Welcome to Life Images by Jill

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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Sunday, 24 May 2026

Back from 8 weeks across Australia

 Hi everyone, I am just back from 8 weeks travelling across Australia from Western Australia, where I live, across South Australia, with a few stops, and then our main destination touring around Victoria in the south east of Australia. See maps!

For those not familiar with Australia - Map 1 is a map of Australia with a black outline roughly the area we travelled through. 


 Map 2 - is a download of our trip recorded by our SPOT tracker. It is a great device that allows our family to track us while we are away, and at the end of each day we send a message to say we are ok. 

Map 3 - is a blow up of the South Australia and Victoria part of our trip.


I must confess that with the incredible rise in fuel prices before we left and the trouble in the Middle East, at one stage we actually considered not going. But we are glad we did go. You can't put a price on making memories with those you love.  Yes fuel was expensive, but we just put it in, I wrote it in the book, and then closed the book.

We were away exactly 8 weeks. We travelled 11,559.5km, fuel cost $4,918.57, most expensive fuel Corryong Victoria @ $3.31/Litre, cheapest fuel Waterloo WA @ $2.15.9/Litre. We stopped in 9 free camps and 19 caravan parks. 

We had so many enjoyable experiences and places new to us, caught up with two sets of friends in South Australia, we met new people, followed up on my family heritage from the 1800s in Victoria, saw koalas in the wild, ticked off some movie locations for our son, experienced the Man From Snowy River 4 day festival in Corryong Victoria, and saw Craig's Hut (from the Man From Snowy River movie) in the fog on Mt Stirling in the Victorian high country. 

It was our first trip to regional Victoria, so there was so much for us to explore.  

My husband drove us all that way and back home safely. Thank you! Home sweet home. Clean ups done, but still sorting all those photos!

 Over the coming weeks I will bring you some stories and photos, but for now just a taster. I am still going through my photos and trying to catch up on real life. 

As we live in a town on the south west coast of Western Australia it is a long way just to get to what I call the actual start of our trip at Kimba in South Australia - 2,384 kilometers and 4 free camps in fact, including travelling across the Nullarbor - a vast, semi arid expanse between Norseman in Western Australia and Ceduna in South Australia. They had had a lot of rain in the previous weeks and it was greener than we had ever seen it before. It is a long way, but you can break it up by stopping at the various points of interest on the way. But for us this time, we just wanted to get across. Watch out for camels, wombats and kangaroos!

Here is a link on my blog about the Nullarbor from a previous trip - https://lifeimagesbyjill.blogspot.com/2013/10/crossing-australia-eyre-highway-and.html


I have lots to share with you, but for now a few highlights - 

The amazing Stick Shed in Murtoa. Find out more soon! 

Fantastic silo and water tank art - is it a thing in your country? It certainly is in Australia

Stunning coastline vistas and lighthouses

Visiting Craig's Hut from the Man From Snowy River movie - in the Victorian high country - very atmospheric in the fog. (and a few other movie locations - more later!) 

The Man From Snowy River annual 4 day festival in Corryong, Victoria - horse events of every kind. Actually the original reason for us going to Victoria. 

Visiting historic Echuca on the Murray River and taking a cruise on the Paddle Steamer Pevensy - used as the Philadelphia in the Australian 1983 TV series All The Rivers Run. The state border between New South Wales and Victoria actually runs along the middle of the 2,508 km Murray River. 

Heritage buildings, museums, eating out at some interesting locations, and exploring family history. My family on my mother's side arrived in Port Fairy on the south coast of Victoria from England in 1853. 


Driving and walking through forests, along coastal paths, and finding koalas in the wild! 


 I hope you will join me over the coming weeks to read these stories and more about our recent travels through South Australia and Victoria. See you then! 

 

 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. Sorry I have been missing from yours over the last 8 weeks. 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! Sadly some linkups that I have been following for a number of years have closed over the last few months. 

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

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. 
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Monday, 11 May 2026

Penong Windmills, South Australia

Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

When we last visited South Australia in 2013, we were amazed to see a mass of windmills clustered in a paddock along the edge of the Eyre Highway. Known as “Windmill Flat” the 26 windmills are located on the eastern edge of the town of Penong, 75 kilometres west of Ceduna, on the edge of South Australia’s grain growing region and the Nullarbor Plain.

Wells were first sunk between 1868 and 1884 and the windmills pumped water from the Anjutabie water basin and were important for the town on Penong.

Being on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain it is not surprising that water is an issue for Penong.  Wells were first sunk between 1868 and 1884 and windmill bores were later sunk to pump water from the Anjutabie Water Basin. Each windmill is privately owned supplying water for domestic and stock use.   


The above photo is from 2013. When we travelled through Penong in 2019 a few changes had been made. 

In 2000 a “windmill museum” idea was hatched by Tim and Jenny Hardy and Bob and Jill Oates over a few Friday afternoon drinks. Tim started sourcing the plans for an 8 foot Riddle wooden windmill (designed by William Riddle) and many months later he had built a complete replica (you can see it in the collage above). 

