page 2

Journey's End

Traffic noise is almost non-existent apart from a short period when the sound of a distant tractor can be heard, and the crashing surf which defines the west coast beashes is also missing.

Even Alice can handle surf like this.

It is all very peaceful.
photo by miranda woodward

Above the high water mark is the Conservation Area where endangered species enjoy a measure of protection.

Alice is fascinated by the pied stilts.

photo by miranda woodward

Have you ever given any thought to the process whereby a bird actually achieves lift-off. Along the way we find a series of tracks in softish sand that may provide some clue:

photo by miranda woodward

Miranda finds a shell, just an ordinary shell on an ordinary sandy beach, but a play with the macro setting on her camera brings a beauty to the eye I'd never have guessed at, and probably outside the range of my small Canon, anyway.

photo by miranda woodward

Just above the high water mark is a patch of iceplant, with a bumble bee investigating

photo by miranda woodward

We are heading back to the van and a nice cup of tea, or rather, I am. Miranda heads off to explore the other end of the beach.

You'd never believe what that macro setting can do to a subject

photo by miranda woodward

She discovers an open air art gallery, Geriatric Park, featuring sculptors at play.

photo by miranda woodward

photo by miranda woodward

Most of the ingredients are drift, found art, drawing on a substantial and honourable tradition that has always challenged conventional notions of proper artistic material. The clothes pegs, however, in the sculpture below, besides their obvious reference to the birdlife in the area, further refine our thinking about artistic materials, with an obviously intentional pun on "plastic" art providing a verbal dimension to the piece to compement it's visual and spatial components. A complex and finally satisfying work.

photo by miranda woodward

Even at its simplest, this work has the capacity to at once recall and redefine traditional totemic forms.

photo by miranda woodward

It is with a certain amount of reluctance that Miranda leaves these impressive erect forms and returns her attention to the birdlife.

photo by miranda woodward

I put the kettle on and wander over to the nearby Conservation area where I am greeted by a flame tree just coming into bloom. Now I love these trees, but there are those up north who put them in the same category as gorse, pampas grass, wild onion, agapanthus, or montbretia. Still, if I was a local whose auntie or gran had planted these years ago, I'd be pissed off if some uppy DOC officer took to them with a chain saw.

Back to the van, where Alice is protesting loudly at our absence and I spot Miranda coming back down the beach.

Miranda gives Alice the last word as I pour the tea.

photo by miranda woodward

We'll be back for a closer look once my leg comes right. Actually, after the rest, it's been surprisingly good.