Meeting a Bilby in the Dryandra Woodland in Western Australia's wheatbelt

Stop press! It has just been announced that Dryandra is to become Western Australia's next National Park. You can read more and see a short video here - National Park for wheatbelt


We first camped in the Dryandra Woodland in the heart of the Western Australian wheatbelt in 2005.  We’ve enjoyed revisiting a few times since then - tented, camper trailer - I've blogged about Drayandra before - Camping in the Dryandra Woodland  (2015)

and Dryandra in the early morning light (2012)

Most recently in September 2016 with our caravan - but is that really camping? I haven't decided yet. Only two hours from our home in the south-west or from Perth, Dryandra is a perfect weekend getaway. You can be there by lunch time, and be walking along one of Dryandra’s walk trails by early afternoon. 

Go away winter!

It's been a long cold winter and everyone is wishing that spring would push winter out of the picture. Even the flowers are snubbing their noses at winter and saying go away it's our turn. Can you see the grey clouds in the background of my yellow daisies? Yes, it rained today. We still have our fire on every night to warm our home. Last weekend we even had hail. It's October for goodness sake! Over a month into spring!

This was not the post I was planning to write today. But this afternoon, despite the cold wind, I actually ventured out into the garden to do some weeding and what do you think I saw? Can you see it?

 A tiny bird nesting in my Port Wine Magnolia. She has picked a rather breezie walkway to build her nest, but she has laid two eggs.  She must have liked the pretty flowers. She even has flowers surrounding her nest.  My husband says she is a Brown Honey-Eater. It was lovely to see her sitting on her nest this afternoon. A few years ago we had some tiny birds nesting in one of my hanging baskets on our patio. They returned a few years running. I hope the Brown Honey-Eater does the same. 

Thank you to my husband for the close up photos of this tiny bird.

 Update 21 October - we now have two chicks! Don't worry, I won't disturb them too much. Just a quick pic. They're asleep at the moment.

Chick update 25 October 2016 - still asleep but you can see their wings! 

My Port Wine Magnolia - Michelia Figo

 What else is happening in my garden? Surely spring is just around the corner. The weather report tonight was predicting slightly warmer temperatures this week.

In my back garden the apricot tree has a few remaining flowers and the apricots are forming. Nearly time to net against the birds. The grape vines are shooting and we planted tomatoes yesterday - a little later this year due to the cold weather. The leaves on the lemon tree are looking a bit sad but there are loads of lemons (I must make marmalade) and the orange tree is a mass a sweet smelling flowers. We only finished picking the last crop in mid August. The little brown honey-eater has been dashing from her nest into our orange tree - so she is enjoying the nectar.

 My blackberry bush is fruiting, the sage looks better than it has for years and the gooseberry is flowering - I don't like them but my son and grandsons do.

There are flowers too in my back yard - clockwise from top left -  A little white daisy creeping border, a cacti flourishing in a hanging moss ball, my white Gardenia, the white native Chamelaucium species Walpole Wax, lavender, and a geranium - such a hardy garden plant.

 Out in my front garden my roses are starting to bloom. This yellow variety is a mass of buds. I brought a big bunch inside. The pink top right was there when we bought the house, and the orange was a plant my mother-in-law gave me.

Below clockwise from top left - pink and yellow daisies, native Hibiscus, native Hibertia, a tumble of border plants, and nasturtium. Do you ever put nasturtiums in salads? I know you can, but I have never tried it. My mother said in the Depression years they used to make nasturtium sandwiches. 

Meanwhile I hear that the farmers in our wheatbelt are suffering from the long cold, frosty winter. Frosts have all but ruined three-quarters of Western Australia's wheat crops that looked like was going to be a bumper season. Many growers will only break even or will make a loss from this year's harvest. Devastating for them financially, socially and emotionally. 

Last week I blogged about the wildflowers coming back after our devastating January 2016 bushfires. (If you missed it you can click here - Beauty from the ashes) Today I heard on the radio that because of the long wet winter the fire authorities haven't been able to do the spring burns that they usually do, and they are predicting many bushfires again this summer. I hope not. 

I think our community's collective wish "go away winter" must be working. Today it has been a beautiful spring day and I have been out in the garden weeding off and on between other things that I had to do today. It has been lovely being out in the sun. 
What is the season looking like in your corner of the world? Have you planted a summer vegetable garden? As we in the southern hemisphere are welcoming spring and looking forward to summer, the northern hemisphere are enjoying the fall colours and preparing for winter.


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.One of my roses for you.

You might also like - 
Harmony through flowers 
Allowing time to sit in my winter garden 
Spring is the time for tulips 

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!
 

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 

Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Worth Casing Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
The Weekly Postcard 

Beauty from the ashes

In January 2016 summer bushfires devastated the tiny township of Yarloop, as well as farmland and bushland in the Waroona-Harvey area south of Perth and also near Esperance on our south coast. I blogged about it here - Western Australia is burning. 

