I arrived in Australia in November, just in
time for my second consecutive summer, and soon found a job at the University
of Melbourne. (This was a long time ago, when a university degree, especially a
science degree, would get you your choice of job offers in almost no time at
all.)
Right after my first hot Christmas, we had
a very welcome break – a breezy day at the seashore on nearby Phillip Island.
The flowers carpeting the cliffs may be Carpobrotus glaucescens, commonly known as iceplant or (unfortunately) pigface. I don’t know for sure because I didn’t take a lot of close-up photos in those days (years before digital cameras enabled us to take multiple pictures of everything in sight).
watercolour and crayon
©2025 Charlene Brown
Tiny penguins, only about 30 cm in height,
come ashore after a day at sea fishing, and head for their burrows near the top
of a long smooth beach.
I was going to include this famous parade in
the first painting but then remembered that these two most paintable memories
from that day were miles (and hours) apart.
Hence the two paintings.
We returned to Canada the following year. I'll write about where we lived next in a couple of weeks.
