Benz World Blog » SA

Final Parade

Jason Benz — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 05:13:54 +0000

This is the Cambridge University Eco Racing teams car, Helia, leaving the centre of Adelaide a few moments ago for the final parade of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. It has been an epic race of 3000km from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Adelaide in South Australia. It has been an honour to share the road with these amazing solar-powered cars and to meet the teams along the way. Their engineering and imagination have been awe-inspiring.

I will be continuing my journey east to the Blue Mountains but not before I have caught up on a week of sleep.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Editorial Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Solar Ute

Jason Benz — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:02:31 +0000

This Solar Ute is the most unique vehicle at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. I arrived in Adelaide just after the last team crossed the finish line. Fortunately, the lovely people from Tafe SA were good enough to give their car a push so I could get this photo. When leaving Darwin this prime mover was attached to a 7-metre trailer with 14 square metres of solar cells which provides an extra 2.8kw of power to the Ute. Weighing in at 1.4 tonnes it is the heaviest and longest solar automobile. The team overcame many hurdles to get here. During track testing, they blew up one of the motor controllers so the 11.5-metre articulated vehicle was being pulled by just one wheel. This created so much heat that during the race they built an ingenious cooling system with a CO2 fire extinguisher.

I have a few repairs of my own to do on the van before heading back to the Blue Mountains.

The finish line image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Editorial Stock Photography and is available for download here and top view.

Hover Car

Jason Benz — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:01:49 +0000

This beautiful machine which appears to hover is called Violet, A solar powered cruiser from the Sunswift team, based at the University of New South Wales. The Cruiser class of vehicles have much more variety in design than the speedy Challenger class which are generally either asymmetric catamarans of mono hulled bullets.

I photographed this solar car earlier today leaving the Glendambo control stop, which is the 8th of 9 compulsory half-hour stops between Darwin an Adelaide on the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

Tomorrow they will be the first Cruiser to cross finish line. However, the first Challenger already crossed the line today in a time of 34 hours, 52 minutes, 42 seconds. Less than 3 minutes separated the two lead cars during the final leg when the reigning champions caught fire leaving Belgiums BluePoint to claim their first title.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Editorial Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Cruiser Charging

Jason Benz — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 11:52:03 +0000

This amazing looking car is named Priscilla and was put together by the Australian Technology Network, which is a collaboration between five universities in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. This makes it Australia’s only national team. It arrived in Coober Pedy today at the 2nd charging station for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The Cruiser class of solar cars are allowed two charging stops between Darwin and Adelaide. Whereas the Challenger class cars do the whole 3000km with only the power of the sun they collect en route. I met the designer of the body today who is also a mechanic. He offered to tune up the engine in my van as he could hear it was struggling to keep up with the solar cars.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Editorial Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Leyland Truck

Jason Benz — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 06:01:06 +0000

This is a bodger legend and an inspiration. There was no information board but given the location in the centre of the Australian outpost of Marree this looks like the remains of the Leyland truck from the 1954 film/documentary “The Back of Beyond”.

Marree is a frontier town and the last petrol stop before embarking on the Birdsville, Oonadatta or Strzelecki Track. From here dirt roads stretch out hundreds of miles into South Australia’s remote corners. The place has a Mad Max feel. Beefed up 4WD’s adorned with equipment and stacked high with water and petrol cans prepare to take on the expanse. From here I went North until the road ended at the foot of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

When I first visited Australia in my gap year over 20 years ago a fellow traveller told me this quote by Samuel Johnson “The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are” So it is with Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Internet articles predicting the rains earlier this year in Queensland and The Northern Territory would cause a once in a lifetime event were greatly exaggerated. I suspect they were written by someone with an interest in the tourism industry. It is true that the rivers here are untamed but industry and agriculture still take bore water from the Great Artesian Basin. This reduces the chance of the lake ever filling again like it did in 1974. It is a sobering thought that since it last filled the global human population has doubled and the wildlife population has halved. Another part of travel these days seems to be seeing things before they are gone forever.

From here I will go west across the Nullarbor Plain to revisit the location of my best selling photo in Kalgoorlie.

Festival Centre

Jason Benz — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 08:30:27 +0000

This is the Adelaide Festival Centre in South Australia reflected in the waters of the River Torrens at night.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Venus Bay

Jason Benz — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 02:02:33 +0000

This is Venus Bay on the Eyre Peninsula, in South Australia. It is a small pretty seaside holiday town with an impressive curved jetty which was popular with fishing. Heading south is a wonderful coastline of craggy cliffs where Eagles and Osprey Nest.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Surfer Silhouette

Jason Benz — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 01:08:24 +0000

This beautiful sunset appeared through a misty cloud at Goolwa Beach in South Australia. I had positioned myself so this surfer would walk in front of me to produce a silhouette and make the shot. Unfortunately as she approached she saw my camera and put her hand over her mouth thinking she was about to ruin it. I tried to explain it was OK but the moment was lost. Fortunately I had captured a body surfer earlier so I could Photoshop in his head and shoulders. Split toning was also used to create some extra colour.

Murray Princess

Jason Benz — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 00:17:43 +0000

This is the Murray Princess in South Australia. It is the largest paddlewheeler in Australia. Unlike river boats with imitation paddles, The Princess is authentic paddle power.

Pelican Squadron

Jason Benz — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 14:01:00 +0000

These are Australian Pelicans in South Australia. There must be plenty of fish in the ocean when birds like this get big enough to block your walk along the beach.