Paperbark cathedral - Leschenault Estuary, Australiand, Western Australia

Only about 5 minutes drive from our home is Cathedral Avenue which runs along the edge of the Leschenault Estuary at Australind.  Beautiful old paperbarks (which are natural to the area along the Estuary) arch over the old road like the roof of a cathedral. I love walking along here, and as it was a beautiful morning on Sunday we drove out to Cathedral Avenue for a walk. 
It is a great place for children to ride their bikes.

This was the original Old Coast Road. The road has now been diverted around this section, so you can walk or cycle along here quite safely. You can park at either the southern or northern end, and if you like walk both ways beneath the cathedral of trees or walk one way along the foreshore path, and then back through the trees.

In the bottom left picture, if you look into the distance, you might be able to see the Bunbury port facilities. It is so lovely to have a place to walk like this so close to home. I love the blue on blue effect of the top image. You can how the paperbarks cling to the edge. During winter storms they would be inundated by the rising water.

 The birds were enjoying the morning too - 
An eagle was fishing, swans were courting, parrots were chatting, cormorants were sitting in their tree, pelicans were duck diving, and an ibis was stalking in the shallows.

and the kangaroos were looking, grazing and hopping. You often seen them in the paddocks along this stretch of road, so it is a good place to take overseas visitors (or city people!) to see kangaroos. 

On one side of the road is the Estuary, and on the other farm land. I often wish we had bought a block out here before it became a popular place to live and the prices skyrocketed. I would love to wake up in the morning and see the water and be able to walk along here every day. There are quite a few horse paddocks out here on the flat.

 I love the texture of the paperbark trees.   And surprisingly there are even a few olive trees. (although I took this pic last year - they are not fruiting at the moment)

Other good walks in this area are along the shores of the Collie River on either the Clifton Park side or the Eaton side, and also along the Leschenault Estuary waterfront and Collie River mouth at the Grand Canals.  

Do you have a favourite nature walk not far from you?

The Leschenault Estaury is popular for crabbing, fishing, prawning, boating, sailing and windsurfing. There is a boat ramp, car park, playground and public toilets are opposite the Australind shopping centre and numerous picnic and BBQ (wood) sites are scattered along the foreshore. 

The European history of Australind goes back to 1803.  

(Taken from the website of the Australind  Family History Society)

The Inlet on which present day Australind is located was named "Leschenault" by French Explorer Lieutenant de Freycinet, who charted the Australian coast in 1803 in the company of Nicholas Baudin. The land around Port Leschenault was explored by the Swan River colony's Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe, in 1830 and was further investigated by Lieutenant Bunbury in 1836

 After Captain Stirling began a settlement at Perth in 1829, a few settlers came to the Bunbury region from about 1831.

 However, in London in 1840, a town and farming enterprise was being planned, to be created at Australind. The company acquired some 103,000 and another 63,000 acres of land in the area.
 
To read more of Australind's history please click on the links -
the Australind Family History Society - Australind Family History Society
and Harvey History On Line - Harvey History Online

 I am linking up with Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday - please click on the links to see other contributions from around the world - Our World Tuesday  and Travel Photo Thursday

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Cathedral Avenue and Australind Pioneer Cemetary  
Dryandra Woodland in the early morning light
A walk in Yalgorup

Holland Track, Western Australia - following the goldrush prospectors

We are just back from a five day 4WD and bush-camping trip along the Holland Track and through the "Woodlines" south of Coolgardie and the Western Australian goldfields.

As we sloshed, slid, crawled, bumped and rocked in the relative comfort of our 4-wheel-drive through the vast uninhabited mallee woodlands south of the Coolgardie goldfields I could not help admire the thousands of prospectors who had tramped these tracks over a hundred years before.   

When prospectors Bayley and Ford found gold at Coolgardie in September 1892 the goldrush brought thousands of prospectors to Western Australia. After landing in Fremantle or at Albany on the south coast they had to make their way overland through the harsh landscape to the goldfields.   

