Mosaic Monday - Native Orchids

Crimson Spider Orchid

Now it is spring we go searching for native orchids in the bush. Our native orchids are quite small, not like cultivated varieties, so they are always a joy to find and photograph. Here are some of my favourites - I hope you enjoy them..

My post is part of Mosaic Monday - an initiative of Mary from Little Red House. To see her beautiful work and other contributors  please go to  Little Red House Mosaic Monday  

To see some more of my native wildflower photos please go to my Picasa web album - Life Images by Jill - Picasa web Album

Blue Lady Orchid

Donkey Orchid

Queen of Sheba

Leopard Orchid

Rattle Beaks

Mosaic Monday - Fun with layers

It is cold and wet outside today so I have been playing with layers in Photoshop Elements. You can find free layers and tutorials on the web for adding layers. This is my first try. Just a little experiment. Not all photos would lend themselves to layers - in many cases perhaps the original is better. Anyway, this is another of my everlastings shots I decided to experiment with. The first photo is the original, and second as 2 layers, and the other 2 just one layer with saturation adjusted.

Mosaic Monday is an initiative of Mary from Little Red House - please go to her site to see her beautiful work and the work of others contributing to Mosaic Monday.   Mosaic Monday at Dear Little Red House

Mosaic Monday - Love in a light box

My love affair with my light box continues as I experiment....These are roses from my garden and beautiful wildflower everlastings. I hope you enjoy them.  Click on the title to see more photos from my light box.

Mosaic Monday is an initiative of Mary from "Little Red House". Go to the link below, or to my website links, to see more of Mary's beautiful beautiful work, and photos from other contributors to "Mosaic Monday".  Moasic Monday at Dear Little Red House

Autumn Garden - Little Red House Mosaic Monday 24 May 2010

It is a dull chilly autumn day here today - The grape vine leaves are turning to autumn colours, and the oranges are starting to ripen.  Here are some images from my garden - I hope you enjoy them. 

Mosaic Monday was created by Mary at "Dear Little Red House" - see the link in My Website Links - please stop by to see beautiful photography, settings and gardens.  Mosaic Monday at Dear Little Red House

Dreaming of France - Little Red House Mosaic Monday

 This is my first time sending a post to Little Red House Mosaic Monday - see the link to Little Red House in my Web Links List.

Here is the story - enjoying an English afternoon tea in the Mediterranean part of my Australian garden on an autumn afternoon dreaming of returning to Provence in the summer.

Mosaic Monday was created by Mary at "Dear Little Red House"-  please click on the link to see beautiful photography, settings and gardens and the work of other contributors Mosaic Monday at Dear Little Red House

Photography on the Bibbulmun Track, Western Australia

Here are some hints for combining photography and bushwalking. The article is based around the Bibbulmun Track, but are still relevent for any bushwalking.

The Bibbulmun Track is Western Australia's longest walking track. It extends 964 kilometres from Kalamunda in the Darling Ranges near Perth, to Albany on the south coast.
There are many opportunites for photography on the Bibbulmun Track, but you must decide what your prime aim is - is it for bush walking where you might take a few photos, or a serious photography expedition.

The Track is easily accessible as it passes through nine towns. Vehicle assess points make it suitable for a short stroll, day walk, or overnight hike. The timber overnight huts are conveniently placed about 16 to 20 kilometres apart, a comfortable day’s walk.

Have an estimate of how much time you need to walk the distance you intend to walk, whether on a day walk, an overnighter or a weeks walk. We estimate about 15 minutes per kilometre, but this would be more if over difficult terrain. It is better to start walking early in the morning to get the most out of your day. This will allow you plenty of time to get to the next hut, and still have time for photos along the way, or after you reach the hut. Stopping for breaks every one or two hours and for lunch, will also give you an opportunity to take photos.

You need to learn to take photos quickly if you are walking with a group of people. If they don’t share your passion for photography they might not want to wait while you photograph yet another wildflower.

A small digital camera is best. Remember every camera lens you take is extra weight you have to carry. The longer you walk the heavier your backpack will feel. My Canon Power Shot Pro 1 is ideal for both landscapes and super macro photography for wildflowers, as the lens is integrated into the camera. I have a small camera bag that the camera just fits into and still has room for spare batteries, memory cards and basic cleaning equipment. The strap can adjust to go around my waist so my camera is easy to access without stopping walking.

An inbuilt flash alleviates the need to carry a flash and extra batteries. Carrying a tripod is extra weight. I usually prefer to take photos hand held, but I do have a tiny fold up tripod, or you can use the side of a tree to brace your camera. Use available light.

