Pelican Yoga

Easily overlooked… (#20 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + suitably sunny musical bonus

Published July 17, 2023 by Pelidoug

Easily overlooked… (#20 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series) + suitably sunny musical bonus

Some arid Australian plants are flamboyant, immediately arresting, intensely colourful.

However, to a hasty, inattentive human, not a few of them look “plain”, “drab”, barely-there.

Rich rewards await the more attentive: if you stop, and “zoom in”, you will discover that many such plants are exquisitely structured and their colour palette is much richer, and/or more variegated, than was initially apparent.

The petite, pictured example is probably a member of the genus Ptilotus; the name refers to their flowers’ “hairy” appearance.

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Mount Sonder (#19 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 16, 2023 by Pelidoug

Mount Sonder (#19 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Even by Australian standards, this post’s hero is a relatively modest mountain.

130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, Mount Sonder (1,380 metres) is the Northern Territory’s 4th highest peak; with the sole exception of Western Australia, all other Australian States (& the ACT) have considerably higher mountains.

Everest (which I have seen, “in person”, albeit from some distance) comprehensively dwarfs it, but is no lovelier.

Mount Sonder is one of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.

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Spinifex pigeon (#18 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 15, 2023 by Pelidoug

Spinifex pigeon (#18 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Strangely under-emphasised in most NT publicity, advertorials – and even in genuinely independent media coverage – but true:

Central Australia’s birdlife is abundant and oft-spectacular.

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“Tenacious”, in full context (#17 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 14, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Tenacious”, in full context (#17 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

This post’s photo was taken from almost exactly the same vantage point as the previous post’s…and only a few seconds later.

In “standard format” terms, #16’s photo was a cropped version of a 120mm (short telephoto lens) view, whilst this post’s is a wide angle (24 mm) shot, unedited.

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Tenacious (#16 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 13, 2023 by Pelidoug

Tenacious (#16 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Some “arid” Australian rockfaces cause some humans to revise their notions of trees’ “minimum requirements”.

The pictured ghost gum is growing on the eastern wall of Ormiston Gorge, 135 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

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Zebra finches at waterhole (#15 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series + suitably fleet musical bonus)

Published July 11, 2023 by Pelidoug

Zebra finches at waterhole (#15 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series + suitably fleet musical bonus)

This post’s photo is far-from-perfect.

Nonetheless, I think/hope it conveys a sense of just how fleet-and-flurrying (and splashy) is the to-and-fro of zebra finches at a drinking/bathing “station”.

In arid regions such “stations” can themselves appear and vanish, very rapidly.

The pictured pool sat at the base of the eastern wall of Jessie Gap on 14 June 2023. (photo is copyright Doug Spencer. Jessie Gap is a short drive from Alice Springs)

Musically, I agree with the listener who suggested that if J.S. Bach had heard Chris Thile play, there’d be a set of Bach mandolin suites.

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“The Breakaways” (#14 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 10, 2023 by Pelidoug

“The Breakaways” (#14 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Generally known simply as “The Breakaways”, Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park is an “unearthly” and beautiful place.

Nearly 900 kilometres north of Adelaide, it is also very “remote”.

From Coober Pedy, however, it is less than a 30 minute drive.

You probably have not visited this part of the South Australian outback.

Nonetheless, it may look “strangely familiar”…

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Coober Pedy, boasting (#13 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 9, 2023 by Pelidoug

Coober Pedy, boasting (#13 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Its boastful sign notwithstanding, Coober Pedy is definitely not a city.

846 ks north of Adelaide, Coober Pedy has fewer than 2,000 “permanent” residents, and the local housing market is decidedly “depressed”.

The town’s self-declared status as “opal capital of the world” is, however, defensible.

Reportedly, its name derives from kupa piti – a phrase coined by the local Aboriginal people whose ancestors arrived in South Australia’s outback more than a few thousand years before kupa piti described any of it.

Kupa piti translates as “whitefellas’ hole”.

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Ephemeral mirror in ancient “frame” (#12 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

Ephemeral mirror in ancient “frame” (#12 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

The pictured puddle’s probable lifespan: a matter of days…or very few weeks.

Age of the creek bed and gorge in which it sits: circa fifty times older than The Grand Canyon!

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Blooming, near Chambers Pillar (#11 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published July 7, 2023 by Pelidoug

Blooming, near Chambers Pillar (#11 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

The shutter clicks which yielded this and the immediately preceding post’s images were less than one minute apart.

In the interim, my feet had taken very few steps.

Central Australia often reminds attentive visitors that whenever they pause to admire a splendid landscape they ought also look down at whatever is just in front of their feet!

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