TERRA FIRMA
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Otway Odyssey
Waterfalls, lakes and primordial forest. And satin bowerbirds! These photos were taken on a recent mid-winter visit to Otway National Park in Victoria, around Apollo Bay. The highlight, mostly because I hadn’t seen it before, was Lake Elizabeth. The lake was formed in 1952 when a landslide damned a section of the East Barwon River upstream from the town of […]
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White Night could need a white knight
In 2016 I wondered if Melbourne’s White Night was losing its shine. After attending this year’s event the doubts remain. Again, there were great sights at the bookends, but much less to observe in between, apart from buskers. There was also a similarity about some of the displays, and perhaps it could benefit from more reinvention. IMO the event was […]
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Tequila Torquay
These ‘tequila’ sunrises were taken in the Downunder Torquay as opposed to the one in Britain. No mixed drinks, Mexican or otherwise were consumed, though it was mid-winter and a stiff drink might have helped ward off the chill. I settled for a brisk walk.
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Benalla let’s it all hang out
The rural city of Benalla in Kelly Country, North East Victoria, recently held its second Wall to Wall street-art festival, where town buildings are set aside for local and international artists to use as their creative canvas. As a former Benalla boy, I can say that past things ‘arty’ haven’t always been greeted with unanimous enthusiasm, but the whole community […]
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When the Black Knight Cats overcame King Rodney and his Knights of the Oval Table
“Oh! Had enough, eh?” taunted the Black Knight while defending a feeble bridge in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, refusing to admit defeat after King Arthur rendered him armless and legless. That’s how it was on the fair fields of Kardinia against the Suns as the Cats lost teammates instead of limbs, protected a vulnerable lead (minus the Python […]
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Is Melbourne’s White Night losing its shine?
I attended the first two White Night festivals in Melbourne and wrote ‘glowing’ accounts about them HERE and HERE, but was overseas for last year’s spectacle, the third. Apparently, organisers intended to address congestion concerns and disperse locations, but by all reports it was still a great White Night. So, I was keen to attend again this year, but have […]
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Winton Wetlands – Adding Water
Earlier in the year I visited Winton Wetlands near Benalla in north east Victoria. It is the largest wetlands restoration poject in the Southern Hemisphere, and I wrote about it HERE. At that time it was like a miniature Kakadu in the dry season. The volume of water varies from year to year and I returned recently, following a not […]
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Plains, Strains & Automobiles – Crossing Mt Bromo
Accompanying my 80s parry into Indonesia was the recently released edition of a guidebook that shall remain nameless, but I suspect all that had been updated in the past decade was the publishing year – 1985. Though, I hadn’t concluded complete unreliability when reading its account about ascending Mt Bromo, in Java. Other than the volcano, the author advised readers […]
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Winton Wetlands
At the end of a rock outcrop in the Winton Wetlands an expansive vista suddenly opens up to reveal a grassy plain stretching to the horizon immediately evoking images of Kakadu in the dry season; though, on a much smaller scale and at an entirely different Australian latitude – a Kakadu of the South. Unlike Kakadu there is no indigenous […]
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When Desire Wore Red and White
2012 AFL Grand Final, MCG, Hawthorn versus Sydney I’m having a pre-grand final lunch at Southgate with Ralph who carries the stocky appearance of comedian, Max Gillies, and a cheerful cynicism about AFL administration. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote when self-preservation meant barracking for Collingwood. We’re usually joined by Phil, another Pie fan, but he’s in […]
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