daily walks Archives - Page 17 of 40

January 3, 2015

at Goolwa Beach

Yesterday’s afternoon poodle walk was from the River Murray near Beacon 19 to Goolwa Beach along the Sir Richard Peninsula near the mouth of the Murray River and back again. I was looking for material whilst walking to and from the beach to build on the Edgelands project for a book, but there was little that was of interest.

The beach has been given over to 4 wheel drives—they more or less treated it as a roadway to cruise up and down. Presumably, this is what the 4 wheel drive crowd see as having fun.

It wasn’t all that pleasant walking along the beach with the 4 wheel drives whizzing past. It would have been great to have walked to the mouth of the Murray River, or to explore the sand patterns on the beach. This is very close to the very distinctive and vulnerable Coorong National Park.
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December 29, 2014

a deserted city

Ari and I wandered around the CBD of Adelaide on Sunday morning after returning from a few days holiday in Victor Harbor. We returned to Adelaide in order to continue cleaning and painting the townhouse before it goes on the market in mid-January.

It was an eerie experience. We were the only ones walking the city.

Then I realized that a CBD devoid of people was the Adelaide that I knew whilst I lived in the CBD. It is only in the last couple of years that Adelaide has changed in the sense that people now walk the streets. The CBD is no longer just a space for work and shopping since people–mostly young people– have started living in the city and spending their time on the street. Continue reading “a deserted city”

December 22, 2014

coming to an end

The days of living and walking in the CBD of Adelaide are coming to a close. The poodlewalk with Ari last Saturday morning will be one of the last as the townhouse is due to go on the market in mid-January.When it is sold–as we hope–then that will be the end of us living in the CBD.

We now live in the townhouse in order to scrub it up–clean it and paint it –for sale. The cameras, computers and scanners are now at Victor Harbor, which is the southern outer suburban rim of Adelaide. We are about one and half hours travelling time by car from the CBD. The car, rather than walking, will now be our primary mode of transport. There is no public transport from the CBD to the outer suburban coastal rim. Nor will there be.
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November 25, 2014

in Canberra

We stayed at Banks in Canberra during the opening of the Edgelands exhibition at Manning Clark House.

Banks is on the eastern edge of this car-based, suburban city and is in the Tuggeranong district/valley. Banks is on the edge of Canberra’s outer suburban fringe. Our poodle walks in the morning and evening were along firebreak trails on both sides of the valley. We found the walks to be thoroughly enjoyable and attractive.

But you need a car to get around Canberra as the public transport to the city is woeful. It’s a long drive to school, work, shops, doctors, or leisure centres. Since the dominant mode of transport is by car, there is congestion in and around the CBD in spite of all the transport planning to ensure the flowing movement of the car.

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November 24, 2014

at Hay, NSW

On our way to and from Canberra to attend the opening of my Edgelands exhibition at Manning Clark House we stayed at Hay, which is about halfway between Adelaide and Canberra. The poodle walks in both the morning and evening were along the river trail on the banks of the Murrumbidge River.

The Murrumbidgee is the second largest river in the Murray–Darling Basin and this 1,600 km long river is ranked as one of the two least ecologically healthy of 23 tributary rivers in the Basin. It looked dead to me. Yet the Basin Plan will do absolutely nothing to restore the environment of the upper Murrumbidgee.

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November 1, 2014

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.

Often the light during spring can be quite eerie.

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October 26, 2014

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.

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.

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October 19, 2014

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.

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.

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October 15, 2014

along Flinders Street

Ari, Maleko and I wandered around the Flinders St precinct yesterday as part of our afternoon poodlewalk.

I wanted to have another look at the late afternoon light on both the concrete modernist architecture and the nineteenth century buildings.

There is a big contrast between these two styles of architecture. People in Adelaide still don’t warm to the brutalism of the 1960s concrete and glass modernism, even though its been there for over half a century. I’ve made my peace with it. I can accept it— unadorned geometric forms, open interiors, and the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete—as part of our architectural history, and I think that it should be preserved as part of our architectural heritage. I’m probably in a minority.

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October 9, 2014

walking around Franklin Street

Since the theme for the 1picaday2014 project is architecture Ari and I have been wandering the city close to the Sturt St townhouse. I cannot leave Maleko at home alone for very long on his own. So we cruised nearby Franklin Street:

The Pad is a Gamer’s bar and lounge. I’ve never been inside. I’m more intrigued by the building and the laneway that runs north/south between Grote and Franklin Street.

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