Penang in bloom

We have just returned from a lovely week of R&R in Penang. After the emotions of the last couple of months the timing couldn't have been better for us. We must have known something when we booked in February!

I have always loved tropical gardens and the gardens of the Park Royal Hotel where we stayed were amazing. 
 Our first view - welcome -


I could easily have just laid by the pool and done very little. Nice? Wouldn't you just love to have just a little bit of this garden at home?








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Mount Augustus walk trails, Pilbara, Western Australia

Have you ever been to Mount Augustus in Western Australia’s Pilbara region?  We hadn’t before this last July. I wondered why we had never been there before! If you missed my first blog post about it you can catch up by clicking here – Wildflowers that bloom in the red rock of Mt Augustus

Mount Augustus, or Burringurrah, as it is known by the local Wajarri indigenous people, is the largest rock in the world. 430 kilometres from Carnarvon via Gascoyne Junction or 360 kilometres from Meekatharra, via gravel roads either way, it is easy to explore Mount Augustus from the Mount Augustus Outback Tourist Park, located only a short drive from Mt Augustus National Park. If you stay a few days you can enjoy the numerous walk trails through Mt Augustus.

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Flowers that bloom in the red rock of Mount Augustus, Western Australia

Regular readers of my blog will know that life has changed for me over the last couple of months in a way that was totally unexpected, and my blogging has been a little erratic.

In July we set off on a camping holiday into the Pilbara region of Western Australia. If you missed the last post back in August you can catch up by clicking here - Pilbara-camping-part-3

For those of you who have been waiting patiently out there in blogland for me to continue writing about our trip, thank you so much for being patient. As promised I'm back!

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Welcoming new beginnings

It has been an emotional six weeks. A time of great change with the passing of my darling father. I never imagined that this is where we would be when we went off travelling and exploring through the Pilbara in early July.  I keep going back over the last few weeks and trying to fathom how we got from there to here. I have felt that someone else has been in control of my life...it certainly wasn't me.  As John Lennon wisely said....."life is what happens while you are making other plans".

During this time my camera has been my solace and I have kept up my 365 Project as I work my way through what life has thrown my way.  Amazingly those wintery images are around the time of my Dad's passing.

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Life in pictures - June-July-August

 I would have never imagined at the beginning of June how life has changed in only a few months. It certainly has had highs and lows. As my 365 Project reflects - one photo a day every day.  The project has sometimes been a challenge to take a photo every day.

Sometimes it is easy, sometimes my shots are planned, but often they are just a quick snapshot or a random shot on my way home from work!  But my friend has just wisely said to me -
Random shots of a moment in your life where every minute is as special as any other - nothing wrong with that!

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Blooming Art 2014 - Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Western Australia

I was thrilled recently to be invited to be a Blooming Art Special Guest exhibitor at the floral art exhibition run annually by the Flower Designers Club of Bunbury in the beautiful Chapel Gallery at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery.   I was invited by Blooming Art Coordinator, Eileen Wenn, who is a friend of mine from Spanish dance class, and who is also a world class floral art designer.

Special invited guest exhibitors select a painting from the City of Bunbury Art Collection, and then represent it through a floral display.  I have no floral art background or formal arts training, so felt very priviledged to be invited, as well as a little apprehensive and excited. 

The painting I chose which you can see below, is a painting by Alisa Small, called Up The Gorge to Tallering Peak.  I was attracted to this painting because we had just past through this area on our way south from the Pilbara.  I love the rich colours, textures and ruggedness of this ancient landscape and how the colours change with the light. Alisa has captured with her painting what I try to capture with my camera. 

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Pilbara camping - Part 3 - Karijini to Mt Augustus - Western Australia

Hi everyone, I hope you have enjoyed my last two posts about camping in Karijini National Park in Western Australia's Pilbara region. If you ever come to Western Australia, and have time, you should visit, particularly if you are here around July-August.
If you missed the posts you can catch up here -  Karijini Camping - Part 1
 and here - Karijini camping - Part 2


Today we are back on the road again, heading out of Karijini and heading towards Mount Augustus - the world's largest monocline.
But first the town of Tom Price - 108km from the Karijini's Dales Gorge campground.
We need to fuel up and buy some fresh supplies for the next leg of our trip, plus a quick email catch up and mail some post cards.

Situated on the edge of the Hamersley Ranges, Tom Price is Western Australia's highest town, 747metres above sea level. Tom Price's economy is dependent on the iron ore industry. The area was only appraised for mining in the early 1960's, so Tom Price is a very young town.  

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Karijini camping - part 2 - Pilbara, Western Australia

Last week I brought you the first part of our recent Pilbara trip, visiting Karijini National Park. If you missed it you can catch up by clicking here - Pilbara camping in Karijini Naitonal Park

Today we travel across the park to Joffre, Knox, Hancock, Weano and Hamersley Gorges and to Mount Bruce. 


The Joffre Falls and the Weano Gorge area is about 30 kilometres west of the Karijini Visitor Centre.  As we had stayed such a long time at Kalamina Gorge (see last week's post), and, I must admit, the fact that I don't feel so confident about clambering down gorge walls these days, we decided for this trip we would just go to the lookouts of the gorges on the western side of the park.  You can't help but be impressed by this awe inspiring landscape. The gorges dramatically show the forces of nature that carved these gorges into the landscape millions of years ago. 

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Pilbara camping in Karijini National Park, Western Australia

Getting ready for a camping holiday always involves a bit (or a lot) of planning. 

There is the camper trailer to check over and make sure everything is in it that needs to be. There are lists to be made and ticked off, a rough plan of where we are going drawn up, meals to plan and cooking, dehydrating and food shopping to to be done, our vehicle to be checked over and the extra spare tyre to be hauled onto the roof, washing done and clothes packed, organise someone to collect the mail and put out the rubbish bins.

 Ooooo....there seems to be a lot of chocolate in there! Oh well you have to have some little luxuries when you are camping in the bush.

But finally we are on our way and as the sun comes up over the road ahead we sigh a sigh of contentment. 

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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.

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