Actual? Imaginary? Animatronic? Whose foot is this?
Comments closedCategory: photographs
Indonesian artist Mulyana’s “coral islands” are equal parts celebration and warning.
They are on the walls and floors of The Goods Shed – FORM’s Exhibition Space, adjacent to Claremont Railway Station – until 3 pm on Sunday June 9.
Comments closedOur hero/heroine was not delighted by his/her (temporary, brief) removal from the “motel” which s/he shares with an even more astonishing animal.
Respectively, reptile and insect, the Southern Alps gecko and the Mountain stone weta are two of many reasons that visitors to Wanaka ought ensure they visit Mou Waho; as well as scenic splendour, the island offers crucial sanctuary to vulnerable species.
Comments closedThe featured image shows a New Zealand bellbird, Anthornis melanura.
(photos copyright Doug Spencer, all taken on Mou Waho, 21 March 2019)
However, this post’s star is a less “glamorous” but altogether more curious bird – in both senses of “curious”.
Comments closedNew Zealand’s South Island has a number of large, deep, glacier-carved lakes.
Each is jaw-droppingly beautiful…but all are far from pristine.
Only long after ancient Rome’s “fall” did Aotearoa/New Zealand first “enjoy” human presence; available evidence suggests that Maori settlement began a little less than 750 years ago.
Comments closedAll photos taken in recent days, from local footpaths, less than 10 minutes – by car, bus, or train – from Perth’s CBD.
It is often pleasingly difficult to believe that our metropolis is home to more than two million humans.
At least some things are flowering, at any time of year; the featured image’s eucalyptus was photographed just before sunset on 8 April.
Comments closed“My” local daily paper – The West Australian – has recently become relentlessly parochial and adopted inane journalese as its house style.
Its headlines especially grate: almost all are prime examples of what smug dullards consider “clever”, of what twits mistake for wit.
The West‘s editor may or may not be a bona fide idiot; perhaps he is just a bright young lickspittle, fulfilling a brief to “dumb everything down, cut every cost and cross-promote the linked TV station, endlessly”.
So, it was a particular joy/relief to encounter some actual journalistic flair…
Comments closedPhotos are copyright Doug Spencer.
Featured image shows New Zealand’s highest peak, viewed from its inland side, at 4.34 pm on March 27, 2019.
I suggest you zoom in on the high ridges to see the windblown fresh snow streaming into the air, like sand off a dune.
Comments closedSitting beside a very rustic little jetty in a hamlet on New Zealand’s South Island is a delightfully “unlikely”, internationally renowned restaurant.
Fleurs Place (pictured above) is a one-off.
Fleur (real person) serves teethsqueakingly fresh seafood, cooked simply and superbly, without pretension.
However, the “diner” closest to us preferred to catch and prepare his (or her) own lunch!
Comments closedThey are very close, as the proverbial crow flies – if the proverbial crow chose to cross New Zealand’s Southern Alps.
Equally beautiful, but quite unlike: the stark contrast between coastal side and inland side is reminiscent of Patagonia.
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