Life Images by Jill

Saturday, 8 August 2026

Wildflower season in Western Australia

While I am sitting here with the rain pouring down outside, I know it is wildflower season in Western Australia. I have blogged about wildflowers often, and I know I will soon be out among them too. Friends of ours from Queensland are currently in the north of Western Australia and have just seen the spectacular Sturt Desert Pea - Swainsona formosa

Below is the equally spectacular Green Bird Flower - Crotalaria cunninghamii - which we saw against a backdrop of red dirt at Bullara Station, near Exmouth Gulf, last year.

If you have followed me or know me at all, you will know that I love photographing wildflowers and sharing them with anyone who would like to look.

If you go to my index tab and look under THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH, ANIMALS, WILDFLOWERS AND GARDENS - you will be able to see my previous blog posts about wildflowers, plus more under the main WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TRAVEL index.

Below is the magnificent Wreath Leschenaultia - Lechenaultia macrantha. This photo was taken along the road side north of Pindar in the midwest of Western Australia - during a wildflower trundle

And there is nothing quite like the joy of a mass of yellow, pink or white everlastings spreading through the bush. Canna, Perenjori and Camel Soak in the midwest are great locations for this.

We have to travel a long way from where we live in the south west to see these wildflowers - Western Australia is big. The wildflower season extends for many months starting in the north during the middle of the year and slowly extending its way south as the weather warms to spring in the south. There are over 12,000 species of unique wildflowers in Western Australia and several locations are bio-diversity hotspots. There is always something flowering somewhere, making it a wonderful place for wildflower photographers.

However, you will find you don't have to go far in your local area to find wildflowers. If you live in our capital city in Perth you only have to go up to Kings Park Botanic Garden in the centre of Perth to see a treasure trove of wildflowers.

You can see the green bird flower lower right below - usually only found in the midwest. Kings Park really is a wonderful place to see wildflowers from all over the world.

There are often nature reserves near country towns and along roadways as you travel around our state. If you stop the car and get out and walk a little way into the bush you will see wildflowers you wouldn't see driving along the road.

Seen in the midwest - below clockwise from top left - Lemon Scented Orchid, red Granite Sun Orchid (we had never seen before), Donkey Orchids, and blue Granite Sun Orchid.

Closer to my home there are a couple of wildflower reserves we visit during spring. Please click on the links to read more - Crooked Brook Reserve near Dardanup, Manea Reserve in Bunbury, a walking track along the coast at Dunsborough to Meelup, and Wellington Dam near Collie.

While we were away in Victoria in April this year I received an email out of the blue from university student Dayna Madaffari who was working on a special interest travel story about native orchids in the south west of Western Australia. She found me on the net and asked if we could meet up. Of course we were away so that was impossible, but I asked her to send me her questions by email and I would do my best to answer them.

Today when I picked up my Saturday copy of the West Australian newspaper, and her article mentioning me was in the Travel section. Wow! So gratifying to see me quoted in Dayna's article. Thank you Dayna, I am so happy that I was able to help you.

Here is some of what I wrote to Dayna -

Originally I was photographing wildflowers in general, but I became gradually intrigued by the rarity, uniquenss and the difficulty of finding wild orchids.

Native orchids are very delicate and often hiding in the undergrowth. You need to be careful walking through the bush to not tread on them, and be on the lookout for their hiding places. A companion who is a good orchid spotter is a bonus (my husband fits this desciption!). Be carefull not to disturb the orchid's surrounding environment, and stay on formed paths if there is one. A cemera lens that enables you to capture the photo without getting too close is helpful. I rarely use a tripod - probably to my detriment!

Sharing photos on social media has perhaps meant that more people are walking through the bush taking photos, potentially disturbing habits. I don't give away locations of endangered species and please never dig up wild orchids as you could wipe out a species and they won't survive after being removed from their natural environment. It is so special to find them in their natural habitat in the bush.

Slow down, be careful, keep your eyes open, and be respectful of country.

