Things you don’t necessarily want to hear from the pilot as you’re coming into land: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re turning the seatbelt sign on, there seems to be some thunderstorm activity around the airport”. Cue one of the bumpier landings I’ve ever experienced. But we made it.
A thoroughly prosaic name for a very beautiful spot. Penneshaw is a little town (population 1,500) at the point where the ferry arrives on Kangaroo Island from the mainland – which can be seen in the very far distance of this shot, this being the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.
When I arranged to have my sabbatical here in Australia, and spend the first part of it travelling while I started on my book, this is pretty much the kind of place where I pictured myself. I’m here until Saturday. This is good news.
Well, I’m sure it’s very spiritually fulfilling to spend February Sundays all huddled up around a good fire but this year, frankly, give me this kind of thing. This is the stairway down to the beautiful – and mostly empty – South Port beach, at the mouth of the Onkaparinga river just south of Adelaide. Visited the vineyards of the McLaren Vale today and then drove back (or was driven back, by my excellent hostess Caroline) along the side of the Southern Ocean, and enjoyed the whole thing.
….if only for another 8 days in my case. Taken at Schiphol airport, from out of the plane window, towards the end of that interminable taxi to the outer runway.
Guess that’s me in Africa, then.
Awesome day today, so many things seen and shot that it was very difficult to choose a single photo; the only reason I didn’t go with one of the wild giraffe that I was, at one point, stood about 20 feet from, was that I did the wildlife theme yesterday. Crescent Island, on Lake Naivasha, may have just become the most beautiful place I have ever seen – a complete trip back in time, had a brontosaurus been spotted munching on the acacias it would not have looked out of place. These four guys were working in a lagoon by Crayfish Camp, where we had lunch. (For a few more see my Flickr stream: the link is at the bottom of the page.)
The idea of flying over the Sahara did appeal at first, but for much of it there was almost nothing to see – as one would expect, I suppose. Nothingness – at least, when seen from 35,000 feet – got boring rather quickly. However, flying over this huge expanse of water among the dunes did wake up the photographers amongst us for a while. Look closely enough at this shot and you can also get a sense of the curvature of the Earth: the horizon has a definite bend to it.
This is my other project.
Up to the day I started this blog, 26/8/11, I had climbed 130 of the 214 ‘Wainwright’ fells in the English Lake District, having started on 19th July 2009. As of today, 2/1/13, I have climbed 212 of them. The last two – Lonscale Fell and Latrigg – are represented by the last two remaining red pins in my board, pictured here. And tonight I booked a room in Keswick for this coming Friday night, so by Saturday 5th at the latest they will have fallen and I will have done the lot. (Compare this to the other time the pinboard appeared on the blog.)
Last New Year’s Day I posted a pretty bad photo so here is my attempt to make up for it. A reasonably sunny, though breezy, morning to open 2013 and we, along with many others, took the air out by Morecambe Bay. The tide was in: for comparison, back in April I took this shot from more-or-less the same place. There is a very big tidal range here. The rocks are all part of the sea defences.
An early post, but there won’t be any more photos taken today – felt ill this morning, went on a walk to try to blow it out, but it didn’t work so I’ve been in bed all afternoon. If I stay here tomorrow, that could be a photographic challenge. Anyway, this is the path down by the Hebden Water, as it comes into town at the bottom of Spring Grove.
Was determined to present a photo that wasn’t ‘festive’ – not that I am anti-Christmas, I just fancied hitting a different theme. This shot was taken during the short walk we did in the early afternoon, a nod to the desire to get some exercise among the eating and drinking, and is altered slightly by the rain in the lens but not spoilt, I think. No White Christmas this year, though we have had some in recent years.
Anyway – a happy Christmas to you all, wherever you are and whatever your weather.
Being 42 