Things are happening in the garden ....

Such a lovely time of the year when it seems everything is beginning to fruit, bud, and flower. There are new season dahlia tubers just starting to sprout, some of the bearded irises coming into bud, the lilies are in bud, one of my orchids is about to open its beautiful  flower, the climbing roses are flowering profusely, there are blueberries on the bush, broad beans flowering in the veggie patch, yes so much happening, and all because of sunshine, rain and longer spring days. Wow, the plants have been busy.

I've been weeding and fertilizing around my little place to keep it tidy and growing well through the spring and into the summer, I've even noted when to put Seasol on the garden so I keep it looking it's best as the weather warms up.

Life is so worth doing

I haven't been here for a few weeks as I've been a bit distracted with other stuff, but here I am now.

As I walked on the beach this morning, the grey clouds did little for the colour of the water and it was rather cold, but I chose to walk and talk to God and to enjoy every step, every splash of the cold water on my legs, and to look out and see the beautiful surroundings. I came home feeling invigorated and refreshed from my 45 minute brisk walk.

I have enjoyed my day,  I'm very happy to look at the things around me, to see the beautiful world in which I live. Every day is a gift and I will open each one as it comes and delight in what it has to give me.

Cupped Banded Greenhood - one of the weird ones!

There are so many wonderful places to check out our Western Australian Native Orchids, and I like wandering around the bush with my eyes down looking for its treasures.

There are some very unusual and very unique flowers amongst our Native Orchids, this one is a Cupped Banded Greenhood - Pterostylis concava, weird isn't it? My book 'Orchids of South-West Australia' states - 'The orchid is not common'. I'm so glad I found it.

When I look at this, I think, is this actually a flower? I probably saw these years ago but didn't know what they were. Now I know they're part of the wonderful family of flora that inhabits the bush and is waiting for me to find and photograph.

Taken with my Olympus TG5

Late winter at Grandmum's Place

We've had lots of sunny days which has brought the bulbs up and helped them to start flowering, and enough rain to keep everything happy so it's looking very colourful at my place.

Some of the treasures in my garden are flashy and bright, nodding at me as I step outside my back door. The colours change from season to season and as the different bulbs and annuals flower in baskets and in the ground they're always showing off and making this one of my happy places. It's a lovely place to have a cuppa and a read or eat breakfast on a lovely sunny morning.

Taken on my Olympus TG5

The old Jetty

The same place but different ...... sunrise, sunset, sunshine, rain, high tide, low tide ..... yes like I said, always different, even from morning to night.

I've been photographing on and near this old structure for a number of years and it's gradually falling into disrepair, unfortunately, no one is prepared to take the lead to repair and look after it into the future. Princess Royal Harbour is a large area of water and part of the Great Southern Ports area of responsibility.

The Pelicans come and go in all seasons, although there are times when they're missing!

Here's a collection of photos I've taken over the past few years, the last one was taken around midday today..... yes it was very cold and raining, but the Pelicans were there.

Meeting The Queen of Sheba

The Queen of Sheba - Thelymitra variegata - is a very flashy and quite magnificent West Australian Native Orchid. It is one of the sun orchids and only opens when the sun shines.

The West Australian bush has many beautiful treasures which need to be looked after for generations to come, we need to take care when walking in the bush, and when photographing the wildflowers and orchids, you need to look very carefully to find them, then watch where you're putting your feet, especially if you kneel down on the ground, or use a tripod.

 The place where I found this Queen has more people trampling around every year and therefore after seeing numerous beautiful plants over the past few years this year there are very few. So now I have other places where I've found some plants and I keep those confidential, not because I want to keep a secret but because people tell people and very soon the fragile plants are trampled or touched before they have a chance to show off their beauty and then be pollinated for next years plants to flower. 

Native orchids are very particular where they grow and how they grow, I have limited knowledge but have some great books which I use to learn more about this elusive plant family.

I want to continue finding and photographing these beautiful treasures so I choose to be as careful as possible where I go and how I get my photos.

Enjoy this little piece of natures gifts that are available to all who seek out the beauty of the bush. Go for a walk in your local area and see what you can find, this means look at the ground and under the bushes, you may discover a treasure and get as excited as I did when I found my very first Queen of Sheba a few years ago.

Taken with my Olympus TG5 

Reflections on Princess Royal Harbour

Sometimes I feel like I have a mirror!

On a beautiful day in the spring of 2017, the waters of Princess Royal Harbour became my mirror and reflected the surroundings with beautiful clarity. This part of Western Australia has some beautiful coastline, but this is a favourite for reflections.

Every time I drive to town I pass this beautiful place; there's only one road and I often need to stop to take photos, even though I've stopped and taken many over the years, there's always the chance of getting a better one and these would have to be amongst the best.