Below are just a few of wild orchids to be found in Manea Reserve - (please note I am not a botanist!).

Clockwise from top left - one of the white spider orchids, Forest Mantus, Snail orchids, Purple Enamel Orchid, Dancing Orchid, Hammer Orchid, Leaping Spider Orchid, Slipper Orchid, and the Blue Lady Orchid. There are many more to be discovered in Manea Park.

You might even see a kangaroo!

Or a thorny devil! (further north, not down south)

Social media and the net can be a great resource for identifying wildflowers. And there are many wildflower identification books.

Sunday, 2 August 2026

Across Australia - Part 6 - Mansfield, Victorian High Country

Kaya (hello) dear readers, as promised I am back with the next installment of my Across Australia series. Last time we explored the Wimmera/Mallee silos art trail, visited the amazing Stick Shed, Minyip home of the 1980s Flying Doctors TV series, and explored some of my family history.

Today we leave Warracknabeal in the Wimmera/Mallee and travel eastward across country to Mansfield in the foothills of the Victorian High Country and the next feature stopover of our trip. Here is the map following our tracker.

The sun was coming up as we left Warracknabeal and farmers were burning stubble paddocks around Donald creating challenging glarey smokey driving conditions. However I thought it was a nice photo through the windscreen!

We stopped briefly in Inglewood for a quick morning tea. It looked like a nice town with heritage architecture, but we couldn't stay for long as we had to be in Bendigo by mid morning to have a little problem with our caravan door fixed, which we had managed to organise through the wonderful owners of All RV & Campervans in East Bendigo. Thank you so much for your service!

I am sure Bendigo has lots to recommend to the visitor, it certainly has many beautiful buildings, but we preferred to keep away from big centres on this trip and explore regional Victoria. In our 2 hours in Bendigo, as well as strolling the city centre, we visited the beautiful Sacred Heart Cathedral (which you can see below) which has links to Saint Mary McKillop, the Visitor Centre which was hosting an art exhibition, and had lunch in the Bridgewater Bakehouse.

After topping up on groceries, and picking up our caravan, we were back on the road again, stopping overnight at Heathcote. Another town worth a longer visit.

A couple of birds from my husband - the Kookaburra and the Long billed Corella.

Next day we continued heading east through rolling hills, and bushland and past Puckapunyal Military Training base.

Next stop - Seymour - which has the most amazing Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk which was opened in 2013. Under an avenue of trees 106 glass photographic panels are inscribed with the names of the 60,267 Australian service personnel and the 11 tracker dogs who served during the Vietnam War 1962-1975. Another panel is inscribed with the names of the over 500 Australians who died. As well as a helicopter and army tanks, there is a replica of the Long Tan Cross and a bottle tree (a native Australian tree) Avenue of Honour. The surrounding landscape features spotted gums representing rubber trees and native grasses representing rice paddies. It really was wonderful to see and we were glad we stopped.

From here it was through crazy busy Yea for lunch (so many places to visit next time!) and into the lower highlands country to Mansfield, which was one of our targetted destinations.

We had pre-booked months ago a spot in the Mansfield High Country Holiday Park for the Easter weekend and were so glad we did as Mansfield was also cazy busy with people everywhere and all business open to take advantage of the holiday crowds.

On the Saturday morning we went to the Easter markets held along a central park. Wow - over 180 stalls and thousands of people - huge!

After a stroll through the markets, and a few purchases, we visited the Mansfield Easter Art show which attracts artists from all over Australia - stunning.

We also went to the satirical Bald Archy Prize exhibition. The winner was a painting of Prime-Minister Albanese riding a kangaroo and flying the Australian flag. (The Archibald Prize is a prestigeous Australian annual portrature prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia). The Bald Archy is a little different!

We had a stroll through some of the shops and visited the Visitor Information Centre for some local information. And our son bought a bushman's hat.

