Sometimes one needs to escape from Robertson

Sometimes one needs to escape from Robertson, and especially from the Computer.
So it was yesterday afternoon.

Fortunately the weather was pleasant for an afternoon drive, and Kiama is just a short (albeit slow) drive down Jamberoo Mountain Road. So I decided to go and check out the famous Kiama Blowhole, which there was still some residue of the heavy swell from the East Coast Low and the recent King Tide (remember the Full Moon?).

The heavy swell had been running for a few days, and I knew from previous trips to the Blowhole that it works best with south-easterly running swells. So I figured it was worth a look.
Besides, it is always a pleasant afternoon drive from Robertson.

The very first pulse I saw.

about the 4th one

Then a nice loud "whomp" produced this

Sometimes the noise
does not always produce a large "Blow".

That's more like it.

And finally a Big One
Unfortunately, the spray went so high it got
over-exposed by the late afternoon light.
But by comparison with previous shots
you can see how high this one was.
The rocky headland beyond is obliterated.

 For the academically minded, here are some notes on the Geology of the Kiama district from C A Süssmilch: An introduction to the geology of New South Wales

• Blowhole Flow. This outcrops at sea-level at Kiama, and
  extends southwards as far as Gerringong. This flow is a typical
  basalt, and is about 140 feet in thickness. 
•  Kiama Tuffs. These overly the Blowhole flow, and have a
  thickness of 120 feet. They are basic in composition, are fine-
  grained and well stratified. Bands of lapilli*** occur at intervals.
  Their basic composition results in a rich reddish-brown colour on
  weathering
• ***Lapilli are spheroid, teardrop, dumbbell or button-shaped droplets of molten or semi-molten lava ejected from a volcanic eruption that fall to earth while still at least partially molten.

 There was just enough light left for a few scenic shots.

Looking south from the Blowhole point

Looking west, Kiama is dominated by Saddleback Mountain

 

Sunset over Kiama harbour, with the township on the far side.

Sea Gulls (Silver Gulls) on the roof of the take-away fish shop
at the Kiama Harbour.

A Pelican waiting for yummy "Fish heads" and "frames"
Most likely waiting for a fishing boat
to come to the harbour and
for the fishermen*** to clean their catch.
For the Gender Specific Linguists amongst you, I double-checked!
"The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen
and may be used to describe both men and women."

Shot taken, more for the Norfolk Island Pines
than the Palm Tree, or the Sea Gulls.

The wire devices on top of the lights are
to keep the Pelicans and Sea Gulls
from landing on the lights.
Seems to work.

I can also report that the local Take-away Fish Shop at the Kiama Harbour (there is another one which sells only fresh fish, not cooked fish) sold me a very acceptable serve of Snapper and Chips. Coming from Canberra (originally) a visit to the seaside is not complete without a feed of freshly cooked fish and chips (with lemon).
However, my Victorian origins still reveal themselves in my desire to spell it "Schnapper".

"Light studies" - a "Photo Essay"

This is not about Belief.

This is about the things 
which make the Earth live.
 By that I mean truly alive.

Light, Water, Earth, Air 

and the frogs, fish and birds and plants.

Here are some "light study" images 

from the trip to Bermagui, last weekend.

At the coast, there is water.
Water changes the light, 
and light changes the way we see water.

Without wishing to start a fight with any of my Darwinian colleagues, I wish to quote several lines from Genesis Chapter 1 (King James Version, of course). The reason is simple - this is part of my culture - these lines are part of my terms of reference - when thinking about light, and water, and the origins of life. I cannot help that - however unfashionable it might seem.It was my starting point. So lets see where this little meditation leads us.

1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2: And the earth was without form, and void; 

and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Harsh light - staring into the sun reflected over the Ocean.

4: And God saw the light, that it was good: 

and God divided the light from the darkness.

Looking out to see, with the sun-light to my left. Morning light at its best

9: And God said, 

Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, 

and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10: And God called the dry land Earth; 

and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:

and God saw that it was good.

  This Pelican and I agree - 

IT IS GOOD!

Natural light, tweaked a little in processing the contrasts.

Whether it was done the way Genesis says ???

Well, that is not my view.

Lets move on. 

This is already a long-enough "Photo Essay" anyway.

Near the coast, beyond the dunes and the tea-trees, are hills which trap the rain. That produces features like the Mumbulla Falls, and the stream below the falls.
The sign explaining the significance of the "Sacred Waterhole" has been vandalised (stabbed through with a heavy duty hunting knife, in fact) but fortunately someone photographed it before it was damaged. You can read the sign here.
I recommend reading the full story, for it has echoes of the very things I am discussing here, in my Blog essay. 

