A Refuge for Wildlife

 

This peaceful scene of an Australian waterway is just a stone's throw from habitation—just across a road, as it happens. Here is nature in harmony with suburbia: the Onkaparinga River at Old Noarlunga, the highest stretch at which the river is in fact a tidal estuary. Here one finds fish aplenty and birdlife to match: pelicans frequent the area, testimony to the plentiful catch to be had. I took this frame, looking toward the cliffs on the east side of the river, during a family walk around the Noarlunga “Horseshoe” on February 13^th, 2020; nothing fancy in the approach, simply taking advantage of the scenery to compose a pleasing image. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Adrift on a blue-green tropical ocean...

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In the previous post, "Mush -- as they say in the movies!," Mel escapes the heat by thinking back on Fairbanks. I'm going to escape it by jumping into a green tropical sea ... calm as a pond, warm enough to feel "ambient" when the air temperature is about 140 degrees F when you're standing in thr sun, and the pavement is not enough to blister your soles. Ahhhhh... This is a crop-down of part of a 6MP image of the ocean, photographed from the clifftop at Noarlunga. I love the patterns on the surface of the water, and the blue-green hue. The picture was serendipitous ... it was just there, and easy to get. The only "trick" is in seeing it. Believe it or not, many people just don't "see" potential pictures which are right before them. Photo by Jade, February 2008.

Signage

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We humans love our signage, but there are times when the sheer number of signs around the road is so high, my question is -- how are you supposed to read this much as you drive my at 35mph, and if you can only read a fraction of what's there, how do you decide in a split second what's important, much less critical?! A hot, bright day in the southern suburbs of Adelaide; in fact, you're looking down the aptly named Beach Road at Noarlunga! The shot was captured through the windscreen, and the only work done on it in the computer is cropping. With light this bright, the colors saturate themselves in-camera. Photo by Mel, 2007.

The Greek islands? Looks are deceiving!

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It has to be Corfu, or Crete, or one of the other Greek islands, right? You're in for a surprise! It's looking south from the Noarlunga foreshore ... Noarlunga is one of the "outer metropolitan" suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia! The day was blisteringly hot, but there was a breeze off the sea, just enough moving air to move a sailboat. Conditions were very bright -- excellent for photography, if you take charge of the exposure. Digital cameras can confuse themselves in extremely bright conditions, so the 'M' setting is a godsend. Photo by Mel, 2007.