In April 1893 John Holland, an experienced bushman, Rudolph & David Krakouer and John Carmody, with five ponies and a light dray with provisions for 5-6 months, started a carefully planned expedition to cut a track in a north-easterly direction from Broome Hill to Coolgardie. The mammoth task took two months and four days to cut the 538 kilometre (330 mile) track through the dense bushland. Over the next three years 18,000 people used Holland's track until the Perth to Coolgardie railway line was completed. The track was also used by camel teams taking supplies to the goldfields and Holland operated a carting business along the track.

We had to carry all our food and water with us for our three day trip along the Holland Track, but I wondered how those early prospectors could have possibly been able to carry all their supplies for the several weeks it took to reach the goldfields, walking on foot with a pack, pushing wheelbarrows, riding horses or travelling on carts.  They may have shot or trapped wildlife along the way, and the track links granite outcrops where water can be found laying in gnama hole pools after rain. No doubt the trip claimed the lives of some who may now lay in unmarked graves along the track. 

The southern half of the track became incorporated into farmland in the 1920s and the northern part returned to bushland. 

In November 1992 Broome Hill farmer, Graeme Newbey, researcher Adrian Malloy and their group, with the aid of Graeme's tractor, succeeded in re-cutting the track from Wattle Rocks (about 22km north of the Hyden Norseman Road) to Thursday Rock (about 70km south of Coolgardie). In June 1993 Graeme led a 4WD expedition along the newly opened track to mark the centenary of Holland's historic journey. Since then the Holland Track has become a popular track for adventurous 4WDrivers. 

On our trip in late April, we joined the track at Newdegate. Heading north along the Newdegate North Road we turned off to visit Dragon Rocks where we had read you could still see the marks of prospectors carts on the rock. The rock was a convenient place to stop for lunch and after a bit of searching we are fairly sure we found what looked like wheel tracks. You can see them in the picture below.  

 From here it is a variety of gravel and sand tracks to the Hyden-Norseman Road, one section scouting around the edge of the salt lake, Lake Carmody, and passing through the State Barrier Fence (Vermin Proof Fence) - be sure to shut the gate to keep the emus out! 

56km east of Hyden along the Hyden-Norseman Road is the point where most people start the Track. Here you will find interpretive panels. 

Coming onto the Holland Track off the Hyden-Norseman Road - 

Once we started along the Track it became immediately apparent why the Track is best travelled during autumn and spring not during winter or after rain, and why you should travel with others. The track was a variety of mud, sand, rock and gravel and in places corrugated and tightly winding with scrub and trees right up to the edge of the track (impairing driver vision ahead), or hanging low over the track. We encountered numerous bog holes and deep muddy rutted sections which needed to be carefully and slowly straddled by our 4WD or can be avoided by following the go-arounds which in places have been pushed through the bush. You definitely need to take it easy and drive according to the conditions. Some of these bog holes are very deep and with the water in them you have no idea how deep they are. My husband stood in one dry wheel trench which came up to the top of his thigh!

You need to allow at least two days to cover the Track from Hyden to Coolgardie so be prepared to camp out. There are many places you can camp along the track - in small clearings or at any of the granite outcrops. There is also a campsite at Mt Holland and another one at Thursday Rock where there is plenty of room to set up, although there are no facilities. On our first night we camped in a small clearing about 30km from the Hyden Norseman Road and our second night at Thursday Rock about 21km from the Victoria Rock Road.

The top picture shows our camp at Thursday Rock and below left our first nights camp.

 

 You pass through a variety of vegetation along the Track. The track is only one vehicle wide so you need to be aware that you will have to pull off the track if another vehicle comes from the other direction. The scrub was quite often right up to the edge of the track, and often had very windy tight turns. We drove through vast areas that had been burnt by bushfire a few years ago - but it was pleasing to see how the bush was thickly regenerating.