Mumbulla Falls - seen from the viewing platform above.

Click to enlarge the image to see the details.

Mumbulla Falls (pink granite rock) and the "Sacred Waterhole"

Immediately beneath these falls was a fast running stream, 

where the bubbles I showed yesterday were found. 

In the same pool was an Eel - 

very hard to see because of the distortion of light and water. 

 

But alive it most certainly was -

swimming left and right

in this fast running water.

Light and water create everything we see.

Further down the stream there was a quiet pool 

where I was able to take this "reflection shot".
The  people were standing across the pool from me, and higher up
on the next rock ledge.
The image has been inverted, otherwise it would not make sense
at the casual glance.

Reflections in a quiet pool at Mumbulla Falls

This Striped Marsh Frog 
was nearly a victim of its love of water.
 This little frog was unable to escape 
from the steep-sided Dog Bowl.

But David liberated it.

I could not resist the image, though.
Light and dark, water and light together.

(Click to enlarge image)

Further back from the coast,

one finds dark rainforest patches, in deep gullies.

Such sites are perfect for the Coachwood Tree. 

For reasons I do not understand the Coachwood always has patches 

of soft grey-green colour, 

(which I always enjoy looking at), 

which seems to come from a microscopic lichen.

My eye was taken by the colour contrast 

offered by the single bright red berry of the Morinda vine 

against the grey green lichenised bark, 

and the moss growing on the Coachwood.

Click to enlarge the image.

Back into the light and water.

Here is a young male Fur Seal seen at Wagonga Inlet, Narooma.

The seals normally reside at Montague Island, 

but some have taken to life in the Wagonga Inlet, 

where they hang around the boat ramps 

and fish cleaning tables, waiting to be fed.

With the size of these animals, 

and the numbers of little children who like to watch

the seals and rays feeding

there is a potential accident waiting to happen at Narooma.

There need to be warning signs erected, 

and common-sense behaviour guidelines observed.

Make no mistake - 
this doe-eyed seal is a powerful wild animal.

Fur Seal, trying to "con" fishermen into feeding it with fish carcasses.

And my final piece in this 
photo essay about "light".
 Here is a near-perfect Spiderweb

(seen in the early-morning light, of course).

(Click to see the details in the web)

This spider is possibly the "Bush Orb Weaver", 

judging largely by its web shape, 

and the fact that the Spider was quite small, 

and its web was very delicate. 

It was clearly was not one of the much larger Orb Weaver spiders

whose webs are very strong, 

(and often golden in colour - which this definitely was not).

Those webs can be quite scary when one walks through them

and then (shock horror) discovers that 

one is carrying the large spider on your chest.

This little spider was safely left undisturbed.

Possibly a Bush Orb Weaver (Araneus eburnus)

 Fortunately, I was able to avoid 

this gorgeous little Orb Weaver.

I left her in peace, delicately weaving her web

producing the silken web with her spinnerets 

and positioning it with her back legs.

Spider webs are 

some of the finest textures

we can see with our poor human eyes.

Insects and spiders, of course, would find that laughable.

But it comes back to my point about light.

 Walking towards the early-morning sun 

I could easily discern the spiders web

catching the light on the fine fibres.

But when returning to the car, 

(with my back to the sun)

I had to be very careful to remember where the web was located

or else I would have walked straight through it

without seeing a thing.

Spiders, Plants, Frogs, Seals, Birds 

all depend on 

Light and Water;

Air and Earth.

We need to treasure these elements

lest we lose everything.

This is our role in the universe

to be the custodians.

We risk being the destroyers instead.

Let us learn from observing

the importance of light and water.

Cloud Farm views (of Knights Hill)

My friends Steve and Celeste live on Mount Murray at a property poetically named "Cloud Farm". From their hilltop one can look south towards Knights Hill, where the telecommunications towers for the Illawarra region are located.

Afternoon light shining on Knights Hill.
This was taken on the Winter Solstice.
The ocean is just visible in the background,
but it blends into the line of clouds out to sea.
The clifflines of the Illawarra Escarpment are highlighted
by the afternoon light.

Several weeks ago I went and had dinner at their house, after a big day out Orchid hunting with ANOS. Anyway, in a state of near-exhaustion I stayed over at their house, after dinner.

Next morning I woke just on sunrise - because they get so much light into their house.

I stumbled out of bed and looked outside and found them out and about already - rejoicing in the wonderful cloud and light effects of fog on the plateau near Carrington Falls and just topping Knights Hill.

This image was taken from the same place as the first image.
Its hard to imagine.
Check the trees on the left and foreground.

