Wildflower hunting - and taking time out

Hi everyone, as I mentioned last week I took a short break from social media, blogging and internet for a couple of weeks, but I am now back home and back to my computer.  My post a couple of weeks ago would have given you a hint - Gather Around the Campfire - that I went camping.

We travelled up through the Western Australian midwest to some of the old gold mining regions and towns, across some country new to us, and other places we have visited before and enjoy returning to. We travelled on outback roads, watched amazing sunsets, visited old towns with interesting history and fascinating stories, camped under the stars, climbed huge granite outcrops and at the end of the day baked damper and toasted marshmallows over the campfire. 

The added bonus and the reason we chose early September is because spring has sprung in Western Australia and September is the perfect time to travel, particularly to our mid-west region, to see the wildflowers. Before we left reports had been coming in about the amazing wildflower season Western Australia was having, so I was keen to get out on the road to see some of them.   

And we were ankle deep in everlasting wildflowers, by late afternoon on our first day. The carpets of everlastings sprawling through the seemingly dry bushland is amazing to see. 

Boasting up to 12,000 known species, the Western Australian wildflower season spreads over several months starting from July in the far north till November in the south and I feel blessed to be able to travel over parts of our state during wildflower season to photograph some of them. Over the next couple of weeks I will bring you more images and stories from our trip. 

But more than this, one of the things I enjoyed most about our trip was getting away from our everyday life in suburbia, and away from phones, internet, social media and, dare I whisper, blogging.  The peace and calm I feel walking through the bush with my camera is wonderful and food for the soul. 

The new spring season for me is a good time to slow down and celebrate the beauty around us and to feel grateful.  

 I took several opportunities when the sky was clear, to get up early and go walking with my camera. A lot is written about "mindfulness" these days, and I guess this is what I was doing - being immersed in the environment, looking at the light and seeing where and how it fell, observing the shapes and colours. Feeling the breeze on my cheeks and the feel of the gravel under my boots. Hearing the early morning bird song. Being alone to wander at will and absorb all the gifts around me.

 You might even see a kangaroo or two. Sadly I can't claim credit for this photo. It was taken by my husband.

  One last thing - bocce is a great game to take bush camping! ....  or is it boules? Either way, this set only cost us $10 and gave us lots of fun in camp in the late afternoon and will be a must on our camping list from now on.

It is difficult to return to life after this, but return we must. But I have my photos to look back on, and many stories to share with you over the next few weeks. I hope you will join me.

Until then, I hope you have enjoyed this little introduction.  How do you celebrate the change in seasons? Perhaps you'd like to tell us in your comments. 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 enjoy:
Photographing wildflowers 
The wildflower hunter 

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!

   
All Seasons
Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit and 50 Shades of Age
Little Things Thursday

Life in Reflection

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An InLinkz Link-up

Everlasting magic - midwest Western Australia

We have been away for the last 2 weeks travelling and camping in our Pilbara and Mid-West region through Karijini National Park, Mt Augustus, Kennedy Ranges and Coalseam. The wildflowers particularly on our way south between Murchison and Mullewa in the Mid-West region were starting to come into bloom. The everlasting wildflowers were opening their white, pink and yellow faces, and spreading across the red dust like a carpet through the trees as far as you could see. It is hard to show you how magnificent there were.

 Those of you who have stopped by my blog from time to time will have seen my white everlastings images that have gone through several transformations the last couple of years.  Everlastings have papery petals and if you pick them and dry them upside down they can last for years.

 To keep reading and see more pics, please click on "read more" .....