If you are walking for an extended period of time, carry extra batteries and memory cards, photograph carefully and only take as many photos as you need to record your trip. Work out how many photos fit onto a card. You might have to go through your photos and delete unwanted photos to make room for others. If you are staying overnight in accommodation or towns along the way, this would be a good opportunity to recharge batteries and have photos downloaded to cds. And make sure your camera is turned off when you return it to its bag. Batteries have gone flat before!

Make sure your camera bag is waterproof and has a rain cover, and carry a plastic bag to put your camera into if it rains – you can still take photos with a plastic bag around your camera. I also sprayed my camera bag with water repellent and it has a cover similar to rain covers on back packs.

My camera is an essential part of my equipment when I am out bush walking and the Bibbulmun Track offers an excellent opportunity to get away for an afternoon or a few days.

For this full story, see Australian Photography Magazine, August 2009 and an edited version in Bibbulmun News August-November 2010 edition.

The Ancient Land of Purnululu, Western Australia

Cathedral Gorge is well named. Entering its immense towering cavern is like entering a magnificent natural cathedral, a place steeped in time and history. The red and orange sandstone walls tower above you, and the white sand crunches softly underfoot. Tiny tracks from night time animals can be seen going across the sand to the central pool which sits still and undisturbed like a mirror. It is a place for hushed voices and to sit quietly with your own thoughts. If you come early in the morning, as we did, you can enjoy the peace undisturbed. It has the atmosphere of a holy place, a sanctuary 

Cathedral Gorge is just one of the magnificent gorges within the Purnululu National Park (also known as the Bungle Bungles) in the Kimberley region in Western Australia’s far north west. Given World Heritage listing in 2003, Purnululu is one of Western Australia’s newest and most spectacular National Parks.

In the Kija Aboriginal language purnululu means sandstone. The Aboriginal people inhabited the region for thousands of years, however Purnululu was known only to a few Europeans until the mid 1980s.

How it received the name Bungle Bungles remains an intriguing mystery with several explanations including the corruption of the Aboriginal name Purnululu, or derived from the name of a common Kimberley grass, bundle bundle grass, or the ranges proximity to the old Bungle Bungle cattle station. 

Purnululu is located off the Great Northern Highway, 250km south of Kununurra, west of the WA/Northern Territory border. There is a 53 kilometre unsealed road only accessible by 4WD and offroad campers from the Highway, through Mabel Downs Station to the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) Rangers / Visitor Centre and roads are unsealed throughout the Park. You should allow approximately 2-3 hours for the 53 km drive in (approximately 5 hours total travel time from Kununurra).

You can also read more about Purnululu on my blog post here -  

 Sunset over Spinifex in World Heritage Purnululu 

and Catching the light in the chasms of Purnululu

and On the Road in the Kimberley

  
and my articles in  November 2011 edition of On The Road Magazine. 

The Gibb River Road - Gorging on gorgeous gorges along the Gibb - Kimberley, Western Australia

The Gibb River Road is hot and dusty – they call it “bull dust”. It swirls around and is so fine it seeps into your car, up your nose and into your mouth. You can taste it. The first part of the road coming from Kununurra is grey dust, so fine it has the colour and taste of cement dust. When a vehicle passes the dust swirls around in a cloud so thick you can’t see one metre in front of you until the dust settles.

Later on the road turns to orange red dust and stretches straight ahead into the distance as far as you can see.

Added to this are the corrugations. For those who don’t know what corrugations are – think of corrugated iron but change the substance to gravel and rock as hard as concrete and then imagine driving over it. It is a bone shaking experience that feels like it is trying to shake the car to pieces, everything rattles, including your bones.

There are also gullies and potholes that loom up in front of you, and the possibility of spiking a tyre on the sharp rocks that the grader has turned up. The condition of the road is dependant on when it was last graded so it can vary from very good to very bad. The best time to travel is from April to November, once the creek levels have dropped after the summer “wet” and it is recommended to carry two spare tyres, extra water, food and fuel.

Why would anyone want to travel this dusty bone shaking road? Because “The Gibb” catches the imagination of travelers as it is one of the few remaining remote 4WD treks and the scenery and the gorges are spectacular.

Originally built for large road trains transporting cattle from isolated stations to ports in Derby and Wyndham, the Gibb River Road, which is unsealed for most of its length, stretches 665km from just south of Derby to just west of Kununurra in Western Australia’s Kimberley.

