Tag Archives: Hyde Park

mtlawleyshire’s light-drenched Hyde Park

Yes, I should be walking, but I went for a walk in Hyde Park yesterday afternoon and caught that magic moment of light somewhere between late afternoon and sunset.  The light turns everything gold & it is intensely beautiful.  So I thought I would share some of the photos with you.

They are a different aspect of Hyde Park to what I have otherwise posted – parts look like a part, others like a patch of wilderness somewhere – but they are all in the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as I walked home: the moon over Mt Lawley, glowing above the eastern colours reflected from a glow of a sunset in a clear winter sky

I hope you enjoyed them.

I must walk down at that time again…

🙂

 

Mtlawleyshire’s Hyde Park

Hyde Park was drenched and wet and wonderful, although, as you will see in a later photo, the water is in a terrible state.  But Autumn has almost finished and winter is in the exotic trees.  Australian Natives, however, are just drinking the water in.

 

This is a tree in the Australian native section of Hyde Park.  I love the contrasts of greens and the brown of the trunk.

The oak tree hasn’t yet lost its leaves which is strange, but it looks wonderful against the autumn colour:

I’m not sure what this tree is, bit I love the way it almost seems to dance:

There were swamp hens everywhere, but they rarely stay still for photos!

 

and ducks – I am always struck by the beauty of these:

 

The contrast of conifer and deciduous plane tree is beautiful and I love the shapes of some conifers.

 

I really should find out what this tree is – so straight & tall –  & I love its bark:

 

The water, the reflections are lovely, but on closer inspection, parts of the ponds are not healthy at all.

 

But the plane trees & their leaves – beautiful:

 

 

 

Then the Moreton Bay Figs:

 

on the edge of the park – daffodils flowering – in June!  This lets you know how warm it was, earlier in the month ( these photos were taken around the 9th of June)

On the corner of the park – an almost dead conifer made a wonderful straight line with a skyscraper in the city (maybe 10 – 15 minute walk) and a telephone pole:

Across the road, a liquid amber in dull colour:

my lemon scented gum:

& then I walked home the long way around and saw some galahs:

 

a hibiscus in a neglected garden

& a cat watching me from a lane

and that’s it for the time being.  I have many more photos to post, so maybe I will post some tomorrow, if I get the time.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Keira 🙂

Around MtLawleyshire

I am coming to the time when I am not going to be able to post as often – or even reply to posts!  But over the last few days, I have done little walks here and there, and of course, while I don’t have a dog (and I would so love a dog), I do have a camera that just loves going for walks with me.

I walked a different way to Beaufort Street and came home through Hyde Park.  I haven’t included all the photos, I have saved some for later posts.  I have taken many photos, you see 🙂  And tomorrow, there won’t be much of a chance for photographs.  I have a very busy day.

So, on my walk which was the way I used to walk, long ago, when we first moved to Perth.  The streets have changed and some of the trees have gone.  But most remain.

This is an exceptionally tall tree, I’m not sure what type it is, but it is so graceful.

Peppermint trees.  There is nothing more to say, except I love the massive trunk, and am surprised by the almost symmetrical arrangement of the branches in the next photo – it is of a different tree 🙂

 

These are poinsettia.  Rad and pink.  I love the shape of the flowers, but like many trees and flowers along this street, they grew behind a wall, and were too tall for me to see the flowers properly.  They usually flower around Christmas time, so it is strange to see them in flower now.  They’re often given as Christmas presents.  I used to have one in my garden, but it didn’t get enough light.

 

A gum tree in flower with the most beautiful pink blossom.  It was too tall, and behind a wall, so I couldn’t get real close-up, but hopefully they give you an idea.

 

The sheoaks outside the post office on Beaufort Street.  I love their delicacy and the way they catch the light (& the rain when it rains).

 

This tree is just so massive!

The leaves are wonderful now.  We have had the coldest nights since last year – going down to 7 degrees.  It is welcome and fills me with hope that we might have a winter.

 

The beauty of this tree struck me, as did the colours of all the autumn foliage from the islands to the rank of plane trees behind.

 

The ponds were so still that this swamp hen barely disturbed the surface, and the same tree and other foliage was reflected as perfectly as in a mirror.

 

This tree was fascinating for its bark.

Then the walk home:

Mexican rose on an ivy-covered fence, and pomegranate in someone’s garden:

 

And yes – impatient puss-cat 🙂

 

Then the end of the evening.  If you look carefully, you will see a star amidst the darkening blue.

I hope you enjoyed these few photos 🙂

Keira.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

So here is my entry for the ‘unofficial’ weekly photo challenge: Reflections, an idea from ‘where’s my backpack’ – thanks to Alisa 🙂

There’s not too many entries on my ‘zemanta’ thing to link to, but I’ve added those that appear.

I didn’t want to stick to Hyde Park which, with the ponds, have a lot of water for me to play with, so I found a few others, some taken years ago with my old camera:

A white swan at Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2009, and from the same trip, in East Sussex, reflections of the marshy growth in pools of water in a bird sanctuary by the sea: Pagenham Bird Sanctuary.

 

 

Reflected sky in a water storage bin, and reflected bottlebrush flowers in a puddle on my front garden path (the flowers are in the patch that is reflected blue sky)

 

Reflected garden in a mirror and a friend and I (I’m the ‘flash) in a mirror in a deserted, closed-down picture theatre.

 

Hyde Park reflections – they speak for themselves.

 

Reflections of the city: the 1st is the city in the Swan River from the south, and the 2nd is Beaufort Street & traffic lights reflecting in wet roads during an all too rare rainstorm (this was taken this time last year)

 

And here: clouds over the Swan River from Matilda Bay.

 

As there was no official weekly photo challenge this week, Ailsa at Where’s my backpack? has posted a challenge and would love you all to join in. See here:: http://wheresmybackpack.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/reflections/

 

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Mtlawleyshire, night and fairy tales

I walked down William Street today, on the way to meet a friend for coffee.  It had been strange day – all day it had been cloudy, as though the air itself was brooding.  No rain, just heavy air and a silence despite the sounds of traffic.  She wasn’t happy to see me go.

I was surprised to see the cloud blossom trees in flower – different trees this time

 

 

Some flowers, a little closer.  They are just a little too high for me to get a good shot without zooming (I am rather small)

 

This one had grown to envelope a telephone pole 🙂

 

The first of the next shots is the last of the wattle, and this brilliantly red tree caught my eye amongst all the green street trees. One day, I will go down that street. So much green!  All those trees!

 

And here is my old friend, the lemon-scented gum that is so massive you can’t fit it into a photo without standing almost a block away.  It is one of the largest trees in the area, and that includes the Moreton Bay figs of Hyde park!

 

 

I love how the great branches taper through the chaos of smaller branches into the delicate tangled tracery of thin long flexible twigs which is where most of the leaves are.

 

And now, Hyde Park.  I hadn’t realized how dark it was  when I got there, and my little camera doesn’t do well in low light.  So, many of the photos were blurred. As a result, I had some fun 🙂

These first 2 are from when I walked beneath the trees and too shots of the branches against the canopy.  There was enough light between the leaves to confuse the camera’s sensors.

 

Then the Moreton Bay figs.

 

This next one intrigued me with its almost fluted pillars:

here they are a little closer:

 

 

The next shots I took were all blurred.  I played when I got home – with the images:

 

   

I took a shot of the water, but I was still too far into the trees

This is what it actually looked like when I came out from under the trees: the water green with algae.  It has been very warm the last few days, and warm nights as well.  It is not good for the water quality, as there is now so little of it.

But I didn’t stay. I was running late for my coffee date, and the light was no good for taking photos, so I left, but not without taking some more.  And when I got home, none of them were any good.  So I played and discovered the secret fairy tale world within Hyde Park:

 

I will have to discover more of this world, I think 🙂

Over the road from the cafe is a florist, and I found these: Banksia flowers:

 

I will have to find trees somewhere for you.  They don’t grow in Mt Lawley Shire – I have to go further out, or maybe King’s Park.

Finally, the cafe – and here is a corner.  I like all the lines and wooden boxes and cups (for me to have my coffee in!)

Here are some shots of the city from the cafe.  It is a different perspective from the post I did above the city – those 3 buildings I last saw from above!

And here is Beaufort Street looking north – the way I went home.

I hope you enjoyed my little walk.  Next time – my magnolia flower.

Keira 🙂

Beyond and above Mtlawleyshire

What a day I had today!

It started with the cat on the pergola roof grabbing some sun.  It was a cloudy sort of day and though there was no rain forecast, it felt like it really might.

Then my friends picked me up for a dinner at a surprise location – the revolving restaurant at the top of one of the taller buildings in Perth: St Martin’s Tower.  Oh!  I was a little scared. I hate lifts and it was all the way up the top.  But we got there and then?

Oh.  Goodness!  I have never seen Perth like this, apart from when I leave on a ‘plane, and even that is usually at night (not that I do it often anyway).

I have tried to organize the photos, and I know they aren’t very good, and most are unclear.  I had some fun with the difficult reflections from inside the restaurant as well, but it does give you an idea of the sprawl of Perth, the most isolated capital city in the world.

So first – city buildings….

This blue building made a nice frame, looking down on the Barrack Street Jetty with the Bell Tower visible in the 2nd one.  Perthites are divided on what they think of the Bell Tower.  I think it is a complete waste of money, though thee are many who like it.

