Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)

@givemespacetravel

Traveller, bad photographer, lover of polite discourse. Conspiracy Theories not so much :) I have a travel channel on YouTube for our various wanderings within Australia and the world.

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Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 20

A few more pix from Melangata Station. BTW a 'station' is what Americans would call a Ranch. Melangata is a sheep property, quite small at 45,000ha (112,000 acres). Established in 1897 and notable for the unique station house.

Melangata homestead. The only house designed by Monsignor John Hawes in Western Australia. I believe there is also one in Bognor Regis in England. The two could not be more different in design and environment.

Yes, the homestead has a tower! Hawes' designs are known for their adventurous nature. Not wild but not boring either.

The cookhouse/camp kitchen and shearers quarters. You can rent these as accommodation or stay in the house. Camping is way cheaper but you have to lug camping gear or a camper out here. The lady of the house, Jo, is a chef of some reputation.

Bush signage. Old windmill blades are plentiful and serve well as signs.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 20

Used the trip to Melangata to do a little astrophotography. The skies were clear and dark, not unusual for that reason. No mines or towns nearby to create light pollution. First sliver of a new moon and a Milky Way to die for. I'll be back with some bigger telescopes.

$NGC6188 aka Rim Nebula, Firebird Nebula or Dragons of Ara. Taken from Melangata Station on the 16th of July, 2026. Very dark skies with no light pollution help bring out the faint detail. At 70 x 2 minute exposures this is only 2 hrs of data. The sky was clear all night but I got cold. The bright feature at the bottom right is called the Dragon's Egg (NGC6164). Even in this relatively short exposure you can see the outer shell of gas puffed off by the central star. This was taken with my new fave toy, my SvBony SV555 50mm refractor. Basically a Chinese made 200mm camera lens that you can use as a telescope too.$

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 19

Confession. Running late on today's Youtube vid for various reasons, one of which is that we 'went bush' for a few days. No phone, no internet, no power. Lovely. I have some more pix I will post over the next few days.

Had to pass through Yalgoo (pop < 400) to get to our final destination which was 70km up a dirt road. First time in these conditions in the camper. Very worried about dust intrusion and things breaking on the rough road. It did well.

All set up at Melangata Station camp ground. Should have been a two hour trip from our last camp but the power was out to the whole town which means no fuel. Needed a 200km detour to get fuel so five hours to get here.

The camper set up amongst the Mallees. Warmer days 500km north of home but cold nights this far from the coast.

Sunset and the shearing shed, although they don't shear here any more. A clear, glorious night with the Milky Way hanging in a cloudless sky. Pretty much no light pollution here. Yes, I brought a telescope and no, I have no pix of the Milky Way I want to share. The camera in the new phone over processed it to a blocky mess and I had no tripod for the 'good' camera.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 14

Off out of the city for a couple of days to go off grid, chill and see if I can find some dark skies. Have to take the camper on 80km of unpaved road tomorrow. Its supposed to be able to handle it but I'm nervous.

All hitched up with somewhere to go. Only have 2 telescopes with me. Dont want to risk the big ones on the dirt road.

The first stretch of highway has these triple road trains. Not easy to pass with the camper so patience is required. The next stretch about 400km up allows quad road trains. The ones we followed were 60m long.

Now that's a tractor! Carnamahs Big Tractor. You can walk right under it.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 10

Nice winters day out to the Redgum Winery to stock up on vino and get some lunch. A nice day out through farm and forest for a date with my gal.

View down to the Swan Coastal Plain from the winery. Grass is lush and winter green. If you have good eyes you can see the Peel Inlet off in the distance. Its a 150km round trip so a nice afternoon out for some good wine and good food.

Wild Bush Chooks (Emus) on the other side of the dam. And yes, it's pronounced Eem- you, not Ee-moo. Mind you, the local indigenous name for them is Weitj. On the way home we saw a lot of kangaroos just browsing or chilling in the cow paddocks.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jul 8

Out running some errands on this nice winters day, so dropped by Galup/Lake Monger for a coffee and some pix. More info in Alt Text.

