nature and travel – Page 87

Stirling Range, after fire

Published April 11, 2021 by Pelidoug

At 1,159 square kilometres Stirling Range National Park is “large”, or “small”, depending on one’s perspective.

Four hours drive northwest, Perth – Western Australia’s sprawling metropolis – occupies more than five times as much ground.

The Stirlings’ “footprint” is less than one 209th of the United Kingdom’s 242, 495 square kilometres.

Botanically, however, the Stirling Range is much the “bigger”/“hotter” place!

It has more flowering plant species than does the entire UK; many of them grow only in or near the Stirling Range.

Two recent “catastrophic” fires seemingly “destroyed” much more than half of what had been growing there…

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The grandest grass tree…

Published April 8, 2021 by Pelidoug

The grandest grass tree…

…is surely one of “our” planet’s most wonderfully weird plants.

Kingia Australis is the only member of its genus, is not at all closely related to any of the other grass trees, and it grows (very, very slowly, over centuries) only in Australia’s southwestern corner.

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Ugly beauty: “Forest Motors” (# 89 in “a shining moment” series)

Published March 31, 2021 by Pelidoug

Ugly beauty: “Forest Motors” (# 89 in “a shining moment” series)

A big, rusting surprise was just one minute’s walk away from the house in which we recently spent sixteen nights – on a forested hill near Youngs Siding, in Western Australia’s Deep South.

This post’s musical complement: a singular treatment of an apropos Thelonious Monk number, plus the most tender song ever written about a car salesman….

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“Millennial” lizard, relishing avocado

Published March 20, 2021 by Pelidoug

“Millennial” lizard, relishing avocado

As Australia’s Right-“thinking” “pundits”/commentators/zealots “know”, if this “scaly, self-indulgent millennial” continues to bolt down avocados, it will never achieve home ownership!

They may, however, be pleased to know that no member of this species has ever sipped a latte…although some “pundits” surely will be disappointed to learn that its name does not salute a monarch/y.

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When it smells like mashed potatoes…

Published March 10, 2021 by Pelidoug

When it smells like mashed potatoes…

…in our street, at least, the pervasive “warm, buttered, milky spuds” aroma almost certainly has nothing to do with potatoes.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is the “culprit” – flowering, not mashing.

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Word power: echidna power

Published March 5, 2021 by Pelidoug

Word power: echidna power

Soil restoration can be expensive, and impractical across vast areas of land. Soil disturbance by echidnas offers a cost-effective restoration option, and this potential should be harnessed.

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Anvil Beach (#6 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

Published February 25, 2021 by Pelidoug

Anvil Beach (#6 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

Very easily reached via sealed roads, but astonishing little-visited, Anvil Beach is deliciously wild.

It offers visual splendour, grave danger, and safety.

If you intend to swim there, you must very carefully select exactly where/when/if to do so, how to reach your chosen point of entry, and how/if you can safely return from it…most especially if the tide is soon to turn, or a weather change is imminent.

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Word Power: Ratty, post-COVID-19

Published February 10, 2021 by Pelidoug

Word Power: Ratty, post-COVID-19

The rodent pictured above – well-rounded, petite, and “out in the wild” – quite probably strikes you as “cute”, maybe even “adorable”.

But how about the longer-toothed, urban-invading ranks of Rattus norvegicus?

Allegedly, they are currently making themselves ever more “at home” inside our cities’ offices, shops and homes…

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Word power: previously banned, now compulsory

Published February 4, 2021 by Pelidoug

Word power: previously banned, now compulsory

On 22 October 2019, in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai, China, I met an obviously-ambitious sheep-owner.

Clearly, he was “improving” his flock, probably with help from Australia.

Some of his sheep greatly surprised me – very evidently, some of their “bloodlines” were merino.

The prosperous grazier’s mask was entirely appropriate to his dusty task.

However, wearing it would have been expressly forbidden in some other places/contexts, even in the much more open/democratic land of Oz…

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Aussie “icon”/ “outcast” achieves lift-off

Published February 1, 2021 by Pelidoug

Aussie “icon”/ “outcast” achieves lift-off

Our hero lost his “sacred” status when his Australian-ness was recognised!

As is true of many birds, Threskiornis molucca – the Australian white ibis – is wonderfully elegant when high in the sky, but rather less so when on terra firma, or in the process of becoming airborne.

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Category: nature and travel