Weekly Photo Challenge : Trio…

I adore horses so what better image for this weeks challenge of a “trio”.

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Weekly Photo Challenge : Creepy…

Ned Kelly’s death mask

This is definitely the creepiest thing I have ever seen. It is the death mask of Ned Kelly and I had to take a photo of it.

I think all Australians have heard of Ned Kelly. He is part of our folk law, an infamous bush ranger.

Ned Kelly is an Australian legend. He epitomised many qualities that ordinary Australians admire. He was a larrikin, loyal to his family and ready to sacrifice himself for his mates. An underdog, he represented the struggling classes and thumbed his nose at the establishment. He was inventive, he was fearless and charismatic.

 Ned was barely educated, yet his famous letters were poetic and passionate. He killed police officers, was outlawed and could be shot on sight by anyone. Yet when he was sentenced to hang, more than 30,000 people signed a petition asking for a reprieve.

His famous last words as they hung him was “Such is life”…

If you are interested to read more of the Ned Kelly story click on this link.

Ned Kelly mail box, depicted in his famous armour.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Beneath my Feet…

80 Mile Beach in Western Australia was littered with deep layers of shells.

The wild flowers were thick under foot in other parts of Western Australia.

In Northern Queensland these strange marks on the sand were under foot and we were informed by a local that they were the fresh marks  left by the tail of a large crocodile…

After looking very carefully, Jack decided it was safe to float in the Annan River in the Northern Territory.

Finally we walk together at sunset with the vibrantly red dirt of the outback under foot…

I guess you can almost say everything is “beneath your feet” when you stand and take a scenic photograph, but these are just a small sample of the different terrain we crossed as we travelled around Australia.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge : On the way to…..

On the way from here to there…

Endless roads through the outback.

Board walk across the wet land area

What is lurking ahead in the mist?

Road up and over the Snowy Mountains

Australia is a huge country and in between each destination it is the road, the track, the train line all endlessly leading me on. For 12 months and 37000 kilometres it was these roads and tracks that I travelled “on the way”.

Never boring, always changing. The great road trip around Australia.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Broken Dreams

With the development of the pastoral industry, a small township, Newcastle Waters,  sprang up at the junction of the two major overland stock routes, one going north to south and the other east to west. Newcastle Waters thrived as a supply point it has a rich, vibrant history as a gathering place for drovers on their gruelling overland cattle drives with a pub and store it was an important source of provisions and a place to rest before drovers continued on their way.

But change was on the way in the 1940’s to 50’s when roads and railways started spreading through the outback.

With no drovers the pub closed, the store no longer had customers and the wives and families moved on. It had been a tough life but by 1970’s Newcastle Waters became a ghost town.

The broken dreams and heart ache of a shattered life style can be felt as we wandered around the dilapidated buildings in 2010. The tattered remains of a net curtain flapping forlornly in a slight breeze. The brave attempt at creating a splash of colour with a strip of gingham material on shelves. The rusting sewing machine and kettle on the old wood-burner stove indications of a family once building dreams here. How hot it must’ve been as the summer sun relentlessly heated up the corrugated walls and roof. Then the chill winds of winter forcing into every gap. Where did they go? Did they find a better more comfortable life?

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 Cheri asks us for this challenge, capture something broken: an old window, a vintage sign, a toy never fixed, a contemplative friend. Or go deeper: find beauty in something broken.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Reward

The winner

The reward

In the dusty, red outback of Australia camel racing is a unique and exciting part of the culture. We were in Winton the day of the races, click here to come back with me and share that day.

This young woman certainly deserved her reward. (this weeks word from Krista at WP)

Weekly Photo Challenge : Symmetry

Indian temple dancing

Geraldton war memorial, all similar in shape and size.

Geraldton war memorial

Yoga pose, so flexible and perfect symmetry.

Symmetry (noun): the quality of something that has two sides or halves that are the same or very close in size, shape, and position; the quality of having symmetrical parts.

