The Outback of Western Australia - by Lily

 Australia has always been an exotic destination in my mind. Perhaps it’s because the reputation of the enigmatic Sydney, or simply because it’s on the South hemisphere. The colors of the Indian Ocean surrounding Rottness Island – emerald green and tortoise blue intercalating each other, the white sand dunes along the Indian Ocean drive, and the limestone formation at Pinnacle desert certainly fit the bill. However, it was when we started to drive east toward Wave Rock did we witness the true colors of the heartland of Western Australia. Summer is in full swing, the sun is scorching bright, the air is dry. We drove hundreds of kilometers and all we saw was the vastness of hay fields, golden or white. Eucalyptus trees decorated the field in lines or dots every few kilometers or so.

The grass land stretches to the horizon

Eucalyptus trees

We arrived at a small town called Kulin, with a population just over 300. The house we rented was a 3-bed room cozy place, and our host June left some food supplies for us as well. After dinner, we strode into town. The sun was setting, the air had cooled significantly to a comfort level with the wind blowing gently. On the western horizon the color of the sky changed from golden to orange then from red to purple, the magnificent horizon was breathtaking.

On our way in, we noticed some sculptures made out of tin cans along the road. It turned out there’s history of the tin-can art in this area. It all started in the mid-1990s to help promote the local horse race. The residents used farm junks and made artistic designs all in a horsey theme. So, the next evening we drove along the Tin Horse highway to see the sculptures made out of tin cans. We drove slowly trying to catch all of them, luckily there were only a couple of cars on the road, and we managed to photographed many of them. The sculptures were cute and creative, some were weird and quirky.