Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Monday 31 March 2014

Have camera - will take LOTS of travel pics

We love to travel and I take lots of photos – LOTS-of-photos…. I only have to look back at my photos to be transported back there to that time and place to relive those experiences.  

 You only have to look at my latest touring blog posts about our trip to South Australia last year to see what I mean - On the road through South Australia

Photo albums or photo books are a great way to have a permanent record of your trip. They can become coffee table books to be picked up and thumbed through and shared. Have you ever made a photo book? Yes they can be expensive, but infinitely rewarding. (hmm…note to self – start making photo book of our South Australia trip last year!). There are quite a few on-line services where you can make photo books.

But what good are photos sitting on a computer hard-drive? And worse still maybe be lost in a computer crash. A good reason to back up your hard drive. Do you back up? How often do you back up? I should do it every month, but in reality it might be 2 or 6 months or even 12 months – not good enough! We are often reminded that “it is not if a hard drive will crash, it is when”. (another note to self – time to back up again!) 


 To keep reading and see more pics, please click on "read more" .....

Sunday 23 March 2014

South Australia trip - Part 8 - Exploring Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges National Park

Last week I continued our South Australian trip and blogged about our overnight camp in Brachina Gorge in the Flinders Ranges. If you missed it, you can click here – South Australia trip Part 7 - Brachina Gorge
 
Re-fuelled by that enormous burger in Hawker, and after replenishing our supplies, we climbed back into our 4WD and headed north again into the Flinders Ranges National Park to Wilpena Pound. 


Wilpena is very popular with people visiting the Flinders Ranges and as we arrived latish in the day we couldn’t get a powered site, but we were not really worried as we have solar panels that charge up our camper batteries.  We could select our own site, which were not so crammed together as the powered sites (another bonus) and chose one sheltered by some trees and overlooking a rehabilitation area. Nice. We could see kangaroos grazing amongst the trees only about 30 metres from our camper. We put up our full annex as we booked in for 3 nights – it gives us a bit more private space and the wind had come up strong during the afternoon. 
 

 We woke up next day to a fine clear morning, and put a load of washing into the washing machine before breakfast, and got organised to go for a bush walk. We had studied our guide the night before and worked out what we wanted to do while we were here.
 
There are 18 walk and hiking trails in the Flinders Ranges, some of which are easily accessed from the Wilpena Pound camp ground. Once the washing was on the line we drove to the Arkaroo Rock Hike about 17km south of Wilpena. Here there is a 3km return walk to see some Adnyamathanha aboriginal rock paintings under a rock overhang which are best seen in morning light. These ochre and charcoal drawings depict aspects of Ura Muda (dreaming) for Ikara (Wilpena). They have been enclosed in a wire enclosure to protect them from graffiti. Sad that this has had to be done, but at least they are now being protected and preserved. The Adnyamathanha people are the traditional custodians of the Flinders Ranges. 
Hubbie likes taking photos of lizards - you can see one in the collage below...



After lunch, we followed a 116km scenic loop drive through the Ranges which brought us to some lookouts with magnificent views and we checked out a few of the bush camping sites. 

 We also visited Aroona Hut built in 1925 from typical pine and pug construction. The Australian landscape artist, Sir Hans Heysen’s used to often come to paint. You can see his inspiration in the magnificent river gums and the Flinders Ranges.

Parts of the long distance Heysen walk trail meanders through the Flinders Ranges. 

On the way back from camp we saw lots of emus with chicks in the grasslands by the roadside.
Our second night was very cold and the wind was up so we put on our thermals and were in bed by 8.30pm. A bit different to the heat we’d had on the Oodnadatta Track! 


 Next morning we rose early and were on the 7.8km return Wangara Lookout Hike by 8am. This trail starts near the Wilpena camp ground. It was a lovely cool morning for walking. The first part is easy going and it was very pleasant walking on the flat trail beside the creek under the Red River Gums and I was delighted to be able to take some wildflower photos. 



The trail takes you to the old stone-built Hills Homestead built in the early 1900s by early settlers, the Hill's family. As well as the history of farming in the area you can learn about the creation of the Flinders through aboriginal dream-time stories.


From here there is a rocky path to the lookout. There is a lower lookout 300 metres from the homestead, and an upper lookout 300 metres further up. Both lookouts give you magnificent views over the Wilpena Pound, known as Ikara by the Adnyamathanha people.  The Pound itself is a huge natural amphitheatre 11km long and 5km wide. Surrounded by ranges, the highest point is St Mary Peak, 1170 metres high and the highest peak in South Australia. 
My photos certainly don't come close to portraying the grandeur of Wilpena Pound. 




A shuttle bus can take you the first 2km along the trail if you wish, but it is an easy walk. We decided that we didn’t need to do the more strenuous St Mary Peak walk to see the Pound and views of the Flinders Ranges. 22km and 9 hours, you would need a reasonable level of fitness to do this hike. 


After lunch we drove out to Stokes Hill lookout about 20km north east of Wilpena where you have magnificent 360 views over the rolling green hillsides at the base of the Flinders Ranges. We took quite a few photos in the changing light.  Surprisingly I thought it looked a little like an English countryside postcard.  Here there is a base relief sculpture which gives you a good perspective of the Ranges. 