Skyline of Perth, Western Australia over a calm Galup/Lake Monger. The lake is a good place to see Black Swans in the warmer months. None today. The inland lakes will be full and they will be spread all over the place. Might drop in again in Spring to see if they are back, but I don't often get to this part of Perth.

Testing the zoom on the camera on the new phone. It's pretty good. Very nice day after weeks of heavy cloud. Probably get over 20 degrees so I can go and bask in the sun.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 24

Oh no, it happened again! Bought a bottle of semi local red that was on special and it turns out very nice. It is a bit of a cheat though. Stella Bella is one of our favourite Margaret River wineries so it was a pretty good bet.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 22

Just uploaded the first video of our next travel series, Series 6, to Youtube. It will be available on the 5th of July, so no break between Season 5 and 6. There is some different tech in use in this series. I hope it makes it better but that you don't really notice.

Teaser for Season 6. If you are good at Geography, you might be able to work out where this is. Spoiler. No, you are not going to see a lot of this country. This location is just a jumping off point across a decent swathe of the world.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 15

Hard at work building resources for Series 6 on our Youtube Channel. Decided to use this image I got of the ship we were on as the series title. We were out on a day trip by mini bus and the ship sailed past in the distance. What luck!

Series title image for our upcoming Youtube series. Busy at the moment putting together the first episode.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 8

Rare visit to the city (Perth, Western Australia) to get some things sorted. Dropped by London Court for a sandwich. Built in 1937 in genuine fake Tudor style.

London Court in Perth, Western Australian. Built in 1937, still a well loved landmark in the heart of the city.

Milady checking out 'blind date' books in London Court. Books are wrapped up so you cant see the cover. Hand written description on the outside.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 5

Also, update on the Sturt Pea. Its still in flower and yes, its the red centred variant.

Have to save these seeds and mark them as the red centred strain.

Not the best Sturt Pea I've ever had but I'll take it. See if I can do better this spring. They need sun, sun and more sun. I'm surprised this flowered in late, late autumn.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 2

Had to play sardines on The Tube today due to a train strike. Managed to get everywhere we wanted to go. Walked our old legs off as well. Used all the battery on my phone taking pictures and videos.

The river Thames from the London Eye. Houses of Parliament on the right. Yes it's raining.

Westminster Abbey. Main interest for me is the architecture and the graves of notables like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and William Wilberforce.

Houses of Parliament with a London bus and a black London Cab. Yes I know the clock is not technically Big Ben but its the clock everyone calls Big Ben.

Me with the statue of Charles Darwin in the Natural History Museum. Yes I look a bit pregnant or something. Don't know what was going on there. Overspent on merch from the gift shop there. BTW its a beautiful building. Must have cost a fortune when it was built.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Jun 1

Ship phase of our trip is over. Got ourselves from Southampton to London to see some of the sights we have not seen before. Have a full day in London tomorrow, but there is a train strike on then grrr. The Underground is a top way to get around when its running. Taxis = $$$$$$

One of the rooms for Norfolk House re erected at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It's not really our style. Too much gold leaf.

The square in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Warmish day so kids were splashing in the pool, which is entirely permitted.

Arty view of one of the Museums from the tunnel from the station. Natural History Museum maybe?

Taxis still operate under Hackney Carriage licences. The first Hackney Carriage licences were issued about 1662. The first motorised Hackney Carraiges were electric as are the latest ones that operate in London.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 31

Last day of our trip today. Have travelled from 34 degrees south to 50 degrees north along the west coast of Africa. Lots of footage to make the next Youtube series. Now, to plan the episodes.

Cool day today. Nobody toasting themselves in the sun, which has been rare on this trip.

Busy backing up the cameras. I'm paranoid about losing all the photos and videos.

Extremes on our trip. Old village street in Spain.

To the other extreme. One of our modes of transport in Africa. Jeeps are rare as Land Rovers and Landcruisers rule here. Probably the first Jeep I have ever travelled in.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 30

Bought a 13 Euro bar of Dubai chocolate the other day. Hey, why not? So what's in it? Gold is at least one ingredient. And yes, it's yummy 😋

Chocolate with gold in. Tastes good. Costs a lot. Ah well you only live once.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 27

Reporting in from the island of Madeira in the Atlantic. Gee, its hilly. The streets are so steep. This is a Portuguese territory in the Atlantic Ocean about 600km West of Africa.