 

These photos were taken with my Sony Nex 6 Camera with a Sony 55-210mm Lens.

Blue on Blue

It's the beginning of winter here and we're having the most gorgeous weather. It's sure to change and the rain and wind will come, but until it does I'm enjoying the outdoors and the beauty all around me, today I went for a lovely walk and this is what I saw.

King George Sound on the Southern Coast of Western Australia is the entrance to the Port of Albany. The ships come around Bald Head into this glorious expanse of water which is often dotted with ships waiting to come into Port, but today it was empty.

Blue sky and blue water .... a very calming sight to greet the many people who walk or drive around this area every day.

Taken with my Olympus TG5

Hunting for a Winter Spider Orchid

When I find out that an orchid I've never seen is flowering and I'm going to be nearby it's quite reasonable to say I'll be on the hunt to find them.

This orchid doesn't grow around where I live and as I was traveling to the City to see family it was a good excuse to find out as much as I could about where it was, and how to get there.

Collecting a lovely gourmet picnic lunch from Glen Forrest Gourmet I set off across the hill to Toodyay. Not too far, but I did forget to fill up with fuel before I left, so had to keep an eye on the gauge!

I had good directions from friends where to find these little treasures and was soon pulling off the road onto the track as instructed, I only had to walk about 50m and there they were on the side of the track just like I'd been told. So tiny and difficult to spot amongst the leaf litter, but there they were and I must say I did a little happy dance and was very careful where I put my feet as I didn't want to stand on any of them.

Winter Spider Orchid

"Caladenia drummondii"

 Taken on my Olympus TG5

@glen forrest gourmet @toodyay
#wanativeorchids #westaustralianbush #visitwesternaustralia #australianbushorchids #winterspiderorchid #wildflowers #adayinwa 

Maybe it is the "Best Sunrise Ever"?

The sunrise at this time of the year is truly amazing, and going through my photos I found a folder called - Best Sunrise Ever - it just happened to be 6th May 2017. Yes, two years ago today.

These photos are from RAW files saved to an external hard drive which I have edited in Cyberlink PhotoDirector with the horizon straightened where necessary.

Reflections and the range of colour are quite beautiful and maybe they are "the best sunrise ever".

Photos were taken with my Sony Nex6 Camera between 6.24am and 6.57am on 6th May 2017 from the south-western side of Princess Royal Harbour, Albany, Western Australia.

#sonynex6 #cyberlinkphotodirector 

The Colours of the Morning

As the days get shorter it's much easier to get up for a sunrise and a few days ago I got up just after 6am, I thought it would be in time for the best of the pre-dawn magic, I was nearly too late and as I looked out the window I saw the glorious bright colours fade to the softer shades  in these photographs. I need to do this more often as every day is different.

The edge of Princess Royal Harbour on the South Coast of Western Australia is quite wonderful to photograph at any time of day, but I love the early morning magic! The colour reflects on the water of the Harbour, and it's quite wonderful watching the changes, I hardly have time to adjust the settings on my camera as the sun gets closer to the horizon, then pops over to brighten the early morning sky.

Looking directly east I see the bright light of the pre-dawn reflecting off the clouds and looking north I see the soft hues of an autumn dawn magically reflecting soft pinks in the clouds and on the water.

 

Taken with my Sony Nex6 and edited in Cyberlink PhotoDirector8

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Fish and Chips .....

On the edge of the Harbour at Emu Point is a Fish and Chip shop: "The Squid Shack" it's a lovely place to meet up with friends and family and enjoy a meal, have a walk in the sunshine, and take some photos.

There's an abundance of things to photograph; the jetty and moorings, fishing boats old and new, fishermen coming and going in dingy's and if your lucky one of the larger fishing boats coming into moor at the jetty and offload its catch, and always a few Pelicans looking for an easy meal.

Today there's a soft breeze blowing gently over the water resulting in some crinkly reflections and ripples which is effective in the photo. The blue sky and water are almost one, with only the interruption of things put there by the hand of man and the bit of mother earth behind it! But I don't mind "things" or "mother earth" they make it an interesting visual!

Taken with my Olympus TG5

The Orchid Hunter

As the nights get longer and the days get shorter here in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia we're going into Autumn, the leaves on the Eucalypts and the Peppermint Trees don't change colour or fall but when I walk near the beach or in the bush I'm reminded things are changing; the native orchids are appearing, and it's a very exciting time of the year for an Orchid Hunter! I find that my walks take longer as I look carefully to see if I can find an elusive little native orchid alongside the sandy tracks.

These are just the beginning, it's so exciting to find them in the bush, most are quite small and they're often hiding in the most unlikely and hard to get at places.