Nine months later they are still cleaning up in Yarloop but residents are starting to return to the town. You can read more here -  Yarloop to reopen 

I haven't visited Yarloop since the fire. The town was closed for many months, and people were not admitted. And I didn't think we, outsiders, had any right to be there "sight-seeing" the devastation of people's lives. It was not a "tourist attraction".

Last weekend we past through a stretch of bushland east of Harvey that was totally destroyed by the January bushfire. It was eerie walking amongst the blackened trees and across the bare black earth.  

 Many of the trees may never recover, and we could see where very big trees had fallen and been burnt to ash and charcoal. However there was hope too as some blackened trees were starting to sprout new leaves. 

Amongst this devastation there were little patches of beauty. Tiny orchids were pushing up through the blackened earth. It was amazing to see them. I "think" this is a Silky Blue Orchid. The black background in this image is a burnt log.

And below you can see a Jug Orchid, Pink Fairies, Cowslips and two more Silky Blue Orchids. 

Below are Snail Orchids. You sometimes see them growing like this in "colonies" like here in the leaf litter on this burnt log.  

Bushfires are very much a part of the Australian landscape. It is a natural part of regeneration. In Australia's past, the indigenous Aboriginal people practised mosaic burning - a system of lighting patches of small, low-intensity fires to sweep through the understorey of the bush. As a result, large intense bushfires were uncommon. You can read more about mosaic burning here - DePAW - Traditional Aboriginal burning.  

Burning the bush is needed to reduce fuel loads. Local authorities have a program for doing this but in the last couple of years we have seen massive bushfires that have raged uncontrolled for days. Bushfires are sometimes caused by summer lightening strikes, however bushfires are sometimes also deliberately lit. I don't know how anyone can do this. 

We saw a lot of evidence of out-of-control bushfires in the Kimberley in July-August this year. This one, you see below, on the way to the Mornington Wilderness Camp had been burning for two months.

We saw some of the 2015 summer bush-fire devastation east of Harvey along the Harvey-Quindanning Road which I blogged about here - Bushwalking at Hoffman's Mill
 and on the Bibbulmun Track near Grimwade here - A walk with Bibbulmun Track Volunteers  

The plants green tops you see in the top left-hand-corner image are Balga Grass Trees. They like fire. Bushfires burn the foliage and blacken the stump, but then it regrows

 This afternoon we went out to a patch of bushland on the Preston to Yarloop road that had been completely burnt during the January 2016 bushfires. Our photography group had alerted us that there was a profusion of spring wildflowers, including orchids growing amongst the burnt bushland. 

 It was amazing to see how thickly the undergrowth (along with a lot of weeds) was regenerating after our good winter rains.  I found these orchids you see in the mosaic below, clockwise from top left, - 

Blue China, Pink Fairy, Spider orchid, Donkey Orchid (I think a Pansy Donkey orchid), Cowslip, Red Beaks, Leak Orchid, another of the Spider orchid family, and in the center a new find for me - the Rabbit Orchid. I'm always excited to add a new wildflower to my collection. 

 I love searching for wild orchids. They can be difficult to find because they are often very small and hiding in the undergrowth. My husband has become very good at spotting them. 

Here are a couple of my blog posts about orchids which you might enjoy - 
Where wild orchids grow 
IN search of wild orchids 
A walk through Ambergate Reserve 
Harmony through flowers 

 I've been asked how I get the orchid photos to "pop". First you need to use Aperture Priority on your camera. Use a small number like F4.6 to blur the background and make your subject, the orchid, stand out from the background. Use a macro lens on a DSLR for best results, or try a close up filter on your lens. Use a tripod to avoid camera shake. Although I rarely do in the field. If you are using manual settings you can up the ISO enabling you to hand-hold in low light. After that I have just used a little post-processing to sharpen the whole thing up some more and add extra pop. 


I hope you have enjoyed my post today. Last week we camped in the Dryandra Woodland, a remnant area of natural bushland in our wheatbelt. The wildflowers were stunning, but they will have to wait for another post. 

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!
 

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 

Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Worth Casing Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
The Weekly Postcard

Once in 40 years wildflower extravaganza - visiting Lesueur National Park

They say that this year's Western Australian wildflower bloom is the best seen in 40 years. Favourable weather conditions - rain and sun - have brought on a brilliant wildflower extravaganza spreading across our state.  

Western Australia boasts up to 12,000 known species and the Western Australian wildflower season spreads over several months starting from July in the north’s Kimberley region till November in the south. Walking through the bush during spring you will see the browns and greens of the bush erupt in a dazzling display of vibrant colour. Everlasting magic

One of the Australian wattles - genus Acacia

Spring has come to Western Australia

The month - September - tells us that spring is here, but down in the south west of Western Australia we are still in the midst of our winter cold. It's been a long cold winter this year and we are all looking forward to some warming sun. But the Western Australian wildflower season is in full bloom - reportedly the best in 40 years. The wildflowers know that spring is here, so it must be true. 

