Between Williams and Narrogin, Wheatbelt Region, Western Australia
Last night in the darkness
unable to sleep
I counted sheep
while you were sleeping
your heartbeat, mine
oh! that familiar rhythm
lulled my body
until next time
a dawn bird
In response to Photo a Week Challenge – Sleeping
It was the first trip of the year and little time for anything except work. My plans of walking around town with camera, taking pictures of the magnificent heritage architecture in the Goldfields region, were scrapped. The small mining town felt like it was bursting at the seams with people. An atmosphere reminiscent of the wild, wild, West. I just didn’t feel comfortable walking around on my own. I drove to the sister town of Boulder and it was the same, so I returned to the hotel without taking a single picture.
The next day at lunchtime, as is my habit, I went to the park for a quick lunch and hoped for a longer time with camera photographing the gum flowers and birds. It was nearly 40 degrees C and no shade. I had to return to the office, dejected, without a single photograph of my trip!
As I approached the entrance to the building, it caught my eye. I had seen it the previous day in the garden. It looked like it was some kind of plastic toy wedged against another plant. The next day when I returned from lunch, it was still there. I decided to walk closer to inspect it.
Echeveria ‘Domingo’
It took my breath away! In the harshest sun in harsher country, this bloomed with such delicacy. I have a desk plaque on a table in my foyer, a reminder to self, each time I enter my home or leave it – “Bloom where God plants you”. When away from home, I needed this to touch base.
I showed the picture to the office staff. They loved it. “Where did you find this?” they asked, thinking it was from one of my travels. “Outside, in the garden, by the front door”. They looked confused and surprised. One staff member’s window opened to this and she never noticed it before! I had no idea succulents are so beautiful. I learnt something new that day. It will definitely have a presence in my new garden.
On my return home, the flight was full. I was seated at the back. Never a good seat on a Friday night when miners are going home and have had too much down time at the bar. I averted my body, away from the odour of stale beer, and towards a succulent sky.
My trip, fraught as it was with work, taught me to look beyond the desk and when plans don’t work out, respond to curiosity and look beyond.
I brought the vision home, to share with you.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
In response to A Photo a Week Challenge – Work
Just a small selection of the landscapes that I’ve encountered on my travels.
Mary Street, Highgate, an inner city Perth suburb.
The Midwest outback near the mining town of Cue, Western Australia. There were carpets of flowers in this harsh country in spring.
The descent over Exmouth, Western Australia
Between Carnarvon and Geraldton. Taken from inside the car at 110km/hour. No, I wasn’t driving!
Between Morawa and Mingenew, Midwest towns, Western Australia. From the car window again.
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia. One of my favourite bays.
Outskirts of Geraldton, Western Australia. Oh! those summer colours of the Midwest!
Next month … I’m on the road again.
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge : Landscape
I work all over this big State of Western Australia, so naturally, this vast land is my neighbourhood as I am rarely home and, I post pictures regularly from wherever my work takes me. It is rare for me to share pictures from my neighbourhood. I have posted these pictures some years ago and the prompt is a good reminder to explore the world closer to home more frequently.
My home adjoins Yellagonga Regional Park, some 1400 hectares of protected land of which nearly half is protected wetlands. This area is four doors down from my home. The land in this area is laden with cultural significance for the regional indigenous people and is part of their Dreaming. I only became aware of this some years ago after a walk through the park with an elder as part of my workplace cultural learning.
I love that this place teems with new life. I recall the sheer delight in discovering the black swan’s cygnet is white.
There are spaces where the Australian shelduck and I can catch our breath.
Ancient gum trees for company.
As I approach this roundabout in spring, I have to be careful about the Wood Ducks that use the pond as a nursery before taking their family across the road to the Lake.
This spring there have been many new families that have arrived over the last six weeks. This year I’ve seen school children stop and take pictures with their phone as they walk home from school. I love watching their discovery through the lens.
This is my little oasis where other birds, too, call home. Glad I could share this with you.