Along the way we stopped at Cazneaux Tree. This magnificent River Red Gum was first made famous by photographer Harold Cazneaux, who won first prize at an International Photographic Exhibition in 1937 with his photograph of the tree, which he entitled “The Spirit of Endurance”. You can see my pic below! 



 On the way back we viewed the Artists of the Flinders Art Exhibition at the old Wipena Woolshed. (Sadly all the paintings I would have bought had already been purchased – not that I would have known how we were going to transport a painting for the rest of our trip!)

I hope you have enjoyed this brief look at Wilpena Pound. You could spend months exploring the Flinders Ranges. Unfortunately we only had time to scratch the surface.  However we really enjoyed our short stay and could have easily stayed longer to do more of the walks. From here we will head south to Burra via Hawker, Quorn, Cradock and Carrieton, and then to Clare wine region, and the next part of our trip through South Australia. 

 Some info: ………..

  • The Flinders Ranges National Park is one of South Australia’s iconic destinations. It covers 95,000 hectares of the central Flinders Ranges, approximately 450km north of Adelaide. 
  • Camp sites at Wilpena Pound are suitable for tents, camper trailers, motorhomes and caravans.  You can buy basic supplies, drinks, snacks, and souvenirs from the shop adjacent to the Visitor Information Centre.
  • You can enjoy a meal at the Wilpena Pound Resort restuarant.
  •  Walks and hikes range from 500 metres to 31km, including guided walks and challenging overnight treks. Please refer to brochures and information boards regarding distances, level of fitness required and degree of difficulty.
  • The long distant Heysen walking trail stretches 1200km from the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsular in the south to Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges. The 900km Mawson mountain bike trail runs from Adelaide through the Flinders to Blinman. 
  • Best time to visit: April to October 
  • Park pass and camping fees apply. 
  • Pets not permitted. 
  • Another caravan and camping park close by to Wipena is Rawnsley Park Station - www.rawnsleypark.com.au 
  •  
  • For more information about the Flinders Ranges please click here www.parks.sa.gov.au 
  • www.wilpenapound.com.au 
  • Flinders Ranges - An Adventurer’s Guide by Ron and Viv Moon is an excellent guide book - www.guidebooks.com.au 
This is one of our wattles - truly the most recognizable of all Australian flowers. 

 If you missed any of my previous posts about our South Australia trip you can catch up by clicking on the links below -

Thanks for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. Have a wonderful week.
I am linking up to Mosaic Monday, Travel Photos Monday, Our World Tuesday, Wednesday Around the World, Travel Photo Thursday, What's It Wednesday, and Oh the Places I've Been. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday  
Travel Photo Mondays  
Our World Tuesday  
Wednesday Around the World  
What's It Wednesday    
Travel Photo Thursday
 Oh The Places I've Been





Monday 17 March 2014

South Australia trip Part 7 - Brachina Gorge in the Flinders Ranges

For those of you who are regular visitors to my blog you may recall that last year I was writing posts about our South Australian trip last year. 

If you remember we were heading from north to south following the Oodnadatta Track and the old Ghan railway line. I just realised that I left you all at Marree at the end of the Oodnadatta Track in South’s Australia’s outback in December!   Sorry! You wouldn’t want to spend summer out there with the heat, wind, dust and flys, so we had better move on!

 If you missed the last part - you can click here to catch up - South Australia Part 6 - Outback on the Oodnadatta Track

After having morning tea in a shady park in Maree we continued south.  We stopped in Lyndhurst to have lunch on the verandah of the community hall and discovered that we had a flat tyre on the camper trailer – it possibly happened at that one last railway siding ruin at Farina that I wanted to stop and look at! 

 
Please click on "read more" to keep reading and see more pics! see you there!
 

Sunday 9 March 2014

Summer plum galette

A few weeks ago a friend brought me a huge bag of plums fresh picked from an orchard - firm, with a sweet-sharp taste - delicious.  

(I had a bit of a problem with the on-line photo editor this morning) so I made this collage free hand in Photoshop Elements. I didn't realise you could drag different pics into one image in Elements - but it worked ok)


I decided to make a plum tart. I had seen a few blog posts recently about "galette" which is a French term for a rustic free form tart, so I decided to make one.  It really is a simple pie to make and you can use just about any sort of fruit, or make a savoury galette. 

Please click on "read more" to keep reading and see more pics! see you there!

Sunday 2 March 2014

365 PROJECT

Hi everyone, and welcome back. I have been so busy of late I missed posting last week....something just had to give! Do you get like that sometimes? Anyways, here I am back again - and rest assured I have still been out there taking photos and writing.

Do you like my new header? I decided to have a change from the roses that I have had there "forever" and go for something bright, and cheerful and summery. I have been photographing these sunflowers in all their stages over a couple of weeks - aren't they beautiful?  I will be blogging about them later.


Unbelievability we are into March and I am already 60 days into my 365 Project which I started on 1 January. You can see the beginnings of my project by clicking here - Summer and 2014 begins

Please click on "read more" to keep reading and see more pics! see you there!