Dead Car Zone, Merna Mora Station

Jul1

Flinders Ranges, South Australia, 15th and 18th August 2016

This is on the first day and the fifth days of the Flinders Ranges workshop ..

On the rise above Merna Mora Station, there was a dead car and agricultural debris zone.

The first two images were taken on the afternoon of the first day, the reat on the afternoon of the fifth.

Some items had been there a long time. Note the wooden wheel spokes here.

Now where was that puncture repair kit?

There were commanding views from this place as well.

Fancy a quick spin?

And we came back later to a nearby spot for the sunset.

Ocean Harbour Dreaming

Jul30

15th November 2015. Ocean Harbour, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . . . . . (13. Ocean Harbour)).

In the afternoon of the 15th we visited Ocean Harbour, which seemed like a different world.

In the distance is the Great Dancing Hall and Parliament of the Shaker community who settled here many years ago. You can see some of their surviving sheep in the foreground.

The colony was founded by Ethel Mercaptan, who had become somewhat on the nose to many other members of her community so she led a splinter group to South Georgia.

Her mighty ship, the Wedgetail Beagle, still sits there waiting her command.

Though you can’t see the ghosts, you can see their chains.

The geese she kept to ward off any barbarian invasions of the ship remain on board and have made their nests there.

Meanwhile, the settlers created an abstract tapestry on the side of the ship, intended to depict either the future success of their new colony or their descent into hellfire.

The geese still watch out for potential barbarian invaders.

Unfortunately though, the captain of the ship, one Arbuthnot Queeg, had a secret heated compartment in the hold near the engine room that he had filled with giant pirañas, intending to either sell them in Peking or hold the city to ransom. The pirañas thwarted this plan when they ate through the hull and caused the ship to sink. They then perished in the cold waters of the bay.

This did not stop the colonists from painting an abstract tapestry on the rudder.

While the geese remain on board, the ship is contemplating turning into land

… and eventually into a forest.

Meanwhile the sheep have very little to do and spend their time lounging around, or since there is not much good grass, plunging into the sea to fish.

The giant spinning wheel remains, mute testimony to the plans to found a mighty clothing industry, had they just been more astute and chosen a kind of sheep that has wool.

So we gaze out across the pasture land to the empty spaces that might have been so much more.

The community itself has faded away as Shaker communities are inclined to do.

Travellers from space visit occasionally though.

The geese still hang around though there is no longer any crew to sail away in the ship.

And though the whole community has faded away, …

… a couple of chickens still hang around in front of one of the sheep.

Attention now, this is Mahommed Engels-Trump of the Pedantry Terrorism Squad of MI6. We have seized this post for dissemination of Fake Nudes (did I get that right?).

The ship is the Bayard, a sailing ship built in Liverpool in 1864 and was here being used as a coaling ship for the whaling station. It is 67 metres long and weighed 1200 tonnes. A gale in 1911 blew her across the bay where she sank in three metres of water and remains to this day. There was probably nothing romantic about the daily activities of the whaling station and the workers would have led hard lives in a spectacular setting and a cruel climate. MI6 deplores the misrepresentation here of fur seals, South Georgia cormorants and giant petrels. The “duck” on the water that was not mentioned is maybe a skua.

Wreck of Cherry Venture

Mar24

On the 10th of June 1987 I drove north in a rental car from Brisbane to Noosa Heads. There was a continuous urban settlement between the highway and the coast pretty much all the way, but when I got the ferry across the river at Noosa Heads I had left civilisation behind. One of the keepers from Double Island Point met me and drove me along the long beach to the lighthouse, about fifty kilometres.

Cherry Venture wreck with distant lighthouse.
6.00pm 10th June 1987.
Arca-Swiss monorail 5×4″, f5.6 20 minutes, 150mm Linhof Schneider Symmar, Fujichrome 50.

And here it is, the Cherry Venture, emerging out of the sand like a Marie Celeste with Double Island Point lighthouse in the distance.

I’m not sure whether this was on the way to the lighthouse or whether we came back later. It’s a long slow process setting up for exposures on large format film. The initial exposure here was probably a minute or two, but each time I measured the exposure halfway through it had doubled. The exposure ended up at 20 minutes and it was pretty dark by then. I started wondering whether a supplementary light source would work and I suddenly realised I had a lighting kit with me, otherwise known as Landrover headlights. So I shut my exposure down, got the keeper to point the Landrover at the Cherry Venture and measured the light. Then I added a supplementary exposure with the headlights and that is what you see here.

The Cherry Venture ended up on the beach in 1973. It was sailing from Brisbane to Auckland when it was driven up on the beach by a combination of huge storms with forty foot waves, and because it had no cargo. You can read the story of this on an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) page here.

