Thunder Down Under: Seashells in sand

Painting by Shirley Deane/Midyett

Text by Vic Midyett

You may recall that on our way back from the East coast of Australia, we spent a few weeks in the little towns along the Murray River. Australia’s longest. We joined the river in Northern Victoria and followed it west and south through the state of South Australia, where it emptied into the Southern Ocean. [See “The third largest navigable river in the world,” May 27, 2014.]

    One sunny day we took a ferry boat ride from the ocean into the mouth of the river. The “mouth” of the Murray is so wide that, over many years, an island has formed. Although the island is protected by law in every way, tourists of this one ferry company are allowed on it, but only by walking on the sand. There is vegetation, but you cannot go into those areas. And you may not take anything off the island – like seashells.

As you can see, birds seem to know they are safe.
    I took a picture of some of the colorful shells in the wet sand because Shirley wanted to paint them “one day.” That day came over a recent weekend, and here’s the result:

“Seashells in Sand” (12" x 14")

Copyright © 2016 by Vic & Shirley Deane/Midyett