Cascade Hut - Early Morning In The High Country

Cascade Hut - Early Morning In The High Country
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia

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The early morning atmosphere of the Australian high country at Cascade Hut, one of many historic mountain huts scattered throughout the Australian mountain ranges.

This peaceful and remote atmosphere is enjoyed by many visitors to Australian national parks, such as bushwalkers and mountain bike riders in summer, cross country skiers and snowboarders in winter.

These huts in the Australian high country were built by stockmen, prospectors, recreational fishermen, skiers and the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority to meet their accommodation, shelter, recreational and hydrology needs at the time.

It is not hard to imagine these huts many years ago providing shelter to those early pioneers, working the land and building the nation. These huts are now used as both a place to have a rest during a hard day of recreational activity in the wilderness, and as much needed shelter from the elements in case of emergency.

Many of these huts have been lost through fire and decay, but around 120 of them still remain. These are now cared for co-operatively by the Kosciuszko Huts Association and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Cascade Hut is located about 50 metres off of Cascade Trail from Dead Horse Gap to Tin Mines (a small length of the 655 kilometre Australian Alps Walking Track), and is 10 kilometres from the trailhead. The trailhead to this trail is on the Alpine Way, above Thredbo Ski Resort in southern New South Wales (NSW).

This hut was built in 1935 by Bill Nankervis and other stockmen for grazing. It originally had a bark roof, which is visible in early photographs taken by the Mitchells in the 1940's.

Evidence of this previous life of the mountain hut in grazing is still visible today, with the frequent passing of wild horse (brumby) droppings on the fire trails and less frequent sightings of the brumbies themselves. These brumbies are descendents of horses used by the stockmen in the high country many years ago.

The Cascade Hut area is one of the most highly frequented areas for wild horses in the southern part of Kosciuszko National Park. Horses have caused extensive damage to bog areas, stream banks and heathland communities and extensive track systems are found throughout the area.

Cascade Hut was restored in the early 1970s by the Illawarra Alpine Club. The hut and the Cascades region, inspired Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby books.

The walls are horizontal slabs, making a very authentic alpine grazing hut. The original bark roof has been replaced by iron and the dirt floor was dri-creted in 1976. Part of the floor is raised and timbered to make a sleeping platform. There is a fireplace with a rock hearth, and outside, a toilet.

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Australia - New Zealand / Australia

Lat: 37° 35' 59.42" S
Long: 148° 15' 27.05" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

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HARDWARE

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• Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL (EOS Digital Rebel XT) Camera
  

• Canon BG-E3 Battery Grip
  

• Canon RS-60E3 Remote Switch
  

• Canon EF-S 10-22 mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Zoom Lens
  

• Canon EW-83E Lens Hood
  

• Peace River Studios 3Sixty Panoramic Camera Mount
  

• Manfrotto 338 Levelling Base
  

• Acratech Universal Cork Top Quick Release Camera Plate
  

• Acratech Ultimate Ballhead Tripod Head
  

• Gitzo G1227MK2 Mountaineer Carbon Fiber Tripod
  

• Inca Hotshoe-mount Dual Spirit Level
  

• SanDisk Extreme III 1GB CompactFlash Memory Card
  

• NextoDI Nexto-CF ND-2500 60GB Portable Storage Device
  

• Garmin eTrex Vista C GPS Receiver
  

• Burton Snowboards F-Stop Camera Backpack
  

• Cannondale 05 Jekyll Mountain Bike

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SOFTWARE

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• Adobe Photoshop CS2 (RAW Image Conversion, Image Editing and Adjustments)

• New House Internet Services B.V. PTGui (Panorama Stitching)

• Helmut Dersch's Panotools (Panorama Stitching)

• New House Internet Services B.V. PTGui (Panorama Blending)

• Andrew Mihal's Enblend (Panorama Blending)

• Thomas Rauscher's Pano2QTVR (Blended Panorama Image to QTVR Movie Conversion)

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EXPOSURE

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• Panorama Type: Spherical

• Number of Images: 40 (3 rows x 12 images, 1 x zenith image, 3 x nadir images)

• Focal Length: 10mm (16mm at 35mm film equivalent)

• Aperture: f/16

• Shutter Speed: 1/30 second

• Sensor Sensitivity: ISO 100

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