Someone bought the salvage rights soon after it ran aground. First they tried to refloat it but did not succeed. Then there were repeated attempts to strip the ship of all its metal. That didn’t work out so well though and they abandoned the salvage attempt. A keeper told me there was at least one occasion when a truck laden with metal sank down in the sands and was claimed by the tide.

I took this exposure the next day when a lighthouse keeper took me back along the beach. This is more from the rear of the boat and it must be close to the middle of the day.

I could give you the GPS coordinates to go and search for the wreck but it wouldn’t do you much good; it’s not there any more. It had rusted away over the years and the authorities determined it was unsafe to climb on but they couldn’t keep people off it so it was removed from the beach in 2007.

5th April: Falkland Islands (West Point Island) – Abducted by Aliens

Apr20

>>>>>>

Eeerraaark, eeeerraaarkk!

>>>>>>

Penny the Ground-Painted was always telling anyone who would listen about being abducted by aliens and she had the silver bracelets on her ankles to prove it. Erica the Red-Eyed was not impressed.

Erica lives at 3,000 steps up in Noisy Delirium Circle. It’s a long walk up from the harbor frontage.

Trudge, trudge, hop, hop, wait for a crowd to gather then big hop, trudge, trudge …
Ethelbert the Elegantly Absurd: “This is my patch. What are you doing on my patch? You can’t have it.”; Erica: “I’m just passing through. I live at 3,000 steps up in Noisy Delirium Circle, about 40 steps from the end of Sky Mountain Street. Let me through.”
another couple of steps …
Dionysius the Disheveled: “This is my patch. What are you doing on my patch? I won’t let you take it.”; Erica: “I’m just passing through. I live at 3,000 steps up in Noisy Delirium Circle, about 40 steps from the end of Sky Mountain Street. Let me through.”
another couple of steps …
Ignatius the Punk: “This is my patch. What are you doing on my patch? It’s not yours.”; Erica: “I’m just passing through. I live at 3,000 steps up in Noisy Delirium Circle, about 40 steps from the end of Sky Mountain Street. Let me through.”
And so it goes …

Eventually, Erica reaches her elite apartment high in the sky. It was actually built by Eustace the soarer and Wendy the wave-kisser when Noisy Delerium Circle was still called Black-Browed Hilltop. According to rumour, Wendy was last seen going for a dive behind a fishing boat and Eustace now hangs out in a different part of the City, often disrupting other couples by trying to hassle for a new partner.

Erica’s young son, Diogenes the Slightly Deranged, is now bigger than her. “What’s for dinner?” “Fish.” Lots of noisy celebration of the return. “What’s for dinner?” “Fish.” Heads down and screeching sounds. “What’s for dinner?” “Fish.” This goes on for a while.

Our legends tell of the giant black were-penguins that devastated our communities hundreds of generations ago. Today we were visited by friendly aliens from the planet Ostr. Earlier we visited their space craft as it lay on the sea and what a lot of space it seemed to contain. We also bounced up and down out of the water beside their landing craft to get a good look at them as they came in. These Ostr aliens are giant multicoloured hump-backed penguins and while they keep a respectable distance, they also allowed us to come right up and look at them.

Pity about Penny the ground-painted. Last time we saw her she was heading off to a pair of sea lions to tell them how she had been abducted by aliens.

>>>>>>

Eeerraaark, eeeerraaarkk!

>>>>>>

… And so it was in the afternoon that we disembarked at West Point Island. Michael, the Island’s caretaker, greeted us and generously provided a Land Rover bus service to the black-browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colony and also a service back, later in the afternoon. This was much appreciated by those of us who were disinclined to venture far. There was a much higher proportion of albatrosses to penguins than in the previous day at New Island and it was very easy to get quite close.

A few people took a long scenic trek and another group elected to climb an impressive hill in the other direction. Though it was very windy at the cliff where the albatrosses were, it was very calm at the top of the large hill where a spectacular panoramic view presented itself. There were also hundreds of albatrosses sitting out on the water.

Layered rocks on the cliff edge

Panorama looking back from the cliff top

Rock striations

The wild coast far below

Hundreds of black-browed albatrosses bobbing on the waves

A view in late afternoon light while walking back

Back at the “farm”, Jeanette put on a lavish afternoon tea and there was also the distraction of a dead ship on the beach as well as anchors and other marine debris. There was also another afternoon tea on the beach attended by six turkey vultures and eighteen cara cara.

Anchors on the beach

Cara caras and turkey vultures (red heads) at the farm's carcase disposal point

Wreck on the beach

Cara cara, guardian of the wreck

Then a calm and easy return to the ship but the day was not finished yet. Dinner was a barbeque on deck with loud dance music, mainly rock & roll and 60s pop. Everyone donned strange headgear and there were exuberant displays of dancing by passengers, Aurora staff and the Russian crew. Michael and Jeanette attended from the Island and may have wondered what strange universe they had arrived in.

