All in Road trip
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.
…Physically petite with a big personality, Pixie has that quick witted, dry humoured, fast-tongued way about her that film-goers around the world hoped all outback Aussies would be like back after watching Crocodile Dundee back in the early eighties…
I’ve been enjoying catching up with my old friend Kamali while we’ve been in Broome, and so have the children from the #thenomadicsmob - the offspring of musicians Dave Mann and Bec Schofield who are currently up at Kooljaman Resort at Cape Leveque playing beautiful music to holiday makers each night. Here they are on the back of Kamali’s house truck creating with clay - a pretty special art class for these home-schooled kids.
A little article about our road trip in the current issue of the RRR Network Magazine
On the last Sunday of June each year, Derby hosts the annual Bush Poets Breakfast.
If you ever find yourself in Derby in the Kimberley region of WA, it’s surely only a matter of time before you discover the Norval Gallery. It is crammed full of artist Mark Norval’s work, past and present, along with artwork by other local artists and it’s a feast for the eyes.
Steve’s been away working over on Koolan Island recently, so Jazzy and I have been on our own in Broome for part of the last month, spending a lot of time around Town Beach. This was the day we got a lesson from some local kids in finding hermit crabs in the roots of the mangrove trees.
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.
Living in Denmark and spending the last few months quietly meandering through the Wheatbelt and station country, approaching Port Hedland was an assault on the senses! The outback gave way to multi-lane highways, zigzagging railway tracks, a sky full of wires, and very large machinery operating everywhere you looked. In other words, plenty of new things to point my camera at!
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.
I’d first seen Paint Storm’s Phil Doncon at work the previous night at the big live music event for the Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival. He was mesmerising as he moved to the soundtrack being created by DJ Swami and friends, painting huge canvases with scenes inspired by Exmouth.
It was a stunning backdrop at Exmouth’s town beach for Gascoyne in May’s performance at the 2019 Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival. The ocean in the gulf was glassy and the sky was full of drama as the sun set and the show began.
While we were all having coffee in town one morning, we were introduced to a bloke by the name of Pancho. Pancho had been a prawn boat skipper for MG Kailis back in the day, and had recently written a book about that and a lifetime of other adventures (including a riotous weekend on Rottnest with Bob Hawke before he was PM)…
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...
