Welcome to 2016! Plans are already under way for Australia Day Celebrations.

The Town and Shire of Narrogin hosting a free community BBQ breakfast at the John Higgins Community Centre on Clayton Road, and visitors to the region are welcome to come along.

Breakfast starts at 7:30am, with music, poetry and entertainment. Face painting from 8am to 9:30am, and free entry to the Narrogin Regional Recreation Centre’s pool from 10am to 3pm.

Australia Day is the day to recognise the valuable contribution made by individuals and community groups over the years with the presentation of the Premier’s Active Citizenship Awards.

                             Swim                     Bike ride              Run
Mini                      50m                       500m                     500m    
Junior                   100m                     1km                       1km
Short                     200m                     7km                       2km
Long                      400m                     14km                     3km

If you have been through Narrogin for the Spring into Narrogin Festival, you may have noticed a flurry of activity on the corner of Park and Fairway Streets. Renowned WA artist Rebecca Cool is working on a fabulous mural, and the Dryandra community is invited to contribute every day, until Saturday 31 October, when there will be a launch of the completed mural. 

Local kids have painted their own animals travelling on the lower ribbon of the mural, and there is plenty of room for more (we are especially fond of the teeny weeny sheep), so if you know some budding young artists, please bring them to the mural so they can contribute to something which will become a landmark in the region. 

The inchoate mural is already commanding a lot of attention, with visitors stopping by in the car load to take photos.

You can see more of Rebecca Cool's iconic artwork on her Facebook page, but why not take the time to meet her in person?

This weekend kicks off several great events in one of Dryandra's towns.

The Narrogin Agricultural Show, Spring Festival, Writer's Fest, and Open Gardens are a big draw card every year. 

Saturday 17 October - Narrogin Agricultural Show: sideshow alley, animals, exhibts, entertainment, food, market stalls, Spring Festival Parade, live music and heaps more.

Monday 19 - Friday 23 October - Kids and Adults Workshops: Rebecca Cool will be starting work on the DCVC wall mural. Meet at the Narrogin Library.

Saturday 24 October: Mark "The Black Olive" Olive from the TV series The Outback Cafe will be hosting three demonstrations throughout the day with the Narrogin Senior High School students. Come along to the Bush Poets Breakfast at the Community Gardens starting at 9;30am.

Saturday 24 - Sunday 25 Open Gardens from 10am to 4pm: Take the self drive trail (maps available closer to the weekend from the library, DCVC and Nursery Cafe) around the most spectacular gardens in the region. 

Sunday 24 October - Spring into Writing: enjoy food, wine and local inspiration at Downderry Wines (2 Graham Road Narrogin). Local and Perth writers will run workshops all day.

For more info click through to the Facebook page here.

WikiCamps is a super app for your smartphone which lets you tap in to accommodation, camp sites, hostels, public dump points and visitor centres all over Australia. It's a crowd sourced data base so you are invited to upload information and photos for fellow travellers. It works offline, which helps if you've really gone off the beaten track, and it also has a satellite dish pointer so you can orient your phone or tablet in the right direction.

With over 7500 camp sites listed all over Australia, it's a must have!

Each site listed has lots of information including address, phone number, website, and even their individual features like toilets, showers, pet rules, etc. Users can also add comments to each site so you can check out real world reviews and photos by real people.

You can get directions and navigate to sites by tapping the navigate button straight from the map or site page. Add sites to your list of favourites to plan your next trip. WikiCamps also comes with a camping checklist so you'll never leave anything behind.

One feature which is a real stand out is chatting with other travellers via the interactive chat forum.

Visit the website here for more information.

Many a visitor to Pingelly makes the trek out the Moorumbine Anglican Church, and the accompanying Heritage Trail. Nestled in picturesque farmland, you can reach the church by heading out of Pingelly, and following the signs to Wickepin. 

​An 8km drive out of town will take you past the emu farm. If you like wildlife photography, you can stop on the verge to take some photos. The emus are very curious and love to come over and have a look at what you're doing. 

A few kilometres past the emu farm you'll see the turn off to Moorumbine. It's very well signed, and easy to follow. Drive past a couple of cute cottages which double as guest houses, you'll be upon the Church and pretty little cemetery in no time. the Heritage Trail map is just inside the Church grounds. 

You'll find plenty of wild flowers here, and you're not too far from Tutanning Reserve (but you need to book for that tour). 

For other things to do while you're in Pingelly, click here. 

Facilities in the town include Town Hall, Caravan Park and backpackers accommodation, cricket oval and 18 hole golf course.
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​Harrismith is internationally recognised for the wide variety of wildflowers that grow in the area including; orchids, verticordias, grevilleas and banksias. A well defined walktrail with informative signage surrounds the town and showcases the magnificent display of wildflowers.

A couple of fanstatic community arts projects have taken place across the Dryandra region recently, and today we were lucky enough to film Rebecca Cool, and a host of local volunteers, working on a mural project at the Narrogin Town Hall.

It had been raining over night, and rained intermittently during the day, but check out what five hours of painting looks like compressed into one and a half minutes. 

Rebecca is a well loved Western Australian artist. To visit her website, click here.