They were certainly blooming in mid August when we made our way down through the mid-west on our way home from our north-west trip.  Here is one of Australia's most widespread flowers - the wattle.

I had intended to bring you some of our Western Australian wildflower delights this week, but I am down with a later winter cold, so you will have to wait till next week. 

Till then, I wonder if you know what this unusual flower is? You'll find out next week on my blog.

Till then, take care, enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend ahead.

 

Sacred Heart Church, Beagle Bay, Western Australia

I love small country churches. There is something so special about them. You can feel the community's heart especially when they have a long history and the community have been involved in the building of the church.  Whatever your religion or belief, places of worship are quiet sanctuaries to sit and feel peace settling over you. 

On our recent trip to the Kimberley we went camping up along the Dampier Peninsular north of Broome with local friends. On the way they took us to visit the Sacred Heart Church at Beagle Bay, 170 kilometres north of Broome via the dirt Cape Leveque Road. We had never visited this church before, so I was very glad we were able to take this short side trip on our way north.

Beagle Bay is the traditional home of the aboriginal Nyul Nyul people, who call the area Ngarlun Burr, Place Surrounded by Springs. 

European connection to Beagle Bay began in 1838 when Her Majesty's ship, "The Beagle" was used to make a survey of the north west coast of Australia. JC Wickham, the surveyor, named the bay Beagle Bay.

Central to the Beagle Bay community is the heritage listed Sacred Heart Church.  Beautifully decorated inside with pearl shells, the church is an amazing fusion of traditional aboriginal and Christian symbols, local materials and European techniques.

The first church in Beagle Bay was built by French Trappist Monks from bush timber, paperbark and iron sheets.  In 1917 the German Pallottine Missionaries, brothers and local people, under the guidance of Father Thomas Bachmair, began to build the present church, modelled on a photograph of a German village church.  Officially opened on 15 August 1918, Fr Bachmair died two weeks later from septicemia. 

The missionaries experimented with different clay mixtures to achieve the correct proportions of white clay and black mud to make the 60,000 bricks for the church and 30,000 bricks for the bell tower.  They were unable to obtain cement, so lime for the mortar and plastering was extracted from seashells gathered from the beach in bullock carts and fired in the kiln. 

Fr. Droste worked with a team of local women to decorate the inside of the church. The main altar is decorated with mother-of-pearl and coloured shells embedded into the plaster. Cowrie shells were used to frame the tabernacle. Shells are used for decoration throughout the church, along the alter rail, around the window frames and along the central isle. The result truly is unique and beautiful and the detail and crafting is exquisite.

The original ceiling over the sanctuary was constructed from strips of mangrove wood plastered with lime.  The plaster was painted dark blue and inlaid with mother-of-pearl shells to represent the stars. Unfortunately white ants attacked this ceiling and it eventually collapsed. The ceiling was replaced with flattened kerosene tins. 

There are three bells in the twelve metre bell tower. The smallest is the original French bell which came with the French Trappist Monks. The other two bells were a gift from a German parish.  

Cyclones, white ants, heat and damp have taken their toll on the church. Over recent years preservation work has been carried out including rebuilding the bell tower which collapsed in 2001. 

The French Trappist Monks came to Beagle Bay in 1890. In 1900 the monks left their Australian missions and were replaced at Beagle Bay by Pallottine Missionaries from Germany.  The German missionaries were placed under internment at Beagle Bay during World War 1. In 1907 the Sisters of St John of God arrived from Ireland. They dedicated themselves to teaching and caring for the Stolen Generation children brought to Beagle Bay under government orders. 

The Beagle Bay community became independent from the Church in 1970 and became self-governing, however the Sacred Heart Church remains the centre of the Dampier Peninsula Parish.

The Sacred Heart Church is not a museum, but you are able to visit. Please leave a donation to help them with their ongoing work. 

Beagle Bay Church and school

 Where is it:  Beagle Bay is on the Dampier Peninsula, north west Western Australia, 170 kms north Broome via the dirt Cape Leveque Road. 4WD recommended. You can see a view of the road below. Please reduce tyre pressures and drive to the conditions. Allow 5-6 hours return. 

The Cape Leveque Road - reduce your tyre pressures and drive to the conditions.

For more information: Beagle Bay Church History
Dampier Peninsula Parish 

Two more churches you might like to visit with me:

St Werburghs Chapel, Mount Barker 

Mourambine Church 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at the Sacred Heart Church at Beagle Bay. Do you have a favourite country church? 

 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!
 

Seen at Beagle Bay

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 

Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Worth Casing Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
The Weekly Postcard