Ta-ta Ta Ta!

There are these lizards in northern Australia. In the Pilbara we call them Ta Tas.

They have speed stripes on the side of their body, strong powerful back legs, long noses and they are FAST. Super fast.

And did I mention that they run on their hind legs?

These guys are super cool but hard to photograph because they like to run away.

They are particularly hard to photograph with a wide angle lens. Particularly when the wide angle lens is broken. And particularly when you are climbing out of Hancock Gorge in Karijini while six months pregnant...

That's how I got this shot though. This ta ta happily obliged and sat literally right next to the path, elevated on a rock slightly so I didn't have to crouch too awkwardly to get a good shot. He even stayed put as I got in closer with the wide angle. What a good egg. Thanks buddy!

Always look behind you

One thing I have had to learn when taking photos is how to use my eyes.

Human eyes are the most powerful cameras and such an important piece of equipment for photography. Try as you might, you will never capture an image the way your eye will. You will never see the composition your eye sees, or the colours your eye can identify.

But you can train yourself to use your eyes to know what will work in photography land - when you flatten the scene in front of you to fit your camera screen.

One tip that I have learned is this: to always look behind you. Don't think that just because something is in front of you it is the most interesting thing.

This is normally true for sunsets. But while out at Cliff Springs, running around while five months pregnant, in bare feet, with a storm rolling in and a 4WD track to travel back along I was taking photos of the rain and the clouds, because hey, it happens so rarely. The sun was lighting up the spinafex in front of the dark clouds producing magnificent colours with only a little amount of contrast to deal with. I was happy as larry just snapping away.

While travelling back I turned around and there I saw the eye watching me.

As the clouds were rolling in and being reflected in the waterhole they created a giant eye, staring at me, watching me taking photos of the rain. So I starred back at it, and told my camera to stare at it too.

Rain in the Pilbara

When the average rainfall for a month is listed as something ridiculous like '2mm' you know you are likely to have a lot of dry times.

During our five years in the Pilbara we have seen great Summers - always a couple of cyclones and rain events to keep the hills green and the wildflowers coming.

This year however, has not been the case.

One measly cyclone that went up north and had no impact here, and a few measley sprinkles of rain and that's it.

I've never longed for rain for so long in my life.

You just...want it....to rain.

And I'm not even a farmer or station owner. I'm a town person, just wanting to do the Karratha rain dance, splash in a few puddles and use the windscreen wipers for a change.

You get so used to it not raining though, that you just go and do anything and you never listen to the forecast.

One weekend in March, we went on a road trip to find a waterhole we had heard of but never visited called Cliff Springs on Karratha Station.

We found the waterhole and luckily it still had water in it, although you could tell that it too was suffering in the dry. Levels were low and it was kind of like swimming in a bath...

...but then lo and behold a short spurt of thunder and rain whipped up!

There is not a feeling like it. Longing for rain for so long and all of a sudden, the wind whips up and you can feel it rolling in on the breeze. Thunder claps and sends dutchmen running for cover (literally) and for no reason at all you just start laughing.

If you're me you run around like a mad pregnant woman and take photos of clouds because clouds are so rare.

And then you jump in the car to escape the lightning and the rain starts. Big old fat rain. The windscreen wipers get a gurnsey but you end up rolling down the windows to enjoy the sensation of water falling from the sky and the smell of wet spinafex.

There is nothing like wet spinafex - it's like freshly cut grass only less manicured and more earthy. It's the smell of the Pilbara.

But the thunderstorm doesn't last long. After 15 minutes it has passed on.

Driving back into town, they clearly didn't even have a whiff of rain. Still dry as anything.

Hopefully there are wildflowers this year.

Cliff Springs with rain clouds rolling in...

Sunset

Continuing on my pontificating in the last post, I also have this photo of the sunset at Cable Beach. And I thought I'd be all deep and meaningful and talk about how the sun is going down on one stage of my life, but once the night time is over the sun will rise again.

Hopefully I'll still be in bed asleep though that's not likely.

Anyway, enjoy the sunset.

Celebrating Maternity Leave with Time

Today is my first official day of maternity leave. My due date is in exactly five weeks.

Leaving work on Friday was slightly surreal. I'm currently in a transition period - I know that the relative calm (and well, boredom) of being at home alone will wear off as soon as the bump turns into a baby, but there's nothing I can do to make it happen any faster - in fact, I don't want to make it happen any faster!

But I do feel strange leaving work. Like a part of my identity has been removed. Which is ridiculous because I've never identified myself as a 'marketer' or even as 'someone who works at the TAFE'. My satisfaction was not found in my work. I would definately say I am someone who works to live - although I do yearn for a position that I can use as part of my identity. To be proud of.

I was blessed to have two positions in the Pilbara in marketing and communications. Roles such as these are few and far between in regional areas so I count myself blessed to be able to have had four and a half years after finishing my study working in the sector.

Now, my life consists of getting ready for baby - but it does give me a chance to do things I have previously neglected - such as this blog!

No, the number of photos is not huge, but there are a couple I will endeavor to post up before baby arrives (and things likely get hectic again).

So I will start with the one below. We had a babymoon up in Broome in April and spent a glorious week just chilling. We didn't really have a lot of energy for much else, we managed to score some great off-peak rates at a lovely place and just...relaxed. We did however walk along the famed cable beach at sunset and devour a mandatory serving of fish and chips. I wanted a silhouette of my bump, which at this stage was about 26 weeks along. Hubby didn't do so bad taking this photo for me.