 

 

This is the beginning of my own William Street:

Beaufort Street, from the city to the north:

Some lovely parts of the city.  The first is St George’s Anglican Cathedral and buildings over the road from the Supreme Court Gardens and others.

 

St Mary’s Catholic cathedral – it’s tucked in near the Royal Perth Hospital.  It’s old for Perth, as is St George’s, both being built in the mid to late 1800’s.

Governor’s residence and gardens and the Perth Concert Hall.

 

Very tall buildings that seemed to be all reflections (I later found out it was the Exchange building)

   

 

The art gallery, the library, the central Plaza. I have set a novel around all this.

Views of Kings Park and beyond, and rain veils!

   

 

The river es ever present & the shots don’t do it just – window reflections, my lack of ability and sometimes, my wonderful little camera is really just that – too small.

In the middle photo you can see Fremantle Ports waaaaay in the distance.

  

River and suburbs stretching south and south-west.

 

Hyde Park in the midst of MtLawleyShire.  This is the inner suburbs and onwards, looking north.  Uncounted miles of them!

 

  

Looking east:

 

 

Looking west:

 

I know there are some photos I have forgotten to include, but I think that’s most of the clearest ones.  The reflections, the strange lighting all made it quite challenging.  It was a wonderful experience, though.  And then it was time to go.

Back on the ground.

I hate those long lift trips, but I must admit, it was worth it. The food was lovely, the service very nice, and we had laughs, the 3 of us, frequently because of me standing up and taking photos instead of eating.

It was strange seeing the buildings from the ground:

 

And the highly reflective blue building assumes an entirely different aspect from the ground:

and a lovely old building I think is a pub:

 

 

& some trees & a little city art that has always intrigued me.  These are the Supreme Court Gardens that we saw from waaaaay above, but not the sad Moreton Bay fig.  It really doesn’t look happy, not even with a little editing/enhancing.

  

 

And I get home to find that someone else was having her very own rooftop moment:

The eastern border of mtlawleyshire

On Friday, my camera and I took a little drive to the eastern borders of MtLawleyshire – a park on the banks of the Swan River.  It’s a ‘people’ park – it has an oval for sports, a children’s playpark, basketball practice area and through it runs the cycling track that goes throughout Perth.  It is still in Mt Lawley itself, whereas Hyde Park is actually just in Highgate, even though it is only 10 minutes walk from where I live, and this park would take at least 20 minutes to walk – maybe longer.

Despite being a park with all sorts of areas for activities, it still has its quiet areas, its tree areas, and, of course, the river, as well as small wetlands.  Unlike Hyde Park, it still has that sense of the wilderness that must have been, not so long ago.  Now it is a wealthy area, in fact, I parked on the richest street in Perth, and to live in such an area, yes I can see why you would want to.  Quiet and very beautiful.

The first things I saw were the plane trees.  Not as many as in Hyde Park, and closer to the road.

   

 

and there were the beautiful Moreton Bay figs:

 

 

 

And this one: the most astonishing Moreton Bay I have ever seen:

Then there were very many native gum trees – all beautiful.

This is the bark from one:

Then there are these:

 

The sheoaks and bottlebush make wonderful delicate patterns with their branches and foliage:

 

 

and here are sheoaks at the river’s edge:

These trees are like great shaggy border guards on the river’s edge: the edge of MtLawleyShire 🙂

Here are more pictures from the edge, the border:

 

 

 

And yes, we come to the water’s edge which is also part of a small wetlands.  It’s filled with grasses and strange trees and something that looks like flowering heather, but it can’t be:

 

 

 

On the other side, there are trees too 🙂

and when I came home?

Yes, she was in my chair!

Tomorrow, there will be a post of me out of – and above MtLawleyshire!

I hope you have enjoyed my little excursion to the eastern borders of my little ‘shire’.  Keira 🙂

Getting caught in the rain

This time, I start out with my cat.  I love the way she sleeps: 

  

then she woke up

After cuddles, I set off, looking forward to my walk after a week of no walking.

Rain was forecast, and there were clouds, but also sunshine and bright blue sky.

Then I heard the mournful calls of black cockatoos: these birds are heading for extinction.  They are flocking to Perth because of the fires and logging that has ruined their food supply.  When we first moved here, the flocks were huge.  Not any more.  They are beautiful birds.  There was a story that when they were flying and calling, it meant rain.  I managed to photograph them, and where they flew, the clouds were grey.

 

I wish I could have taken closer shots, but these I took without my glasses, quickly and aiming towards the sound.

