So, this is me!
Hi and welcome to my blog! This is my first entry, in what I'm hoping will be an on-going part of my photography! Just a little something to let everyone know what I'm up to when I'm out & about photographing this wonderful little island I call home :)
Firstly though, I guess I'd better introduce myself properly & let you know a little bit about myself & how I ended up doing what I do, here on Christmas Island...
I think i've always been a country kid...i've always loved being outdoors & exploring my surroundings, so the city never really felt like it fit me properly. I was very blessed to have met & married my husband Jon, who spent his childhood in the country & together we've visited & lived in some wonderful remote & isolated locations. My first taste of remote living was in One Arm Point - yes, that's really the name of it - a gorgeous little community right at the top of Dampier Peninsular, 300km north of Broome. This was the place I learnt to appreciate the raw beauty of nature. From the monsoonal storms & rushing tides, to the tiniest & most colourful birds and even the sneaky little snakes that seemed to really enjoy sleeping in my shoes!! The landscape up there seemed to change right before your eyes & that was where my journey as a nature-lover & photographer really started.
Fast forward 6 years & 3 kids later and we found ourselves on Christmas Island! Now this place is every nature-lovers' paradise... seriously! When I'm out in the jungle, and all I can hear are the birds happily flitting from one tree to the next, with barely a breath of wind to cool me down, little crabs scurrying away down their muddy burrows, I have to stop & think to myself, how did I get so lucky!! There is just so much to see & experience here. With over 70% of the island zoned as National Park there are still plenty of places I haven't even seen yet!
We've now been on Christmas Island for 10 years and I still get excited every single time I go out, because I know there's always going to be something new to photograph or experience. Take our crabs for instance. Everyone knows Christmas Island is famous for our red crab migration, but did you know we have around two dozen species living here. I think i've photographed maybe 5 of them! Our birds are another camera-clicking wonder of Christmas Island. I've never considered myself much of a twitcher, but let me tell you, those little birds have a magical way of drawing you in and once you start photographing them, there's really no going back! We've had a great season of migratory birds visiting the island and right now I'm spending my nights sitting below a dead tree branch hoping to see our latest visitor, a Boobook!
Now the landscapes are something entirely different. This is really where I seem to have found my happy place. I love nothing more than to find a quiet little spot on top of a cliff somewhere & just sit and watch the colours cross the sky as the sun makes its way to the horizon. It's my time to have some peace & quiet without any phones ringing or kids calling out, "Muuuuuummmm!!" And the beautiful thing about this island is that you don't have to travel far to find your quiet little spot! My favourite sunset spot at the moment is a two minute walk from my front door! Even the furthest end of the island will only take you around a 30 minute drive to get there, and once you're there, you're usually the only one.
It seems that with every passing day the island shows me just a little bit more of herself... just enough to keep me coming back for more!
