I love spending time with Louisa, Chris and the children at Darwin. Their very comfortable house on the marina has the feeling of resort living that I never tire of. The little path from the gate has a welcoming, tropical feel, with the greenery surrounding you as you walk to the front door.Coco and I spent a lovely sunny day parked at Port Beach. With the tide out, the wide expanse of sand was heaven for running huge kelpie circles! Later, as the tide rolled in, I stood inside then sliding door of the camper van and painted this little 6x8' plein air in comfort.Unseasonal rains through the north of WA closed the Fitzroy Crossings and meant an enforced stay here at the Gateway Caravan Park, just out of Broome. While it did get a bit frustrating after a few days, there are certainly worse places to be held up. A clump of trees adjacent to the camper van provided an opportunity to paint in the shade of the van. I am particularly pleased with the outcome and felt that finally I was starting to use carful but loose strokes to capture the nature of the scene and that Jacob Aguiar's Patreon group was finally paying off!The De Grey rest area, just north of Port Hedland, has some beautiful old white gums scattered through it and this one was right next to my camper van. The beautiful markings and colours were just asking to be painted, though my rather mediocre watercolour skills failed to do it justice! Still, it's all practice!Well, here I am again travelling to Darwin via the coastal route. This time I have a little travelling companion in the form of my rescue dog Coco. After a rather cold series off days travelling north from Perth we have finally hit some warmth, here at the old Whimm Creek Hotel, south of Roebourne. its a great place to stay for the night, very quiet and only a couple of other travellers here. so much better than a crowded concrete rest area. I have very happy memories of stopping here with Jack and having a beer in the long historic bar. So sad that it didn't survive the last cyclone. |