96815:Fort DeRussy/11:45:49am [Lest we Forget]

Although it was clearly Friday morning in Hawaii, Anzac Day had already begun in Australia. As we approached the Army Museum opposite Fort DeRussy Park we were concious that the Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance was about to begin. So it seemed appropriate to pay a visit to another memorial that details the military contributions made by Hawaii and it’s citizens to the defence of their nation. We spent a rewarding couple of hours learning about early Hawaiian warfare, the island’s introduction to western weapons and strategy and their involvement in the World Wars, Korea,Vietnam and beyond.

The staff were knowledgeable and friendly, the exhibits extensive and well maintained. As we made our way back out into the sunshine we passed this gate and the contrast of light entering the darkness seemed very appropriate to our mood. The traditional words of The Ode were not far from our minds.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

~ Laurence Binyon, 1914~

191. Museums

3777:Badger Creek/4:09:35pm [Sophie's choice]

This is Sophie. She is a red necked wallaby. We happened to be there when the keeper arrived to dress some scratch wounds on either side of her belly caused by…ahem.. the overly intense and amorous attentions of a male wallaby. The keeper brought some sweet corn and apple pieces to distract Sophie while she applied the ointment. It seems to be working well.

291. Snack

3093:Lower Plenty/11:24:50pm [The passage of time]

It was the ancient Egyptians who first divided the day into 24 hour increments. The night had twelve hours which were determined by the position of the stars and the hour before and after sunset were considered the two hours of twilight. The remaining ten daylight hours were measured using shadow clocks – the forerunner of the sundial. The Egyptians were not alone however, as rudimentary measurers of time were being used by the Chinese, Greeks, Baylonians and those ubiquitous, finger-in-every-pie, Romans. Shadow clocks were doomed to a short life as the limitations of not being able to tell the time at night were obvious. This 18th century example of a pendulum clock, developed thanks to an observant Galileo being distracted by a swinging chandelier in church, these days casts a shadow only because of the presence of the overhead lights.

279. Shadows

AWOL

Have seventy five excuses and thirty-three mea culpas for my mysterious disappearance, but really, all of them are trivial and pathetic and I am not going to bore anyone who might still be checking in on this blog with the detailed triviality and pathos as I am certain I would feel the spectral disturbance of that many eyeballs rolling skyward in unison. Suffice it to say that I was apprehended quite smartly over the weekend and asked so very nicely to return to barracks and start marching that even my not-so-guilty conscience raised the white flag and surrendered without complaint.

I am not making any wild claims or promises but simply state that I will try to return to regular posting while slowly adding older ones at random. So…two for the price of one…what more can you ask for?

6280:Busselton/2:46:50pm [Must be a social moment]

Busselton is best known for being the proud owner of the longest jetty in Australia. We wandered along the beach watching a group of school children having a swimming lesson in the choppy sea. There was no way my recovering feet were going to be able to walk the full length of the jetty but I did manage to get as far as the gallery and shop where I found this cluster of souvenir seahorses. The real things are quite hard to see as they are well camouflaged bobbing about in the sea grass underwater. I love the bright colours they display when they find themselves in unusual surroundings or enjoying a social moment.  I suspect that both of those apply here.

59. Coloured glass

Fremantle:6160/10:05:56pm [Passionfruit's my current favourite]

The temperature was in the high 30s but, in and around Perth WA, the heat is almost always mitigated by the afternoon arrival of the Fremantle Doctor and today was no exception. After some discussion we decided to take ourselves to Joe’s Fish Shack on the harbour for dinner. After making short work of the delicious seafood plates and a couple of bottles of cold white wine between the five of us we wandered along the pier in the comfortably warm night air until the bright lights of the gelati bar beckoned us closer. I’d like to say that I was able to pass up temptation on this occasion but it would be totally not true.

135. Guilty pleasures

3109: Doncaster/7:02:05pm [Stylised]

This clever design of a chrysanthemum caught my eye because of the lovely colour contrast between the turquoise glass and chocolate timber. It was almost enough to make me go in for a massage…but not quite.

72. Curvy

Southbank:3006/2:18:24pm [Go on, ask me]

There must be something you would like answered. Now’s your chance. Can’t promise I know all the answers but I’ll do my best to find out.

360. Who put that there?

Doreen:3754/7:27:18pm [Bushfire sun]

The days immediately after the bushfires were mild and clear but as the week progressed the wind changed again and we were blanketed in smoke. It is expected to stay around for most of the next week. As the sun began it’s journey towards the horizon, the light became burnished and golden. The sun shimmered red through the haze. As it sinks lower a sunray has a harder job to push light through the atmosphere and loses violet, blue, and green light on the way. The blue tones are scattered and re-radiated in all directions. The red light that remains shines through relatively unhindered giving us this eerie effect.

289. Smoke

[Can't take credit]

These are not my photos but they are two out of the many taken since Saturday that, to me, best represent the events that have overtaken our small corner of the planet. The first photo was taken from Doncaster by the Menherin family at about 8:15pm and displayed in this photo gallery of the Age newspaper. Taken about an hour before I wrote this post on Saturday night, it was the glow you can see in this photo – from the far left to about two thirds of the way along the photo -  that we were seeing from our balcony. The inferno on the right of the ranges was not visible to us and I would have felt a lot more than unsettled on that night had I been able to see it as clearly as this.

If you look at this photo carefully, around the middle of it and to the left hand edge you can see a black patch of darkness with a brightly lit strip of road to the right which is Williamsons Road. You may also be able to make out a dark strip that runs across from left to right which is the valley through which the Yarra River flows.  In that small patch to the left of the road and a few kilometres over the ridge is where we live. The bushfires are only 22-24km (around 15 miles) to the north-east of us. The towns that have been destroyed are ones we all know well. We all know someone who has lost their home or who is assisting in the relief efforts. Our family is just so lucky that no one that we know who lived in these places has been lost. But for more than 181 people and their families and friends, the opposite is true. We are all just so saddened and shocked but what is certain is that these communities will rebuild and that the rest of us will be there to help them do it.

Donations to the relief effort can be made through the Salvation Army or The Australian Red Cross.

This photo, on the front page of  Tuesday morning’s Herald Sun, is one that made me cry. It is of  fireman David Tree of the Mirboo North CFA and was taken by Russell Vickery. There is also a video of David’s brilliant act of compassion to the koala here taken by another CFA volunteer,  Mark Pardew, using his mobile phone. But be warned, it might make you cry too. I heard David interviewed on the radio and he said that as he was helping her with the water bottle the koala put her paw on his hand. This is so remarkable because these cute looking marsupials are notorious for their bad tempers and can inflict very nasty injuries with their claws. This koala, named Sam, was quickly collected by one of the many wonderful volunteer Wildlife Rescue teams and taken for treatment. She has burnt paws and is expected to make a full recovery.

We are so grateful for the all the phone calls and emails we have had from our friends and family across the world as well as the readers of this blog. Thank you so much for your love and concern.