Alpine Landscapes at Thredbo 2008 In the Snowy Mountains Australia …. An environmental meditation ....... Fri 28 Dec 2008 Summer time in the Snowy Mountains Instead of snowing in winter time CONTEXT: I have walked all the way down from the lodge to the Thredbo River with a folding chair. I am sitting quietly on the bush path by the pool below the Golf Course Building. It is 6.00 a.m. in the morning ….. the river is flowing in front of me is big still pool …..the air is cool with early morning temperature …. _____________________ There is Crisp Feel in The Air before the sun has come up …… the sky is lighter over the eastern range …. indicating the area where the sun will come up. Two dry fly fishermen are at the opposite ends of the pool ….. dressed in olive green jackets and trousers that fit the hue of the surrounding bush. They look like moving trees on the edge of the pond. They progressively flick their flies out over the rippled water surface …… fine line, fine brown fly rods and their artificial flies. The wily trout thinks that the dry fly is a genuine insect floating on the surface of the water and goes for the potential meal. One of dry fly fishermen had already caught two trout before I had arrived. Soon after I arrived, they both walked on up the bush path to try some further upriver pools ____________________ The Far Bank is a mass of fine leaved shrubs and small trees that have grown to 3.00 metres in height. The trees grow higher to 5.00 metres. Several tree grow to 10 metres in height. The shrubs range from a light grey- green colour to a darker green colour in finely divided leaf format. Sometimes the shrubs are in flower in a lemon – yellow massed flowering. The Pool: is in front of myself ….. it is long flowing pool 50 metres long and 10 metres wide. The water has a deepwater colour to it in the middle ….. the colour is deep dark translucent brown and lighter at the edges….. about 1.0 metre deep. It is a smooth water surface that shows downward ripples on the surface. The upper half of the pool flows from amongst the granite boulders at the head of the pool. The boulders are rounded and worn smooth by the abrasion of the river current ….. they are 0.50 – 1.00 metres in diameter. The lower half of the pool is a smooth rippled surface as reflects the lightening sky above. This section slides into a shallow river bottom where the rocky bottom comes up into an undulating rocky surface that is 300 -150 mm deep. The pool outlets over this bottom to become an eddying current as it passes down the river. The sound of running water is very apparent. The Upper Boulders: are scattered at the top of the pool …… the clear mountain water tumbles down between the boulders in white froth ….. then there is smooth watery sections of clear water that show clearly the brown boulders beneath the surface. Some then flows 10 -20 mm over a brown rock then it tumbles over the face to form a white turbulence upturning against another new upright 1.0 metre flat face in front of that. The turbulences then flow out into the headwaters of the long pool. _____________________ Shrubs: On the far side of the pool are overhanging shrubs ….. dark shadows reflect this overhanging edge. Eucalypt trees on this side of the pool show new clumps of leaves ranging in colour from light pink to light green on the outside. There are darker green leaves below in the shadows. The shrub understory is very defined as a finely leaved and branch mass in billowy upwards clumps. The understory along the edge is often a leptospermum species that has long wispy branches to 2.00 metres high. ____________________ The Forest on the Other Side: trees are in close alignment of touching foliage …… they arise from thin 100 - 150 mm trunks to merge with next tree. The leaves are tapered at 75 mm long. The trunks are with a smooth olive green bark that emerge as thin braches which start at 75 mm then subdivide into thin 10 - 20 mm branchlets …. Branchlets then have an emerging cluster of leaves …. There is an outer growing edge of new leaves in a light leaf green and older darker green behind these. _____________________ The Track Along the River: The track is an informal walking track amidst the rising and falling foliage. Rounded and some uneven granite boulders merge out of the uneven ground. Some boulders are like flat steps ….. others are like large flat steps. The boulders merge with rounded clumpy shrubs ….. almost like foliage boulders of similar size. The shrubs are covered in a mass of soft lemon or yellow native pea flowers. One boulder is large and rounded shape of up to 1.00 metre in size. At its base is a grey - green native grass to 0.50 metres which spreads outwards in a tussock of finely dived leaves. One boulder group is made of six boulders …. All of them of different sizes. ____________________ The Multiple Units On The Opposite Bank: Above the trees on the opposite bank are long lines of Multiple Units in a parallel row. The timber paneling is in earthy colours of brown unpainted timber along with green treated timber posts. The undulating line of the timber roof outline is part of the non sequential line of the foliage behind and in front of the units. Trees with grey – green foliage merge with the split in the roof line of the units. Trees grow out of the inner courtyards of the units as well. Trees grow informally out of the ground in front of the units as well. The branches soften the horizontal roof line ….. the roof line is of grey corrugated iron. ____________________ 7.30 a.m. The Sun has just come over the eastern range … and suddenly there is sunlight illuminating the boulders. The darkened colours change into warm shades of colour. __________________ The next day = Sunday on 29th of December ….. 9.00 a.m. The Trees and Shrubs on The Opposite Bank: The sun more vertical than the sun at 7.00 a.m. in the morning of the previous day. There is a gently tiered appearance to the shrubs ….. an upper story in light green and a lower storey of darker greens. The shadows are very defined ….. the shrubs are more billowy in appearance the light green undulate up and down as it reflects the various heights of the shrubs ….. the shrubs are very fine leaved with an upward twisting action of growth …. The leaves are 10 mm and 2-3 mm wide on three one metre long upward growing branchlets from a main branching trunk _______________________