… And I forgot to mention – a fin whale was visible from the ship feeding and with attendant seabirds for about 20 minutes though only the earliest of us back got to see this.

4th April: Falkland Islands (New Island)

Apr19

Wreck on the beach

Google maps location.

The weather was a bit rough early but it calmed down for our landing on New Island. The contours of the island were gentle enough on the eastern side where we landed and encountered this wreck on the beach. Then we walked across to the other side of the island where there were steep cliffs, ravines and many wild birds.

This is one of the many rockhopper penguins who effortlessly present an appearance that young punks can only dream of. Eugenia Skycarpet and Desmond the Decidedly Deranged were also here and you can see them on the next post, for West Point Island.

Some of the photographers from our expedition

Striated cara cara

Five of the sixteen photographers on our expedition are above, photographing penguins and albatrosses.

To the right is a striated cara cara, a small Falklands raptor.

We were in a huge colony of rockhopper penguins and black-browed albatrosses that stretched a considerable distance up from the sea. Cara caras and the occasional turkey vulture circled overhead.

One of the albatrosses is below, sitting on a characteristic mud nest. There were many young albatrosses here, stretching their wings and testing the wind in preparation for their first flight.

Black-browed albatross on nest

Rockhopper penguins bouncing along

You may like to watch this short video that shows why they are called rockhopper penguins. They walk and they also jump. They seem to gather at a rock until they think it’s safe to proceed, then all bounce along….

The side of a pond filled with feathers from moulting penguins

At the side of the wreck – copper, wood, nails and sand …

… and by the time we came back to the beach and the wreck, the tide was out.

2nd April: Falkland Islands (Bluff Cove)

Apr18

In the afternoon, we departed in a group of land rovers driven by local farmers to Bluff Cove. The route included enterprising excursions across rough and soggy tussock, definitely requiring genuine four wheel drives. On the way there and back we were treated to entertaining discourses on Falklands history and anecdotes including the all-too-recent Conflict.

Once there, we had about an hour photographing penguins in the rain, mainly gentoos and also a couple of King Penguins and their two chicks. Then there was a great surprise at the Sea Cabbage Café with a wonderful display of Falklands hospitality including a truly magnificent range of gateaux and even some accordion music.

King Penguins and chick (plus a few gentoos)

Gentoo penguins in and out of step

Gentoo penguins

Gentoo penguin

Gentoo penguins

Two-banded plover

Two banded plover

Gentoo penguins and kelp

Gentoo penguins

2nd April: Falkland Islands (Stanley)

Apr18

Antarctica now well behind us, today we pulled into Stanley, capital of the Falklands Islands. Total population 2,500, not including British troops. A small, colourful, tidy town on a steep hill. I took a bus to the local museum and walked back, encountering a rather nice wreck on the way back.

Wreck in Stanley Harbour

It’s obviously very old, the remains of an old wooden sailing ship from the nineteenth century or earlier. In and around the ship there are 3 gulls, one turkey buzzard and I think 13 cormorants. (You can see more details in a much larger version by clicking on the image).

Continuing to walk along the Stanley harbour foreshore, I came across a bronze statue of an even earlier sailing ship. It would have said what it was but I didn’t record it. I would think it would probably be Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind. Other possibilities might be a ship of John Davis, who visited in 1592 or Richard Hawkins who visited in 1594. There was also an earlier visit by an unknown Spanish ship.

The French had a settlement on the island from 1764 to 1767, the British from 1765 to 1776 and the Spanish from 1767 to 1811. There were various often precarious settlements by Argentina from 1828 to 1833 and Britain resumed settlement from 1833, also somewhat precariously at the start. Stanley was founded and became the main settlement between 1843 and 1845. Argentina occupied the islands for 74 days in 1982.

Stanley has a picturesque village appearance, very tidy and clean with neatly painted houses.

"Thatcher Drive"

Not too many places in the world have Margaret Thatcher as a potential folk hero.

"Design Office"

Turkey vulture

One thing that lets you know you’re not in some remote corner of England or Scotland is the turkey vultures soaring overhead.

"The Harbour View Gift Shop"

The enclosed front verandahs are partly to grow plants in the bleak climate and there were several greenhouses in the back gardens.

This is the remains of an old ship, probably of a similar vintage to the wreck we saw earlier in the harbour. This one has been incorporated into the wharf as a cross between a shed and a dock. As much as anything else, it probably represents the absence of trees on the Falklands.

Murray Foote

Tag Archives: Wreck

Dead Car Zone, Merna Mora Station

Ocean Harbour Dreaming

Wreck of Cherry Venture

5th April: Falkland Islands (West Point Island) – Abducted by Aliens

4th April: Falkland Islands (New Island)

2nd April: Falkland Islands (Bluff Cove)

2nd April: Falkland Islands (Stanley)