The TV towers are clearly visible protruding from the seemingly "flat" cloud of fog. In fact this hill is quite high, over the Illawarra Escarpment to the east (left) and it also drops away quite sharply (but nothing like as as severely) to the west (right) onto a sandstone plateau around Carrington Falls. One cannot see any of these details below the thick fog.

This image appears to me as something from Antarctica.
Two separate TV Towers (not quite in line - from this direction).
They are probably about 1 km apart, on top of Knights Hill.
Taken with the 300mm lens.

More interesting, to me, was the way in which the fog was behaving at the eastern edge of the escarpment.

The cloud was behaving as a glacier does, only with far greater fluidity. You can see the cloud breaking down (disintegrating), after it tumbles down off the cliffline.

Click to enlarge to see the full effect.

At the end of the plateau/cliff line, the cool mountain air was falling down over the edge, as the air on the coastal escarpment started to rise.

The circumstances created an almost circular pattern of air movement (the hot air rising, sucking the cold air (above it) down to fill the pressure imbalance thus created).

As the sun rose higher in the sky, it created this lovely effect of lighty behind the large Brown Barrel Eucalypt.
You will all be pleased to know that I then went back to bed for another hour, to "wake" at a more civilised hour. That comment is just for "Mick's" benefit, as she is always up and about early - looking for waders at "Sandy Straits and beyond". She knows that I am a night person. We often nearly cross over with our comments - me before I go to bed, and she as she starts the day.

EDIT:
Thanks to Mosura of Nature of Tasmania for a comment, in which he provided the technical name of the cloud behavour I was reporting.
Orographic Clouds
I knew there was a specific name for these louds, but could not remember it. The following extract - in red - describes the cloud movement I was able to witness.
.
"Orographic clouds develop in response to the forced lifting of air by the earth's topography (mountains for example).
"Air passing over a mountain oscillates up and down as it moves downstream. If the air lifts upward and cools through expansion as it rises to its saturation temperature during this process, the water vapour within condenses and becomes visible as a cloud.
"Upon reaching the mountain top, the air is heavier than the environment and will sink down the other side, warming as it descends. Once the air returns to its original height, it has the same buoyancy as the surrounding air. However, the air does not stop immediately because it still has momentum carrying it downward. With continued descent, the air becomes warmer than the surroundings and begins to accelerate back upward towards its original height. It is during the upper-most ascent phase of this cycle that clouds develop. In regions where air is descending, skies are clear."
Source: Cloud Structures: "Orographic Clouds"

Big Potato with Daffodils

Spring continues here in Robertson, but with blustery winds today.
The daffodils planted around the Big Potato, courtesy of Jill Keft of the Robertson Village Nursery, and the Robertson Chamber of Commerce, have all burst into flower over the last few warm days.At the back of the field where the Big Potato is located, there is a female Mudlark sitting on her clutch of eggs. Last week I saw 3 Currawongs perched around this bird, but obviously they have not yet gone in for a feed, as she is sitting on something - presumably eggs.

Female Mudlark, with white face and white beak just visible
Her white tail is visible on the right.
sitting on eggs in her mud nest.
They collect mud to build the nest -
that's what gives them their name.

It will be much more difficult when the eggs have hatched, and the adults need to feed the (juicy) young. These birds have selected their nest site very carefully, as there is a branch immediately over the top of the nest (protecting them from an overhead attack), and there is also a stiff branch about 6 inches (approx 125 mm) behind the nest (to the right), giving the nest protection from a rear attack. Lets hope their strategy works. But they will not be able to leave the nest defenceless, as this female did when I arrived under the tree. Currawongs work very quickly when attacking nestlings.
As the sky was clear in Robertson I went out to Ocean View to catch the view over Shell Harbour and Lake Illawarra. Unfortunately the sky out over the Ocean was a little hazy.This is looking out over Macquarie Pass - with Mt Macquarie the cliffline visible to the left. Knights Hill is to the right.The field in the foreground is on basalt soil. Beyond that - in the middle distance, is the natural forest on the escarpment top edge (on sandstone - which is why it was never cleared for farming). Macquarie Pass runs from just to the left of screen, down underneath the visible clifflines, and then out to the centre ground, at Albion Park and then Shell Harbour. The Pacific Ocean is on the horizon.

