As of late, I have been thinking a lot about:

1. the redemptive nature of God, and

2. how Christ is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

And that is something to be hopeful about. I can’t totally wrap my head around the concept that we serve a living God. I mean, I get it… but really, thinking about the fact that God is the living God, that he is the life-giver, it’s huge.  I think this concept is key to understanding hope.  God gives life, and gives life abundantly. He takes dead things and resurrects them. But as this song asks, what are the deaths that I still dwell in?  What are the things in our lives that are dead?  Things that we dwell in, having for so long accepted death as reality, that we stopped (or never started) asking for God to breathe live into it?  Think about the possibilities.

Far to often I forget that God is right here with me. Living with me, in this moment. Far too often, I forget that He makes all things new. Isaiah 43:18-19 speaks of this:

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

God is not limited to how things used to be. Have you experienced a death of sorts? Are you in a place of situational or relational hopelessness? Are you experiencing something  that is so far gone, there is not earthly hope of revival?  God is the Resurrection and the Life… He is the God who breathes new life into dead things.

Now it springs up, do [we] not perceive it?

What would our lives look like if we really believed this, prayed for this, expected to see and experience the resurrection power in our lives, in the seemingly hopeless situations? God does the impossible.  Are you in the wilderness?  He is making a way for you. Keep walking.  Are you in a wasteland? He chooses to create streams of water in the very place where it seems least likely to occur.

This also relates to the redemptive nature of God. There is nothing He cannot use.  I recently heard a snippet of a sermon about how God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.  That is not to say all things ARE good, but God is good. Everything we surrender to Him can be redeemed.

Again, back to the subject of surrender.  I was thinking about this again, specifically as it relates to the topic of resurrection  (See Matthew 10:38-40). Whoever loses his life  for the sake of Christ, will find true life. I’ve often heard that we have to “die to our own flesh”,  suffocate the sinful desires of the flesh…and I agree with that…although I don’t really want to. It doesn’t take long to discover that death for the sake of death is highly unmotivating.  Who would want in on that?!  But death for the sake of LIFE, now that is completely different. In the painful process of making our flesh submit to the Spirit, let us remember that Christ does not call us to die to ourselves just because. He calls us to die to ourselves, so that we can find true, abundant, eternal life in Him. He calls us to die to ourselves and our sinfulness, so that He can resurrect us to look  and act like Him, in this life and in the life to come.  He wants us to surrender, so He can give us a BETTER life. He is the living God and He specializes in bringing dead things back to life.

This video shows a jet ski going from Rte 69 & Key River Junction to Key Harbour & then all the way to The Bustard Islands & back.

This video was made in 1960 & shows the materials used to build a cabin being hauled out The Key River.

This video shows a boat with 225 H.P. motor going from Key Harbour In Georgian Bay to Rte 69 & Key River Junction Bridge.

This trip is 8 miles & there are no roads.

This video has some good footage of the area but no sound.

This video is about Diamond Key Lodge & if you want to see more of them search You Tube Videos for Diamond Key Lodge or click on the video below & it will take you to their You Tube Videos.