I love these trees you see in the images below - they are called ribbon gums - Eucalyptus Sheathiana.  The ribbon gums replace their bark annually, as part of the normal eucalypt growth pattern. Other eucalypts strip their bark too, but not quite like the ribbon gum whose bark comes off in long tendrils. They are pretty to look at dancing in the breeze  and in a wind you can hear them clacking together.  The ribbon gum is found extensively through the eastern weatbelt, south of Wongan Hills to Norseman in the east. 

We weren't really travelling at the right time of year for wildflowers - but I have always said you will find something flowering somewhere. I nearly missed seeing these at the top of Mt Holland, and had to put my camera in the bush to photograph them. I think they are one of the pincushion hakeas, but I couldn't be sure. Their little parts uncurl out straight as they mature.

There are numerous granite outcrops along the way. If you are travelling with children the rocks are a great place to stop, stretch your legs, and explore. Our grandsons liked looking for tadpoles in the rock pool gnamma hole and had fun making tracks around the camp with their Tonka trucks or driving around the rocks.  But please do not drive your vehicle onto the rocks as it damages the delicate ecology and highly sensitive vegetation. We saw evidence of this where vehicles have destroyed delicate plant-life on the rocks.

  Rock gardens

My husband likes to photograph lizards and birds. This is an ornate dragon lizard. You see them darting over and under the rocks. They don't stay still for long!

Today the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (DEC) has jurisdiction over Great Western Woodlands, and maintains other tracks in the area for fire fighting. With support from DEC and Track Care WA Inc, the Toyota Land Cruiser Club (TLCC) has volunteered to maintain and upgrade the track. 

We had a great time exploring the Holland Track, had no problems other than a broken headlight protector, and we experienced perfect weather - beautiful days, no wind, and not cold at night.

How can you beat sunsets like these -

The second part of our trip took us via 4WD tracks through the Great Western Woodlands across to Cave Hill and then up along the Woodlines to Burra Rock for our third camping night, then onto Coolgardie, Gnarlbine Rock, where we saw another of Hunt's wells (see previous post (Exploring WA's wheatbelt), and then to Karalee Rock for our last camping night - but that will have to be another story.  

Some tips for the Holland Track - 

-  Distance - Broomehill to Coolgardie is approx 731 km
- This is a remote track, so usual preparations for remote 4WD track should be made, including carrying sufficient fuel, water, food, supplies, communication gear, spare tyres and puncture repair equipment, recovery gear, safety equipment and first aid, as well as emergency backup supplies. There are no fuel or food supplies between Hyden and Coolgardie.
- It is important to minimise impact on the track and environment - convoys are limited to no more than 10 vehicles at a time. 
- The Greater Western Woodlands is a very environmentally significant area - so please keep to the made track.
-  Avoid periods after heavy rain when there is a significant risk of bogging and track damage. Track can be impassable after heavy rain.
-  Recommended tyre pressure is 28-36 psi.
-  Only walk (no vehicles) over the environmentally sensitive granite rocks.
-  Camp only in established cleared areas.
-  Take all your rubbish away with you.

-    Best time to travel – autumn or spring (not during winter months or after rain).

-     It can be easy to become bogged so it is recommended that you travel with others.

-     A Hema or GPS tracker is very handy to plot your course. We found it very useful on the few occasions when we lost sight of the track around rocky outcrops.

-    When travelling in convoy a two-way radio is invaluable to keep in touch.

-    The track is one vehicle width, so be aware there may be oncoming traffic particularly on weekends or holiday periods. You might have to pull off into the bush to allow others to pass. 

-    Camper trailers are ok as long as they are built to handle off road conditions. Take the corners as wide as possible to minimise the risk of sidewall damage and keep in mind drawbar height when traversing bogholes. Do not tow a caravan.

More Information:

Toyota Land Cruise Club - Holland Track page 
Explore Oz - Holland Track 
DEC - Goldfields Woodlands National Park 

 A useful book - is "Explore the Holland Track and Cave Hill Woodlines" by NIck Underwood. Explorer Series - Westate Publishing.