 Bunny Orchid 

 Leafless Orchid 

Taken with my Olympus TG5 Camera

Pink in my garden

Getting up close to the pretty flowers in my garden with a Macro Lens on my camera is like seeing into their little world and capturing the best of it. I still need lots of practice as I'm a bit shaky, but I'll keep trying and taking pictures as close as I possibly can.
The garden has plenty of pink at the moment; I walk out my back door and see pretty pastel colours bouncing in the breeze.
Here are some of my pretties for you to enjoy .......

Fuschia

                           Begonias

Alstromeria

Petunias

(very pretty perennial - don't know it's name)

Taken on my Sony Nex6 Camera with a Sony E3.5/30 Macro Lens

Hunting for Bunny Orchids

 We found Bunny Orchids in Torndirrup National Park. My friend and I went for a short drive from my place and soon spotted one of these little beauties. We walked along the side of the road and found there were many of these beautiful orchids to see and photograph. To get close enough to get a photo of these rather small flowers you need to get down very low, at times lying on the ground!

Eriochilus dilatatus - Bunny Orchid

When you hunt for orchids there are always other treasures to find and today was no exception, these beautiful wildflowers grow in the coastal heath which has an abundance of life and invites you to search out and find some of it's wonderful and interesting plants; there's been very little rain on the South Coast the last few months so the bush is very dry, but I will continue to search for the treasures of this beautiful region and pray for rain.

Lobelia sp

Gompholobium capitatum  - Yellow Pea 

Banksia ilicifolia - Holly-leaved Banksia

 photos were taken with an Olympus TG5 on Microscope setting

A place to be

The joy of  life is in helping others, a simple smile or a kind word can make someones day! You can choose to be grumpy or get over it, you only need to listen and look around you to find someone whose life is far more challenging than yours. I like to laugh, and often do so at myself, life is for living and to be lived well you need to laugh at yourself and not take everything personally, shrug off the doomsdayers and see the good in things; you may find its contagious.

There are many ways we can enjoy life.  I choose to enjoy myself doing simple things. We are all different, not right or wrong, but different and therefore we enjoy doing life our way; for me today it was sitting on the beanbag in my loungeroom chilling out, yesterday it was a lovely walk at the local Wind Farm with a couple of cameras, and before that walking on the beach near my home, and tomorrow it will be orchid hunting in Torndirrup National Park with a friend.

I choose to be in a place where I have peace and contentment, and as I wander with a camera or my phone,  I choose to find something beautiful to capture and maybe share with others, or something to make my heart happy and put a smile on my face.

Photos taken with my Olympus TG5

Walking at Goode Beach

This beach is always different but always beautiful. This morning as I walked in the shallow waters on the edge of the Southern Ocean I could see the ships coming and going in King George Sound.

The blue-green water is so clean and crisp, and yet I know there are tiny microbes that have been broken down by the movement of the ocean and come from the hand of man.  A bit scary when I can't see them but know they're affecting the ecology of this beautiful Ocean and getting into the very essence of everything in this far away place of serene beauty.

As I walk in the shallows and get wet up to my thighs I feel invigorated and strengthened in my hips and knees by the movement of the water as it rolls onto the shore.  I walk in bare feet and feel the sand between my toes. I might be an old girl but I love it!

The colours of the water when you look in different directions is amazing and even a few minutes as clouds move makes a difference. These were taken around 10am with the sun quite high in the sky and very bright; one looking east the other south. 

Taken with my Olympus TG5

Bush Tracks to the Water

The sandy tracks in the bush near my home meander through Peppermint Trees and go down to the edge of the  Princess Royal Harbour. There are several tracks and each one leads into another, when I first starting walking them several years ago I wondered if I would get lost, but of course, I always found my way back home. Every season is different in the bush, and summer when it's dry the sand is soft and dusty and my sneakers get sand in them and the backs of my legs get dirty from scuffing up the sand along the dusty tracks.

At low tide, you can walk around the edge of the Harbour, where the sand is quite sticky and damp from the shallow water that moves in and out with the tide. Sometimes my sneakers sink and get quite muddy when I walk close to the edge, but I don't mind as I like to see how close to the edge of the water I can walk without sinking!!

My journey

Since early 2012 I have lived on Princess Royal Harbour in Albany and often walk near the water and in the bush that surrounds me, it was during a casual walk back in 2013 that I was shown the native orchids growing along the side of the bush tracks near my home, this started a journey of discovery that continues today and has seen me on my hands and knees getting the best possible shot of these amazingly beautiful and unusual flowers. Searching out the different orchids and wildflowers takes me to some fabulous places, and last spring I traveled as far north as Kalbarri and photographed the orchids and wildflowers from the Great-Southern to the Mid-West, I was not disappointed and took over 2000 photos in 10 days.