Before marrying Dianne, Terry was living at the northern end of Leonora’s main street, in the house he’d grown up in. An avid collector, Terry has spent many, many hours treasure-hunting at the Leonora tip…

Self-described environmentalists, Jean and Russell salvage and repurpose what would otherwise end up at the tip. Between them they own five gophers (disability scooters) which they ride around town doing their shopping and running errands, because they’re more economical than a car.

I spotted this snappy-dressed gent, tapping away on his iPhone, as I drove down the main street of Boulder in the Goldfields recently…

…I supposed he’d meet some interesting characters in his line of work. He agreed, “I’ve had a gun pointed at me a few times! One time I even came away three grand better off”…

With a lifelong passion for both the birds and the bees, dating all the way back to his childhood growing up at Clontarf Boys’ Town, apiarist Wally Kerkoff is well respected in bird and conservation circles. He has spent over 30 years designing and constructing artificial logs for placement in the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo breeding areas of Moora and Mogumber in WA. With the shortage of suitable natural nesting trees, this work has been essential in building numbers of the endangered Carnaby’s.⠀⠀⠀⠀

If you’re heading to Wooleen Station, the sunset tour running several days a week is a must-do. Informative, educational and fun with a cheeky wine as you watch the sun going down.

Hugging the horizon, 60 kilometres off the Western Australian coast, the low-lying Abrolhos Islands are home to cray-fishing and, more recently pearl-farming families. With only minimal, low-vegetation, these islands are windswept, and tough underfoot with feet-cutting coral. Without access to mains supplies, the island dwellers use rainwater collected from their shack roofs, and power generated from solar and wind. These islands are not for the faint hearted.

I always try to take the road less travelled, and preferably one that I’ve not driven before. I was recently driving north to Wooleen Station and chose to take the route via Dalwallinu through to Mullewa…

Beyond the Traffic Lights - I’ve finally shared some photos and words about my recent exhibition on Yagan Tower, featuring 100-plus portraits taken on our 6-month meander around Western Australia last year.

I’m so excited to be able to share the news that I’m a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020…and better still, I’ve had two images selected amongst the 50 finalists, and they were both taken during our meander around Western Australia this year.

It’s promoted as a rodeo, music and camping festival and it more than lived up to its name, and its reputation for being a great weekend!

As we strolled into the iconic outback hotel, Steve was telling me that the last time he was there was 30 years ago. He was playing pool when there was suddenly an almighty crash behind him - he turned round to see a donkey in the bar. With perfect timing, just as he finished his story, Bella appeared behind the bar…she’s a five year old great dane cross with excellent hospitality skills.

Apart from overnight bush camps on the final couple of nights of our road trip, we spent the last few days of it with our great mates, Tuck and Jenny. They’re gold prospectors with a lease in the Goldfields. Simple living at its finest…

Most of the characters I’ve photographed along the way have been discovered after we’ve arrived somewhere. Lazy Les was someone we’d heard about over the years and we had our fingers crossed that he’d be around when we visited gold prospecting friends of ours near Leonora.

In 2003, to mark the Perth International Arts Festival’s 50th anniversary, renowned artist Antony Gormley created 51 sculptures which were installed on Lake Ballard. I’d read a lot about it at the time and dreamt of seeing them for myself, but an hour or two north of Kalgoorlie, Lake Ballard isn’t really on the way to anywhere else…you really have to make an effort to get there.

I finally got to Lake Ballard in 2010 and walking out onto the salt lake, I had that feeling that I was meeting people for the first time that I’d heard so much about from a mutual friend.

Just a couple of kilometres from Cue we started spotting life-size metal cutouts of blue sheep, and red dogs on kayaks. A little further down the road we saw Eric, sporting a crazy hat and obviously trying to get some phone reception, as he paced around his quad bike complete with Aussie flag, proudly fluttering in the wind. I’d barely started asking the question, and Steve was already slowing down to do a U-turn!

Walga Rock lies 48 kilometres west of Cue in WA’s Goldfields. It’s one of Australia’s largest granite monoliths Of huge cultural and spiritual significance, the rock faces feature incredible, well-preserved Aboriginal art. Strangely amongst the art is a depiction of a sailing boat, drawn in white ochre. Its origins remain a mystery but there’s stories that it may have been drawn by a shipwreck survivor who had ended up a few hundred kilometres from the coast…or perhaps it was created by an Afghan cameleer who was showing his Wajarri friends what he had seen.

Nallan Station was the perfect base when we explored Cue and the surrounding district in early September. While we were there we took photographs for Cath and Dave for their website, social media and printed material, creating their very own unique stock library of images…

Grocery shopping in Cue is an altogether different experience. Bell’s Emporium opened in 1904 and is still operating from the same premises all these decades later…

We’ve passed through Meekatharra a few times now on long road trips north and south. I’d been hoping that we’d get to spend a few days last month…unfortunately that wasn’t to be. In the meantime I’ve added a few photos to my growing collection on Meeka’s main street, and I’ve moved it way up my list of places to stop for a while next time we’re in that part of the world.