avoiding grass seeds

Late spring in Adelaide means heaps of grass seeds everywhere in the parklands and they grass seeds attach themselves to the poodles’ legs and ears and if not picked up they enter the body. So we have to avoid any grass seed areas.

That leaves us with the beach, lawns and the West Terrace Cemetery.

West Terrace Cemetery
West Terrace Cemetery

The afternoon walks are in the West Terrace Cemetery, the pre-breakfast walk is the old Victoria Park racecourse, the post-breakfast walk is the grassy strip behind Veale Gardens, and the lunch time walks is the Gouger St restaurant strip.

spring time on the coast

The weather on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula coast during Spring is turbulent. There are days of strong south easterly winds, hot days with a strong northwesterly wind, broken by cold southerly winds with a plunge in temperature. Generally its blustery with a few calm days. This year there has been very little rain.

The landscape is becoming drier. I would hate to have to exist on rainwater tank given the predictions for much less rain for southern Australia.

Ari + Maleko
Ari + Maleko

Often the light during spring can be quite eerie.

a photo trip to Sedan

Ari and I went on a photo trip yesterday with Ben Loveday, Adam Jan Dutkiewicz, Aldo Trissi and Michal Dutkiewicz. We went to Lobethal/Birdwood/Mount Pleasant/Keyneton/Sedan and then retraced our path on the return trip. We drove through the Basket Range and along the Torrens Valley.

I haven’t done one of these kind of photo trips for ages–I used to do this kind of photo trip when I had a Kombi that carried a 5×7 Cambo in a trunk and I was photographing in black and white. I was surprised to see that the South Australian state government changers to many German place names during WW1 still remained in place.

water tank , Sedan
water tank , Sedan

Sedan, a country town at the foot of the Mt Lofty Ranges and on the plains that lead to the the River Murray. It was an eyeopener. It was hot, dry and dusty, derelict, full of abandoned houses, and an extensive use of limestone in the built environment.

walking the South Rd Superway

It was another Friday night with Suzanne and Maleko going to puppy pre-school at Regency Park and Ari and I filling in time by walking the South Rd Superway for an hour or so. We started out on the A13 from the South Rd/Grand Junction Rd corner and continued walking west for 25 minutes.

South Rd Superway
South Rd Superway

It was bright and sunny at 6.30 pm and, fortunately for us, most of the traffic was moving on the elevated roadway. So I was able to scope the urbanscape underneath. I didn’t really know what to expect. All I had in mind were some possibilities for a 5×7 large format photoshoot from the brief previous scouting. So we wandered.

Adelaide: street photography

I’ve been doing some street photography in Adelaide these last few days whilst we are on our poodlewalks. The reason for the change is that the September theme for the 1picady2014 project is street photography. It’s not a style of photography that I usually do so I am being pushed into new territory.

Gouger St
Gouger St

I find it hard to do, especially when Ari is with me. It also takes a lot of time to find a suitable location and the right urban light. I’m not even sure what street photography means these days.

walking the coast

We are at Victor Harbor for the weekend.

Saturday was spent going to see Alex Frayne’s poetic Adelaide Noir 11 pictures at Magpie Springs, having lunch with friends at Red Poles restaurant and attending the opening of the Light exhibition that is part of the Shimmer Biennale 2014. One of my photographs is included in the Light exhibition.

The early morning Sunday walk was along Dog Beach and beyond to the rocky coast:

sand patterns
sand patterns

The weather looked as if was going to change over the next day or so. The warm sunny spring weather of the last few days is going disappear and the temperature drop by about 10 degrees. Rain is on the way. I could sense it in the air.

Adelaide's City South precinct

Australia is commonly seen as the one country that managed to avoid the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2007-8. But the effects of the GFC can be seen in Adelaide as you walk around the city and see the numerous holes in the ground in the CBD.

These are the traces of developments –urban renewal–that came crashing to a halt because the finance from the banks for development dried up post GFC. 6 years on and most of the CBD’s holes in the ground remain. Maybe the holes in the ground keep changing hands as they are bought and sold, plans are drawn up, approval is granted, but then fail to get off the ground because it is difficult to get the necessary finance.

VUE site
VUE site

Most of the development that is taking place is apartments with only the odd office building being constructed. In the above case in King William St in the City South precinct the proposed 28 storey development is called VUE on King William designed by Woods Bagot and developed by the Asian Pacific Group.

It is heralded as a new residential benchmark in Adelaide and it is designed to attract empty nesters planning to move into the city from the suburbs and young professionals. The finance will come if 70% of the building is sold pre-plan. So we will see what happens.

at Kuitpo Forest

On the way back to Victor Harbor from Mt Barker this afternoon Ari and I had a walk around the Kuitpo Forest on the Brookman Rd in-between Meadows and Willunga Hill. I’d noticed a strand of native eucalyptus forest in small areas within the designated forest of pinus radiata on my way to Mt Barker early this morning:

eucalypts, Kuipto Forest
eucalypts, Kuipto Forest

I’ve tended to drive past this pine forests as I see them as dead zones for native flora and fauna. No vegetation grows underneath them. This eucalypt strand caught my eye and I looked more closely as I drive past for a way to enter into the small area of native eucalyptus. I saw Chookarloo, the main camping area at Kuitpo. This is what we walked around it on our way back

architecture in Victor Harbor

Whilst we have been holidaying at Victor Harbor, South Australia, Ari and I have been wandering around the streets of the town on our early morning poodlewalks. The early morning light in winter lightens up the town’s architecture.

Savings Bank of SA
Savings Bank of SA

When walking around this coastal town I can see it changing from a rural/holiday town to a tourist one. It is kept very clean and tidy by the council and it wins tidy town awards.

at Lady Bay

I’ve registered for Fleurieu Four Seasons Prize for Landscape Photography. However, I’m finding that it takes a lot of time and petrol to explore and scope the west side of the Fleurieu Peninsula. I dropped Suzanne off at the Seaford Railway station so that she could return to Adelaide for work on Monday sand I could return to Victor Harbor via exploring the west side of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

We pretty much hung around Lady Bay, which is just south of Normanville and Yankillia:

at Lady Bay
at Lady Bay

I was checking out to see whether the late afternoon sun in autumn had moved to the right place for a picture that I had in mind. Here is the picture: