AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes

AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes
I love a sunburnt country / A land of sweeping plains / Of ragged mountain ranges / Of droughts and flooding rains / I love her far horizons / I love her jewel-sea / Her beauty and her terror / The wide brown land for me / ~ Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968)

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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Secret Beauty of the Sea


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Rocky opening to a small reef at Anthony's Nose, a popular boat launching and fishing area south of Dromana beach, Mornington Peninsula
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Watery Wednesday #24
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Shimmering secrets
Quiet beauty in waiting
Treasures of coastlines
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Riding the Waves


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ In the early morning light, trainers exercise their horses at Balnarring Beach, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia.
They park the floats at Balnarring, ride the sands to Somers beach and back to Balnarring.
Finally, the horses take a refreshing dip.
(It's a few months since I last posted a photo of this event, so I thought it was time to post another!)
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That's My World Tuesday # XIX
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Early morning ride
Fresh light dawns on fresh waters
New eyes new heartbeat
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Ruby Sailing


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Boat shed on Dromana beach, Mornington Peninsula
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Ruby Tuesday meme
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Summer hideaway
Red and white holiday glow
Seasonal sailing
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Monday, February 23, 2009

Exotic Mellow Yellows


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A tapestry I made some years ago
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Mellow Yellow Monday #7
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Dreamings of the East
Scents of exotic colours
Some far Shangri-la
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MellowYellowMondayBadge

Butterfly Art


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ My beautiful metal butterfly made some years ago by a Tasmanian artist (whose name escapes me).
He has since passed away, but he had a wonderful studio, open to the public in northern Tasmania, displaying his wonderful array of metal sculptures and objects.
I remember he always loved to dress in black with a heavy gold chain round his neck.
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Blue Monday meme
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Luminous metals
Bright silhouette of colour
Butterfly magic
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White Bread for White Wings


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Breakfast on the verandah for a wild one
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Monochrome Monday meme
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Nourishing breakfast
A little bread can go far
Sailing on white wings
~

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Life in the Slower Lane


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ There is something so very peaceful about animals grazing in a delightful countryside.
This photo was taken at Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula
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Sunday Scenery meme
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Country peacefulness
Animals walk the slow life
Balm for the spirit
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Summer Stars


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Many streets in the Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula display these summer flowers.
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Today's Flowers #28
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Pinky red flowers
Like prickly bright glowing stars
Raining from green leaves
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Wheels and a dog equals happiness...


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ I love this photo of an older woman, wheelchair bound, but still enjoying the freedom of being beachside + taking her dog for a walk
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Scenic Sunday #32
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Wheelchair traveller
Freedom is an attitude
Just me and my dog
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Scenic Sunday

Twilight Threads


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Twilight summer skies in the Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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One Single Impression #52 ~ Twilight
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In the twilight hours
Last sighs of sinking daylight
Yin and yang entwined
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Summer Emeralds


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Summer flowerings and varied emerald green tones in my front garden in the Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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Emerald Sundays #16
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Summer colour tones
Purples and blues in green seas
Summer tapestries
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Wild Cockatoo Shadows


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Wild cockatoos on my verandah in the early morning light.
(Hope you're not tired of cockatoo shots just yet!)
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Shadow Shot Sunday #40
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Wild morning shadows
Gathering to feed the day
Cockatoo melee
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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Rosella Magic


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Rosella on my clothes line, Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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Camera Critters #46
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Strange colour contrasts
Dusky greens chipped with bright tones
Rosella magic
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Camera Critters

Monday, February 16, 2009

Magic in the Glass


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A glass bowl of sweetly scented dried fruits in my lounge room
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Monochrome Monday meme
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Pot pourri of fruits
Semblance of frozen beauty
Magic in the glass
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Mellow Scented Fruits


Collage by Gemma Wiseman ~ Dried and scented fruit in a glass bowl in my lounge room.
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Mellow Yellow Monday #6
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Mellow scented fruits
Luxury in a glass bowl
Drops of fantasy
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MellowYellowMondayBadge

