Waiting for rain

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The Adelaide heatwave is due to break, even as I write this. After an eon of scorching temperatures -- after scores of people have perished, and the state has been on alert in the fear of a firestorm today -- the sky is at last darkening, the wind is shifting direction, the temperature is falling. It's going to be cool ... but there's no rain in these clouds. And what this state needs more than anything, now, is rain. The title of this image is "waiting for rain," but it could just as easily be called "praying for rain!" In the stone age, cave artists would paint the animal they wished to hunt, to capture its magic. I wonder if it works for the weather? It's worth a try! So -- here's an image shot through the windscreen a couple of winters ago, on a road somewhere in the Adelaide Hills. Oh, for this kind of weather right now, right here! Photo by Jade, 2006.

A drought-scourged panorama

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On a roasting day in summer, you've just jolted down the most horrific road in South Australia. You're not quite sure if your knee or shoulder joints are still attached, and if your kidneys are where they used to be! But the reward for making it down the road to Myponga Beach is glorious peace and quiet and a panoramic view from the ocean to what seems to be sub-desert but is in fact sheep grazing country that's being scourged by drought. Up on the hill is a station house ... and here's where it gets interesting. Refer back to Sand, sea and sun, Aussie style, which was uploaded a few days ago, and look at the top of the shot. There's the same house, seen in the distance, photographed from Silver Sands, near Aldinga ... and in the previous shot you can also see that horrific road down the hillside! That's what you drive in order to get to the location above. Dramatic though this shot is, it was also easy to get. I remember the day being so hot that I left the Fuju 6500 set on full auto and let the gadget do the work! Photo by Mel, 2007.

A face from prehistory

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Here's a face from the distant past. Tortoises and turtles have survived unchanged since prehistoric times. You could have been looking into this same face fifty million years ago. This one is a Murray River turtle, and is lucky to be living in the Worrawong Earth Sanctuary, because the river which is the natural environment for these creatures is suffering badly in the drought. Not only is the Murray drying up completely in places, but the remaining pools are now so saline, so heavy in chemical salts as the water evaporates away, nothing can live in them. Photo by Jade, 2006.

Not a drop to drink

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Drought. The word raises a shiver -- and if it doesn't, it should. Australia is having a rough time with water shortages now, and in the last few years the water restrictions have started to bite. We're not rationed yet, but what you can do with water is strictly legislated! This picture was taken on the Fleurieu Peninsula in February 2008, almost a year ago at the time of this writing. It's summertime, and it's ... hot, dry, bright. Relentless. The camera would have been one of the Fujis; the conditions were perfect for digital cameras, and I have no doubt I left the camera to take care of everything -- I would have been too busy sweating to worry about the details! Photo by Mel, 2008.