Thoughtfactory: Fleurieuscapes

landscape as place

A personal context about the singular place (topos) in which we find ourselves and where we live, walk and photograph.

The picture below is from a granite headland and is a view of the coastline in South Australia's southern Fleurieu Peninsula looking west from the top of a headland towards Kings Head, Newland Heads and Cape Jervis. The granite headland, which was ice-moulded during the Permian glaciation, is known as Rosetta Head (The Bluff) or Kongkengguwar for the first nations Ramindjeri people. This region is becoming increasingly developed and framed as a tourist experience. Rosetta Head itself is currently undergoing a major, long-term tourist upgrade by the Victor Harbor Council.

The walking trail along the western coastline from Petrel Cove in the foreground is now known as the Wild Coast Way and it links up with the southern part of the 1200 kilometre Heysen Trail, which starts at Cape Jervis and ends in the Flinders Ranges. Suzanne walked the Heysen Trail over 3 years. In spite of its length it is a very popular walk in South Australia.

seascapes

Two seascapes from the winter of 2022. Both of the pictures are of Encounter Bay from Rosetta Head (Kongkengguwarr) . This is a headland, 97m above sea level

I pretty much stand in the same location and I'm looking in the same direction east by south east --- the camera is basically looking across Encounter Bay to the coastline of the Coorong.

This is in the late afternoon just before the sun disappeared behind the Mt Lofty Ranges in Waitpinga.

Kings Head, Waitpinga

I've been re-looking at the film archives on the iMac and I came across these photos of Kings Head, Waitpinga. I haven't looked at this particular archive in years. I cannot remember when these two photos were made. They were probably made just before we moved down to live at Encounter Bay on the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

That was roughly when I decided to return to photographing with black and film in response, or a reaction to, digital and colour. The latter had a tendency to make things look pretty --- too pretty. Would black and white film enable me to move away from beauty? To represent, through abstracting from colour, the more rugged features of the coastline's rock formations?

edgelands

A picture from the archives: it is from an early morning poodlewalk in 2022 with Kayla.

The space or zone is the old Victor Harbor Council dump prior to it moving to its new, multipurpose recycling location near Goolwa that is shared with the Alexandrina Council. The old dump site is still owned by the Victor Harbor Council, but it has become an edgeland; one surrounded by grazing land, small farms and tourist accommodation.

Esplanade architecture

The photo below was made on a poodlewalk with Kayla along the Esplanade at Victor Harbor in 2022 with a medium format film camera.

This was one of our regular early morning poodlewalks. We would walk along the beach from the mouth of the Inman River to the Granite Island causeway, then return along the footpath to the car. It took about an hour.

Judging from the negatives that I have scanned so far it looks as if I didn't make many Fleurieuscape architectural photos in 2022. There's not that much of architectural interest along the Esplanade.

clouds and sea

During the winter months I have been photographing the clouds and sea of Encounter Bay on the early morning poodlewalks. This photography has generally been before sunrise from the eastern side of Rosetta Head. The clouds usually disappear after sunrise

An example:

These are not just cloud studies nor just light studies as often it is the play of light on the water that attracts me as well as the clouds.

The clouds, light and colours change rapidly between 15 minutes before sunrise and 15 minutes afterwards.

Parsons Beach

A brief excursion to Parsons Beach in Waitpinga:

It was an exploratory excursion. I have usually avoided going there because it is a surfing beach with access through the Newland Head Conservation Park. So I cannot take the poodles with me.

at Spring Mount Conservation Park

I have been taking advantage of the recent overcast weather conditions to photograph in the Spring Mount Conservation Park. The park is small (2.79 square kilometres), consists of mature stringybarks (both Eucalyptus obliqua and E. baxteri), and looks as if it provides a good habitat for the yellow tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus). We only see these cockatoos in Encounter Bay when they feed on the pine cones in the late summer/early autumn.

The Spring Mount Conservation Park is on a ridge lying between the Inman Valley (in the south) and the Hindmarsh Tiers Valley (in the north). It is in a high rainfall area and I discovered that it can be raining there whilst it is sunny on the Victor Harbor coast, which is just 15- 20 minutes away by car. I have been mostly photographing on the Inman Valley side of the park, as well as walking along the roads along the edge of the park such as the Mt Alma Rd and the Strangeways Rd.

The photo above was made whilst I was walking along Strangeways Rd with the poodles. This road runs east from Mt Alma Rd then south dropping down through farmland in the valley to Sawpit Rd near the Inman Valley Rd. It's a loop. We only walked a couple of kilometres along Strangeways Rd. I have yet to explore the rest of this road in the car. Nor have I walked along the trails within the park.

on Mount Alma Rd

This picture is from Mount Alma Rd looking north across some farmland towards the Spring Mount Conservation Park in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula:

The Spring Mount Conservation Park is situated on a broad ridge that stands between the Inman Valley and the Hindmarsh Tiers Rds. The trees in the park are mostly mature Brown Stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri) and Messmate Stringybark (E. obliqua).

coastal residential architecture #5

I have returned to making some more photos of the coastal architecture at Victor Harbor on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. This is a break from the daily photos of the bushland and coastal rocks made whilst I am on the morning and afternoon poodlewalks.

Most of the new coastal architecture is cheaply built holiday houses that would probably last only a generation. They don't even have foundations. The builders just plonk a series of concrete blocks in 4 corners. There is no concrete slab.

This particular house is situated on Encounter Lakes is more up market and better built. Encounter Lakes is a new housing estate built around a human made saltwater lake situated along Bartel Boulevard at Encounter Bay.The houses are basically built for retirees: one level and low maintenance. The emphasis is on lifestyle.

Another version of a retiree house, this time one along Franklin Parade in Encounter Bay that is facing the sea. Franklin Parade is seen as a prime location.

The cashed up retirees are leaving Adelaide and moving down to live beside the sea on the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula.