The scene was deceptively serene with no hint of the reptilian danger lurking just beneath the rippling water of the East Alligator River in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The paperbark gum tree overhanging the river marked the location of an infamous crocodile attack…or so we were told by our Aboriginal … Continue reading
Category Archives: Wetland
Wollongong and Gerringong
We flew from Adelaide back to Sydney where we were picked up by a driver who took us to Wollongong to meet up with colleagues at the University of Wollongong. Along the way, the driver stopped so that we could get some photos at an overlook–the city in the distance is Wollongong (select photo to … Continue reading
Urban Wetland
One of our last stops in the Adelaide area was at a small urban wetland. We were taking the beach road to our hotel when we spotted an inlet with a small marsh. Another car was parked along the road, so we pulled in behind it. We wandered around the area, trying to identify the marsh … Continue reading
Salt Marsh and Dune Field: Coorong National Park
We spent the next day driving around the area south of Goolwa and ended up near the mouth of the Murray River and the Coorong National Park. We drove to the end of the road where there was a boat launch and parking lot. There was a nice salt marsh next to the parking lot where … Continue reading
American River Marshes
Well, how could we pass up visiting an area with “American” in the title and featuring salt marshes? On the way to Flinders Chase National Park, we stopped at a lagoon (Pelican Lagoon), which is part of the American River region of Kangaroo Island. The turnoff is very near the lookout at Prospect Hill–on the … Continue reading
Mangroves Down Under
After our brief visit to Sydney, we hopped on a flight to Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. We spent a few days exploring Adelaide and the surrounding countryside. One of our first excursions was to a mangrove wetland in the Gulf of St. Vincent (pictured in the NASA photo to the left). My intent was … Continue reading
Terres d’Oiseaux
We visited Terres d’Oiseaux (Land of Birds), a preserve, in the Gironde Estuary. Arrived late in the afternoon and walked to one of the observation towers. Got some nice photos of the sunset and surrounding land and water. Here’s the direct link to the video in case you cannot see the video player window below: Continue reading
Château Haut-Grelot
We visited our first vineyard–Chateau Haut-Grelot. The video below shows a bit of the private tour we enjoyed (link in case the player window is not visible): Later, we had lunch at Le Marainaud and in the evening walked around the Terres D’Oseaux (Land of Birds), a wetland reserve (link to video): Continue reading
China Wetlands Forum and Fieldtrip
After our brief interlude in Beijing, Irv and I flew to Changchun in NE China for a forum on wetlands. After the forum, we traveled farther north (near the Russian border), along with other conference participants, to see some wetlands and to interact with colleagues. Rather than describe this in words, I’ve embedded a video … Continue reading
How My “Sixth Sense” Saved Me
Many people are in tune with their bodies, noticing little changes that portend illness or other problems. These sensitive people are probably the descendents of the woman who inspired the story of “The Princess and the Pea”. They are overly sensitive to stimuli. At the other extreme are people who ignore warning signs until it … Continue reading