Mansfield is the gateway to the Victorian high country snowfields of Mount Buller and Mount Stirling, and also is very much part of the culture of the Man From Snowy River movies, as they were filmed around here. I'll take you there in a minute.

The memorial you see top right here is for three policemen who were killed at Stringy Bark Creek in 1878 by the infamous Ned Kelly Gang - more on them later! (there is something about Australia that make bushrangers so much a part of our cultural history)

Next day we drove down to Lake Eildon and the town of Jamieson. It was a very pretty drive through farmland with a background of mountains and trees starting their autumn colours.

Houses at Goughs Bay were nestled around the edge of Lake Eildon which is actually a man-made dam. There are opportunities for mountain bike riding and bushwalking.

Then continuing south along winding roads through Howqua to Jamieson. Watch out for the "wildlife high risk area" signs - in this case kangaroos and wombats - and "slippery when frosty" road signs - something new to us West Aussies.

Everywhere seems to be busy for Easter and Jamieson was no exception. This part of Victoria is an easy weekend location for people from Victoria's capital city of Melbourne

We went for a walk around town, admiring the autumn colours which were just starting and visited the museum. Jamieson has an amazing array of exotic imported trees which do well in the lower highlands climate. They were having their autumn festival in two weeks time and the museum lady said they were hoping that more trees would have turned autumn by then.

Jamieson has a rich history - a legacy of the 1850s gold rush - and many historic buildings.

Below from top left clockwise you can see st Johns Catholic church who were having their Easter Sunday service, St Peter's Anglican church where there was an art fair, the Jamieson museum, and along the bottom some autumn colour.

And we had our picnic lunch in a lovely park along the Jamieson River.

Some more birds from my husband - clockwise from top left - Eastern Rosella, adult Crimson Rosella (back view!), immature Crimson Rosella, female Superb Blue Wren, Purple Backed Wren, and the introduced male Blackbird.

On Monday we booked a Craig's Hut Tour with Steve from High Country Scenic Tours. If you have seen the Man From Snowy River movies you will know Craig's Hut in the high country. To visit the hut had been on my son's must visit movie location list for years (he loves going to movie locations), and we were finally going to see it.

Steve picked us up from the caravan park in his 4-Wheel Drive. We were rugged up as it was cold and had rained during the night. Steve was a great guide and had lots of background information about the movie as he lived here when it was filmed and a number of locals were used in the movie.

The 1982 Man From Snowy River movie was inspired by the iconic poem by Australian poet AB Banjo Paterson, and stared Tom Burlinson (Jim Craig), Sigrid Thornton (Jessica Harrison), Kirk Douglas (two parts - Harrison and his brother Spur), Jack Thompson (Clancy of the Overflow - another Banjo Paterson poem), David Bradshaw (Banjo Paterson).

First up we went to the location used in the movie for the Harrison homestead - now private property, named Harrison's View. The sign on the fence is very cleverly done, as it fits over the view if you stand in the right spot. The rearing horse is a lazer cut on the property.

Then it was up into the high country towards Mt Buller and Mt Stirling.

Below is Howqua Gap hut where we stopped for morning tea. There are lots of walk and horse trails up here and you can make use of the huts.

Then still further upwards to Mt Buller and Mt Stirling. Unfortunately it was completely fogged out and we couldn't see the mangnificent mountain views.

The sign on the left below is on top of Mt Stirling. That was all we could see - hardly "clear view". The trees you see are Alpine Ash.

And finally via a steep rocky track to Craig's Hut - it was certainly atmospheric with the thick fog - but unfortunately we could see none of the sweeping views you see in the movie. Yes, we were a little dissapointed. And I am sure Steve was too especially knowing how excited our son was to visit, but you can't do anything about the weather. This was the third hut built on the site, the other 2 burnt down. The hut is unfurnished.

