Sunday 1 November 2015

The Wheel Turns

I'm wondering ...

... if I were I bicycle, would I look like this ...

Time for a rest

Well, do I? No! Don't answer that.

The sustained hot, dry weather in Natimuk has not only taken its toll on this bike. The two of us have started feeling a bit weather-beaten ourselves. We decided a couple of weeks ago that we'd stick around for the Nati Frinj Biennale, which has been on this weekend. Had we not made that decision we'd have pulled the pin a week ago when James and Deidre left. It has been so unrelentingly hot this past week that we resorted to starting the day as early as possible, getting something done and then hiding from the heat the rest of the day. As it was, we did manage to get a few things done and are glad we put in the extra week.

Back from the black

One of the areas the most recent fires in the Grampians hit the hardest was the northern section around Mt Stapylton and nearby Summerday Valley, both rock climbing hot spots which also feature spectacular scenery enjoyed by bushwalkers. Parks Victoria have done a great job of getting at least parts of these tracks open again, so we decided that we'd go and have a look at things. There was a strange, spectacular beauty to some of the burnt spaces, but we were most delighted to see the way the environment is regenerating itself. The main part of loop track at Stapylton is still closed by the summit track from the picnic area is open so that's what we did. On the way back down I took a series of photos ...

Shrubs starting to get a foothold
Unlike the plains to the north there have been some reasonable falls of rain in the Grampians. The fires were so hot in places though that many trees - especially smaller ones - were too scorched to recover. We saw many saplings like this one that had splits along the entire length of their stems ...

Sapling split by heat
... bet even here there are signs of new life.

Recent rain has brought out many small flowers ...

Delicately beautiful
Unlike in Summerday Valley, where all the Callitris trees seem to have been obliterated, here at Stapylton there are small, isolated copses where they have survived. The immature cones are so exquisite, somewhat like worked pewter amongst a green spray of needles ...

Callitris microcosm

Although it wasn't much of a day for more panoramic photography Di thought I should record the view across the plains as we descended the track ...

Mt Stapylton and the Wimmera Plains
Over at Summerday Valley, the devastation was a little more stark but even here there is regrowth. This bench that Parks Victoria have left in place makes a fairly poignant picture against the new shoots and leaves behind ...

Bench at Summerday Valley
Enduring memories
Although it will be generations - centuries even - before the Callitris stands regain their niche in this part of the Grampians ecosystem, it won't be much longer before nature restores a more harmonious balance between green and black. It has made a pretty good start ...

Returning the green

The Nati Frinj

I gather the Frinj always kicks off with a parade. But before that, installations around town started popping up. Hammocks were strung along Natimuk Creek and various woollen webs appeared amongst the trees. The most impressive thing though was this massive macrame teapot ...

Lapsang Souchong, anyone?
Here's the handle ...

Get ahold of this baby

... and here's a bit of detail ...



We were curious to see what the parade would foreshadow about the Frinj so we made a point of being there on time to see it. Highly entertaining, somewhat disjointed and full of whimsy are phrases that come to mind. Spiderboy was there ...


... with his little sister in tow ...


This guy's creativity very much took to heart the theme, with the event dubbed the Hay and Thespian Parade  ...


... maybe he was also channelling Mike Law and the 70's climbing scene at Mt Arapiles.

I didn't seen anything on the program about Feudal times but there seemed to be overtones to heraldry, chivalry or whatever present in the parade ...


"Big farming" got a look in ...



The parade had something for just about everyone - and their dog(s) - with plenty of session breaks to take it all in. Here's a bit of the flavour in sound and motion ...


At the café a little later Di was pleased to grab this photo of three young lasses who obviously enjoyed collaborating on their costumes ...



Most of the events at the Frinj are held in venues that will accommodate only a very small audience and because we hadn't booked we missed out on most of the things we were interested in seeing, which was a bit of a let down. On the other hand, it was so hot that we chose to hide out in the cool of the café and pub a fair bit anyway.

Playing away from home

From my point of view, one of the really great things about being away from home is that there are way fewer chores to deal with. The camper is a lot easier to keep tidy than the house and there are no weeds to pull. This means more time for idle indulgence and, occasionally, even a bit of culture. 

To escape the heat one afternoon we went into Horsham to catch an afternoon movie. The person in charge of the Horsham theatre's website had forgotten to refresh the schedule and we unintentionally found ourselves watching The Dressmaker, which was highly entertaining.

Out of desperation I have finally given in to the world of electronic books. Having been holding that world at bay, as I prefer the tactile pleasure of holding a real book rather than a hard-edged electronic device, I found myself stuck in a cryptic crossword rut. Di, having finally finished a Colleen McCulloch mega-series about the Roman Empire and thinking she might sample paper and ink for a change, offered me the use of her iPad and I must admit I quite liked the convenience and have got through a few novels. The most rewarding of these is the History of the Rain by Niall Williams, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize last year.

Crops into hay

The sad inevitability of sustained drought across much of western Victoria this year is that, instead of rich crops of canola, plump pulses and fat heads of wheat filling the fields, most farmers who have enough growth to cut a crop of hay and salvage some income are now undergoing that process. (Many have not even got enough growth to do that.) It must be soul-destroying for them. We've been hearing a lot about it on the radio as we've driving about the place and at times in the camper, as we tend to have ABC radio on quite a lot of the time. Let's hope the next harvest is a good one.

Moving on

Di had decided that she wanted to partake in some yoga that our friend Esther was running early yesterday morning as part of the Frinj. She said it was a great  and would do some yoga regularly if Esther was teaching in Hobart.

I had the chance to do one of my favourite climbs at Arapiles. The Mentz-Tempest guidebook describes it in part thusly: "an unrivalled mega-classic that takes the superb flake-line branching out of Watchtower Crack. The climbing is exceptionally elegant".
Geoff Gledhill had come into town for the Frinj but was keen to do a climb, so we decided to shoot up to the crag early before the flies, heat and other climbers came out to play. We had that part of the cliff entirely to ourselves for most of our climb and only a couple of other parties appeared before we finished.

Having hit a couple of high notes, Di and I were both pretty happy to give the last day of the festival a miss and hit the road, so we packed the camper up early this morning and got underway. Here's roughly the journey we took ...

From Natimuk to Porepunkah
 We're in the Victorian high country now and hope to do a bit of cycling here before continuing further north and east and then back to Melbourne and the ferry home in a week's time. It was almost as if we'd arrived on another planet when we drove into the Ovens River valley, with lush grass growing and clear rivers flowing. And in fact this evening a massive thunderstorm hit just after we got the camper up. Di decided it was prudent to zip up the windows and I wanted to capture the noise of the rain on the roof ...


While the thunderstorm was raging I thought I might catch up on the news and a heading in The Age caught my eye. It was a very good analysis of where Abbott seems to be at in his political career. But what I loved most about it was this fabulous cartoon of Tony Abbott channelling Margaret Thatcher ...




And on that note I bid you adieu for now!

Postscript

Relaxing this afternoon after a ride up Mt Buffalo and back, I came across this fine article in The Age about Malcolm Turnbull abolishing Tony Abbott's foolish faux pas of knights and dames in  and just had to link to it. Here's a little sample of some of the writing: "This was an utterly unforced error - pure dogma which quickly transformed an unpopular leader into something far less viable: a laughing stock". It's a must-read, with an wonderful little animation of Jughead bestowing honours on certain less than wonderful individuals. 

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