Perth – Page 4 – Pelican Yoga

Wireless Hill – feathers & flower spikes (#1 of 3)

Published October 30, 2024 by Pelidoug

Wireless Hill – feathers & flower spikes (#1 of 3)

This little series celebrates a favourite place, as it was on Sunday, 27 October 2024 – our first fully-waking day after our return to home turf.

(coming soon to Pelican Yoga: a teaser-series devoted to two contrasting parts of Indonesia. One is very sparsely populated. The other is “our” planet’s most-populous large island )

”European” calendars suggest it is still springtime in Perth.

In fact, the world’s greatest substantial-city, entirely-natural springtime flower-show ended some weeks ago.

Here, however, some wonderful plants are in flower at any time of year…plants which naturally occur only in WA’s southwest.

This post’s hero is one of them.

Comments closed

“Robbing” gravestones, adjacent to Hollywood.

Published October 29, 2024 by Pelidoug

“Robbing” gravestones, adjacent to Hollywood.

In 2024 Father’s Day fell on a Sunday, and its afternoon was cloudy, but fine and mild.

Unsurprisingly, those factors made for a busy day at Perth’s largest cemetery.

By late afternoon, many Karrakatta gravestones were adorned with fresh floral (and other) tokens of remembrance.

Many Australian ravens were visible, “visiting” those gravestones.

Comments closed

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (final in series-proper)

Published October 28, 2024 by Pelidoug

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (final in series-proper)

Southwest WA’s black cockatoos are highly sociable and very intelligent.

They are intermittently LOUD, but rarely aggressive/disputatious.

Breeding pairs usually “bond” permanently, and both parents are remarkably attentive to their offspring.

When it comes to enjoying their food, very evidently – both the “capturing” and the consumption thereof – these birds have few peers.

Comments closed

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#4 in series: dexterity & “beak-power”)

Published October 27, 2024 by Pelidoug

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#4 in series: dexterity & “beak-power”)

One of life’s recurrent pleasures in southwest WA is to watch how any member of the region’s three endemic species of black cockatoo “deals with” his or her food.

This involves hugely-varying amounts of “difficulty” or “effort”, depending on whatever is the currently-relevant “nut”, “spike”, “seed pod”, “cone”, or flower.

For Carnaby’s black cockatoos, Banksia are a staple food source.

Extracting Banksia seeds from a “cone” is equally a matter of precision and power.

Comments closed

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#2 in series: pink fairies)

Published October 25, 2024 by Pelidoug

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#2 in series: pink fairies)

Caladenia latifolia – generally known as “pink fairy orchids”, or simply “pink fairies” – are not endemic to southwest Western Australia.

They also naturally occur in other southern Australian places, including Tasmania.

In my (totally “unscientific”) experience, as someone who has lived on both sides of the Nullarbor, they appear to be much more “common”/easily-seen in southwest WA than anywhere else I have been.

The pictured ones were among more than a few that were flowering in Hollywood Reserve on 01.09.2024.

Comments closed

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#1 in series: Hakea)

Published October 24, 2024 by Pelidoug

“Father’s Day” 2024, in Hollywood (#1 in series: Hakea)

In January 2022 parts of Hollywood were devastated by a very fierce (i.e. hot) fire.

You didn’t hear about it?

My beloved and I have visited Hollywood many times, but the only bit of Los Angeles that we have directly “enjoyed” is its godawful airport.

We harbour no desire to set foot in the famous/infamous Hollywood, but are very fond of the petite, not-famous Hollywood Reserve.

This choice patch of inner-urban bushland sits “right next door” to one of Australia’s major cemeteries.

Comments closed

Spring in Perth, 2024 (in “winter”)

Published August 28, 2024 by Pelidoug

Spring in Perth, 2024 (in “winter”)

Pelican Yoga briefly interrupts its ongoing celebration of autumn 2024 on the Coorong, to celebrate the arrival of spring, in Perth.

Western Australian wildflowers are not fussed about calendars, nor European-derived notions of “the four seasons”.

Four days before the alleged end of winter, in Shenton Bushland it was abundantly evident that spring had already “sprung”.

Kangaroo Paws are now easy to see, as are some (not all, yet) of the “spring-flowering” orchids.

Comments closed

Winter light plays with Perth CBD (2 of 2)

Published July 19, 2024 by Pelidoug

Winter light plays with Perth CBD (2 of 2)

Even as a spectacularly distorted reflection on the facade of another, lower and more “glassy” edifice, St Martins Tower is unmistakably itself.

Since we moved to Perth in 1983 many different tenants have “badged” St Martins Tower; as you can see in lower right hand quarter of the above photo, the current logo is that of ICBC – a Chinese bank.

From 1978 to 1988 St Martins Tower (140 metres) was Perth tallest building.

In the much more crowded and taller 2024 skyline, it is #10.

The #1 ranking, however, has remained unchanged for 32 years; Central Park (249 metres) still looks down on all other WA rooftops.

Comments closed

Winter light plays with CBD (1 of 2)

Published July 17, 2024 by Pelidoug

Winter light plays with CBD (1 of 2)

Architecturally speaking, much of what stands tall in Perth is depressingly typical of what stands tall in just about every other substantial city on “our” planet.

Most post-1960 “towers” are both bland and brutal.

However, Perth’s unusually intense winter light can work “magic”, when combined with the happy fact that “vertical”, “flat” glass panes are hardly ever truly vertical or truly flat.

Comments closed

Bigger than a Komodo Dragon – South Perth’s “big lizard” weighs 9 tonnes…

Published July 16, 2024 by Pelidoug

Bigger than a Komodo Dragon – South Perth’s “big lizard” weighs 9 tonnes…

…and it’s “companion animal” is a 5.6 tonne numbat!

Together, they make one hell of an “entry statement” – or “exit statement” – for those who travel by ferry to and/or from the South Perth foreshore.

Not coincidentally, South Perth’s major attraction is Perth Zoo, which is within easy walking distance of the ferry station.

Comments closed

Tag: Perth