Madiera and the city of Funchal. That cliff on the left is almost 600m tall. There is a glass floored lookout at the top. You look straight down into some banana fields and the ocean.

Câmara de Lobos fishing village. The 'lobos' (wolves) of the name are sea wolves. Aka seals.

A village up the the mountains. The roads are steep, narrow and winding.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 26

Quick update from Tenerife in the Canary Islands today. Was not able to see the 3,700m peak of Mt Tiede today. Well not enough for pix, but there is still a little snow up there. So I'll post some informational pix of the city and island.

Puerto de la Crux. Tourist haven. Pretty but not my cup of tea. I'm a nature boy a heart.

This large car park in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife uses solar panels to provide shade. This is only a small section.

The performing arts centre is modern Spanish architecture. It's unashamedly modern and the cantilever sail is a marvellous of engineering.
It looks small in this picture. It's not.

One of the high speed ferries, probably from Grand Canaria. Carries people and vehicles. The mountains behind form the edge of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 25

A day in the Canary Islands today. First time for me. On Grand Canaria today. Combination of modern architecture and old colonial Spanish. Reminds me of Panama City. Holiday Mecca for many Europeans and English.

Some local red wine at lunch. This is a dry red. Not sure of the grape type. They tend not to put it on European wine.

Bandama Caldera. The whole island chain is volcanic peaks. The last eruption on any of the islands was the island of Las Palmas in 2021. Lasted for nearly 3 months. A lot of damage but little loss of life.

One of the old parts of Las Palmas city. Remember, the city is on Grand Canaria, not Las Palmas.

The things you see. This high speed ferry was built in Perth, Western Australia, my home town, and here it is half a world away in the Canary Islands.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 25

In the continuing saga of my Sturt Peas, this is what a 'normal' one looks like. Not mine. From our city Botanic Garden. I'll grow some in Spring (September).

Sturts Desert Pea. This is the standard colour. Mine seem to be the all red variant and there is a rare white form as well.
After rain the desert in some areas is carpeted with them. North West Cape is a good place to see them.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 24

With the argument about EV vs ICE, here in Senegal and elsewhere they have another solution. Still technically ICE and has some emissions. Fuel is cheap, carries at least 6 and AC while you are moving. Emissions can be a problem though. Used for light delivery. Twin motor versions available.

These pony carts are quite common in Dakar in Senegal. Used mainly for light delivery work. Often seen with extra fuel on board. Unlike normal ICE motors which continually vent emissions, these store them and release via a purge system, which can be a problem. For heavier duty applications there is a twin motor option.

Due to the low top speed of the pony cart, they are not permitted on the freeway. Makes sense.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 17

I knew it! Blasted Sturt Peas flowered while I am away! Pic courtesy of neighbour.

One of my Sturt Peas in flower. Wrong time of year, wrong climatic zone but here they are. Lots of buds so more to come. Each of the six flowers in a bract is about as tall as the length of my thumb. The centre 'bump' is usually glossy black. This might be too new to have coloured up fully or be the all red variants.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 14

Forgot these pix in my earlier post. These are not coastal dunes, they are the western edge of the Namib Desert

The view from Kodaik View. We drove down that sliver of beach with the Atlantic washing up to the dunes.

The view to distant Sandwich Harbour. There is no town there, just the old river mouth and salt flats.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6jhbxy4NiLDz9a896

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 14

Stopped the other day in Walvis Bay on our trek by ship up the African coast. Time to scratch an itch from last time we were here and hitch a ride down to Sandwich Harbour along the beach. Its the only option to get there. PS Season 6 is under way.

Running along what beach the tide has left us to get to Sandwich Harbour. We are hard up against a 1 metre bank on the left and we have the Atlantic surf on our right. We often have to wait for gaps between waves. The beach is also very steep and the car slips towards the water.
Several cars before us turned back, saying it wasn't passable, but our convoy got through.
The car in front of us is a Land Rover Discovery Series 2. Old, venerable and capable.

