Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist. Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.
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Hello dear readers, and welcome to my New Year edition. Another year has come and gone. I can't believe it is already 2025! It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the dawn of 2000. Over those 25 years we retired, we lost our parents, our eldest son got married, and had two children, the eldest of whom has just completed Year 12 and going to university next year! How did that happen so fast? At times I feel that time is running out, and there is still so much to do!
For today I am going to share a few highlights from 2024. If you would like to read the posts just click on the links to go back and take a look.
In January we travelled to Albany on our south coast so I could attend an Advanced Botanical Eco-printing class with master printer Penny Jewell at Summer School. It doesn't look like I blogged about it, but I have blogged about eco-printing several times before. How far does the hand reach - The Peace Cloth (July 2019)
In February we were in the safety boat & on-water control for a dragon boat regatta (a great opportunity to take photos from the water), took photos at a triathlon, and took photos at the South West Multi-cultural Festival - a truly wonderful cultural event with music, dance and food.
In April we watched our sons compete at the Australian Dragon Boat Championships in Perth, and I collected a photography prize at the Dardanup Art Spectacular, and had an enjoyable market weekend talking to lots of people.
In May I made Quince and Grape jam and revelled in having my blog recognised as worthy enough to be preserved on the National Library of Australia website - Trove. And I had a rather dismal attempt at photographing the Aurora Australias.
Earlier in the year I was sorry to be told that the travel magazine, On The Road, which I had been writing for since 2010 was closing down. I was lucky to secure another small writing gig with Caravan World magazine. My first Side Tracks article for Caravan World was published in June. Beringbooding Rock water tank
In July my husband and I took a mini break in Nannup in our beautiful southwest, enjoying relaxing and bushwalking. I wrote two blog posts about it -
In August we visited the annual Blooming Art Exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery - hosted by the Bunbury Floral Designers Club. Always gorgeous.
In September we went on a 3 week wildflower, midwest and goldfields trundle. The links are in my intro post here - Wildflowers, midwest, goldfields trundle - intro. I still have one more post to share with you!
October and November seemed to blur by - but I was runner up at the end of year awards for the Photography Group of Bunbury for points scored from our monthly exhibitions during the year. At the AGM I put my hand up to be secretary next year. And I had a market stall at the Stirling Street Art Centre - art in the garden market.
My Gold awards for 2024
In December we had a couple of nights in our capital city, Perth, and visited the amazing Rone Exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA, and also visited the Museum and the botanic gardens at Kings Park.
In the last few weeks I have had friends loose a loved one, so I think of them as they start the new year without them.
Also, here are a couple of my most enjoyed books from my 2024 reading list - (for my complete reading list go to the Reading List tab)
So that's it for my little look-back on 2024. I wish you and yours a safe and happy 2025, with new adventures, new inspirations, and plenty to make you smile and give thanks. And I pray for peace around the world. Who knows where 2025 will take us - as Doc from Back to the Future movie says - our future is not written yet, so make it a good one.
Hoya in my garden
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
As the sun sets on 2024 I wish my family, friends, supporters and all who pass this way a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2025, finding joy and fulfillment in all you do. My thoughts go out to all those who are moving into the new year without their loved one. I pray for peace all around the world, and a better future for us all.
I hope you have enjoyed visiting my blog this past year. I appreciate hearing from you through your comments and look forward to another year of sharing my world with you.
Hi dear blogging friends, and welcome to my Christmas edition.
I was wandering around blogland wondering what to do for my Christmas post and I came across this site - Why Christmas.com I found it to be a really interesting site explaining the traditions and customs of Christmas, and how different cultures celebrate Christmas around the world. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but for those you do, or for those who are interested to know more, I suggest you take a look. When you go to the site, just click on the links to learn more.
In Australia, Christmas comes towards the beginning of the school summer holidays - which run from mid December to the first week in February, so many people plan this time for their summer getaway holidays. Because it is hot (usually around the mid to high 30sC or low 40sC) many people head to the beach on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, or laze around the pool (if they lucky to have one!).
I think this Christmas song from You Tube (Strolling Through a Summer Wonderland) sung by Ronan Keating (even though it was recorded for Air New Zealand) sums it up - New Zealand is only just across the ditch from us after all!
In 2021 is was so hot on Christmas Day (around 43C) that our grandson cooked a fried egg in a pan on the driveway.
Some people hang wreaths on their front doors and decorate their houses and gardens with Christmas lights. People drive around in the evenings to look at the light displays. Some people must spend days/weeks putting up their Christmas lights. Sometimes the displays are set up as early as December 1st. We took a drive around on Saturday night in our area. Some of the displays were truly amazing.
The shopping centres, hotels, and city streets, etc also put up Christmas displays.
In each State capital city there are Carols by Candlelight concerts. Famous Australian singers help to sing the carols and those who attend are encouraged to join in the singing. These concerts are broadcast on TV across Australia. There are also Christmas pageants and street parades in capital cities, that are also broadcast across the country. Most towns and cities have festivals and parades.
