Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
All photos in this post were taken within a few seconds of each other as we flew over the “bottom end” of the Taku Glacier.
Circa 15 minutes later we would be back in Juneau, Alaska’s capital city.
From there, no road will take you out into “wilderness”.
However, by floatplane, an incredible array of “pristine” locations are less than 60 minutes distant – some, less than 30 minutes away from downtown Juneau.
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The headline refers to area, not population – nobody makes their home atop the Taku Glacier’s surface, which still covers 650-plus square kilometres.
i took this post’s photo at 7.39 pm on 24 April 2015, circa one minute after “our” floatplane lifted off the Taku River, adjacent to Taku Lodge, and we began the return flight to Juneau.
In less than one more minute – as you will see in the next post – we’d be immediately in front of the Taku Glacier’s enormous snout.
This is the world’s thickest mountain glacier, but….
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All three aerial photos in this post were taken within a “window” of little more than one minute.
Their “star” is the same glacier, & fewer than twenty minutes had passed since “our” floatplane had taken off from the fiord immediately in front of downtown Juneau.
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On the afternoon of 24 May 2015 “our” floatplane took off from the Gastineau Channel – the fiord adjacent to Alaska’s capital city.
Juneau is a surprising place, as is true of all of the low-lying, coast-adjacent terrain on southeastern Alaska’s “panhandle”.
This “strip” is not a cold place, by northern North American standards, at least.
Snow falls are infrequent, usually modest. Much of the natural vegetation is temperate rainforest.
In “the season”, cruise ships disgorge huge numbers of tourists onto Juneau’s tourist-tacky foreshore.
In terms of permanent residents, however, Alaska’s capital city is a small town; if it were in China, it would be a “village”.
Australia calls the likes of Mount Gambier, Albany, and Bathurst “cities”; Juneau is a little more populous than “The Mount”, but a deal less so than Albany or Bathurst.
Juneau is unique among capital cities in one crucial respect: no roads connect it to anywhere more than a few kilometres distant.
The mountains and glaciers just inland of “the strip” are so formidable that all visitors – and all supplies – reach Juneau via sea or air.
Leave a CommentThe 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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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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Pelican Yoga wishes you all a happy and safe festive season.
You may imagine that the pictured “decorations” involve snow and ice, either directly or as inspiration source, and that they express nostalgia for – or romantic notions about – the “properly Christmassy” Decembers of Santa’s homeland, deep in the northern hemisphere.
If so, you would be wrong on all counts!
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You are looking at a plant which is widely cultivated because it is pretty, very easy to grow, and is now available in a range of flower-colour options.
Oxalis purpurea is one of many “alien invaders” from Southern Africa.
They displace native species.
Alas, they (and other weed species from southern Africa) now proliferate even in places dedicated to the conservation and showcasing of Australian native flora.
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Hoteliers and tour operators like to describe the pictured beach as “idyllic”.
Ifaty is a village in southwestern Madagascar; fishing is its raison d’être., although tourism has become increasingly significant in recent years.
Its seafront “lagoon” is sheltered by one of the world’s major coral reefs.
On the reef’s far side is the Mozambique Channel, which is 1,700 ks long, 419 ks wide at its narrowest point, and surprisingly deep – up to nearly 3,300 metres, with an average depth of around 2,700 metres.
I took the photo just before midday on 19 May 2018, as the big daily event was unfolding.
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