I was once chased by a wild turkey… well semi-wild and it wanted my soul, or something. It definitely was not chasing me down for a hug or returning a dropped wallet.
When I was a junior in high school I had an odd English class. One half of the year it was taught by a coach and one half of the year by the drama teacher. Our school was shy an English teacher for just one period. Some people thought it was awful, but I think I received the best education that year. They both had a different approach to English that was captivating and challenging. And even though I still complain a little now, I learned a lot from the Walden Pond assignment. Although, I am not sure I learned exactly what I was supposed to learn.
The drama teacher decided to have us do an assignment that he had to do in college. We were to go into nature, have no one else around, have nothing that was entertainment, or anything too civilized. We were told that we couldn’t even take fishing polls or see civilization. We also had to document in a journal all events, preferably every hour. I assumed watches were completely allowed. He wanted us to do the project over the weekend. I was wondering the entire time he spoke, “How am I going to convince my mother that I needed to get lost in the woods for 7 hours?” My grandparents and my aunt had some land in Mariposa that they shared. It was over 20 acres large and I always ended up with poison oak when I went hiking there. I still wanted to go up to their cabin to do this project.
I pondered all day about how I was going to ask. My mother had class that night after work and this bought me time to think. My mother walked in the door and before I said a word she said, “I don’t want to hear any bitching from you or your bother, we have to go to Mariposa. My teacher is making us do a Walden Pond assignment.” I found out later that she had the same teacher as my teacher had when he was in college. She and I talked for a short while on the project. She only needed to be out in the wilderness for 3 hours, not 7.
We went to Mariposa and my brother got to bring a friend to help keep him out of the way. He was 16; his Super Nintendo alone should have kept him out of the way. Before we left my aunt warned us that a guy a few roads over just let out 12 turkeys because he was being kicked off his land and that turkeys can get fairly aggressive. My mom said she wasn’t too worried, she was just going to tan by the cabin, listen to music and if I turkey came near she would go inside. I was miffed. She wasn’t going to do her assignment like she should. I had planned on doing every little bit of it (well, all but peeing in the bushes, I did not want to end up with poison oak there!). I had already decided that I would even document that. I was not going to lie.
On the windy and bumpy drive leading to the cabin a turkey ran in front of our car. It was bigger than I thought. Upon reaching our destination another turkey was in our front yard. My brother and his friend tried to chase it off, but the turkey in turn chased them. While the two boys were running all over the country side, my mother looked at me and said, “Well, that should keep the birds busy. Let’s get the car unpacked.” Never mind that there were wild and crazy turkeys out there chasing one of her children already. Was she going to trip me if the turkey came back and use her other child as live turkey feed for her own personal escape? I got out and unpacked the car. After the first load to the house, where she carried near nothing, she said, “Why don’t you bring everything to the door and I will take the bags to the rooms?” Great, I felt like she just tripped me to free herself from the turkey. An image flashed before me, my mother slamming the door closed as I’m running up to it, being chased by a flesh eating turkey, locked out and left for dead. I tried to shake the image from my head as I carried very large loads to the door all the while being rushed by my mother.
My brother and his friend ran across the yard screaming and yelled, “Are they still chasing us?”
“They?” I said as I looked behind him. There were two running after them. I yelled, “Two! Split up!”
“NO! You never split up in a horror movie!” my brother’s friend yelled while grabbing a push broom that was on the side of the house. I was as still as could be. I thought of the seen with the raptors in Jurassic Park. All I had to do was grab the one bag in front of me, shut the trunk, and make it into the house. I did it all as fast as I could move. I didn’t think the birds saw me. Once in the house, I saw my brother was at the glass back door and my mother was in the bathroom with the door shut and locked. I let my brother in but his friend was still out there. My brother ran to the kitchen window and looked out. His friend had a broom and was swinging it at the bird.
My brother and I looked at one another. “He is my guest,” he said as he went to the back door opened it and yelled, “RUN!” His friend ran for the door and once inside started to laugh like a madman.
My mother emerged from the bathroom. “Who’s next? Those long car rides just make a person need to go.”
It was near dinner time, so I would need to go on my venture the next day. I got a hold of the very cute and friendly ‘boy next door’ (next door there is about 3 or 4 blocks over). He let me know that only 2 of the turkeys were left. A few of the birds had been shot, some just died, and one was hit by a truck. From what he said it did do some damage before it went. His little sister was scared to go outside because the birds were so mean. I told him of my class project and he promised if he saw any turkeys he would chase them down the hill and not towards me. I was very leery of going into the wild wilderness now. Before my biggest worry was poison oak and mosquitoes, now I had to fear massive, freakish birds with a taste for human blood.
I readied myself the next day. I brought OFF!®, a blanket to sit on, my notebook, a pen, a few pencils, a couple pbjs, and a stick… a very long stick. I walked out the door, past my mother sunbathing and listening to old 60’s and 70’s music. I shook my head as I walked by. I went to a spot that was a little thick with brush so I would hear them if they came. There was a crib of rocks near by I could climb up and scream if I needed. I looked out at the woods. I heard birds and thought of the turkeys. I heard leaves and thought of the turkeys. Every journal entry was full of my new found fear of turkeys. I wondered back to the cabin for a bathroom trip twice in the 7 hours (my bladder was stronger then) and saw no turkeys. As it grew time for dinner I wasn’t as worried and felt I had picked a safe place. I packed up my things. I stayed an extra 15 minutes because I felt guilty about the trips to the bathroom.
I went to the cabin, nothing. I went in and made dinner. My mother sat down and started looking over my journal. The night came and went. After I had my shower my mother told me to pack the car while she took hers. My brother and his friend were out hiking to the tip of “lookout rock” to see if the day was clear enough to see Yosemite.
I put all of the bags in the car and as I shut the trunk I saw a head pop out from the overgrown grass and weeds near by. I looked over at it. It was the turkey. The turkey cocked its head at me and charged. I ran like hell screaming “TURKEY!” I ran circles around the cabin.
Soon my brother and his friend were back. They were yelling and screaming at the bird. Things like, “I’m going to eat you!” “I’ve been waiting for this!” “Your time has come!” “Luke, I am your father.” and lots of profanity. I jumped in the car and wished I knew how to drive. My mother, done with her shower, looked out one of the windows and watched.
The boys never hurt the turkey. They did scare the hell out of it and the man down the hill, with the two asses in his yard, fired a gun. My brother said he warned them first and they moved out of the way. He missed but it freaked the bird out enough for us to make our escape.
I vowed, while I was rubbing Campho-Phenique© onto my poison oak patches, that I will forever and always enjoy turkey. I will never feel guilt of any kind for devouring poultry. That year my family enjoyed turkey more than we ever had. While we sat at my grandparents table, taking pleasure in our wonderful meal, we all talked about different run-ins we had with the birds. We found out how the last one met its maker. My uncles went hunting.

