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After the rains

As mentioned in an earlier post it is very quiet along the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula these days, even after the rains. Despite the atmospheric conditions it’s only the locals who are out and about in the early morning before sunrise.

When I parked the Forester at the Petrel Cove carpark before dawn this morning (May 20th) it looked as if the ‘after the rains’ scenario was a misreading of the weather. The cloud cover was heavy, the clouds were dark, and there was rain out at sea. So I put a rain coat on, left the tripod and Rolleiflex SL66 in the boot of the Forester and went walking.

Kings Head, Waitpinga

As we walked along the Heritage Trail to Deps Beach and the rocks beyond the beach Kayla and I encountered an echinda making its way along the Trail. I saw a couple of seals and a pod of dolphins hunting in the sea along the edge of the coastal rocks. There was the odd speckled Pacific Gull sitting on the rocks and some seagulls. Apart from that we had the coast to ourselves as we made to the rocks past Deps Beach.

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returning to Kings-Head

I took advantage of a heavily overcast morning on Wednesday (18/4/2019) to walk with Kayla along the Heysen Trail to the rocky outcrop on the western edge of Kings Head. This outcrop is down from the Kings Beach Retreats that are on top of Kings Head, and is at the foot of the Waitpinga Cliffs.

I had visited the outcrop earlier –on the 9/4/2019. This was in the late afternoon when Suzanne was in China, but combination of a south -westerly wind, wild seas and the high tide that afternoon meant that we could not gain access to the outcrop. I had to stay on the edge of the hill side of the littoral zone.

foam

For the return visit in the morning we left just after dawn, so that we had time to reach the rocky outcrop just after sunrise. This, I hoped, would gave me some time to photograph around the rocky outcrop before the cloud cover broke up and the light became too contrasty.

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sea-mist

The sea-mist doesn’t happen that often along the southern coast of  the Fleurieu Peninsula. It happens maybe about once or twice a year,  and it can be quite localised.

The sea mist  briefly appeared early one morning  late last week on the coast:

sea mist, Petrel Cove

When I saw it I hoped  the it was thick  enough for me to photograph some of the granite rocks amongst the seamiest,  as  had happened on a previous occasion.       Continue reading “sea-mist”

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squalls

During the winter of 2018 the southern coast of  the Fleurieu Peninsula has  been battered by king tides squalls and gusty, cold  northwesterly winds  off and on for a couple of weeks at a time.  It is off and on because in -between  these intense,  northerly winds we have the winter’s standard south westerly winds bringing  rain in from  Western Australia.

rain + sun, Waitpinga

The rain eventually clears after a couple of days,  we have a fine day,  then we are back to the gusty northerlies again. Sometimes these changes in the weather  can be quite  atmospheric.

On the days of rain it is a matter of trying to  go on the poodlewalks inbetween the passing showers,  and then  hoping that we don’t get caught in a squall out in the open.  Often we see a lone surfer, and on other days there are groups of people standing on the cliffs look out to sea, presumably whale watching.  Continue reading “squalls”

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King-tides

The recent king-tides along the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula  made it difficult for us  to walk  amongst the coastal rocks  both in the early morning and the late afternoon on  many occasions. We stayed on the clifftop heritage trail and looked down on the wild seas crashing over the rocks  we would usually walk amongst.

Kayla and  I  were able to venture  to walk along the  littoral zone one morning between my return from  photographing in Melbourne  for the SALA exhibition   and before I left to go on the  photocamp at Balranald  for the Mallee Routes project.

quartz+granite, am

It was one of those infrequent lovely winter mornings— cloud,  sunshine  and very  little wind–that allowed time for wander around, look at  how things had changed due to the king tides and  to do some photography.    Continue reading “King-tides”

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at Kuitpo Forest Reserve

We usually visit the  Kuitpo Forest Reserve for the afternoon  poodlewalk when we are on our return journey  to Encounter Bay after  the poodles have spent the day at  the  Mt Barker dog groomers. These  occasions are once every six weeks–poodles are high maintenance— and we when we are walking in the forest we routinely avoid walking in  the pinus radiata  plantation areas .

