Back in 2004 I used to take my canid little fella Joe for walks along The River Torrens / Karrawirra Parri between Klemzig and Athelstone. For legal and environmental reasons, his ashes weren’t spread there, but otherwise I would have liked to have done that. It’s a good spot for a dog, which you’ll discover for yourself if you go for a walk there yourself and meet the many good doggos.
On the 13th of this month, I went for such a walk myself and took a few snaps.
Admittedly, the subject of the first photo is something I’ve long considered an eyesore. But don’t worry; it gets better.
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“Influencers”, formerly Paradise Community Church, formerly Assembly of God Paradise, is one of the Hillsong Family of Churches. Don’t bother trying to form an ecclesiastical Venn diagram in your head – just remember it’s an Evans family gig. The same dank humus that Family First (now rolled into Australian Conservatives) grew from.
Years and years ago, we had to put up with “motivational speakers” organized by this church turning up to the public high school I finished my secondary schooling at – which included a visit by one Dave Roever of nutty Satanic Panic and Divine Destiny meeting fame. The Muslim students weren’t too impressed, as you can imagine. Nor were the Atheists among us.
That’s enough outrage. Time for something soothing.
If the mere mention of Bernadi’s Australian Conservatives has you pulling your hair out, then relax; here’s a nice pond to stare into. It certainly helped having scenery like this around to wind down with back in the day.
There were still some market gardens in behind the AoG church back in the nineties, but now these have mostly been replaced with new McMansions. I did manage to snap this plaque, though, which helps with the memories.
I have no recollection of seeing fish in the Torrens, so this snap was a bonus. There have been water quality improvements made over the years, especially upstream, and they appear to be paying off. I can remember when it wouldn’t have been too odd to see something like a car body in the Torrens.
I was trying to take a picture of this here magpie’s kid, who was lingering by the nearby playground equipment. If I wasn’t trying to lose weight, and if it was later in the day, I would have enjoyed grabbing some chips from Paradise Fish & Chips and eating them on the bench. Magpies can’t have chips, sadly, so it’s probably for the best.
The playground the young magpie was playing in used to be a way-point back in the mid-nineties between a friend’s place, and an old computer game store called Interscape; think of a hybrid between an independent suburban computer store, and EB Games, conveniently located next to a chip shop. A place where people got excited over upgrading to EDO RAM, instead of over things like RGB LED lighting.
“Can I help you with anything?” – Helpful Birb.
An old-school method of guarding the bank against erosion. It’s taken a beating over the years and something closer to riprap is probably going to have to be implemented eventually, I’d imagine.
This shot makes me wish I had a decent digital SLR camera. I haven’t had too much luck photographing crested pigeons, mainly due to having to keep my distance so they don’t move too much, but I got relatively close without disturbing this one. I love the crackling on the branch.
A nice bit of old wall there on the right. Some repairs needed on the left. This shot is taken from just under the Lower North East Road bridge.
A line of pine trees seems a bit out of place with the rest of the flora. Still, they provide a memorable landmark and a nice bit of shade in the right light. I can still remember parts of discussions I had while walking past them with a friend at night with his dog in 1999.
“Imma do you a frighten!” – Joking Mama Galah.
I don’t see as many galahs as I used to, owing to where I live these days, and a friend, Craig, thinks they’re cute so I had to grab this snap. All the other pictures of this girl were too blurry, so you’re left with a picture of her swooping before flying off.
You can tell the galah is female from the reddish iris.
The dusky moorhens seemed a little evasive when I approached, especially when they were near the water’s edge where they lay their eggs, so I had to keep my distance taking this shot. I didn’t want to upset them, given that breeding season had just ended a couple of weeks earlier. This shot used a lot of zoom.
A rainbow lorikeet eating some fruit. Rainbow lorikeets are quite common, especially around the Torrens, but I can’t identify the sheoak it’s eating – either Casuarina obesa or Allocasuarina verticillata, perhaps. Some unripe fruit would help clarify, but the foliage doesn’t look dense enough for C. obesa, and the fruit don’t seem rounded enough.
Ducko doin’ an inspect.
Bin chickens. More info here.
This spot in the river used to provide a shortcut between my friend’s place and Interscape (and the chip shop), provided the water level was low enough. I can remember managing a crossing with a stash of chips under-arm once when the water was higher, which was a bit of a challenge.
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I didn’t quite get up to Athelstone on this walk, but I will do so at some point not too long in the future. Although the next time I think I may head cityward from Paradise down towards “Cockroach Bridge”. More on that next time.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the stroll.
~ Bruce
Circling The Abyss 