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Category: Western Australia

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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Lights Beach to Waterfall Beach (#5 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

Published January 14, 2021 by Pelidoug

Lights Beach to Waterfall Beach (#5 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

 

Lights Beach is a deal less than half an hour’s easy drive west, from Denmark.

Lights Beach car park sits just outside the eastern boundary of William Bay National Park.

The featured image and the one below were both taken from just below the car park’s edge; the wider-angle view looks south, whilst the one above looks west, along the National Park’s shoreline.

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Vale Frank Kimbrough (1956-2020)

Published January 9, 2021 by Pelidoug

Vale Frank Kimbrough (1956-2020)

 

Many self-declared “jazz lovers” would not recognise his name, nor have ever heard him…wittingly, at least.

That said, I am far from alone – and am in some very good company – in having long regarded Frank Kimbrough as one of the select few improvising pianists who ought be described/remembered as “one of the greats”.

if I were only ever allowed another listen to just ten “piano trio tracks”, his sublimely beautiful Waiting in Santander would be one of them:

 

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“Accidentally Christmassy” (#3 of 3)

Published December 22, 2020 by Pelidoug

“Accidentally Christmassy” (#3 of 3)

 

Conifers – pines, traditionally associated with Christmas – comprise the major part of the Northern Hemisphere’s “tree cover equation”.

The Southern Hemisphere has its own endemic conifers, but south of the equator they are relatively minor players, most especially in Australia.

To Australian eyes, the Northern Hemisphere’s vast pine forests appear relatively drab, sadly lacking in species diversity and colour range.

The contrast is most especially marked in the warmer half of our year, which is the colder half of the Northern year.

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“Bloody” cockatoos – loved/hated, “native”/“introduced”

Published December 6, 2020 by Pelidoug

“Bloody” cockatoos – loved/hated, “native”/“introduced”

If you come across corellas in a big city, chances are excellent that you are in Perth or Adelaide, that there a great many of them, they are making a lot of noise, and you can easily see that they are doing a lot of damage.

It is highly likely that the species in question is Cacatua sanguinea, the Little Corella.

Its Latin/“scientific” name means “bloodstained cockatoo” – a reference to its pink markings, between eye and bill.

This species has proved “too adaptable”.

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Madfish Bay (#4 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

Published December 2, 2020 by Pelidoug

Madfish Bay (#4 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)

William Bay National Park is less than half an hour’s easy drive, west from Denmark.

Its two much-instagrammed, “iconic” attractions are Greens Pool and the almost-adjoining Elephant Rocks.

Ludicrously, the two “icons” are the only places where most visitors to William Bay National Park ever set foot.

Madfish Bay is also magnificent, dead-easy to reach, often deserted, and only a few minutes away from the oft-thronged/overcrowded Greens Pool!

read moreMadfish Bay (#4 in “Deep South WA meets Southern Ocean” series)
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