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Difficult theme this week. Check how others have interpreted it here.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Scale

The Katherine River flows majestically through the towering red cliffs of the Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge). It is an overwhelming experience to float along in a tourist boat gazing up at these  ancient sandstone cliffs. It is very hard to convey the enormity of this landscape in a photograph, but catching some people in the shot helps. These 2 are walking the trail along the edge of the escarpment and have stopped for a swim. Can you see them both?

Now I don’t think I would be swimming in these waters in the tropical Northern Territory, look what we saw round the next corner…

This is a fresh water crocodile and is not dangerous, but his big brother, the fearsome salty, may be lurking somewhere in the murky depths of this river. The rangers regularly patrol the river, and have traps stationed along the banks so they can catch and remove any they find. But I would always be wary of the one they may miss!!!!

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Here is another monster of the Australian outback, the notorious road train. They dwarf our camper van and when you spot 2 coming from both directions the safest thing to do is get out of their way. They thunder past and the road shakes, they can roar along up to 120 kilometres an hour. Jack took this photo of me taking a photo of this road train.

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This is another Australian monster. This time it is a tree, the strangler fig. Starting as a seed dropped by a bird into the top branches of a host tree, it germinates and slowly and insidiously extends its roots down and through the branches of its host, twining and clutching as it goes. Eventually it encircles the host tree in a grasp of death, squeezing and growing, it will eventually, over many years, kill the host tree. Finally the host tree decays and rots away and the fig tree remains in its place a lacy, hollow testament to the ruthlessness of nature.

Jack climbed inside to give an idea of the scale of this brutal tree. Don’t stay there too long Jack…

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Double trouble

On a lighter note I couldn’t resist taking this photo of these 2 waiting outside the pub for their owner to finish his drink.

walking through a field of dreams

Jack gives an idea of the expansive fields of wild flowers that cover vast areas of land in Western Australia.

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The scale of  ideas in this weeks challenge will be endless, click here to see them all

Weekly Photo Challenge : Depth

 In the red heart of the Western Australian outback where the earth is being torn apart to retrieve the abundant mineral riches that have lain buried for millennia, in an area called “The Pilbara”, can be found Karijini National Park. The rugged grandeur of the Gorges, it’s beautiful waterfalls and sparkling rock pools are in stark contrast to the surrounding bleak red, dusty landscape.

The few ghost gums line the dusty track, the dry grasses are tainted a blood-red. This is the start of the track to Weano Gorge.

The land opens before us and drops into the depths of  some of Earth’s oldest rock formations (over 3 billion years old).  Some of the world’s oldest surface rocks, including the ancient fossilised remains known as stromatolites and rocks such as granites are found here.

The vertical granite rock face towers above us as we carefully make our way along the base. The boulders are slippery.

It is a challenging tramp. We inch along ledges and squeeze through narrow slot canyons, with towering walls of banded iron rock rearing above us, we clutch at protruding rocks to keep our balance.

Look very carefully and you will see Jack’s backside disappearing around a rock just above the water line. Have you spotted him?

Now we have to wade along the edge of this pool, waist deep, feeling for submerged rocks, heading for that slot in the far wall. I am now getting way out of my depth.

As I reach this spectacular and unforgettable place I am in awe of the beauty that surrounds me.

Australia is a land of such contrasts and this is one of those special places that take some effort to reach, but once seen it will live in my memory for ever.

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WP challenge this week, whether visually or emotionally, this week let’s dig (or dive) deep.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Shadowed

Molly

Hurry up, why are you walking so slow?

Lake Burley Griffin

A crisp, sparkling winter morning walk around Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra.

Western Australia

The golden light of late afternoon casts lengthening shadows across the emerald-green grass.

Canberra Arboretum

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.

The shadow is what we think of it;

the tree is the real thing.

Abraham Lincoln

Picnic time

I’m on the road a lot so when I get some time to relax

I definitely take advantage.

Shaun White

This is Jack, after 3 months on the road, relaxing in the shade of a tree in Townsville Botanic Garden.

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There are more shadowy scenes and shady characters here…