The word soon spread and people started delivering or offering windmills of all descriptions and states of repair. Bob and Tim decided to try and restore a windmill of every type that had been used throughout Australia.


Three restored windmills were erected on land adjacent to the Penong’s Nullarbor Links golf hole (The worlds longest golf course that extends across the Nullabor Plains in Australia), aptly named “The Windmills”. 

A historical 35 foot Comet Windmill was discovered by three locals from the “Windmill Warriors” group on an outback trip. One of the biggest windmills ever built in Australia, with a span of 35 foot, the Comet was capable of drawing one million litres of water per day from 152 metres underground. Only 15 of these windmills were ever constructed, and only two erected outside of Queensland.  The windmill was transported to Penong on two semi-trailers from Kultanaby Station near Kingoonya in outback South Australia, and restoration of Big Bruce began.

The Windmill Warriors erected the first restored windmill in 2015 and by the time of the official opening in September 2016 there were nineteen windmills on the site, including Big Bruce.


The windmill museum is an interesting stopping place for visitors. Some of the windmills include an Adelaide Challenge Windmill from the late 1800s donated by Anna Creek Station near William Creek, and a seven foot windmill on wheels. An ingenious construction built by farmers from scrap metal, the windmill could be moved from one underground tank to another.

These days solar power is replacing the use of windmills, so the windmill museum preserves and celebrates an important part of farming history.


Where is it? Corner of West Tce and Government Road, Penong, 75 kms west of Ceduna.

Free entry. Donations can be placed in the donation pillar.

More information @ ABC.net - windmills brought back from the grave

Morawa Museum.org.au - Australian windmill manufacturers










My article about the Penong windmill museum was published in Curious Australis column, On The Road magazine, April 2020.



 






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!



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

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. 
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Saturday, 25 April 2026

Anakie Railway Station and Historic Bottle Tree, Queensland, Australia

Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

One of the joys of travels is coming across something totally unexpected but so historically interesting it alights your imagination. The bottle tree at the Anakie railway station in Queensland was one of these.  And as you read you might realise why I have decided to post this for my 25th April Anzac Day post this year.  

On our Queensland trip in 2023, we went on a day trip from Emerald to the Sapphire Gemfields, and took a side trip into the tiny town of Anakie, after reading about it in our guide book. (not to be confused with the town of Anakie in Victoria) 

Located just off the Capricorn Highway east of Emerald, Anakie is the oldest town on the Sapphire Gemfields. Anakie’s European history dates back to 1884 when the railway line was being extended into western Queensland. In 1885 the town was declared and a school was opened with sixteen students.

The railway station was built in 1884 and a six metre dam constructed to service the trains’ steam engines. Dug by hand with pick and shovel, and the dirt carried away by horse drawn drays, today the dam is used for recreation and bird-watching. In the photo above can you see the bottle tree just beyond the left hand side roof line of the railway station? 

Next to the neatly kept cream weatherboard railway station is a Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) believed to have been planted around 1880.  Brachychiton rupestris is a tree in the family Malvaceae, endemic to the Australian state of Queensland.

What is interesting about the tree are the initials carved into its trunk. Anakie was a departure point for local men going to World War 1. While waiting to catch the train, soldiers carved their initials and those of their sweethearts into the tree. The tradition continued in World War 2. The tree has grown so tall over the intervening years you need to look up high to see the initials.  Standing under the tree I could imagine the throng of young local men, farmers and miners, at the station eager to depart on their big adventure – slapping each other on the back, hugging girlfriends and mothers, the buzz of activity. 

The tree remains as a living commemoration to these young men, many of whom never returned. The Anakie War Memorial tells the story.

Anakie War Memorial - photo from Monument Australia website 

Archibald John Richardson is believed to be the first to discover sapphires at Retreat Creek in the 1873. The Anakie sapphire fields were proclaimed a mining area in 1902. Export of blue sapphires to Europe began around 1905, however markets to Germany and Russia were shattered due to the onset of WW1 and the 1917 Russian Revolution. Exports to England and France continued but during the Depression the Sapphire Gemfields went into decline.  Today the gemfields encompass an area of 900 square kilometres and is popular with tourists and fossickers.  

There are several designated fossicking areas, including Glenalva and Willows gemfields. You will need a fossicking license.

There is plenty to explore around the Sapphire Gemfields – fossicking, underground mine tours, gem shops, interpretive trails and bushwalking.

In Roma the Heroes Avenue of 93 Queensland bottle trees remembers the men of Roma who died in WWI.

Where is Anakie?

Anakie is located 45 kms west of Emerald on the Capricorn Highway. Turn south at the Sapphire Reflections art piece at the junction of the Capricorn Highway and the Anakie-Sapphire Road.

The Sapphire Gemfield towns of Sapphire and Rubyvale are 11km and 18km to the north.

The Spirit of the Outback train will stop at Anakie if pre-booked. 

This article was published in Curious Australis, On The Road magazine, Autumn 2024. 

For more information: 

Monument Australia-Anakie-War-Memorial

Sapphire Gemfields visitor information

Queensland-Anakie

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.

You might also like - The Western Australian Boab Tree 

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. 
   

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. 
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