Mediobogdum!  What a name!  What a place!  Eleven months perched on a mountain at the edge of the empire  with nothing to do except watch the sheep and wait for those damned Brigantes to attack the fort again.  Why?  Why don’t we leave them to get on with it?  We’ll never beat them.  We can  burn their villages, kill their warriors and still they come!  And they don’t even fight like soldiers. They just appear out of the mist, set fire to our farms, steal a few sheep, trample the fields and vanish.  

And the weather, the accursed weather!  It has been raining for three days; not just a shower, but whole sheets, curtains, blankets of it, driving up from the sea, turning the ground to mud, running off the hillside in white torrents, creating  rivers of our roads. 

Nothing can be kept dry, the grain in the horrea has gone mouldy, the bedding is damp, there are even drops coming though the roof of the principia.  But at least we have the caldarium, one slight token of civilisation, though the other day the rain was so bad, the furnace went out. How can a Roman survive without hot water?  

And those Brigantes; they always chose the worst weather to launch another attack.  It’s as if they know how much we hate the wind and rain and that awful cold that grips your heart.  So we double the guard, sent out another patrol, chase shadows into the cloud.    

Why our glorious emperor, the illustrious Hadrian (may the Gods praise him!)  bothers with this barren place, I’ll never know!  He even built a wall across the whole country to protect perfidious Albion  from the Pictish barbarians in the far north!  Protect what?  There’s nothing of any value here, just a bit of lead and tin way down in the south.  Nothing grows; no grapes, no figs, no olives, not even any spices.  What passes for food is dull and tasteless;  porridge and warm mutton every day!  We can’t even get a tasty dormouse.  And there is no wine, just sour beer!  And those Britons are impossible; nothing but trouble ever since the dreadful queen of the Iceni had the temerity to sack Camulodunum.    

And to think we came all the way from Dalmatia for this!  Oh Dalmatia!  Those warm nights, the wine, the music, the restless warm sea and the women. Ah, the women!  But how could I know she was the consul’s woman?  She didn’t say, and she was so careless; he was bound to discover us.  I thought he was going to kill me, but he had a worse fate in store.  I and my men, my brave cohort, all five centuries of them, were banished to Britannia at the very ends of the world, where we cling with freezing fingers to this cold wet mountain, waiting for another futile attack!

Dr Andrew Marshall, from the Environment Department at the University of York, discovered an undescribed chameleon species—Kinyongia magomberae—when he disturbed a twig snake feeding on a specimen, which was subsequently “spat out.” He took a picture of the unfortunate creature, and a local specialist did not recognize the species. More from the York Press:

The tiny lizard came out of the mouth of a twig snake disturbed by Dr Andrew Marshall in Tanzania’s Magombera forest.

Dr Marshall, from the University of York, was in the threatened forest surveying monkeys.

He said: “I was out there doing conservation research when I came across this snake. It saw me and fled, and as it did so it spat out a chameleon.

“I took photos and showed them to a local herpetologist, who instantly recognised that it was a new species.”

The creature, small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, was named as Kinyongia magomberae by scientists writing in the African Journal of Herpetology.

Shortly after the first discovery, a second Kinyongia chameleon was found by one of Dr Marshall’s colleagues about six miles away.

Unlike the first specimen, this one was very much alive.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

For some people the wolf is still today a scary pest and a burden. To others the wolf is the symbol of a healthy wilderness and an exotic part of a steadily decreasing biological diversity.

We go by car from Rena and we enter the territory of the wolfs about 10 minutes later. Somewhere in the wolf territory your guide has found fresh tracks to follow. From there you will be taken on a journey into the world of the Scandinavian wolfs. You will be walking with snow shoes and we will carry what we need for the day on your back. At lunch time we collect firewood and eat lunch around a nice warm fire.

We never know what kind of tracks and signs we find on trips like this. Your guide has not followed the tracks longer then what is necessary to confirm that they are set by a wolf and not a dog or a lynx. Therefore every trip is a new adventure into the unknown.
 
Everything we find will always be documented and later reported to the researchers at the University of Hedmark and then to the Scandinavian wolf project. That way, by doing this trip, you also give a valuable contribution to the population survey and the research on the Scandinavian wolfs.

The trip can also include a night out in wolf territory for people who seek that extra special wild experience.

Source: Nature & Kind Travel Collection

The remote and largely inaccessible Kimberley coast is one of the last remaining wilderness areas in the world.

Characterised by a broad continental shelf, the area is dotted with reefs, shoals, banks and near shore islands, often fringed with coral reefs.

At least 2,815 surveyed and mostly uninhabited islands extend through the Bonaparte and Buccaneer Archipelagos.

The Kimberley coast is rich in species habitats, ranging from mangroves, to seagrass beds, fringing reefs, mudflats and sandy bottoms. In addition, the Kimberley boasts an extraordinarily large tidal range of more than ten metres. This results in two major effects; an extensive tidal zone, and strong currents, exceeding five knots at times. The currents also stir up silts deposited by the large rivers of the Kimberley, causing high water turbidity, particularly inshore during Spring Tides.