Travelling from Kununurra the turn off onto the Gibb is 53 kilometers from Kununurra on the Great Northern Highway. The best way to experience the road is to travel from gorge to gorge camping overnight in bush camps along the way. You can swim at most of the gorges and camp nearby – both a welcome relief from the road conditions and the heat. The waterfalls are at their best early in the season.

Click on the boab photo opposite (World is Round - Western Australian images) and go to my link in "World is Round" to see some more photos.

This full article can be read in "On the Road" magazine, February 2010 edition.

Denmark - Where the Forest Meets the Sea - Western Australia south coast

“Surely there can be no greater cathedral than forests such as those of the karri” Vincent Serventy, noted Australian naturalist, as written on the “Wilderness Wall of Perceptions” at Swarbrick in Walpole.

Walking through the beautiful Harewood Forest along the banks of the Scotsdale Brook near Denmark on Western Australia’s south coast, it is difficult to imagine its past. The Karri trees tower straight and tall above you, forest flowers bloom in profusion and the sound of bird song fills the air. It is a peaceful world. The trickling brook and picnic tables invite you to linger and spend time enjoying the forest.

Interpretive signage along the walk tells us that the Harewood Forest Conservation Area is a pocket of forest that has regenerated after being clear felled by hand with axes and cross cut saws as part of a 20,000 acre timber lease acquisition by Millar’s Timber and Trading Company in 1895. At its peak, two trainloads of sawn Karri timber per day were sent to Albany for export all over the world. Karri blocks were used to pave streets in London. After 10 years of intense logging all the usable timber was used. The mill closed in 1905 and Denmark was only saved from demolition by the petitioning of locals.

During the 1920’s Western Australia offered free land to settlers from the United Kingdom under the group settlement scheme. Fifteen settlements were set up in the area, one of them in the Harewood area. However many of the immigrants had no background in farming or living in primitive conditions and by 1930 70% of the settlers had left the Group Settlements. For those who remained the life was tough.

That history is in the past and Denmark is now a thriving, diverse community with a friendly, relaxed feel, which attracts visitors to its vineyard covered hillsides, towering wilderness forests, spectacular coastline, pristine beaches, scenic drives and walk trails which showcase the natural beauty of Denmark.

Situated 52 kilometres west of Albany and 66 kilometres east of Walpole on Western Australia’s south coast, Denmark is attractively located on the banks of the Denmark River which flows into Wilson Inlet and then into the Southern Ocean.

Denmark’s mild climate makes it the perfect place to base yourselves. There are five caravan parks close to Denmark, one of which is conveniently located at the river mouth. There are also many cottages, chalets, farm stays, and bed and breakfasts.

Denmark is a place to relax and take time out. Canoe down the Denmark River, relax in the calm waters of Greens Pool, explore a heritage trail, take the Mt Shadforth Scenic Drive or climb Mt Lindesay for magnificent views across farmland to the ocean, visit craft and art galleries and the growing number of wineries, enjoy a platter of fresh local produce, spend the afternoon fishing, or just lay under the trees on the river bank, the choice is all yours.

To read this complete article see it in "Go Camping Australia" magazine, Spring 2009 issue.

Ningaloo Reef and the Coral Coast, Western Australia

Blue, so bright and crystal clear it is startling. Its warmth envelopes me, calm and soothing as I float in another world, weightless. Floating with the current, absorbed by the sights around me I can only hear the sound of my own breathing.

Fish swim around me in shoals, parting and reforming, flashes of silver in the sunlight. Tiny tropical fish in a myriad of colours and patterns dart around their coral gardens. A clam sits open mouthed awaiting its catch.

I am snorkelling in the warm waters of the Ningaloo Reef in the Cape Range National Park at North West Cape, halfway along the Western Australian coast. I am close to the shore in only a few metres of water and for someone like me who has never dived and rarely snorkelled, the underwater experience is amazing, and goes to show that nearly everyone can experience the reef.


The Ningaloo Reef which stretches 260 kilometres along the coast and covers 5,000 square kilometres, is the jewel of Western Australia’s Coral Coast. It is one of the largest fringing coral reefs in the world, home to 250 species of coral and 500 species of fish and a prime conservation and sanctuary area as well as one of Australia’s great nature based tourism locations.

It is also one of the few places where you can swim with the world's biggest fish, the Whale Shark which visits Ningaloo Reef from late Mark until July each year following the mass spawning of coral.

This complete article can be read in "Australian Coast & Country" magazine, Edition 1, 2009.