

Thanks! The ones I have been posting are scanned slides. One day I will scan my prints, but they're not in very good condition.

Hey a lot of my earlier and favourite travels are on slide film. I bought a slide scanner years ago but the quality was terrible. What slide scanner do you use ribuck?

[ribuck]

What slide scanner do you use ribuck?

I use an Epsom V100 flatbed scanner. It's made for scanning A4 documents but it also came with a slide adapter.

It takes about 5 minutes per slide to get a good scan, what with tweaking the settings and getting the focus right. Usually I can't be bothered to spend the time, so I just scan them on default settings and put up with the loss of quality. The ones above are crops from scans that were made with default settings.

The V100 is years old. A more modern device such as the Epsom V600 would be much better and much faster, but it costs about $400. Because scanning slides is a one-time job, you could buy one second-hand then sell it on again as soon as you are finished.

[dagsands]

The V100 is years old. A more modern device such as the Epsom V600 would be much better and much faster, but it costs about $400. Because scanning slides is a one-time job, you could buy one second-hand then sell it on again as soon as you are finished.

Thanks for the advice ribuck.

[MountainMadness]

Yeah cool - keep those old school photos circulating I say.........

My last photo hint shows Mt Cook (Caroline face) with a lot of the major south-east running Glaciers (Hochstetter, Haast etc). Would have thought that between this photo clue and the extinct hut clue (don't think there are many huts in the area that have been removed since the 80s) it would be quickly figured out......

[eggs]

I'm hooked on your clues, but about to rush into the bush for some days, so I am leaving it to others.

[dagsands]

Based on the clues I have to say Hooker?!

[MountainMadness]

No you are on the wrong side of Mt Cook. The bridge is on a smaller valley off a big one (small valley and ex-hut share the name I'm after)