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Category: Western Australia

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#3 in series: in praise of grey skies)

 

 

 

There is the small matter of nothing but blue skies being a recipe for the end of all life on “our” planet.

Supplying water is, however, not clouds’ only good quality.

If you wish to photograph birds, trees or flowers – most especially if you are using a digital camera, and there is no “screen” of vegetation immediately behind them – intense, unshaded sunlight is not your “dreams come true”.

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“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#2 in series: pink fairies)

 

 

 

Caladenia latifolia – generally known as “pink fairy orchids”, or simply “pink fairies” – are not endemic to southwest Western Australia.  

They also naturally occur in other southern Australian places, including Tasmania.

In my (totally “unscientific”) experience, as someone who has lived on both sides of the Nullarbor, they appear to be much more “common”/easily-seen in southwest WA than anywhere else I have been.

The pictured ones were among more than a few that were flowering in Hollywood Reserve on 01.09.2024.

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“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#1 in series: Hakea)

 

 

In January 2022 parts of Hollywood were devastated by a very fierce (i.e. hot) fire.

You didn’t hear about it?

My beloved and I have visited Hollywood many times, but the only bit of Los Angeles that we have directly “enjoyed” is its godawful airport.

We harbour no desire to set foot in the famous/infamous Hollywood, but are very fond of the petite, not-famous Hollywood Reserve.

This choice patch of inner-urban bushland sits “right next door” to one of Australia’s major cemeteries.

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Spring in Perth, 2024 (in “winter”)

 

 

Pelican Yoga briefly interrupts its ongoing celebration of autumn 2024 on the Coorong, to celebrate the arrival of spring, in Perth.

Western Australian wildflowers are not fussed about calendars, nor European-derived notions of “the four seasons”.

Four days before the alleged end of winter, in Shenton Bushland it was abundantly evident that spring had already “sprung”.

Kangaroo Paws are now easy to see, as are some (not all, yet) of the “spring-flowering” orchids.

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Winter light plays with Perth CBD (2 of 2)

 

 

Even as a spectacularly distorted reflection on the facade of another, lower and more “glassy” edifice, St Martins Tower is unmistakably itself.

Since we moved to Perth in 1983 many different tenants have “badged” St Martins Tower; as you can see in lower right hand quarter of the above photo, the current logo is that of  ICBC – a Chinese bank.

From 1978 to 1988 St Martins Tower (140 metres) was Perth tallest building.

In the much more crowded and taller 2024 skyline, it is  #10.

The #1 ranking, however, has remained unchanged for 32 years; Central Park (249 metres) still looks down on all other WA rooftops.

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Winter light plays with CBD (1 of 2)

 

Architecturally speaking, much of what stands tall in Perth is depressingly typical of what stands tall in just about every other substantial city on “our” planet.

Most post-1960 “towers” are both bland and brutal.

However, Perth’s unusually intense winter light can work “magic”, when combined with the happy fact that “vertical”, “flat” glass panes are hardly ever truly vertical or truly flat.

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Bigger than a Komodo Dragon – South Perth’s “big lizard” weighs 9 tonnes…

…and it’s “companion animal” is a 5.6 tonne numbat!

Together, they make one hell of an “entry statement” – or “exit statement” – for those who travel by ferry to and/or from the South Perth foreshore.

Not coincidentally, South Perth’s major attraction is Perth Zoo, which is within easy walking distance of the ferry station.

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“Landscape” view/ much closer view (#17B in series: Fitzgerald River NP)

 

 

This series final chapter reveals the identity of the “red flecks” in the preceding post’s landscape view.

There’s no finer location in which to experience the two relevant species in their natural state than Fitzgerald River National Park’s East Mount Barren.

If you wish to enjoy a natural experience of them (both species are now popular with gardeners) the only places where you can have that experience are all in or near to Fitzgerald River National Park.

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“Landscape” view/ much closer view (#17A in series: Fitzgerald River NP)

 

There is no such thing as “the best place on earth”.

However, there is certainly no better place on earth than Fitzgerald River National Park, if you love unspoilt coastal magnificence, and flowering plants, most especially ones that grow – naturally at least – in only one “place”.

The photo was taken near the Park’s eastern end, whilst standing atop East Mount Barren, looking west.

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“Landscape” view/ much closer view (#11B in series: Creery Wetland, day’s end)

 

 

As dusk began on 05 April 2024, we made our way back from Peel Inlet’s edge and adjacent (unseasonably dry) samphire-dominated wetland.

Before our return to suburbia we skirted some mostly-intact, mostly-native scrub/woodland.

We “met” a few kangaroos, but by 5. 51 pm we were the only humans within view,

Unexpectedly, something lovely – something flaunting – briefly appeared..

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