If you’re heading to Wooleen Station, the sunset tour running several days a week is a must-do. Informative, educational and fun with a cheeky wine as you watch the sun going down.
All in Nature
On the road again - the Wheatbelt Way
I always try to take the road less travelled, and preferably one that I’ve not driven before. I was recently driving north to Wooleen Station and chose to take the route via Dalwallinu through to Mullewa…
Walga Rock
Walga Rock lies 48 kilometres west of Cue in WA’s Goldfields. It’s one of Australia’s largest granite monoliths Of huge cultural and spiritual significance, the rock faces feature incredible, well-preserved Aboriginal art. Strangely amongst the art is a depiction of a sailing boat, drawn in white ochre. Its origins remain a mystery but there’s stories that it may have been drawn by a shipwreck survivor who had ended up a few hundred kilometres from the coast…or perhaps it was created by an Afghan cameleer who was showing his Wajarri friends what he had seen.
Nallan Station Stay
Nallan Station was the perfect base when we explored Cue and the surrounding district in early September. While we were there we took photographs for Cath and Dave for their website, social media and printed material, creating their very own unique stock library of images…
Goldfields Flora and Fauna
Realising we were heading south into Western Australia’s wildflower season was fantastic! Add abundant birdlife and the odd bungarra (aka racehorse goanna) into the mix and I was in heaven…
Bush Camping near Newman WA
We discovered this awesome bush camp north of Newman. We’d been trying to get to another one we’d heard about but found this one on the way! Running water in the Pilbara is a rare find so it was blissful to have fresh water next to our camp. The only sounds were frogs, cicadas, the ‘babbling brook’, and the breeze through the trees…that was until the helicopter appeared, passing overhead several times one morning, locating cattle during the annual muster.
Around Marble Bar
Marble Bar is officially Australia’s hottest town, holding the record with 161 consecutive days over 37.8C (100F). Fortunately it was a very manageable 32 degrees when we were there recently. This outback town is named for its jasper which the early explorers believed to be marble. There’s more photos of the jasper patterns and colours in an earlier blog post.
With a rich history of gold mining, Marble Bar still draws gold prospectors from far and wide, hoping to find their fortune.
Marble Bar Pool
Early explorers in the Pilbara mistook the jasper outcrops for marble, and called the new town Marble Bar. The colours in the rocks around Marble Bar Pool are unbelievable, especially if you pour a little water over them to bring out their vibrancy.
Pilbara bush camp
When we were up in Wyndham I photographed some beautiful gouldian finches. That sparked a passion for bird photography so finding this little bush camp beside a billabong near Marble Bar was a real treat…the birdlife was phenomenal. I spent the late afternoon and early morning, standing as still as possible, observing and occasionally photographing the rainbow bee-eaters, white-plumed honeyeaters and the tiny black-fronted dotterels. It’s a steep learning curve photographing birds - and a big lesson in patience - but I’m loving it!
Broome Time
Driving into town, after a few months on the road, we’d already adjusted to Broome’s relaxed pace of life and were ready to enjoy its laid-back lifestyle and perfect dry season climate - 17-31C, cloudless skies and sunshine.
I found myself barely picking up my camera - too busy living life to photograph it. So, this blog post is more a collection of Broome snap shots. …
Out and about around Wyndham
…Parts of the Kimberley may have their resorts and wealth, diamonds and pearls, but Wyndham is the hidden gem.
Wildlife in Wyndham
If you’re into your wildlife photography, add Wyndham to your list of Places to Go…from the cute rock wallabies at the Five Rivers Lookout, to the abundant waterbird life at Malgu Billabong; from colourful gouldian finches found right near the caravan park to the good old saltwater crocodiles found anywhere near water, Wyndham’s got it all.
Nature vs industry on the Burrup Peninsula
To stand in Deep Gorge, surrounded by deep red boulders etched with the world’s largest and most important collection of petroglyphs (Aboriginal rock carvings) dating back half to one million years, is breathtaking. It’s a quick-fire way to make you feel insignificant in the big picture. To turn 180 degrees and be confronted by millions of tons of metal structured into a huge industrial plant just a few hundred metres away is heartbreaking.
Beautiful Bougainvillea in Carnarvon
There’s something so tropical about the bougainvillea - we started to see it everywhere once we reached Yalgoo and headed into station country. Whether it’s surrounding caravan parks in Carnarvon (especially the Capricorn Caravan Park) or brightening up run-down station yards and sheds, it puts on such a show. I think this is the first time I’ve ever tried to photograph them.