I was walking Juno down to my local coffee haunt this morning when I heard an unusual sound. TrrrBonk! ……TrrrBONK!……………. GlobBONK! Oh my gosh. Frogs. I have not heard the sound of frogs in this area since I cannot remember when. We scooted over to the nearby pond to take a closer look. I couldnt […]
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Spanning Lake Burley Griffin, the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge has been a recurring landmark in my life. Location: Latitude: -35.293835 Longitude: 149.126588 Google Map. I can remember sitting in the back seat of our Datsun 180-B (usually fighting with my sister) driving over it inumerable times on our way into the city. Or off on holidays. […]
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It may not be the most beautiful cemetery, but I’ll wager it is the most scenic in Australia. The Gerringong General Cemetery occupies a sweeping slope overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Headstones of marble and headstones of worn crumbling sandstone. Some sites dressed with fresh wildflowers, others in a sort of faded plastic flower limbo, others […]
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Today we drove south out of Queenstown, leaving the snow-slapped mountains on a jaunty rolldown to Catlins Forrest Park and the rugged southern coast. We stopped in the tiny location of Lumsden for a coffee. Not much of note here except for a Route 6 cafe (done up in the style of US route 66) […]
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There is something about walking amongst mountains that scrapes you clean. “Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction – so easy to lapse into – […]
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Life and landscape lay in a deep sediment of mutually penetrating memory. I grew up just a short walk from Mt Taylor. Back before it had been encircled by suburbia. Back when a day climbing to the top with my mates was an adventure into wildness. Back when we could imagine it was all ours […]
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The problem with whale watching during a gale is that sea spray and whale spray look ridiculously similar. There are a couple of wild windy pressure systems being squeezed up the east coast of Australia over the next two days. We had planned to drive to Tilba to have a poke around, but on seeing […]
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A chilly day in Canberra today. The front moving across fresh from a sellout tour of Antarctica has dumped snow and frigid temperatures right across the south and eastern states of Australia. Some areas have seen snow for the first time in 20 years. And not just a sprinkle, we are talking serious snowman (snow-person?) […]
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