When I got to the entrance to the park, the ground was covered with the remains of pine cones.  The cockatoos love them:

 

Then I got caught by the shifting light and shadow amongst the green and shadows

 

The water in the ponds is still decreasing, but the birds don’t seem to mind

 

and then, of course, all the trees.  plane tree branches with their yellowing leaves against evergreens and a glorious plane tree in its gold and green:

 

I tried to capture the light on this Morten Bay Fig:

Looking up the trunk of a plane tree to the sky, and just the trunk:

 

Then I was caught by the contrast of the brilliant green of Jacaranda trees against the sky & the dark of closer trees, & the contrast between a palm and a Morten Bay Fig:

 

There is still some cloud blossom:

Trees behind one of the islands & the colour of those plane tree leaves!

Then – it rained!

 

 

 

The brilliant green of Jacaranda through dark branches was slightly blurred by rain.


Then there was serenity:

Before it rained again & I was unable to resist taking my camera out & it got ruined, I thought I should go home.

I passed this Morten Bay Fig, rain-stained:

Then I passed one of the Norfolk Pines:

 

A pine cone:

And from the William Street edge of the park:

 

Some of the trees are so beautifully green:

 

And there is a small tree that has brilliant red flowers – I didn’t expect to see any flowers at this time of year:

And in the sky –

and on the way home – two flowers.

 

When I got home, my fat little cat was inside.  She doesn’t like the rain 🙂

Cloud Blossom at Hyde Park

Despite not feeling all that crash hot, I did go down to Hyde Park, but I drove down, parked my little car and merely walked around the ponds.  I was intending to just walk to where I know I could see the trees, but of course, that wasn’t going to be enough.  I ended up walking around both ponds, though I was restrained in the amount of photos.

It’s very difficult to photograph, cloud blossom, and these trees are all on one of the islands, so I had to use the zoom.  They’re small, white bottlebrush type flowers, but being so pale, they’re  more difficult to see, and they don’t have the spectacular & showy scarlet that reflects in the water.  They’re more like a delicate light brushing over the foliage.

This far away, you don’t get to see the amazing trees themselves, their bark: paper bark, but I’ve shown that in some earlier posts, and will undoubtedly take more photos of it.  It’s rather beautiful, and feels so soft.

So, the photos:

These first two are of the island itself. for this moment in time – Cloud Blossom island 🙂

 

Following – the trees & their blossoms.  In each, you will have to look carefully to see the blossoms.  My little camera, though wonderful, does have its limits 😦

 

 

 

 

Now some closer shots of trees and blossoms.  I noticed there weren’t many large trees – a few, mostly difficult to photograph against the light so that the flowers showed, so most of these are smaller trees.  Not a bad thing, just an observation.

 

The last two are the best shots I could get of the flowers themselves.  The zoom was stretching my little camera’s capabilities:

 

For those who don’t remember – here is a close-up of a cloud blossom (& bee) that I took from one of the trees halfway up the block from me.  This is also from an earlier post (Flowers, I think).  These trees just don’t photograph well in the suburban environment of house fronts and fences and telephone wires and poles.

So, that all the cloud blossoms.  They weren’t the only photos I took – there was also a spectacular sunset.  Next post 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this.

Keira

Hyde Park

I went walking with my little camera this afternoon.  It was still hot and I wondered whether there would be signs of what has become ‘mythical’ Autumn here in Perth.  Up north, a cyclone is battering the Pilbara and I have to admit I envy them the rain.  We could do with some here.  The interior will be getting it as well, a great swathe of cloud from the Pilbara all the way down to the south coast.  Perth is in a narrow coastal band that misses out.  We will just get squeezed between the various weather systems, and already, what had been forecast as a week where the temps would go down to 24, there’s nothing below 26 and nights not below 15.

It was a hot walk, and I wondered if the smoke on the horizon from Bold Park, a bush reserve near City Beach, almost on the beach, would affect the sunset, but kept going towards Hyde Park.

There was a wedding on, so there were quite a few people around.  I got some good shots though.  One of the things I’ve noticed is that, as the water level in the ponds has dropped, the bird life has changed (& this afternoon, for the first time, the ponds stank.  They are drying out).  There are a lot more waders around: storks and herons and spoonbills along with the normal sacred ibis and ducks and the goose.

The leaves are definitely browning, and in the light, the golden cast was astonishing.  The heat, the sunlight, they weren’t autumnal at all, but the leaves were.

                                          

 

                  

             

It’s actually rather difficult to arrange these photos & include text.  But that was a selection of the photos I took today.  I should back through others – I know I have photos of a blue heron from the last few days.  The colours today were lovely, but it was rather warm & when I got to Beaufort street, there was no room at the cafes, which was a little annoying.  On the other hand, I did keep walking (after a little shopping) which meant it was a reasonably long, unbroken walk – until –


tonight’s sunset.  I missed most of the colours.  But it was stunning walking up the slight hills, watching it spill over the crest which William Street runs along.  And look who was waiting for me when I got home: