More of The Gorges of Karijini in WA

No one can say we weren't prepared. We had spent most of the morning dressing up. Look closely you can't get more prepared than this. And were we shaking in our boots? Of course some of us were. I hope using these photos or this one in particular won't get me into trouble.

Our two younger...much younger guides...decided after looking us over...that we were much too inexperienced (()LD?)  to allow us to go any further. After all people rescuing others have died in the process.
Died in the process? And the rescued lived? Hmmn! Just for a photo? No! I for one was happy to just sit and eat my lunch. I could never forgive myself if someone came to rescue me and as a consequence gave up his/her life. After all we did look the part...but maybe we were better off upstairs...you know...where the air was refreshing and the sky clear.
But before we left and to explain the photograph...
the dark blue was the water flowing...down to the bright yellow pool of water and further to another
pool...both of which we had to be able to swim through...or should I say wade through.
Our glorious leader...Tom Putt Master Photographer et all set up this shot whilst holding onto his

tripod... the only time I might add when it was acceptable to hold onto a tripod.

 So life above was ours. While our knees recovered. This is surely a time one should only participate in the climbing when young and fit.






But the experience was well worthwhile. It is a heaven of never-ending photo shoots.

Thank 'God' I can read....and learn!

Just saw this photo in my collection and realised that I haven't written a comment about these books.

There is always a first time for everything no matter how fast the clock is ticking...and it is ticking way too quickly.

I never thought I would be caught reading a book like this one by Jennifer Walsh. Surely it is meant for the teenager amongst us. Wrong! It had something of history in it. 

Yes and seeing I spent a great number of years in Sydney I wanted to know and never expected to know that a coal mine, tunnels and all, secret entrances etc. were to be found and explored by the young in Balmain in Sydney. What an eye opener indeed!

But what really surprised me was that the late Oliver Sacks had more interest in the origin of Ferns around the world . And consequently, belonging to the Fern Society of New York , he travelled  to Oaxaca in Mexico when he was 64 yrs old. He mentioned many other sites he had visited around the world, Iceland, Hawaii, Australia and quietly I added New Zealand. And so I kept reading his journal, my interest growing, as he has always been a great writer and any book in which he wanted to explain his neurology experience he surely did it well.


PS: Whatever I pressed I don't know what but I quite like the look of the printing so will continue.

By the way Oliver Sacks wrote 'The man who mistook his wife for a hat'...ring a bell? 

Books and Writers!

Yes I have many writers I enjoy reading and there are many who are no longer with us.

Looking at the picture you may realise that E.L.Doctorow is one of the greatest writers we are now missing. But many of his books are available. And for much less money the book stores may charge.

The latest book he wrote and the final one was 'Andrew's Brain', published in 2014. He died the following year from complications of lung cancer.
He was 84 years old.

My luck must have changed I thought as I picked up this book at the Children's Fund bookstore for only $5.00. At first glance inside the covers I wondered whether the topic would catch my interest but as anyone could find out giving his writing a chance it is one of the most memorable books written. I won't say why but then again, why not? Because the structure of the topic was just astounding. I couldn't put

it down until I finished. My collection of Doctorow books in my bookshelf is growing.

You might notice that I have included the book by Patrick Gale. Now this was another the Children's Fund had in their shelves and this one was only $3.00. This author is English whereas Doctorow was American. But it seems the issues approached are much the same no matter the countries of origin.

Both books write about very difficult topics. The sort one doesn't find many writers wishing to tackle.. Nevertheless mental illness is amongst us and increasing rapidly day by day.

Yet the last government has chosen to reduce or should I say cut the funding to this science of the mind and increase that of more popular and acceptable illnesses such as Breast Cancer, Heart Disease etc. forgetting or should I say ignoring the ever increasing numbers of suicides of young and old Australians.
 So I have said it. It is time to become political. Time to use your vote and realise that it takes courage to influence change in our society. Vote for the party which cares for the individual not corporate wealth.
Read these books and you will find that life with mental illness affects us all. And it is here to stay whilst the cost to society is ever increasing...more than any other physical illness.

Grass Trees or in the old offensive language...BLACK BOYS.

Yes went on a discovery tour along the "new" Ocean drive past Yanchep National Park, to Wedge Island hoping to see some great waves after the storm and rain which passed over WA and left us wanting. But did we really want to see so much soil erosion as the beaches of Northern Sydney? No!
 Instead we had lives lost due to our friends/enemies of the deep sea...the Great White Pointer.

Are we getting used to these creatures invading "our" space? One minute the crocodile is the enemy then the Great White Pointer then the stormy weather.