Dr Gerald Allen and Roger Steene, in their excellent Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide state that “Increased sea temperatures have only had adverse effects since 1980, when El-Nino boosted temperatures exceeded the thermal tolerance of corals and their symbiotic algae.” When the upper limit of heat tolerance is reached by the algae that give corals their colour, deaths will occur with the corresponding bleaching of the coral host. Besides colour, the algae also provide sugars and other nutrients leaked into the tissue of the coral host. Global warming is believed to be a major factor in coral bleaching, and may herald the beginning of the end of coral reefs as we know them.

1. Survey of the Aquatic Fauna of the Kimberley Islands and Reefs, Western Australia, Edited by Gary Morgan, Western Australian Museum, April 1992.

2.

2.Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, Dr Gerald R.Allen and Roger Steene, Tropical Reef Research, 2002.

Kimberley marine fauna consists of a largely Indo-West Pacific element, typical of Northern Australia marine faunas. Many species are either widespread throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, or more confined to the Indo-Malaysian, New Guinea and Australian sub-province1. This coast boasts a high diversity of corals and marine molluscs, which are at severe risk if sea temperatures are raised due to global warming. Click here for marine images.

To date, exploration in the marine science of the Kimberley coast has been limited by time and funding, thus there no doubt remains much to be discovered. Our own explorations have revealed many species known to exist elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, but also found on the Kimberley coast.

There is exciting work to be done on identification of all manner of marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, including sponges, anemones, nudibranches, flatworms, corals, marine flora, crustaceans, acquatic insects and fish.

Click here to view an album of coastal fauna and marine images. We welcome input on species identification. Please email us.

The remote and largely inaccessible Kimberley coast is one of the last remaining wilderness areas in the world.

Characterised by a broad continental shelf, the area is dotted with reefs, shoals, banks and near shore islands, often fringed with coral reefs.

At least 2,815 surveyed and mostly uninhabited islands extend through the Bonaparte and Buccaneer Archipelagos.

The Kimberley coast is rich in species habitats, ranging from mangroves, to seagrass beds, fringing reefs, mudflats and sandy bottoms. In addition, the Kimberley boasts an extraordinarily large tidal range of more than ten metres. This results in two major effects; an extensive tidal zone, and strong currents, exceeding five knots at times. The currents also stir up silts deposited by the large rivers of the Kimberley, causing high water turbidity, particularly inshore during Spring Tides.

The Kimberley coast is rich in species habitats, ranging from mangroves, to seagrass beds, fringing reefs, mudflats and sandy bottoms. In addition, the Kimberley boasts an extraordinarily large tidal range of more than ten metres. This results in two major effects; an extensive tidal zone, and strong currents, exceeding five knots at times. The currents also stir up silts deposited by the large rivers of the Kimberley, causing high water turbidity, particularly inshore during Spring Tides.

Dr Gerald Allen and Roger Steene, in their excellent Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide state that “Increased sea temperatures have only had adverse effects since 1980, when El-Nino boosted temperatures exceeded the thermal tolerance of corals and their symbiotic algae.” When the upper limit of heat tolerance is reached by the algae that give corals their colour, deaths will occur with the corresponding bleaching of the coral host. Besides colour, the algae also provide sugars and other nutrients leaked into the tissue of the coral host. Global warming is believed to be a major factor in coral bleaching, and may herald the beginning of the end of coral reefs as we know them.
Dr Gerald Allen and Roger Steene, in their excellent Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide state that “Increased sea temperatures have only had adverse effects since 1980, when El-Nino boosted temperatures exceeded the thermal tolerance of corals and their symbiotic algae.” When the upper limit of heat tolerance is reached by the algae that give corals their colour, deaths will occur with the corresponding bleaching of the coral host. Besides colour, the algae also provide sugars and other nutrients leaked into the tissue of the coral host. Global warming is believed to be a major factor in coral bleaching, and may herald the beginning of the end of coral reefs as we know them.

1. Survey of the Aquatic Fauna of the Kimberley Islands and Reefs, Western Australia, Edited by Gary Morgan, Western Australian Museum, April 1992.

2.

2.Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, Dr Gerald R.Allen and Roger Steene, Tropical Reef Research, 2002.

Kimberley marine fauna consists of a largely Indo-West Pacific element, typical of Northern Australia marine faunas. Many species are either widespread throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, or more confined to the Indo-Malaysian, New Guinea and Australian sub-province1. This coast boasts a high diversity of corals and marine molluscs, which are at severe risk if sea temperatures are raised due to global warming. Click here for marine images.

To date, exploration in the marine science of the Kimberley coast has been limited by time and funding, thus there no doubt remains much to be discovered. Our own explorations have revealed many species known to exist elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, but also found on the Kimberley coast.