As always
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge – In the Neighbourhood
In the dimmed light of the moon
They fanned a flame
to new beginnings, again.
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge : Atmospheric
I visit the Central Wheatbelt area in Western Australia, on a regular basis. Although it is only around 260km, it is around 3-3.5 hour drive East of home for me. The highway is dangerous. It runs east and west, so some drivers are always driving into the sun early morning or at sunset. It is a narrow road, and used by roadtrains and with open farmland on either side, there is always danger of fox and kangaroo as well, at dusk.
But the landscape is stunning at sunset. For years I’ve been trying to get to this region at the right hour to capture it. I often see the sun setting in my rear view mirror and it takes my breath away. This month I timed it almost right.
In a paddock between the small township of Kellerberrin and Merredin a lone tree stands. I have photographed this tree many times and each time, it speaks the same message loud. Against all odds, still standing tall. The message has become my daily mantra.
Between Doodlakine and salt lakes at Baandee Lake I had to stop in near darkness and take this photograph. In the silence, the sky roared in colour, and soon it was dark.
There was a time I did not have the temerity to get out of my car to take photographs on this trip. It is a lonely drive when the trucks have zoomed on. I’m anxious to just get to my accommodation. These pictures are special to me because the landscape, nature, spoke louder than my inner voice of anxiety. I’m glad I listened to it.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to: A Photo a Week Challenge – Open Topic
Water’s edge, Carnarvon, Western Australia
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge – Texture
Yellow ribbons are symbols of ‘welcome home’ and I find it interesting as autumn becomes spring, yellow is the first colour you see in the West Australian bush. On my bush walks in Esperance and Narrogin I felt this deep sense of being welcomed back where I am always happy. Spring brings hope of new life. On wet gloomy days there were splashes of brilliant yellow to liven the landscape. The wild orchids have arrived early too. They are tiny and exquisite. And, then … my first glimpse of a Western Golden Whistler who was singing his little heart out. 
These were some of my happy moments in the past month and I’m happy to share them with you.
As always
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge – Yellow
Roses.
Crepe myrtle.
In Bunbury seagulls swimming in a pink sea at dusk.
Pink Galah in a gumtree.
Gum blossoms.
First light, gold mine, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
And at high tea, stick your pinky finger out!
a dawn bird
In response to a photo a week challenge: Pink
We are nearly a month into winter in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve been mostly housebound for the last two days staying dry and away from the winter storms that blew in. During a moment of brief respite, I walked around the front garden. It looks like a wedding has taken place with petals strewn everywhere. There are still plenty of roses, weighed down heavy with raindrops. I had to take a few pictures, actually I took 112 pictures in a half hour wander!
Although I love roses, I absolutely love ice berg roses. Usually pure white, mine seem to be tinged with pale pink. They are prolific bloomers. These are the ones I love and thought I’d share with you.
It saddens me that people regard roses as ‘high maintenance’ flowers. Mine just seem to look after themselves and survive my gardener’s brutal pruning. Maybe what falls away, makes them more beautiful. Something to reflect on.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge : flowers
Banksia flower, my idea of perfection.
In response to Nancy Merrill’s A photo-a-week-challenge-beauty
a dawn bird
I love fireworks but avoid events in the city due to the parking and transport hassles. A couple of years ago I happened to be in Bunbury, some two hours south of home. My hotel was along the estuary and I found I was there on a night of fireworks. I didn’t have to fret about parking, I just strolled to the foreshore. Families started to arrive. Picnics were set out. Music and laughter floated by.
The evening was warm, the memory of the event, warmer.
I sat on the shore and watched children skimming rocks, while Bunbury Tower dominated on the horizon,
Way across the water, people enjoyed a fun ride, sliding upwards on this lit pole and then being swung in circles. I can only imagine the views from up there.
Soon the clouds cleared. The music reached a crescendo. Sprays of colours bloomed in the air. Rockets sped upwards leaving whistling sounds in its wake before exploding in a boom. The children screamed louder with delight.
Captivated by the awe of the moment, the child in me did too.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
A Shared Space 
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