Week 12/52 Tour Western Australia - rolling hills, pathways & towering forest

[Jill H]

Welcome everyone to Week 12 of our 52 week tour Downunder Western Australia.

I hope you have been enjoying it so far. This week we move on from Nannup and travel eastward to Balingup. Balingup attractively sits within the Blackwood River valley surrounded by rolling green farmland, edged by towering forests. It is a favoured retreat for artisans and craftspeople.

Balingup is also one of the Bibbulmun Track's "track towns". You remember we first went on the Bibbulmun Track in Week 5 near Collie. (it is WA's longest walking track - over 900 kilometres from Perth to Albany) This week we walk another section through a pine forest to the Blackwood hut.

In the photo below you can see us the track through the pine forest. I like the perspective of this shot with the tree lined avenue and the hiker (my husband - again a token person in my photos) and the bright orange backpack.

From Life Images by Jill

I had a bit of difficultly with the contrast in this photo - my husband was standing in shade, but I wanted to show you the scene from near the Blackwood hut.

From Life Images by Jill

Here is the overnight Blackwood hut, nestled at the edge of the pine forest overlooking the valley. A stunning view. The hut is open on one side to the view and set up with wooden benches and sleeps about 8 people. You need to bring everything - a self inflatable mattress and a really warm sleeping bag is a must - but just imagine laying there in the morning and watching the sun come up and the mist rise up through the valley. Stunning.

From Life Images by Jill

It started to rain on our way back from the hut. But even when it is raining you can still find something to photograph....

From Life Images by Jill

I hope you have enjoyed this first part of this weeks tour. Thank you for looking. I look forward to hearing your comments. After a couple of replies I will post some more photos from Balingup. See you then.

If you have missed any of the previous threads in my tour - you can catch up with them by going into the index - 52 week tour downunder Western Australia - come for a drive with me!

[Jill H]

Hi everyone, are you still all out walking on "The Track"?? I would love to hear from you when you get back! I always look forward to hearing your comments - as I know I have a lot to learn. But I hope you are enjoying the tour - and I look forward to showing you more if you hop on the tour with me.

thanks for looking! I look forward to hearing from you!

[leonaashlee]

Wow Jill, that first shot looks like the most amazing place to walk...amonst those tall trees...wonderful shots. I hope you're having fun.

[Jill H]

Originally Posted by leonaashlee

Wow Jill, that first shot looks like the most amazing place to walk...amonst those tall trees...wonderful shots. I hope you're having fun.

Thanks Leona, I always love having you along on my tour and hearing your comments.

Here is another couple of shots from along the track. This one again was a tricky situation with light on the rolling hills in the background and shadow amongst the trees where we were walking. It is a bit hard to see, but those little dots on the hills in the background are hay bales.

From Life Images by Jill

And some wildflowers - this one is clematis (old man's beard) -

From Life Images by Jill

another one of our more unusual orchids - and very hard to see - the Midge Orchid -

From Life Images by Jill

A bit further along the track south of the Blackwood Hut - again some tricky lighting - I like the perspective of the hikers (two of my friends) amongst the trees. We were coming down from a rise in the track and I just had to stop and take some photos.

From Life Images by Jill

Thanks for looking everyone. I really do appreciate it when you take the time to look and comment, as it helps me enormously. Thank you!

[deudbus]

Looks like a beautiful place. Very well captured.

[JustJim]

More fine fotos (including some in tricky light) as well as your usual informative commentary.

Loving the adventure! TFS.

[Jill H]

Originally Posted by deudbus

Looks like a beautiful place. Very well captured.

Thank you. Great to have you along. Thanks for coming!

Originally Posted by JustJim

More fine fotos (including some in tricky light) as well as your usual informative commentary.

Loving the adventure! TFS.

Thanks Jim - great to hear from you as always - you are one of my stayers - thanks! Don't you just love the Australian bush!

We have finally had some rain (and thunder and lightening, and hale in Perth) today after a record dry spell. However now it is hot and steamy!

[atulsc]

These are some amazing trails.. thanks for sharing..

[idb]

Hi Jill, This is a terrific guided virtual tour of Western Australia! In this set I especially like the raindrops on the pine (?) needles and the Midge Orchid. Thanks for taking us along.
Ian
PS. Ever considered submitting your work, both the photos and your commentary, to a travel mag or a tourism bureau or travel book publisher? I bet they'd love it.

[Jill H]

Originally Posted by idb

Hi Jill, This is a terrific guided virtual tour of Western Australia! In this set I especially like the raindrops on the pine (?) needles and the Midge Orchid. Thanks for taking us along.
Ian
PS. Ever considered submitting your work, both the photos and your commentary, to a travel mag or a tourism bureau or travel book publisher? I bet they'd love it.

Thanks for the comments Ian, and for suggesting my work would be good enough for publication. In truth it is a hard world out there in publishing land. I am hooked into a couple of travel magazines in Australia who publish some of my travel articles a couple of times a year. It is great seeing your words and photos in print. Tourism in WA is well covered by an on-line Tourism WA site and they have their own writing and photography staff. I did try at our local Bunbury Tourist Info Centre to leave some photos there for sale, but as I didn't want to put too high a price on them, they wanted most of the cut, and I would have been barely left with enough to cover printing let alone anything else. It is a hard slog to get your work out there. I am hoping to drop a day of work soon, so I can spend more time on this and hopefully get some of my work out there.

In the meantime, thank you very much for the encouragement. I really do appreciate it. Thanks!