There is exciting work to be done on identification of all manner of marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, including sponges, anemones, nudibranches, flatworms, corals, marine flora, crustaceans, acquatic insects and fish.

Click here to view an album of coastal fauna and marine images. We welcome input on species identification. Please email us.

The remote and largely inaccessible Kimberley coast is one of the last remaining wilderness areas in the world.

Characterised by a broad continental shelf, the area is dotted with reefs, shoals, banks and near shore islands, often fringed with coral reefs.

At least 2,815 surveyed and mostly uninhabited islands extend through the Bonaparte and Buccaneer Archipelagos.

The Kimberley coast is rich in species habitats, ranging from mangroves, to seagrass beds, fringing reefs, mudflats and sandy bottoms. In addition, the Kimberley boasts an extraordinarily large tidal range of more than ten metres. This results in two major effects; an extensive tidal zone, and strong currents, exceeding five knots at times. The currents also stir up silts deposited by the large rivers of the Kimberley, causing high water turbidity, particularly inshore during Spring Tides.

Dr Gerald Allen and Roger Steene, in their excellent Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide state that “Increased sea temperatures have only had adverse effects since 1980, when El-Nino boosted temperatures exceeded the thermal tolerance of corals and their symbiotic algae.” When the upper limit of heat tolerance is reached by the algae that give corals their colour, deaths will occur with the corresponding bleaching of the coral host. Besides colour, the algae also provide sugars and other nutrients leaked into the tissue of the coral host. Global warming is believed to be a major factor in coral bleaching, and may herald the beginning of the end of coral reefs as we know them.

1. Survey of the Aquatic Fauna of the Kimberley Islands and Reefs, Western Australia, Edited by Gary Morgan, Western Australian Museum, April 1992.

2.

2.Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, Dr Gerald R.Allen and Roger Steene, Tropical Reef Research, 2002.

Kimberley marine fauna consists of a largely Indo-West Pacific element, typical of Northern Australia marine faunas. Many species are either widespread throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, or more confined to the Indo-Malaysian, New Guinea and Australian sub-province1. This coast boasts a high diversity of corals and marine molluscs, which are at severe risk if sea temperatures are raised due to global warming. Click here for marine images.

To date, exploration in the marine science of the Kimberley coast has been limited by time and funding, thus there no doubt remains much to be discovered. Our own explorations have revealed many species known to exist elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, but also found on the Kimberley coast.

There is exciting work to be done on identification of all manner of marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, including sponges, anemones, nudibranches, flatworms, corals, marine flora, crustaceans, acquatic insects and fish.

Click here to view an album of coastal fauna and marine images. We welcome input on species identification. Please email us.

The remote and largely inaccessible Kimberley coast is one of the last remaining wilderness areas in the world.

Characterised by a broad continental shelf, the area is dotted with reefs, shoals, banks and near shore islands, often fringed with coral reefs.

At least 2,815 surveyed and mostly uninhabited islands extend through the Bonaparte and Buccaneer Archipelagos.

Kimberley marine fauna consists of a largely Indo-West Pacific element, typical of Northern Australia marine faunas. Many species are either widespread throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, or more confined to the Indo-Malaysian, New Guinea and Australian sub-province1. This coast boasts a high diversity of corals and marine molluscs, which are at severe risk if sea temperatures are raised due to global warming. Click here for marine images.

To date, exploration in the marine science of the Kimberley coast has been limited by time and funding, thus there no doubt remains much to be discovered. Our own explorations have revealed many species known to exist elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, but also found on the Kimberley coast.

There is exciting work to be done on identification of all manner of marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, including sponges, anemones, nudibranches, flatworms, corals, marine flora, crustaceans, acquatic insects and fish.

This is the Age of Fences.

There are fences of mind, regulating behavior in a complex society.  There is fear.

There are those of my physical construct, surrounding my house.  I leave.  I walk through others, ones just like mine.  We call it town: civilization. The opposite of wilderness.

If I walk far enough, I run into barbed wire, which isn’t as tight as the fancy containment(s) of town, but equally effective. We call this rural: the providers of civilization, but more primitive, or so we say.

I can’t count the number of barbed wire fences to cross before I hit the National Forest.  Even in public land, we’re fenced and managed and contained.  We call this wilderness: the opposite of civilization.

In two or three days of walking over the mountain range, I run into rangeland again, into more private (not public) barbed wire containment.

In all of this, I’m a criminal if I don’t respect the fences.  I’m a burden to society.

One just has to find other quiet, unobtrusive ways to move through this caged land called Freedom. It’s still a country of great possibility if one is migratory.

This is another shot taken near Ellenborough Falls to the west of Taree in New South Wales, Australia.

This is a view looking down from up near the top of the waterfall.

The glacial plateau at the base of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman is spectacular for its unique ice formations.  This photograph particularly appeals to me with the soft blue light in the foreground and the juxtaposition of the soft snow and jagged ice formations. This photograph also gives a very good indication of the immense scale of the mountains and ice structures. Another helicopter can just be seen just left of centre at the top of frame – look close its just a dot!

