Apart from overnight bush camps on the final couple of nights of our road trip, we spent the last few days of it with our great mates, Tuck and Jenny. They’re gold prospectors with a lease in the Goldfields. Simple living at its finest…
All in Camping
Revisiting Lake Ballard
In 2003, to mark the Perth International Arts Festival’s 50th anniversary, renowned artist Antony Gormley created 51 sculptures which were installed on Lake Ballard. I’d read a lot about it at the time and dreamt of seeing them for myself, but an hour or two north of Kalgoorlie, Lake Ballard isn’t really on the way to anywhere else…you really have to make an effort to get there.
I finally got to Lake Ballard in 2010 and walking out onto the salt lake, I had that feeling that I was meeting people for the first time that I’d heard so much about from a mutual friend.
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.
Pilbara backroads
As far as possible on our meander around Western Australia, we’ve chosen to take the unsealed backroads and have discovered so many amazing spots along the way. When I mentioned on social media where we were and where we were heading next, I got a couple of messages from friends telling us how to find the most beautiful little swimming spot.
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. …
Dampier Peninsula bush camp
During our two and a half months with Broome as our base, we spent a week tucked away at a quiet out of the way spot on the Dampier Peninsula. We’d heard about this beautiful bush camp right on the beach, with no real facilities other than a cold water shower to wash the salt off occasionally. It sounded perfect…
Port Smith
We spent a few days camping at Port Smith on our way up to Broome. A time of mud maps in red dust, and footprints on pristine white beaches; lagoons and mangroves and the feeling that we'd arrived in crocodile country; low, low tides and sand patterns; and so many brolgas.
Warroora Station, my happy place
We’ve been wilderness camping at Warroora Station for years - it’s my happy place and a big part of our kids’ childhood memories. I’ve taken so many photos there over the years (including flying up specially to photograph shearing time), challenging myself to capture images that reflect how I feel as well as what I see...
Camping at Wooleen Station
We set off on our meander through WA with no set time frame and no planned route. There was however a couple of places we knew we wanted to go which gave us a rough skeleton of a plan when we left home on the south coast of WA. Wooleen Station was one of those places. We’ve visited Wooleen a few times before, in fact we photographed Frances and David’s wedding a couple of years ago…
Elachbutting Rock, Mukinbudin
We caught up with our great mate Tony Docherty out a Elachbutting Rock, north of Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt a few days ago. He’d been taking part in the annual bird survey near Bullfinch and was heading back to Freo. He’d been sleeping in his swag under the stars for a week and had clearly been using any fresh water for rehydrating rather than washing! Jazzy was pretty happy to discover her own pool of freshwater on top of the rock.
Camping at Carnaby's - Lake Grace
As coast huggers used to the background white noise of the ocean, we’ve been acutely aware of the silence and any sound that breaks it. At sunrise it’s the rowdy galahs perched in the salmon gums, shouting at each other and the world, and at sunset as the wind picks up it’s the rustling of great strips of peeling bark and leaves of the trees around us.