You can see a short video of some of Carols in the Domain in Sydney, Australia, in 2023 here from YouTube-
Many towns, cities and schools also hold their own Carols by Candlelight concerts, with local bands and choirs helping to perform the Christmas Carols and songs. In the past we held candles to read the words in the song book, whilst today it will probably be a battery operated candle.
As it is the middle of summer in Australia at Christmas time, the words to carols about snow and the cold winter are sometimes changed to alternate Australian words. There are also some original Australian Carols.
A couple of years ago I brought you a few Australian Christmas carols including two versions of The 12 days of Aussie Christmas - one showcasing our unique Australian animals.
There are some beautiful Australian trees flowering around Christmas. Below are the candlestick banksia (they remind me of giant Christmas candles) blue/purple jacaranda (beautiful - but not an Australian native), the yellow/orange Western Australian Christmas tree, and the red flowering gum. So vibrant.
When he reaches Australia, it is said that Father Christmas sometimes gives the reindeers a rest and might use kangaroos. He also changes his clothes for less 'hot' ones! Children often leave out carrots for Santa's reindeer. They might leave out milk and cookies or cake for Santa, with some cold beer - but should be non-alcoholic because Santa has to drive his sleigh!
There is a popular Christmas song about Santa using six white kangaroos, called "boomers" to deliver presents to children in Australia. The song explains that Santa's reindeer can't handle the Australian heat, so the kangaroos take over pulling his sleigh.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Most families try to be home together for Christmas and the main meal is normally eaten at lunch time. Although many people still have the traditional roast English Christmas lunch (turkey, pork or ham and roast vegetables), in more recent times a cold Christmas dinner or a barbecue with seafood such as prawns and lobsters is popular. Some people like to have 'traditional' English Christmas Puddingbut there may also be cold desserts like pavlova and trifle. An ice-cold 'punch' drink is also popular.
I always make sausage rolls and these little Christmas puddings you can see below here top left. I have shared the recipe here - Christmas baking when it's baking hot
After lunch on Christmas Day we often flop in front of the TV to watch a movie - especially if someone has been given a new DVD for Christmas, or collapse on the lounge with a book, or play a board game. Or for those with enough energy - a game of back yard cricket.
Dinner Christmas evening for us will usually be a casual affair of leftovers - a ham sandwich maybe and a bowl of icecream.
On Boxing Day many people visit friends for a barbeque. And there is often a new release movie at the cinemas - a good way to keep cool on Boxing Day in the cinema. People very often travel on Boxing Day to start their summer holidays.
A famous Yacht race - the Sydney to Hobart - from Sydney in New South Wales to Hobart in Tasmania is held on Boxing Day. Another Boxing Day tradition is the Boxing Day Cricket Test Match. It starts every year on Boxing Day and is held at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in Victoria.
On Christmas Day we need to remember the service people in our community who continue to work for us - like hospital workers, doctors, nurses, ambulance officers, community service personnel, police, firefighters (bush fires in Australia are common this time of year), and the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service who are on hand if someone in remote Australia needs help. Thankyou to all those people.
This year is the 50th year anniversary of the Christmas Day cyclone that hit Darwin in the Northern Territory in the early hours of Christmas morning 1974 - Cyclone Tracy - when Santa didn't make it into Darwin. It devastated 80% of the city, and 66 people were killed. More than 36,000 people were evacuated from the city. Singers Bill and Boyd wrote a song about it -
Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A big wind came and blew the town away
You can hear the song and see vision from the aftermath of the cyclone here on YouTube -
A bushfire came scaringly close to our house on 21 December 2021 - and I was so grateful to the firefighters who brought that bush fire under control. We had never been in that situation before.
And for those who are missing someone from their table for the first time this year a very special song on YouTube from Anya - Spirit of Christmas Past.
Here are some of my previous Christmas posts you may enjoy
I wish you all a blessed festive season spent with those you love. And for all a prayer for peace and safety around the world in these troubled times.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. How do you celebrate Christmas? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comment. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
Hello dear blogging friends. I hope you and yours are doing well. I thought before the year finishes I better finish off our Wildflower-Midwest-Goldfields Trundle. But I see now there is going to be two posts to finish this off. If you didn't see the last post you can revisit here - Part 5 - Leonora, and Gwalia, Western Australia
We are going to be free camping for the next few nights. Here is the map again - we have just left Leonora and are heading south through the goldfields area towards Niagra Dam and then passing through Kalgoorlie to Karalee Rock on the Great Eastern Highway before turning north to Beringbooding and Elachbutting Rock before returning home via Bruce Rock.
Niagara Dam is located about 83 kilometres south of our last stop, Leonora, and 191 kms north of Kalgoorlie via the Kookynie Road. It is a great place to stop for a picnic, or to free camp overnight or for a few days. We discovered this little oasis years ago and have camped here several times. There are plenty of places to set up camp and we have found it to be a quiet camp. As we didn't have a long way to go from Leonora, we had a lazy get up and arrived at Niagra before lunch-time.