Ice Spikes Fox Glacier

This photograph was taken hand held from the small mountain  helicopter we chartered during our time at the Fox Glacier. Shot with a wide angle lens the pilot was able to get us in very close to the ice structures to fully take advantage of the lens’s wide angle of view.

Westward 3 (49 MB download)
When gold is discovered in the Northern California wilderness, speculators flock west in hopes of striking it rich. Steer the fortunes of three adventurous pioneers as they build and defend their growing settlement from dangerous bandits. Explore uncharted terrain rich in natural resources, where gold is abundant and treachery hides behind every handshake, and gather the supplies needed to build your dusty tent settlement into a thriving boomtown. Customize your town, and hire lawmen and gunslingers to keep the peace. Fortune is yours for the taking in this exciting strategy game!

During this session, we discussed the need for the patient to spend time within the wilderness. He is an avid hiker. As a nature adventurer, he recalls many stories that appear both natural and supernatural to us.

” I remember one particular moment within nature. I was in my canoe. During the entire day I had been travelling using my canoe against a very large, reckless and merciless river. Sometimes it was so hard to go through it that I would get out of my canoe, walking on the rocks that were standing out of the water, trying to move my boat using all the strengths that I had. Sometimes I would unload the canoe on the shore and walk on the borders of the lake in order to skip a very difficult part of the river. It was extremely hard physically. I wanted to go to a lake that my grandfather’s old friend had told me about. He showed me an old map of the area. He pointed a large, long lake shaped like the tail of a fox.

” If you get there, Rusty… Kid… You will find yourself. You will know who you are. ” he said.

I knew something was up, heh. That old indian never told us about his secret places. I thought he was joking and that map was fake. I had never heard about this lake and it seemed so large that I couldn’t believe no one had told me about it until then.

When I finally arrived at the lake, I searched for something. I did not know what it was exactly, but since I was told I would find myself, I was expecting something very special. Maybe something belonging to his old, almost forgotten tribe? Or maybe it was just some prank? Still, the lake was there… He wasn’t lying about that part…

I spent about forty-five minutes canoeing on the fox’s tail. After going to the limits of the lake, I turned around and prepared to go home. Then it struck me. When I came back, I saw it. I saw everything. The sun was setting and the lake was reflecting a golden honey light. The trees were green, strong, tall, massive. The water was completely calm. A mirror. That’s when I realized what he meant. That old indian was wiser than I had thought. He knew it would take me a complete day to get there. He knew I would go to the edge of the lake. He knew I would come back. He knew that when I would turn around, the time would be right for a sunset. And he knew, just like I knew at that moment, that you find yourself by turning around, going back to where you’ve been. I found myself. I found out that I was strong. Strong in my arms, yes, but also strong in my will to go to the end of things. I worked hard to get there. The river had been against me. This time, as I would go back, I would flow with it.

For I knew who I was. ”

Adobe Town's maze of hoodoos remain relatively unexplored. (Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

Adobe Town wins a reprieve from natural gas leasing in its Citizen’s Proposed Wilderness. The Bureau of Land Management removed 15 parcels comprising more than 14,800 acres of Adobe Town from the December lease sale.

“It’s breath of fresh air the Bureau of Land Management has decided to draw a line in the sand and not lease away one of our most cherished places,” said Nada Culver, Senior Counsel at The Wilderness Society in a press release.  “This is proof when people from all walks of life stick up for a special spot, we can move mountains and ensure new generations Americans will always have a place to hunt, camp and hike.”

Much of the rock in Adobe Town is really just sandstone, easily eroded or crumbled away. (Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

Abobe Town’s labyrinth of hoodoos and canyons make it reminiscent of Bryce Canyon, except  in Adobe Town, there are no trails to guide your way. Wyoming declared the area “very rare or uncommon” in 2007, a designation that afforded the land some protection, but not from future oil and gas development. Adobe Town has been one of the most hotly contested regions of the Red Desert, receiving 89,000 comments mostly in favor of its protection during the revision of the Great Divide land-use plan. But leasing continued.

The removal in November of the 15 nominated parcels from the BLM lease marks parts of Adobe Town as too environmentally important to warrant leasing at this time.

Pronghorn munch on sage brush just outside Adobe Town in Wyoming's Red Desert.(Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

“This lease deferral is the first sign that the BLM has started to listen, and could mark the dawn of a new day when oil and gas development proceeds cautiously, and crown jewel landscapes like Adobe Town get the protection they deserve,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in a press release. “The BLM deserves credit for making a sound decision.”

