Farewelling this home

Tags

big seas, leaving

Finally, after a few dysfunctional walkless days I ventured out for my beach walk this morning. It's a peerless autumn day and great waves curl in, breaking in a chaos of foam, spray blowing back with the force of their tumble. The ocean has been busy uncovering ridges of rock near the boat ramp and unloading sand to cover rocks that were exposed at the north end of the beach last time I walked.

Somehow, walking my home territory released excitement about leaving it for three months in Eastern Europe, excitement that has been sadly lacking in the frenzy of researching, planning and booking. At last I'm beginning to feel that pre-departure tug-of-war between love of here and desire for there. Up till now love of here has triumphed, leaving me in a state of abject fear of there and all its logistical challenges. At last I can think with glee “This time next week …”, even in the face of beach beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tideline

Tags

footprint, pumice, shells

The place between sea and land is a place rich with treasures. Some of the treasures are large or gleaming, some a miscellaneous tangle, some show life extinguished, others are subtle and barely visible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the rain, the tideline has extended up the creek, and the marks it leaves are different there – grass roots hanging over a sand collapse, a series of horizontal lines preserved as the level in the creek drops, a kangaroo footprint captured mid-leap, sculptured sand reminiscent of the formations at Lake Mungo, wave movements fixed in the sand under tea-coloured water, a panoply of exposed rocks, and close to the sea, a golden gleaming rush of water returning to ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rain!

Tags

creek opening, flooding

For three days small spears of rain have bounced off the deck table and hung like icicles in the making from the gutters. Home has been a cosy and justified retreat. The grass, mown last week, lengthens and greens. Tiboochina buds promising a purple deck-haze fatten and a few large purple flowers erupt. Downstairs, the poison peach branches hang heavy with moisture to head level, and the branches trimmed back from the upstairs deck for Christmas are beginning to reach back towards the windows. The tipsy cup on a dowel near the front door fills under the rainforest canopy. Kangaroos lounge at midday on greening lawns.

The sea is murky brown where the waves break. Seagulls and a single white crane are busy harvesting largesse where the creek meets the sea. People and their dogs frolic knee deep in brownish curling creek-sea water where last week the sand was strewn with desiccating seaweed and bleaching shearwater skeletons. Rocks once reclining under sand lie in jagged lines.

The creek is deep and inky black. Between the dunes and the creek, flat brown water reaches through the bush to the road. A light wooden clacking noise, undisturbed by passers by, explains itself as a chorus of frogs. The creek invades the fishing spot near the big tree with the view round water curves to the mountains. Spindly trunks on the other bank merge into their reflections.

The next day the beach is even more gouged and nets of beach grass roots cover the channel from the outlet drain. Along the Blackies road, water from the creek has receded, the thin trunks have their base in mud and the frog chorus dwindles to a quintet. But the rain still plops its expanding circles into puddles. It hasn't retreated yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A portrait gallery: jellyfish

Tags

early morning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Illuminated

Tags

blue bottle, sunrise

Travel themes at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/01/10/travel-theme-illuminated/ often seem to coincide with photos I've taken recently. These two were taken as I travelled along the beach five minutes from home. They exemplify one of the things I love about photography. Two steps to the left or five minutes later and I would have missed the particular translucency of the bluebottle and the beach-burnishing. There is always only one chance for that specific shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Subtle

Tags

sand patterns

My eye is drawn to beach subtlety: things that are delicate, fine-drawn, understated, low key, muted. In this collection of photos there is nothing lurid, obvious, crude, garish or artless. The subtlety is in their simplicity, their uncomplicated composition and their subdued palette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The sea as artist

Tags

assemblage, bricolage

As my eye runs over the surface of the sand, I notice many compositions created by the sea as bricoleur and assembler. Here's a collection of her delicate artistry, from early beach walks over the last few days. She pays as much attention to the background, textured by rain, tide, shadows and bird-prints, as she does to her choice of shape and colour. Occasionally, like Brett Whitely, she includes her artist's hand in her assemblage. Her themes include death, humour, love, living in harmony and outsiders, and her technique is mainly minimalist, with a nod towards pared-down abstract impressionism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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