There’s no grey nomads, individual TV satellite dishes or nighties hanging on the communal washing line here…Gnaraloo is not for the faint-hearted…

A few days ago we were photographing up at Carey Downs Station. As I was getting out of the car to open a gate, a small movement caught my eye. It took a moment to see what had moved as it was so well camouflaged. It moved like a lizard - close to the ground and fast scuttling, but had legs like a frog although not the webbed feet, and it had a long skinny tail. We’d never seen anything like it before! Alys from the Station sent the photo to Don Bradshaw at UWA…

For the last nine years Carey Downs Station has been home to the McKeough family. They are in the process of setting up so they can offer station stays and were keen to get their own stock library of images ready for their website and social media. Steve and I spent a long day following a map that showed tracks and landmarks such as soaks and bores, to the spots that had been marked on for us to photograph. Over the course of the day I tried to capture the remoteness, the harshness, the beauty, the colours, the scenery, the 4wd tracks, and the history...

We first met the Foulkes-Taylors, owners of Yuin Station, when we photographed Frances and David’s wedding at Wooleen Station two years ago. Since then I’ve been following Emma on Instagram - @outbacklarder - in awe of the fresh produce she manages to grow in this dry and dusty land. On our way through to Murchison Settlement for the Anzac Day ceremony we spent a night at Yuin where three generations now call home…

Yalgoo, affectionately known as The Goo, feels like that one-horse town. There’s still plenty of evidence of its once thriving past, and the town has obviously realised that if it is to stay alive in the 21st century, it needs to keep its history alive too…

By chance I was in Koorda on a special day - the local branch of the CWA was celebrating a birthday. Since its inception 88 years ago, it’s had over five hundred members though currently, with a reduced population throughout Wheatbelt, the members number just 14…

Just when I was thinking that nothing much had changed in Mukinbudin, I discovered that this tiny Wheatbelt town was far more progressive than I’d imagined…the Men’s Shed had women members too!

Let’s be very clear here, I am not a bird photographer. I’m not nearly patient enough for a start. But camping in a farmyard in Mukinbudin with galahs our constant companions, I was bound to give it a go sooner or later!

Clean, simple landscapes in the Wheatbelt with flat horizons and big, big skies.

We caught up with our great mate Tony Docherty out a Elachbutting Rock, north of Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt a few days ago. He’d been taking part in the annual bird survey near Bullfinch and was heading back to Freo. He’d been sleeping in his swag under the stars for a week and had clearly been using any fresh water for rehydrating rather than washing! Jazzy was pretty happy to discover her own pool of freshwater on top of the rock.

A team effort: flying skills by Steve, composition by both of us, post-processing by me. Steve usually flies drones for 3D imaging, mapping, GIS etc so taking pretty pictures from above is a whole new thing for both of us.

Rising before the sun to photograph the salt lake and salmon gums at first light.

We rolled into Bruce Rock a week ago, with no plan, just as the Wheatbelt’s long dry spell was broken by a heavy downpour and storm. The sleepy town centre has a row of maybe a dozen shops on one side - one shop is a cafe, as well as the butchers and the bakery. 

Worthy of a five star rating on Trip Adviser, the Kulin Bush Races in WA’s Wheatbelt is so much more than just a day at the races. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, it takes place over the first weekend in October and is an event for all the family to enjoy, with live music, good food and spectacular scenery as festivities are nestled between a granite outcrop and a salt lake.

Based a few kilometres north of Lake Grace, Tania and Jared own the most inland vineyard in WA and they needed photos for their website, social media and marketing. I spent an hour there one morning at sunrise and another hour at lunchtime over the weekend. At the end of that time they had a varied collection of images which now make up their very own stock library - this is just a very small selection of them. If you’re a small business in the Wheatbelt and would like to chat about getting a unique collection of photos, do get in touch :-)