We prefer   to  wander  within the small sparse areas of eucalyptus in the forest reserve:

Kuitpo Forest

All goes smoothly on the walk, if we  avoid the campers, the campsite foreplaces   and the various kangaroos in this part of Kuitpo Forest.

I usually walk around with a digital camera. The light in the forest after  4pm during the winter is often too low  to be able to use  hand held film cameras:

Kuitpo Forest

And during summer months  the light at 4pm is very bright and contrasty. The gates are closed around 4pm during the fire season  to prevent any camping.

So winter is the time for photography Kuitpo Forest Reserve as the sun in the late afternoon is low enough to gently lighten up the trees.

 

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At American River

Suzanne, the 2 standard  poodles and I,   spent several  days at American River on Kangaroo Island with Suzanne’s sister, (Barbara Heath) and her husband (Malcolm Enright) who had flown down from Brisbane.

The days on the island  were gentle,  balmy  late autumn ones.  A storm hit the island  just  as  I was leaving on the late Sealink ferry on Wednesday evening.

erosion, Redbanks

On Saturday    I arrived on the island   on Saturday   on the 10am  ferry from Cape Jervis   with the  poodles to  open up the cottage.   That early morning arrival  gave me time to go  exploring American River with the poodles.  I  started with places that I was familiar with from previous trips.  The last trip with friends was 4 years ago in 2014, whilst the last photo trip was in 2013.  Continue reading “At American River”

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along the Heritage-Trail

These clouds and early morning light  are   what I saw on early on  Friday  morning   when  Kayla and I were walking along the Heritage-Trail  through a familiar coastal landscape.   It was so very still that morning.

These are the  kind of conditions that  indicate that a dramatic change in the weather  is about  to happen; usually, they mean that the hot weather is coming to an end,  and  a  big  storm will be sweeping into the coast of the  Fleurieu Peninsula  from the south west.

am, Dep’s Beach

It was the morning  of  the 13th April, which is when  the cold front  with its  wild winds and  driving rain,  hit the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the late afternoon.

I was taking advantage of the lull before the storm  to walk   to a specific site  amongst the granite rocks around the point from Dep’s  Beach; a site that  I had selected for a large format photo session.   Continue reading “along the Heritage-Trail”

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holidaying in Melbourne

Well,  the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria  sure was crowded with people holidaying when we stayed  there on our roadtrip.   Karen,  my sister at Safety Beach   put us up, and as that stay coincided with  a hot spell, that meant  both limited documentary photography in Melbourne    and  walking very early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

The foreshore  along the eastern  coast of Port Phillip Bay from Dromana to Sorrento was jam packed with   caravans,  tents, boats and people.   The Nepean Highway from  Rye to Portsea was crammed  with cars,  due  to people travelling down from Melbourne to Sorrento or Portsea  for a day’s outing. The Mornington Peninsula is Melbourne’s playground.

Martha Point, Mornington Peninsula

We found  very few places where  we could walk the poodles off lead along the coast.   There was  a small  off-lead, dog friendly   beach at Tassells  Cove and a small walking track around Martha Point that went down to  Pebble Beach.  Continue reading “holidaying in Melbourne”

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to walk the Heritage Trail

And so it was on  one fine summer morning that Kayla and I set out just after sunrise  to walk along the Heritage Trail to Dep’s Beach and beyond. The sun was popping  in and out of the  morning cloud cover, the coastal wind was still light, and the Nankeen  kestrels  were keeping us company.

swirling sea

We past the spot of  the swirling seas  and we made it  to the western  end  of Dep’s Beach without encountering any kangaroos,  runners, photographers or trail bike riders.

I had a photoshoot planned of  the rocks lying west of the beach–I envisioned a picture of the  granite rocks with soft morning light playing across their surface  with  a bit of cloud above them.   Continue reading “to walk the Heritage Trail”