Came back via the Namib dunes. Some massive climbs and steep descents through these huge sand hills. Bypassed the narrow beach and dropped back out of the dunes where the beach was wider. Props to our driver. I own a 4WD and use it off road but her skill level is way beyond mine. I credit her blue nail polish.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 10

Solid, rugged 4WD off roaders don't have to be big. If the standard 3 door Suzuki Jimny is a bit petite for you, then there is the bigger 5 door version now. Yes, these are the real deal doe your compact off road needs 😀 This one seen in South Africa but we have them in Oz as well.

Suzuki Jimny 5 door. These are very compact but bigger than a Kei class vehicle. Solid, rugged 4WD with transfer case and low range. Not a toy. There is a 3 door version if this is too big for you.

Both the 3 and 5 door variants are not uncommon in South Africa and Australia. People buy them as funky town cars but that's probably not a great option. They are built like trucks and the ride is firm and handling on road is OK but not the best. Off road though is where they shine.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 7

16hrs of flights and layovers, and we have hopped back to Africa. Yes, again. This time for something different. You'll have to wait and see, but it could result in a Season 6 on the YouTube Channel.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 6

My garden is trolling me! Just about to leave for a month long trip, and it is breaking into autumn/ winter flowers. Even the Sturt Peas look like they may flower while we are away.

Sturt Pea has taken off since the autumn rains. These are desert plants and they are not behaving as they should.

Flower buds on the Sturt Peas. This isn't supposed to happen in this weather. Well I suppose if they flower while I'm away we can just plant the resulting seeds in time for spring.

The Hakea laurina is at it too, although this is a winter flower. The pink will darken up over the next few days and the cream wobbly bits will straighten up to become spikes. These flowers produce a lot of nectar so happy birds and happy bees. Last year it had four flowers. This year, maybe 100. Shame I won't be here to see it 😕

Another view of some Hakea laurina flowers. Yes, another Western Australian native. A harsh land strewn with gems.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· May 1

I just uploaded the final Youtube video in our 2025 Africa trip series. No, you can't see it yet. It's scheduled for publishing on the 28th of June. Whew, it's been a lot of work to get those out. So, Season 6? I hope so. We'll see. In the meantime, here is a photo of a saucy Hippo to celebrate.

Hippopotamus bathing nude in the Cubango River in Botswana. They often do that but this one caught me taking her picture. Is she blushing or am I?

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Apr 29

We've been lucky enough to tick off some key items from our retirement bucket list, so this morning we have added a couple more. Here are some unedited bird pix from the last bucket list trip, the Okavango Delta in 2025.

A wattled Crane that decided to blink just as I took the picture. Makes it's eye look weird.

A poor composition of Wattled Cranes. My stills are often not good because I'm focussed on getting video. My ability to multi task is abysmal.

A Ground Hornbill. These have a deep, strange call that I managed to record. For this trip this was on my personal "Wanna See' list. BTW it's quite a large bird. Some people say Turkey sized but I've never seen a live, unplucked turkey.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Apr 27

For context, this is what a biiig ute looks like in an Australian context. Too big for the parking spot, length & width. Its about a metre longer than the Ford Ranger in the original post.

Red RAM ute/pickup parked at our local shops. Its longer and wider than the parking spot. The car closest to me is a Nissan Patrol. Not small but not silly big in this environment. Then a VW Golf which is not parked all the way forward. Then a Mitsubishi Pajero, then the RAM.
In the UK the Pajero and Patrol would have people writing indignant posts. In the USA and Canada they are regarded as 'compact SUVs' and the RAM is 'normal'. My car is a Ford Everest. About the same size as the Pajero and smaller than the Patrol.

Darryl Browning (OWMC 🇦🇺)@givemespacetravel· Apr 26

I normally post travel stuff but today I think I might post about 'a car from my past'. This is the Lotus 7 replica I built from scratch. Not a kit, a scratch build. Road legal and registered which means seatbelts, high level brake light and side intrusion protection against head butts by dachsunds.