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. 

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. 

Petrel Cove: dusk

This snapshot was made after returning from a late afternoon poodlewalk in late April. Suzanne had returned from a trip to Eyre Peninsula so I didn't need to walk the two poodles and so I was able to spend more time making photos on the walk, rather than keeping an eye on the poodles.  I did  a number of cloud studies whilst on  the poodlewalk. 

There was no one around at the time,   which is unusual,   as Petrel Cove  is a popular tourist  location in the late afternoon.  I was reversing the car from the car park to drive home  and made the snapshot  through the windscreen. It was just before I left for the Melbourne trip. 

cloud studies

During the transition from summer to autumn this year I started a  study of clouds from the top of Rosetta Head in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula.   I was building on these earlier photos. 

From Rosetta Head I was usually  looking east north east.    

The clouds were above Encounter Bay,  and the photos were  made  in the early morning,  generally  before sunrise. The photo above  is an example. 

Victor Harbor's seaside architecture #4

On Boxing Day 2020 Kayla and I went walking early as we had friends staying with us over Xmas. The  early morning poodlewalk  was along Bridge Terrace in Victor Harbor. We   slowly made our way to the mouth of the Hindmarsh River.  The ephemeral river had stopped flowing,  the light was good and people were already walking along, and exercising on,   the beach   

I decided to take the odd  photo of some of the seaside houses along Bridge Terrace as we walked by them.   This older house in a grand style at no. 22 Bridge Terrace was for sale.

 Would it remain after it was sold? Or would it be pulled down? I  hoped that it was heritage listed as there are very examples of this  old grand seaside architectural style.