Point Louise, Greenhead Western Australia

The breeze was so refreshing at the beach yesterday.  I had a few solo hours in the bush and sand dunes keeping an eye on what’s flowering, what bugs are pollinating at midday and where the little jumping spiders are on the coast at midday.  Do they move about in the full sunlight part of the day?

A little treat to myself during this little venture was an iced coffee.  And people! Australia and New Zealand do this right!  It comes with whipped cream on top and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  The bitterness of the coffee is all at the bottom, and as you finish the drink you’re left with the sweet taste of ice cream to cool you down.  On a crazy hot day it is perfectly refreshing.

My search for the first two hours proved uneventful, though I did see many butterflies, beetles and wasps (and even one blue banded bee) out hustling between all the flowering coastal plants.

I’d thankfully slathered on a huge portion of sunscreen before leaving.  As I wandered the beach it crossed my mind to remove my shoes and feel that soft white sand and warm Indian ocean between my toes.  As I progressed along Point Louise, I followed a path up the limestone cliffs and began to walk North.

This was perhaps a poor impulsive decision as I then spent the next hour painstakingly walking along a gravely hot path barefoot.  What’s worse?  The sharp pain of awkwardly placing my foot on a rock or the searing pain of the hot ground cooking my feet?  Both at once was fairly uncomfortable.  I had to hype myself up to turn around and walk to full track back!

The good news is during this little tortured walk, I managed to spot what I’d been looking for.  One small brown jumping spider hopped across the path and into the shade.

After several hours out in the sun, I started to make my way home.

Greenhead is a gorgeous little community, with a number of holiday homes to rent a couple of cafes and a small pharmacy.  Now that Christmas is nearly upon us the town will be bustling with holiday makers, children and plenty of happy families soaking up the sun on these lovely beaches.

We’re also settling into the weekend and will be celebrating a quiet little Christmas with Wesley and friends.  Eggnog spiced with a little rum will be whisked up by Mike after a successful and popular batch last year.  He’s keen to try again (it was so delicious and I don’t even like liquor) and today I’ve baked some old style cookies my grandma taught me how to make when I was a child.   I hope you take time to connect with your loved ones, create or uphold traditions and cherish these memories.

Today I killed an emu. It was horrible.

Wesley and I were on our way home from Jurien Bay and were halfway home (it’s a 45 min drive) when suddenly in the blink of an eye a teenage sized/aged emu dashed out in front of the car.  It was only maybe 10 feet ahead when it chose to that exact moment to run across.  I didn’t have enough time to stop before we collided.

This is the only thing I’ve ever hit with a car.  On the way this morning I’d stopped to pull a dead kangaroo off the road and slow down for about 3 separate bobtails as they scuttled across the road.  I was one of those people saving the little creatures or giving them a more dignified resting place (sparing other drivers having to swerve as well).

They say when a moment impacts you emotionally it can slow down and time can feel as though it has come to a stand still – though science explains this is just you reliving the moment.  Today it’s fresh and it only felt like a flash of time maybe 2 seconds – but if I recall this moment and the 25 minutes after I hit the emu in a year or so it might seem like every millisecond can be accounted for.

What plays over the next 25 mins will stay with me for the rest of my days.

I was driving 10km below the speed limit which significantly spared our car from any damage.  We were very lucky.   The bird was not.  It had hit the ground severely and as I cut the engine and pulled over to the side of the road I could see it was sadly still alive and very badly injured.

It was very stressed, breathing heavily and every so often it would thrash and kick it’s legs.  I opened the car door so Wesley could have fresh air as I decided what I was going to do about the dying bird.  I knew I couldn’t leave it in this state.

It would be a long slow death on the hot pavement.  The underside of it’s torso was torn open showing it’s yellow fat and red flesh both exposed through the feathers by the impact of the pavement.  It made me sick to my stomach.

Sadly it also couldn’t walk, but it was trying so hard to get up.  I couldn’t get close but it was going to cause an accident if it stayed where it was.  I called Mike to see what I should do, but no answer.  Then I rang Tessa and she suggested the ranger.

At this point a number of cars had slowed down, and a couple of them had stopped to see if we were ok and took a look at the car and watch the bird closely.  One younger guy was really kind and stayed with me the whole time as we tried to track someone to help the bird.

Eventually a police car rolled up and then two officers came out to see what they could do.

For anyone who deeply loves animals like I do perhaps this is a really good time to exit this story.

The male officer asked if there were any babies, and I said no.  At this point he whipped out his baton and extended it.  I realised he was going to try and stun or kill it with the weapon.  I looked away and said to myself “Jesus christ!” as I heard the dull thud of the two crashing together.  I thought it was all over when I turned to see the officer dragging the bird from the road into the gravel and then bush.

Making sure Wesley was still comfortable I was partly distracted when the sound and shock of three gunshots went off.

There was silence, and then the cars all left.

I got in the drivers seat and sobbed for the dead bird.  I felt just awful.  I know there was nothing I could have done to prevent it from happening and yet I was also relieved that Wesley and I were ok.  If we had come or gone any sooner or later this might not have happened.

Emu’s are beautiful and yet oddly stretched out and quite terrifyingly dangerous if you ever manage to see one up close.  They are not known for their intelligence, and I just wish it had seen the car approach and decided to wait just a second longer.

Have you ever hurt or injured a large animal in your car?  How did it go?  

Obviously I did not take photos – but as I often post pleasing colourful images – I thought I’d include these donkey orchids from a few days ago to sort of soften the horror of what’s happened today.

Long Weekend – Eneabba & Greenhead

 This weekend I traveled North to Eneabba to spend the long weekend with Brian and Tessa on the farm.  We headed to the coast our first few days to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere to beach always brings  During this time, we socialised for a few nights, enjoyed the local art scene and also got to witness the rare blood moon.  Tessie (our dog) warmly greeted us when we returned to the farm and I spent several hours taking her and the 3 other’s into the bush.  It was so nice to enjoy the quiet and company this weekend.

Mike will be headed to Coorow this Thursday to begin a seeding season, which will have him back on farm soil for about three months.  I’m happy that he’ll get a chance to get back onto the land, but also deeply sad that he’ll be away for 3 months (I’m trying not to think about it too much!).  I’m going to either pass my driving test in a few weeks time (fingers and toes crossed) or take a bus to visit him, depending on how I go.

Anyway, this Easter long weekend was really just great.  It would have been made even better if Mike were with us too.

Hoping you all enjoying your breaks too.  What did you get up to?  Did you eat buckets of chocolate?

Maslin Nude Beach – Adelaide

Mike and I spent 5 days just before Christmas in Adelaide with his brother (along with his parter) and sister.  One of my favourite places was indeed the nude beach (about 25 minute drive from the city centre).  The beautiful sediment, with it’s rugged layers exposed to the wind, sun and waves…drew me from the clothed side of the beach to the nude.  Mike tagged along and slowly we made our way closer to the cliffs.  On the way Mike and I discussed nude beach etiquette…

We didn’t really know any rules.

Have you been to a nude beach before?  Do you know what the guidelines are?  

I made sure to never take a photo when I was near any one, and distinctly kept the camera pointed to the sand to assure people that they were safe and I was not there to photograph them.

I was in the middle of taking a photograph of the succulent above when Mike asked me if I could hold onto something for him, as I was in the midst of taking a photo I held out my hand blind only to discover his shorts in my hand.  This made me laugh, and I smiled at the spontaneity and confidence he has… He does have the perfect bum.

There are plenty of wineries in the region, which is highly regarded (South Australia produces some of the countries best wines) and of course we tried some wood fired pizza at an italian vineyard before we hit the beach.

Adelaide is a smaller city, and while we only saw portions of it during our short stay, we really enjoyed the laid-back vibes and the opportunity to spend some quality time with our family.

The images above feature:

• Three joyous dogs playing at Maslin beach.
• The cutest tush in all the land.
• A small bird befriending me for some carrot cake in Adelaide’s botanical gardens.
• A dainty jumping spider in Rayden and Fredericks (immaculate) garden.
• Mangrove trees, leeching and filtering ocean water to survive and also breeding a gazillion mozzies in it’s rotten boggy bottom.
• Handorf – a little German town just outside of Adelaide which is about as kitsch as it gets.
• A German lunch of sausage, potatoes, sauerkraut and steak (I ate pickles, smoked cheese and coleslaw with dense bread and a tomato chutney.
• The mushroom pizza, top winner in the 4 types we choose to eat over lunch before travelling to the beach, bloated and not at all hungry.
• A salt lake, located beside the mangroves.  It was trespassing to take that photo, and I lost a sandal in the process.

Can’t put it down.

I’m currently reading a book Mike gave me for my birthday… “Travels with Charlie” by John Steinbeck; written in1962.  His humour (he is a funny man), keen observations and opinions surprise me as being very modern and relevant even now 50+ years from when it was written.  He writes about his travels around rural America with his dog.  Steinbeck talks about consumerism, and American men whom flock to the forests when hunting season is open…not for the game, but to prove they are natural born hunters, even if they’ve never picked up a gun before.

Even then men frequently, accidentally killed one other out of a need to prove their own masculinity.

Anyway it’s been hard to put it down, and yet I find myself pausing and leaving it for periods of time as I enjoy it so much I want to stretch it out.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

Just like my habit with books, there is a song I’ve been listening to repeatedly.  My sister sent it through a few weeks ago.  At first I wasn’t sure what I thought….but it’s growing on me each time I listen to it.

Tribe Called Red are a First Nations group from Ottawa, Canada that have fuzed traditional pow wow songs with dub step.  A group of my sisters students (she teaches on a reserve in Canada) put together a performance that had the audience throughly hyped by the end.  I’m really glad to hear that First Nations music is taking hold.  This track in particular is quite strong and powerful.  Take a listen below…

Tribe Called Red – Electric Pow Wow Drum

Also taking a step in another direction… Bizarrely there are remixes of the recent comet landing.  Both are total turds… I smiled when I listened, for the sheer thought that I knew it was only a matter of time before someone sampled the singing comet.  I can’t even warn you how bad these are… listen at-your-own-risk.

https://soundcloud.com/reyo-4/reyo-comet-hymn-67p-remix

https://soundcloud.com/maxcohagen/dark-comet-singing-space-tribe-mix

Other new developments?

1. I’ve gone back to vegetarianism

2. I got promoted last week.

3. I’m glad November is almost over, for very personal reasons, which may or may not have to do with my partners facial hair.