The 30,000,000 gallon Dam was built in 1897 with
cement hauled on 400 camels from Coolgardie by the Afghan cameleer Abdul Waid.
The Dam was to provide water for the now abandoned goldmining town of Niagara,
the surrounding district, and for the steam locomotives using the railway
linking Kalgoorlie, Menzies and the northern goldfields. John Alway pegged the
first gold lease in the Niagara area in January 1895, followed rapidly by other
mining leases.
Underground water was found at Kookynie soon after Niagara
Dam was completed, and the Dam proved unreliable due to intermittent rainfall. Named after a nearby waterfall which proved to
only flow after heavy rain, Niagara was a little different to its gigantic
namesake.
There are two walk trails – the Round the Dam Trail
(1150 metres) and the Breakaway Trail (1600 metres). The walks are relatively
easy and are well marked with steel marker posts approximately every 70 metres
letting you explore and learn about the landscape
through the interpretive panels. The path takes you across the dam wall - no jumping or diving.
These rocky outcrops are called breakaways - Breakaways are a notable feature of inland Western Australia. Softer soils have gradually eroded through the repeated action of wind and water. Only those areas with a hard laterite (ironstone/granite) top have resisted this reshaping erosion.
There was a gorgeous display of the Tall Mulla Mulla - Ptilotus exaltatus which is prolific through midwest and northern Western Australia. It always signals to me when we travel north that we have travelled out of the south west. They are one of my favourites. There are around 100 varieties of Mulla Mulla. I have added a few more to my photo list since I wrote this post in 2017.
And some birds - we think the one on the left is the Grey-headed honeyeater and on the right is the Cockatiel weiro (often a household pet as it responds well to people).
It was a beautiful still, quiet night and we toasted marshmallows over our campfire.
The next morning we headed south to Kalgoorlie, passing through Menzies around 60kms from Niagra Dam. There is an interesting story to read on my blog about the Menzies Town Hall clock here - Menzies - Town hall without a clock. As you can see it now has a clock - but didn't have for around 100 years.
We only stopped in the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie briefly before heading west to our next stop Karalee Rock - around 372km from Niagra Dam - arriving early afternoon.
Located not far off the Great Eastern Highway 177 km west of Kalgoorlie, we have camped at Karalee Rock several times over the years, and it is one of my favourite free camps. We decided to stay for two nights.
There is plenty of places to set up with lovely shady camp sites suitable for caravans, camper trailers and tents. The only disappointment was that the toilets weren't operating. It is a popular site to camp so I hope they fix them soon.
There are walk trails around and over the rock. And plenty of opportunity to take photos of wildflowers, including orchids in season. Orchids can particularly be found in the rock gardens were water collects on the rock. We enjoyed pointing some of these tiny orchids out to some other visitors to the rock.
Below you can see, clockwise from top left - Lemon scented sun orchids (I love their little faces), what we think is the blue Candy orchid, Little Laughing Leek (so tiny), and the Clown orchids (I love their stripy trousers).
Karalee Rock is one of the stopping points along theGolden Pipeline Heritage Trail which follows the 560 kilometre Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline, and is one of a number of rain water rock catchments built in the 1890s to service the steam trains on the Eastern Railway from Perth to the Goldfields. The rock's history goes back thousands of years to when Aboriginal people camped here and collected water from the rock’s gnamma holes and soaks.
When the railway between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie was completed in 1896 a series of rock walls, an aqueduct and 48.3 million litre dam was constructed at Karalee to collect rain water off the two granite rocks and provide water for steam trains en route to Kalgoorlie.
Six kilometres of granite slab walls up to a metre high, all cut from the rockitselfand laid by hand, surround Karalee Rock forming a rain catchment.
These walls direct rain water to flow off the rock into the dam via a large semi-circular steel flume aqueduct, which was hand riveted at each joint. The water was then pumped 3.6 kilometres south to the railway siding. The construction was an enormous achievement of both manual labour and horsepower.
And more wildflowers - it really is a lovely place to stop and relax, walk or just sit and read under the shade.
You often see Ornate Dragon lizards darting across granite rocks - you need to be quick to get their photo
And last year when we were camped at Karalee we came across a Tiger Snake slithering across the rock. Deadly poisonous - you don't want to get tangled up with one of these. Stand still and back away slowly.
I hope you have enjoy this part of our Midwest, Goldfields and Wildflowers Trundle. Next time I will take you to Beringbooding and Elachbutting Rocks for the final part of our tour.
These are free camping spots with basic facilities, be self-sufficient: gas BBQ, fire rings, bins, long-drop toilets, chemical toilet dump point. Bring own firewood and be aware of fire bans. Please be respectful of other campers. Please take away your rubbish.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying my continuing tour. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
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