But we found peace when we saw mother nature covering the great expanses with Grass Trees and in some areas... sandhills encroaching. We managed to stop the car and I used my tripod and what I thought my tips I picked up doing landscape photography.

 Unfortunately there were no flowers, usually borne on a long spike above a bare section known as a scape. Xanthorrea consist of about 30 species of flowering plants endemic to Australia.

Should you want to know where the term "Black Boy" came to describe the plant, it became known as such because of the similarity of the trunked species to an Aboriginal holding an upright spear.

Not all develop above the ground.The stem rate of growth is very slow. In WA 1.7cm to 2.5cm per year is expected.The plant however is protected by law and all are perennials.

However the plants may be cultivated from a seed and are easily collected and germinated.

Where to go?

I am busily trying to scan the open pamphlet...Winter in WA...north or south,,,or in-between. Who knows? My partner has dropped the magazine in my lap with the words"anything you decide is ok". But... but... I haven't or rather I can't forget Karijini Gorges as yet and you are making me decide about where to go in August. Oh well, maybe when I stop looking at my Karijini photographs...but the colours...oh dear, maybe winter won't be so bad. Now if I was in Germany my birthday would be in summer but....

All the above taken early one morning and I mean early, when my partner insisted on sleeping, I took my tripod and camera just outside our tent...rather satisfying to look back at the
pictures...taken without falling into the gorge. He would never have known what had happened to me!
Then again these grasses, on my right, appeared at the bottom of one of the gorges...the colours I couldn't resist.


Looking down at the Dales Gorge, the light just creeping in, resulted in these amazing shots. I love the colours. They made the effort worthwhile. Don't forget to click on them to enlarge!

A quick visit to Paraburdoo and Tom Price

That's if I remember how to spell these places. Paraburdoo about 140klms from Tom Price was your typical mining town. Temperatures, a little cooler than usual I was promised...yes only 39* today but usually? Oh around 41*C. Hmm! we've chosen a good day then was my reply.
But the spelling wasn't the only reason I remembered Paraburdoo. I was impressed with the way they gave significance to the many young deaths in the town reserving a memorial for each with a small inscription. Pity my photo has come out so dark but you get the idea. The other interesting sight was a metal framework with the name of each participant in the making of it thus allowing the light to shine through the openings thus spelling out the name.It had the looks of a typical Aboriginal artwork but unfortunately there was no-one to confirm or deny my understandings.

Then after a hearty breakfast we drove to Tom Price...another mining town...one friends of ours had lived in for 25 years or so. Wow! We couldn't wait. It must be some township...or so we thought. We stopped at the tourist information centre as one does but all we learnt was that Tom Price had been an American and soon after he left the discoveries came to the notice of everyone involved.

We crossed the road to the only shopping centre ready for our coffee when my camera spied brightly coloured child care centre walls. I liked the one that said 'I'm Hot!' And I knew that it was close to 41*C.

 What did impress me about Tom Price  was
Mt. Nameless. This Mountain we should discover and off we went. 4x4 drives only allowed on the dirt road and soon we understood why. Many rocks and ditches later our BMW told us to go no further...something was overheating...and we didn't want to try our luck!
Once again German technology perhaps wasn't used to 41*C...minus 25*C perhaps!

Dirt road that didn't look too bad!

 But I wondered how or who was so creative as to call the mountain Mt. Nameless? The views were extraordinary the height we were at often being quite misleading.

In the distance one could see the mine site below.

 This view where the road suddenly disappears or so it seems has proven to be a popular image.

Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge.

Nature and its beautiful colours and patterns.

I can't resist but I did look out for magnificent shapes besides getting the most desired shot. The eye has an appeal for outstanding patterns. For you too? Let's see if you like these!  OK rocks might be rocks and layers added when added over the movement of the environment creating changes in soil types. But....

 But then the eye suddenly recognises beauty and light differences and you go WOW! I have to catch that shot! And out comes the tripod and camera...hands free of tripod...2 second timer waiting to expose the shot...and so the perfect image is created...or so one hopes.

 This time it is the moment of reflection which catches the light and abstract images are the result. One way of filling in an empty few minutes? Perhaps!

Or the manipulation of the water image asks for a longer exposure to smoothe the carpet of watery shadow amongst the reeds.

Then again nature can do a pretty good job on its own...adding colours and a touch here and a touch there and with its many waterfalls the opportunistic photographer is there to smoothe over the water yet focus diligently on the stony surrounds.

More water? And why not. This image shows the stony patterns with water falls spreading the water into pools so we the suffering photographers can cool off after our tough climb.

These images were just waiting at the bottom of the Dales Gorge and what colourful arrangements they were. We may be looking at the growing bacteria of stagnant water but who cares the colours and

 patterns are there to be caught on camera.