With an elevation of more than eleven thousand four hundred and seventy feet Mount Tasman is the second highest peak in New Zealand. It sits proud in the southern alps, nestled next to its larger and more famous brother – Mount Cook. This photograph was taken by helicopter over the Fox Glacier in New Zealand’s South Island about half an hour before sunset. Together with my local New Zealand guide and fellow landscape photographer from Texas we chartered a small mountain helicopter to get us up close and personal with Fox Glacier and the Southern Alps. We had the pilot remove the doors from the helicopter and strap us into harness’s so we could freely photograph without plexi-glass in front of the camera lens. Strapped into the helicopter we were then able to photograph the amazing mountains and ice formations that are part of New Zealand’s spectacular Southern Alps. This photograph was taken at an altitude of approximately eleven thousand feet with an ambient air temperature of -14 degrees celsius. Despite wearing multiple thermal layers, hats and gloves we were still numbed to the bone after just over an hours photography in the frigid mountain air.

Mount Tasman and the start of the Fox Glacier

Aerial photography as it turns out can be very addictive and we found ourselves chartering the same helicopter and pilot the very next morning for another ‘doors off’ photography session over some of the Fox Glacier’s Seracs and Crevaces. I hope to post more photographs from this remarkable trip as time permits.

The following perspective is from Keith Hammer. Mr. Hammer grew up hiking, skiing, camping, hunting, and fishing in the Swan Mountains of Northwest Montana. He has worked a number of jobs, from Forest Service trail worker to logger to backcountry guide, and currently works as an environmental consultant and head of the nonprofit Swan View Coalition, which he co-founded in 1984. Keith and Swan View Coalition have gotten over 600 miles of road decommissioned on the Flathead National Forest to restore fish and wildlife habitat.

Protecting America’s Public Lands a National Concern!
By Keith Hammer, Swan View Coalition

We can take much inspiration from Ken Burns’ film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” and readily extend its premise to the remainder of America’s public lands. Key take-home messages in Burns’ film are that threats to America’s wildlands never cease and that their protection is brought about through national concern and legislation, often over the objections of local politicians.

Indeed, as elk and bison were being slaughtered by commercial hunting in the West in the late 1800s, it was not the new states of Montana and Wyoming that put an end to it. It was Representative John Lacey of Iowa who prohibited the interstate transport of illegally killed wildlife when his “Lacey Act” was signed into law by President William McKinley in 1900.

Montana Senator Thomas Long objected to what is now Glacier National Park being designated a Forest Preserve in 1900, followed by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce objecting to its designation as a National Park in 1910. Thank goodness for the persistence of Americans George Bird Grinnell and others, who had the foresight to see that the area needed better protection than that afforded the Forest Preserves (later known as National Forests) and convinced President Taft to designate Glacier as America’s 10th National Park!

Today, local communities thrive on tourists visiting Glacier National Park and the families and businesses choosing to locate near it! More recently, the town of Seward, Alaska was so dead-set against the designation of Kenai Fjords National Park that it passed two resolutions denouncing the idea. After the Park was designated in 1980 and Seward began to reap the rewards, however, it rescinded its previous resolutions and asked that the Park be expanded! President Carter, once burned in effigy in Alaska for his conservation initiatives there, nonetheless tripled the size of Denali National Park and designated most of it Wilderness for added protection.

For these reasons and more, we helped write and support the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act knowing it may not initially garner support from Congressional delegations in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It builds upon President Clinton’s – and now Obama’s – intention to protect roadless lands from development, sequestering carbon in roadless forests also serving as wildlife migration corridors. It also creates high-paying jobs restoring watersheds through road reclamation .

In contrast, Senator Tester’s (D-MT) wildlands logging bill (Links: here, here and here) would set dangerous precedent by mandating logging levels on two National Forests and subsidizing the burning of public forests as “biomass.” It would also release from protection numerous roadless lands and Wilderness Study Areas granted protection by the far-sighted Senator Lee Metcalf in 1977!

I wish the government would stop making feeble attempts to patch up a sick system. Let the old institutions die, and maybe we’ll be forced to come up with creative new ways to live. If technology has made everything faster and easier, I don’t understand why I still have to sit at a desk all day. Unless it’s to let my spine warp, my arteries harden, and my tunnels carpal so that I’m forced to spend money on health care. That must be it. Not everyone dreams of having a marriage, a mortgage, a baby and a car. Some days I want nothing more than fresh air. I want to walk barefoot through a forest and spear a fish for dinner. I want to be so grateful for each new day that I’m up to watch the sun rise. I have civilization sickness.

Sadly, I missed a rare opportunity to slip off the grid. Years ago, I was on Greyhound from San Francisco to Chattanooga and met a Blackfoot Indian chief returning from a ceremony in Utah. He was carrying the skull of a buffalo wrapped in a sheet, and explained that he had just performed a ceremony in which the enormous skull was hooked to his back on chains while he pulled it around in a Utah desert. It was a ritual of sacrifice, an offering of flesh which is the only thing one can really own. He told me about his home in Missouri, where he had several breeder wives working to repopulate his tribe. I told him I didn’t know exactly where I was going, but that I often felt pulled toward Tennessee. He said he knew of some kind of commune there started by a guy named Sun Frog. I never did knock on Sun Frog’s door. I was too shy, and besides, I felt like I had done the communal living thing with my anarchist friends in SF. Group showers aren’t for me.

