nature and travel – Page 3

Looking down (#20 in series) on a Banksia

Published February 20, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#20 in series) on a Banksia

Membership of the genus is hotly debated – should Dryandras be included, or not? – but, however defined, Banksias are extraordinary plants.

These members of the Protea family are unique to Australia.

The overwhelming majority naturally occur only in certain parts of Western Australia’s southwest.

Depending on when one encounters it, a banksia’s flower spike can be prodigiously shaggy, “untidy”, and drab…. or a glorious example of perfect symmetry, Fibonacci sequences, and subtle colouration.

Each flowering “spike”/“cone” bears many – sometimes, several thousand – individual flowers.

I particularly love the appearance of some banksia flower spikes when viewed from directly above.

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Looking down (#19 in series) on winter-flowering WA orchids)

Published February 17, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#19 in series) on winter-flowering WA orchids)

Generally, with flowers, the best strategy is as per the generally-best approach to photographing people and most other living subjects….

1: try to be in (or very near to) the same horizontal plane as your subject.

2: point the lens straight at its eye/s or “face”.

3: ideally, do this when the sun is low, and behind you – nicely illuminating the subject rather than turning it into a black silhouette or a mere scatteration of light.

Sometimes, however, the better plan – or at least, something worth trying – is to flout some or all such rules.

This post’s image looks straight down at the top of its subject, in “poor” light, in the middle of a winter day.

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Looking down (#18 in series: …but just a smidgin)

Published February 15, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#18 in series: …but just a smidgin)

When in an “epic” landscape such as The Grand Canyon, one should always remember to look at the “near views” as well as the grand vistas.

However jaw-dropping it is to look down 1.6 vertical kilometres to the Colorado, there is every chance that something else – something equally worthy of your attention – sits within a couple of metres of your nose…on the ground at your feet.

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Looking down (#17 in series: facing Grand Canyon’s North Rim)

Published February 13, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#17 in series: facing Grand Canyon’s North Rim)

This post’s photos were taken within the space of circa sixty seconds, on the autumn morning of October 8, 2012.

In the unlikely event that one had never previously seen any images of the Grand Canyon, it would be easy to believe that this post’s and the immediately-preceding post’s photos were taken in two entirely different canyons.

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Looking down (#16 in series: facing Grand Canyon’s South Rim)

Published February 10, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#16 in series: facing Grand Canyon’s South Rim)

Our early autumn morning helicopter flight in October 2012 made it easy for us to see how very different were the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and South Rim.

The average “straight line” distance from South Rim to North Rim: 16 kilometres.

Maximum straight line distance: 28.8 kilometres.

However, the road distance from South Rim Village to North Rim Village is 346 kilometres; given favourable weather, a car’s driver should allow five hours!

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Looking down (#15 in series: wide-angle, aerial view of Grand Canyon)

Published February 8, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#15 in series: wide-angle, aerial view of Grand Canyon)

The Grand Canyon’s primary “sculptor” – the Colorado River – is on the left hand side of the image.

From this October 2012 photo’s helicopter vantage point, the Colorado’s waters were rendered invisible by early morning shadows, but the river’s course was readily apparent.

As you would expect, the Grand Canyon National Park’s “stats” are impressive; click here to see many of them.

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Looking down (#14 in series) …to the Colorado

Published February 6, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#14 in series) …to the Colorado

The first three of this post’s four photos were all taken from a helicopter, looking down into the Grand Canyon.

That canyon’s “lead author” runs along its “floor” – the Colorado River.

As the Colorado’s excellent Wikipedia entry notes, the United States’ fifth-longest river is one of the most controlled and litigated river systems in the world.

This once-wild, formerly much-mightier river has become an ailing shadow of its former self; irrigators and thirsty cities have tamed, maimed and nearly drained it.

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Looking down (#13 in series – trees “5”: grand, surprising)

Published February 3, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#13 in series – trees “5”: grand, surprising)

One of the world’s most famous, most oft-photographed natural attractions can still greatly surprise even an allegedly “well-informed” first-time visitor.

This post’s photos were both taken from a helicopter, looking down at the northern “wall” of what many humans (wrongly) believe is “our” planet’s biggest and/or deepest canyon.

The Grand Canyon is neither the biggest in volume, nor the deepest, nor the longest, nor the widest, but it is very grand.

Some parts of the Grand Canyon are a deal “leafier”, cooler, and wetter than most people imagine.

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Looking down (#12 in series…on Australia Day)

Published February 2, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#12 in series…on Australia Day)

As you probably know, on Australia Day 2026 circa 2,500 people took part in an entirely peaceful “Invasion Day” rally/protest in Perth’s Forrest Place.

Adjacent to Forrest Place, and overlooking it, is Forrest Chase’s elevated walkway – from which an IED (improvised explosive device) was hurled.

Had it worked as intended, the probable consequence would have been multiple injuries…perhaps, fatalities too.

By virtue of the bomb-throwing occurring in Perth, rather than in Sydney or Melbourne – and the bomb’s failure to detonate – Australia’s Sydney-centric, so-called “national” media were regrettably but predictably slow to grasp the seriousness of this profoundly disturbing incident.

Meanwhile, that afternoon, my beloved and I were blissfully ignorant of what had happened, as we enjoyed a long walk along the Rocky Bay cliff line, above the Swan River.

The waters immediately below the North Fremantle cliffs (where river and ocean are separate, but very close to each other) were thronged with Australia Day revellers, and many millions of dollars worth of boats.

Goodwill abounded.

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Looking down (#11 in series – trees “4” – Spring Gully)

Published January 31, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#11 in series – trees “4” – Spring Gully)

This sequel to #10 in this series looks down into the actual gully in Spring Gully Conservation Park.

Its own website explains the Park’s raison d’être:

Spring Gully Conservation Park was set aside to conserve the westernmost population of the red stringybark Eucalyptus macrorhyncha. This park is the only reserve in South Australia to contain this particular species.

Alas, Spring Gully’s “hero” species is now in serious trouble in its sole South Australian “refuge”.

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Category: nature and travel