Anyone walking the Meelup Trail will know the way the soil changes from the organgey iron gravel between the granite boulders—with granite bottlebrush and balga and many other trees, plants and flowers—to the sandy white soil of peppermints and other plants. Ecosystems differentiated and whole.
Category Archives: Oceans
Broaching the Breeching Whales
We walk from the old lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste, Wardandi country, down to the whale lookout; and already we see them blowing spray along the way, and jumping clear of the water to land with splash and slap. We arrive at the little walkway and viewing area. There are maybe a dozen different places in the vast outpouring of ocean that we can see them. Then, just before we go, one jumps up, almost fully out of the water, to land on its side with a slap—we can’t help letting out a little cry of exclamation. And then he does it again. Maamoong. Slap. And again. And again. Five times up and out of the water, then crash—down on his side.
Dolphins at the Beach
Only maybe a half dozen or so times—maybe slightly more—have I seen dolphins on this stretch of Perth coast north of the river. This day I’m in the water with my nephew, and they are a fair way out—maybe a hundred metres or so; possibly only one or two of them—-hard to keep an eye them on at water level—heading north I think. Out from the river? In any case, something to note.
Dragonfly-Sized Mosquitos
Cliff Head campground after driving the Indian Ocean Drive from Mingenew, and Mullewa and Tenindewa before that: the whole Northern (wildflower) Loop done with most of the southern in one day, and now seeing how far the road is open before it’s closed for roadwords ahead. And just before we can go no further we turn into Cliff Head and down to an almost empty campground bar a couple of caravans. We set up and eat dinner on the beach just before sunset, all alone except for a whole swarm of dragonfly-sized mosquitos getting blown in the wind south to north. Maybe there are no other campers because they’ve been carried away by these things. They fly, dopily, into the side of our heads. They are giant mosquitos, and somewhat slow. To keep them from feeding on us we are forced to kill those that land on our skin. We keep them and later throw them on the fire, hoping they and the smoke will keep others away.
The next morning they are still around, even in the daylight. While above the cirrus are also appearing in long streaks, like the tracks of mosquito wings. More heat approaching.
Limestone and Volcanos
Departing Bali in the plane: Mt. Agung. Lembongan and Penida—all limestone. Volcano to east—Lombok?
Upsurging liquid rock. And broken down coastal bits, reformed, broken down, reformed.
Offerings to the Gods/Dogs
The offerings with rice and flowers given to the Balinese gods is so often eaten up by birds and cats and dogs.
Dipping Green
Sunset scene on Bali west coast with orange and yellow above the horizon line, and then, below a cloud, there is green dipping down into the orange-yellow section. Above this it is bluer, with Venus shining bright.
Grafted Frangipani
There’s a frangipani tree that hangs over the pool of our villa, which overlooks the beaches of northern Sanur. The frangipani is flowering white and yellow, except for one branch near the centre which flowers pink. We notice this, puzzle over it a while, and investigate no further at the time. Then a couple of days later, while swimming, I come right under the branch in question, and find there something wrapping around where it connects to a larger branch—the pink-flowering section grafted onto the otherwise-yellow-white-flowering tree.
Black Sand White Sand Sanur
Inside the Sanur reef the sand is all white—tiny pieces of broken down coral. ThIs can make it hard to walk on—hard on the feet, and with so much space between the grain there’s often alot of ‘sink’. In the more northern part of Sanur—on the other side of the marina—where there is no more reef, and the boats go out to Lembongan and the Gili Islands—the sand is black again, like the many rocks of this volcanic isle.
The Way Water Drains in Bali
Sanur and the water is draining slowly from the beach of small limestone coral pieces. It runs out on the outgoing tide in a kind of cross-ways patchwork almost parallell to the shoreline—and it gathers in the ridges left behind. Or almost—there is still a slight downward movement to the next intersecting line—to the next valley amongst the ridges, which takes the water gradually lower and further out to see, following the main line of the tide: criss-crossing, slowly moving, gathering, slipping, watering all.
And I can’t help being reminded, now, of the way the water moves down the whole island of Bali from the lakes and mountains in the north, slowly across all the rice paddies, gradually flowing lower, all of it managed, as it makes its way, slowly, out to sea…before it rises again, and gathers into clouds, which form and sometimes fall as rain over the mountains again.
John Stubley 