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday, Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday. Please click on the links to see the work of other contributors around the world 
- Mosaic Monday
- Our World Tuesday
- Travel Photo Thursday

I hope you have enjoyed this little trip along the Holland Track. Do you go 4WDriving and bush camping? For one of my best friends this is the furthest from her idea of a holiday! How about you?


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Exploring the Western Australian wheatbelt
Camp food
Living & Working on the Land - WA Wheatbelt

Exploring the Western Australian wheatbelt

Every year and sometimes two or three times a year, we take a trip east to the Western Australian wheat-belt - to Bruce Rock to be precise - in the central wheat-belt. My sister's family farm a cropping property there. Our visit has been an annual family trip at Easter for years. Both my father and mother came from the wheatbelt although they moved to the city before my sister and I were born. My sister marrying a Bruce Rock farmer over thirty years ago brought our family back to the wheat-belt. I love its beautiful salmon gum and gimlet trees and its wide open spaces and when I visit I feel in some ways that a part of me is coming home.

 Over the last few trips I have convinced my family that we should travel up by different routes to look at different places along the way, instead of going our usual route - Bunbury, Collie, Williams, Narrogin, Wickepin, Yealearing, Corrigin, Bilbarin, Bruce Rock - a four hour drive. Of course going a different way takes longer, but the journey is what is important don't you think?

This year we toured via York and the Old Goldfields Road.  The York to Goldfields Heritage Trail commences at York, 97km east of Perth and follows as closely as possible the route to the Coolgardie goldfields established by explorer Charles Cooke Hunt. It features some of his dams and wells which Hunt and his party constructed while cutting the trail during four expeditions between 1864 and 1866. For the thousands of gold seekers who trekked to the goldfields, Hunt's track and wells provided an invaluable lifelife. 

Since reading about Hunt a few years ago, I have been fascinated by this man and his work, and over the last few years we have visited a number of his wells. Travelling the Old Goldfields Road would add to my knowledge. (Writing about Hunt will be another story coming soon!)

From Williams we headed north on the Williams to York Road. Near Dryandra Conservation Reserve we found this little fellow - an young echidna - crossing the road.  He tucked his head under himself and bristled his quills. The hard gravel road surface was not providing a hiding place! I took a few quick shots and then let him trundle on his way. 

We stopped for a quick lunch in historic York. Established in 1836, York is now a popular weekend destination and also an alternative community for Perth workers who are happy to commute. There are many historic buildings. In the collage below you can see the Town Hall, the old flour mill, the convent school build in 1873 and the York main street. York could easily take up a whole story on it's own....another time.....

And onto the Old Goldfields Road. In the mosaic below you can see Youndegin Inn - first established as a police outpost in 1866. With the discovery of the Yilgarn goldfields it became the Youndegin Arms Inn and later a staging post for Cobb & Co coaches, declining in the 1890s after the establishment of the railway line 15km to the north. 
Nearby is one of Hunt's wells, constructed between 1864 and 1866. 
You can also see below one of the historical information boards which can be found along the trail, and the picnic area near Hunt's well at Doodlakine.

We continued on to Merredin before turning south to Bruce Rock. Just south of Merredin is another of Hunt's wells at Totadgin Rock.  From the top of the rock you have views over the wheatbelt and there is a marked trail with information panels making it an interesting place for a walk in autumn or spring when it is not too hot. There are gnama holes (natural depressions) on the rock that collect water during rain and which were an important source of water for animals, early residents and explorers. Hunt's well at Totadgin is a good example of dry stone well construction. There are granite rocks like Totadgin scattered all over the wheatbelt.

Bruce Rock is a progressive neat town. They have recently held their Centennial Celebrations and installed a mosaic walk along the main street containing mosaic tiles made by families and groups within their community. The mosaics are a creative, colourful and interesting addition to the town. My sister's mosaic can be seen here in the bottom left hand corner - Shearing & Co.

