Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Mid Summer, warm toes, relaxed sailing, two-up.



Finding some space can be difficult when everyone is in holiday mode. We found some inland on a piece of our old stamping-ground near Camperdown. The clear blue sky was made more surreal by the green tinge of algae in the water.

This lake is an old volcanic crater and is incredibly deep, and the winds are often a bit flukey. A couple of times our little wind indicator arrow on the mast was seen happily spinning in circles because it just didn't know which way to turn.

The Navigator seemed really to shine up-wind, even though there were niceties like removing fenders and re-tensioning the mizzen that were left undone in our laid back mood. Having my son at the helm in a stiff breeze gave me the first chance to enjoy hanging out on the high side, jib sheet in hand, simply allowing a bit of velocity to give sizzle to the view.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

cloudscapes

port fairy areaIMG_0717IMG_0724IMG_0731IMG_0732IMG_0733
logan's beach WarrnamboolIMG_0729IMG_0726_2IMG_0722coastal heathIMG_0715
cloud ringhome 6/7/10cloud harassmentIMG_0815waiting winter moonIMG_0817
cloudscapes, a set on Flickr.
It's always up there...so far. So if you don't have the chance at this time of the year to look up and wonder, here are a few cloud- and seascapes from our region.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

breakfast with marsupials




Breakfast this morning was a 'toast in one hand, phone/camera in the other' sort of affair, because a small mob of kangaroos were grazing near our cattle to the west of me while this lone wallaby munched happily less than 10 metres to the south. Armed with a phone, this was never going to be a photographic event, but I include this wallaby here because she has been hanging around for a while now, and whenever this happens with a wallaby I always end up feeling some sort of silly loyalty to it for some reason.

Unlike the very social kangaroos, these smaller creatures are very solitary and sometimes slow, even ponderous, but capable of speed and extreme agility in thick bushland. Their brilliance there is off-set by devastating indecision when faced with an on-coming vehicle on the road. They have been less common near us recently- maybe throughout the drought- but have reappeared this summer and are very welcome indeed.

These are low res pictures, and the first one has been doctored to make it more 'painterly', but you might notice something that appears to be protruding from the well-rounded tummy..... I do hope she takes care to protect that little one, but not so much care as to prevent me seeing it emerge for a play in the grass.