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Distorted Beauty


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Thick haze of smoke over Port Phillip Bay as seen from my back verandah this Sunday afternoon in the Dromana Hills.
This is just a sign of the ongoing fires still burning north and east of Melbourne.
Usually, this is a beautiful view.
But to see such smoke almost paling out the waters of the bay and Mount Martha in the background is quite frightening.
And then there are the dramatic gusts of wind blurring the leaves.
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Sunday Scenery meme~

In this smokey world
Light seems just a slave to fire
Distorted beauty
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Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Another view
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Romance of Sailing


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ My old sailing ship
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PhotoHunt #149 ~ Nautical
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Tall ships on tall seas
Weathering survival strengths
Romance of sailing

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Terrible Beauty


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ A week after Victoria's devastating fires first began, the morning skies over the Mornington Peninsula (south of Melbourne) still glow with smoky beauty.
Here in the Dromana Hills, we may not be part of the wild fires, but it is as if we are trapped in the eerie eye of a storm.
To the north and east are fires, always lurking on our horizons.
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Scenic Sunday #31
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Such ugly beauty
Gruesome bondage with horrors
Nature's wrath from hell
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Pic by Gemma Wiseman
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Scenic Sunday

Dove in the Shadows


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Dove on my verandah at Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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Shadow Shot Sunday #39
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Dove in the shadows
Peacefully resting alone
Soft moment in time
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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine on Wings


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Dove on my verandah, Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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Camera Critters #45
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Dove of peace and love
Taking a little soul time
Valentine vision
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NOTE: The dove is well-known in the Western world as a symbol of peace, but it is also a messenger of symbolic love.
The dove and turtledove are often used as love symbols in weddings.
~


Camera Critters

Monday, February 9, 2009

A Special Post ~ Bushfire in My Victoria, Australia


Pic by Gemma Wiseman
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Like Paradise Found,
I too have been wondering how to write a post about
the blackest day in Victorian history.
The day began with the heatwave on Saturday 7th February, 2009
and is still evolving.
It is a little like
the longest day in the longest night.
BUSHFIRE!
The very word tolls like a forlorn bell!
~
TV channels spill out horror story after horror story.
In Yea, people are living in tents waiting for the next stage,
whatever that is.
(Many slept in a car till tents became available.)
Communities like Narbethong, Marysville, Strathewan and Kinglake
have been totally erased from existance.
But the fire burns on still.
One survivor commented that the sky seemed to be raining fire.
As I write, the news says 131 people have perished
and the number is still climbing.
For details of this surreal legacy of Saturday's heatwave,
see The Age newspaper media reports directly from Melbourne, Australia.
Even a popular newsreader from Channel 9 ~
Brian Naylor ~
perished with his wife at Kinglake.
We all have some sensitive connections with someone affected by the fires!
~
And so, this post is reaching out
to all those still fighting to survive.
We are with you!
We hope with you!
~

Not all reds are fires
Not all reds are danger zones
Somewhere sleeps the rose

~

Black Songs on the Wing


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Crow on my roofline
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Monochrome Monday meme
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Haunting scavenger
Black omens sing on the wing
Old superstitions
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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Art of Pink Petals


Pic by Gemma Wiseman ~ Flowers in a front garden, Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula
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Today's Flowers #26
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Bright burst of pinks
Circles of slender petals
Magic floral art
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CALENDAR

Tasmania

Tasmania
A place of beauty in the Western Tiers

Tasmania

Tasmania
View near Blackwood Park Cottages, Mole Creek

New Landscapes

New Landscapes
New Worlds

Archive of Blog Quotes

  • A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent
  • Autumn is an introspective season when stray thoughts of the mind dive into the mystique of the soul - Gemma Wiseman
  • Autumn is the bridesmaid of Summer and the flowergirl of Winter ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Autumn whispers the tones of yesterday in a minor key ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Love is born / With a dark and troubled face, / When hope is dead / And in the most unlikely place; / Love is born, / Love is always born. - Michael Leunig's Christmas Song Cycle "Southern Star"
  • Spring paints the stars of heaven in Earth colours ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Summer sizzles with a sibilant hush / Broken by dreams of / Clinking ice ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. - G.K. Chesterton
  • Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. - Stanley Horowitz
  • Winter is the fire, simmering lonely in the soul ~ Gemma Wiseman
  • Winter is the shadow, the etching of the seasons in the mist ~ Gemma Wiseman

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