The farm of course is the highlight for us, for our boys, and now our grandsons. What a great way to spend a morning or late afternoon walking over the paddocks and the big rock at the back of the home-block farm house. When our boys were younger they used to take off with their all-boy cousins and we would only see them at meal times!

 Up on the rock is their collection of old farm equipment - don't you just love rust! The old scarifier made a great climbing frame!

and how about an improvised drum kit for a young man - you can make as much noise as you like out here! I've processed this in Elements to give it a raw rock star look.

Although you might scare off the Pink & Grey Galahs! 

The paddocks may be bare now, but after we left seeding went into full swing, and next time we visit the paddocks will be green growing crops of wheat, barley and canola. 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed reading a little about the central Western Australian wheatbelt.  I look forward to hearing from you.
Is there a place you visit often - do you travel different ways? 

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday.  Please click on the links to see posts from other contributors around the world. 
 

You might also like to read more about the wheatbelt by clicking on a couple of my other posts here -

Western Australian central wheatbelt
Wheatbelt Central - Bruce Rock Caravan Park Camp food - Western Australian wheatbelt granite outcrops
Drayandra woodland in the early morning light

Persimmons and pasta - learning manual camera settings

It has been a few weeks since I have posted any food photos - but I have been taking photos! 

I have been doing a photography course for the last eight weeks and learnt the joys of using completely "manual" settings on my camera. Somewhere along the line I have missed out on the "technical" side of photography - and now is the time to learn!Until now for my food photography I have been using Aperture Priority, including setting white balance and ISO. Now I am also setting the "shutter speed". 

Manual settings are a whole new ball game - so much more to think about and consider and juggle to get a correct exposure. Lots to learn! Someone said once you learn to photograph with "manual" settings you will never go back to "automatic" again. I think they are right. (although you can't beat automatic for a quick snap!)

Below are some of my first attempts at food photography with all manual settings.
 
I am sure the ladies in my dance class thought I had gone quite mad when I exclaimed over this clutch of duck eggs and I said I wanted to take them home to photograph them!

How about some pasta photographed from above...........  

and some Quesadillas. Such a simple recipe - Melt some butter in a pan. Put a tortilla in the pan, throw on some grated cheese and chopped spinach leaves and chives. (you can also put chopped onion and chilli if you like) Top with another tortilla. Fry each side 30 seconds or so until lightly browned.  Lift out onto paper towell. Service with guacamole and sweet chilli sauce or salsa.  Easy and yummy!
I was chasing the dappled morning light on my patio for this one. 

And who can resist this persimmons  - here you can see early morning back lighting (top) and side lighting (bottom). Don't you wish you could bottle that gorgeous light!
  

And I have rediscovered my old attachable flash unit which I can use to "bounce" light. It hasn't been out of it's box since my film camera days....I took out the corroded batteries, and my husband cleaned up the bits inside, and hey-presto it worked! 

See here used on Persimmons photographed on my kitchen bench top, and then on a black tile.  Light from the flash bounced onto the ceiling.

and finally - rice bowl - minimalistic. This year I have joined the Photography Group of Bunbury. Every month there is a theme, and members present images for critique and judging. I won "gold" with this image. Photographed in my light box.

 How about you? Do you use manual camera settings?
If you search for "Digital Photography School" on the net there are lots of great tutorials, including a 4 part series on manual settings - click here to go to part 1 - aperture-priority-and-shutter-priority-exposure-lesson-1

I hope you have enjoyed stopping by. I love hearing from you and look forward to reading your comments. Thank you.
I am linking into Mosaic Monday at Little Red House and Our World Tuesday. Please click on the links to see wonderful images from contributors around the world. 

Have a wonderful, joyous and blessed week, wherever you are and whatever you do.

You might also like - 

 My food photography on Flickr    
Photographing Food on Black 
 Summer is here