Pink Beard-heath - Leucopogon ericoides

Firstly, this is the general habitat of the Budderoo Plateau. We are looking from "heathland" (not visible because of the long-lens image) out over a lower section of Eucalypt forest. Clearly this is part of a sandstone plateau. In the medium distance you can see the one of the bluffs in the Barren Grounds (to the centre left), and to the right is Broughton Head, a free-standing ridge which is an ancient remnant of the Illawarra Escarpment.
You are looking through Broughton Pass. Broughton Head is an isolated outcrop of rock which separates Kangaroo Valley from the coastal strip. It is the dominant mountain located behind the village of Berry, on the Pacific Highway. In the far distance, one can just make out a flat coastal stretch of land, with the Pacific Ocean just visible as a light blue line below the horizon. From the map, this would be where Gerringong is located, south from Kiama.

You can see that while the Budderoo Plateau area is quite high (approx 740 metres), the climate is definitely influenced by its proximity to the Ocean. It is cool and very high in rainfall, and subject to sudden fogs, especially in summer.

Leucopogon ericoides (Pink Beard-heath) is a very dense-growing heath plant from out on the sandstone country on the Budderoo Plateau. It has a quite strong perfume, which is noticeable as you walk along the road, close to where these plants are growing.
In this photo you can see the flowers, the buds (with a red sepals, from which the white flowers can be seen to be emerging- see the buds at centre right of image). The narrow, dark leaves are visible, and on the far left one can clearly see the striped and slightly recurved underside of a leaf. All these features are diagnostic of this species.

Below is a photo of a stem with pink buds and the pointed leaves. The fact that these flowers appear in groups, in the leaf axils is also diagnostic. Most of the colour actually comes from the sepals through which the flowers emerge, as they open. The tips of the flowers, when in bud, are pink, but they open white.
Below is a close-up of a single flower. You can see the woolly surface of the inside of the flower from which this plant genus gets its name - meaning "white beard". These woolly flowers distinguish Leucopogon from other related plants, such as Epacris. This species holds its flower widely reflexed when fully opened. The width of this flower is approx 5mm. The stamens, which in this genus are said to be held deep within the corolla tube, in fact are quite clearly visible, because of the way the flower opens itself so widely. The parts of the flower are in "fives" - 5 "lobes" (in layman's speak - petals), 5 stamens.
This image will open to full screen size. It is worth clicking on the image, to open it up to its full size, to see the flower in full detail.

Kiama Blowhole and Bombo - in a heavy swell

Firstly, let me apologise for not having written anything for nearly a week. I have been sneezing, and coughing all week. Very annoying, but not a major illness, but enough to be off-putting to me, and to anyone else who might have been around. So I took to my bed, to try and get over it.
Today, as I was feeling better, I suggested to Dave and Petra that we go down to Kiama. There has been a major storm off the southern Queensland coast, and its effects are visible as far south as the Illawarra coastline, so I figured the Kiama Blowhole might be impressive.
Unfortunately, the swell was running from the north-west, and the blowhole faces south-east, so the waves were not really "running in" the narrow channel leading to the Blowhole. Rather it was pretty choppy, and every now and then there would be a good "blow".

But the rough seas around Kiama were pretty impressive.
There is a rock pool below the headland, and one brave soul was out on the ocean end of the rock pool, and was enjoying being washed off the end of the pool, back into the relatively safe waters of the pool itself. He would then run back along the concrete edge of the pool, back to the ocean end of the pool, to await the next huge wave. And then he would do it all over again, and again.In many cases, huge waves crashed over the pool, and washed right back to the entrance of the pool, (to the left) and even mounted up a few steps (on occasions), causing bystanders to scurry further up the hillside, in order to try to stay dry.

Dave, being an Illawarra native, knew of an interesting place just north of Kiama, called Cathedral Rock. It is just north of Bombo, the next headland north from Kiama. Here you can see the huge waves breaking over the rocky Bombo headland, as seen from the Blowhole area.So we drove over to the site of an old Cleary Brothers quarry. The rock in this headland (and at Kiama) is trachyte, a particularly hard volcanic rock, a form of "bluestone".
In the site of the old quarry, there is a rock wall which obviously was the original cliff edge, but the hill behind it has been quarried down to the just above sea level. In the photo above, you can see a wave crashing over the rock wall, into the flat quarried area (on the right) behind the rock wall.

THE WATERFALL FROM NOWHERE

This part of the old cliffline faces north-east, so the waves were really crashing into it, in all their amazing full force. Occasionally a huge wave would crash right over the highest point of the rock wall. David was much bolder than I was, and went relatively close to the wall of rock. It was quite safe, (really) because I was well back, but using a telephoto lens, which foreshortens the distance between Dave and the amazing crashing wave.

So, you end up with an image of what appears to be a waterfall - coming from nowhere. The sound of the huge seas crashing over these rocks was awesome.