Two weeks later, I found myself in Alaska, and while I was moved by it’s wild beauty, I still found myself needing the money that came with sitting at a desk for eight hours straight. I’m caught in some hideous limbo between hating the dull routines of society but not being brave enough to be a full-time wild animal. If humans are the bridge between nature and spirit, what is the point of business? Why trade time for imaginary dollars and store the data on a plastic card? How many years before I figure out how to live in this world?

Anyway, if you run into a guy named Yellow Hand and he’s lugging a malodorous skull, tell him to email me.

It would be interesting to go back to Bob Marshall’s writings about his travels in the Brooks Range and apply them to the wilderness issues in Alaska today. I haven’t looked carefully yet, but basic is his portrayal of the importance of local people and of the freedom of the wilderness to his experience. This experience is so foreign to most modern urban-based recreationists and professional managers that they have no personal basis for understanding it. Marshall’s writings are icons, often worshipped but seldom carefully examined.

Dick Proenneke is another example. The National Park Sevice upfront calls him an icon. From the NPS Lake Clark website:

Richard Louis Proenneke (1916-2003), known as Dick, has become an icon of wilderness living in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. …
A visit to Proenneke’s cabin is a real wilderness treat. You can do your part to help us keep it in great shape and open to the public! The cabin is managed like an outdoor musuem – it is not a public use cabin and overnight stays are not allowed. Please resist the temptation to take artifacts with you, and don’t leave anything behind. With your help, Proenneke’s cabin will stand open and ready to inspire generations to come.

[who, of course, can't do what Proenneke did.] The embedded contradictions are so big, and yet invisible to the authors!

Similar to the contractions of making the main visitor destination in Wrangells into an iconographic museum of mining, in a park for which the major policy consequence of its designation is closure to new mining.

None of this implies that the parkland should be open to cabin building or mining as they were in the past, but the contradictions are worth attention and have consequences.

After returning from two weeks in the South Island of New Zealand in July and catching up with all the work that had mounted up in the office I had the itch to get back out there into the wilderness for some more landscape photography – this time a bit more of a family trip. So I booked a quick ten day trip to Tasmania with the family; piled the wife and kids onto the plane and put myself and the car on the boat. The idea being to pick up the wife and kids at the airport in Hobart and spend the next ten days exploring the East Coast of Tasmania. This was I think my eighth trip to Tasmania and it most certainly will not be my last. We had a great time and I even managed to squeeze in some photography. This photograph being one of my favourites from the trip. Taken at the Bay of Fires at sunrise.

Bay of Fires

This photograph was taken at Bicheno on the East coast at Sunset. I like to photograph almost exclusivley at sunrise and sunset as this is when the light is at its best.

Bicheno Rocks

This is just another shot taken from the Gloucester River Falls area on the Gloucester River in the Gloucester Tops section of Barrington Tops National park.

This photo shows just one of the many numerous smaller falls along this section of the river.

I was down at Rye for a dealer conference last week and managed to get a little bit of time post conference for photography. This photograph was taken at the Rye Back Beach at  Sunset as a storm rolled in from the ocean. This was one of about twelve different frames I took while the light was at its best. The shutter in this photograph was open for 3.2 seconds; I just got lucky with the lightning strike!

Lightning Strike at Rye Beach

More via PhysOrg.com

On the Net:

1. Census of Marine Life
2. WEIRD AND FASCINATING CREATURES: 10 extraordinary deep-sea creatures caught on video and camera

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I am back from a recent last minute overnight stealth mission to Craig’s Hut at the top of Mount Sterling in the Victorian High Country. Leaving Friday afternoon as soon as I could get away from the office my cousin and I headed off for what ended up being an expensive and somewhat eventful evening.

With the bitumen left far behind, the sun starting to set and only 17kms left to travel across the rough 4-wheel drive high country roads I got my first flat tyre in the BM X5. The cuplrit? A rather large jagged rock that went right through the right rear side wall of the tyre instantly deflating it. Grrr…

It unfortunately got worse as closer inspection revealed not only was the right rear tyre completley destroyed, but the left rear was down to the canvas on the inside edge and would also need replacing on return to Melbourne.

A quick swap over was not to be however. For some reason the lock nut to get the wheel off requires a different size socket to the rest of the wheel nuts (don’t know what BMW were thinking on that one). After much head scratching and nashing of teeth we were saved by a passing 4WD complete with tool kit. The wheel was changed and we were back on our way.

It was totally dark by the time we got to the hut and made camp. Some JW black label was consumed (read: the entire bottle), some cheese and biscuits before we turned in for the night.

The early morning start saw a wonderful alpine glow (and a bit of a hangover).

Alpine Glow Craig's Hut

Back in Melbourne the next day and two new rear ‘pradas’ in the form of 295 45 19’s are ordered from the local tyre centre at more than $1500 – ouch. This ended up an expensive photograph! (But one I like very much).