Creek-run fun, Eltham (drone)
Location: Karingal Yalloc
Eltham North, Victoria
(some 19 km north-east of central Melbourne)
Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%...
Karingal Yalloc, which translates as 'Happy Camping Creek', is mostly hidden from view as you drive along the main roads that follow its course down a shallow valley. As it reaches flatter ground, the once-pretty creek flows into an open concrete culvert, and then a tunnel which takes it underneath an industrial area before emptying into Diamond Creek. I imagine that it would not be flowing all year-round.
The arched dam (about 2.0-2.5 metres high) is something of an oddity. A nearby plaque states that it was designed and built in 1940 by one Douglas Smith, using the theory of his father, Bernhard Smith, who solved an engineering problem in relation to arched dams, and in 1920 for the paper he wrote on the subject was awarded a medal by the American Society of Civil Engineers; the first time the medal had been awarded outside America. Sited where it is, the dam is incongruous, and the plaque offers no explanation for why it exists. One might infer that its construction was an applied technical exercise, and possibly a personal project.
It's difficult to get well-exposed video with dappled light. Filmed around 7:00-7:30 am (just outside 'golden hour'), the colours are nice, but there are many blown highlights! It would be interesting to fly the same route on a lightly overcast day with the sun higher in the sky, and then compare the two sets of footage.
Date: November 25, 2023
Drone: DJI Phantom 4 Pro v2
Source video:* 4K/60fps/100Mbps
Music: Artist - Alabama Shakes
Track - Sound & Color (2015)
I flew my Avata here in Dec, 2023: • Karingal Yalloc, Eltham
And again in Nov, 2024: • Stop to smell the flowers
For a better quality viewing, watch YouTube video in the highest resolution you can stream - irrespective of your screen resolution (assuming you're looking at something larger than a phone). Reduced compression on YouTube's higher resolution versions (eg. 2.7K & 4K) results in clearer images.