Steve told us that he brought a full Chamber Orchestra (minus piano) from Brigham Young University, Utah USA to the hut to play the Man From Snowy River movie theme. I have shared the link here. I defy anyone (well any Australian anyway) not to be moved by this piece of music written by Bruce Rowland. It is a truly iconic piece of Australian music, and I get a lump in my throat every time I hear it. In the film clip you can see the views we would have seen on a clear day, if it wasn't for the fog. Enjoy.

The basis of the Man From Snowy River movie came from the poem by iconic Australian poet AB "Banjo" Paterson first published on 26 April 1890 - The Institute of Australian Culture.

The poem tells the story of the Man From Snowy River who single handedly rounded up a mob of wild horses, and brought back the colt from Old Regret. Below is the first verse of the ballad -

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from Old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses — he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.

Banjo also wrote the lyrics to the song Waltzing Matilda in 1895.

I just found this interesting little video - The Man From Snowy River - 10 Facts You Didn't Know -

A few facts from the movie -

They used trail horses, not brumbies.

The mountain men in the movie were locals, and told to come dressed just as they were. Absolutely authentic.

Jim Craig's ride down the hill was done in several takes and then melded together. The original rider broke his leg on the first run, and a young local guy stepped in to do the ride for the movie, and went on to do other movies.

Below is Razorback Hut where we had lunch. The hut was used until recently by local mountain country cattlemen during their annual cattle drives. Today it is a populatr spot for horse-riders, hikers and four wheel drivers.

Many thanks to Steve from High Country Scenie Tours for a wonderful day - despite the fog. I highly recommend a tour with Steve. He also will do private transfers for you up to the ski fields in the season so you don't have to get snow chains etc for your car.

More information -

Australian National Film & Sound Archives - Man From Snowy River movie

Man From Snowy River poem - The Institute of Australian Culture.

Mountain Huts Australia

High Country Scenic Tours

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have you seen the Man From Snowy River movie? Did you enjoy it? We have watched it many times.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour today through Seymour and Mansfield. Next time we head back up to the Murray River.

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!

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side.

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Saturdays Critters - Viewing Nature With Eileen

Monday Morning Blog Club @ Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs

Cosy with Coffee - Weekly Wonders

Monday Murals @ Colourful World

Peabea's Pictorial Tuesday

Travel Tuesday

Talking About It Tuesdays @ Slices of Life

Through My Lens
Thankful Thursday

H2O Thursday
Nature Thursday

Sky Watch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy, be kind, and be with people who make you smile.

Saturday, 25 July 2026

Down in the winter woods - Manjimup - Western Australia

Hi everyone, I hope life is treating you and yours well. It has been cold and wet here the last few weeks, which has given me more time for other things including my photo book from our recent holiday.

I am doing a little sidestep this week away from my Across Australia series - don't worry I will be back with the next enstallment next time.

However I wanted to share some photos I took recently on a photography group day out with another photography group in Manjimup, Western Australia. We went looking for fungi in Foresters Wood and Four Aces near Manjimup. It has been a yearly catchup. It was very damp underfoot - perfect for fungi. Thankyou Manjimup for the great day out!

I didn't take my tripod (I find it so restrictive), so upped the ISO so I could take photos handheld with my macro lens. I was reasonably happy with the results.

Life in minature -

I think this one needs a fairy or an elf sitting on top - not a native species and highly toxic!

Life on the log

Not just fungi ....

Below is - Paraserianthes lophantha - commonly known as Cape Leeuwin Wattle or Crested Wattle - it is the only species occurring in south-west Western Australia; the other is found in tropical Australia. Australian National Herbarium. It is very different to the usual Australian wattles which come from the Acacia family.

Last time we visited Four Aces in 2024 we saw this Spotted Pardalote pair - female on the left, male on the right. Thanks to my husband for the bird photos.

This time we could hear them way up in the trees, but didn't see any on the ground.

We also recently went searching in our local nature reserve for the tiny Helmet Orchids (Corybas) which are usually starting to appear in the leaf litter this time of year. I think we might have been a little early, but we did find one group.