by kapow | Feb 26, 2016 | Blog, Contributor
COASTAL CHARACTERS Yaccaba Headlnad Walk, Myall Lakes National Park (pc: www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au) Do you have unforgettable characters from your past? I have many, but there are three I met as an undergraduate honours student in 1960 that I will never forget. I...
by kapow | Jan 25, 2016 | Blog, International
VON HUMBOLDT AND FRIENDS Alexander von Humboldt I have just finished reading a magnificent book by Andrea Wulf entitled The Invention of Nature; the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the lost hero of Science. The author took the view that contemporary science and...
by kapow | Jan 15, 2016 | Blog, Climate Change
ENCROACHING TIDES OR VENICE EFFECT Some years ago after a visit to Venice, I wrote about the process of increased frequency of high tidal inundation as sea level rises. I called this the Venice Effect. Over the last 60 or so years the number of days per year when...
by kapow | Jan 10, 2016 | Blog, Sediments
KURNELL DUNES The Kurnell Dunes. (photo source: Teda Inc.) In my first year of high school my Maths teacher decided to take a group of us on an excursion to Kurnell. We travelled by tram (yes, tram) from Bondi to the city, then train to Cronulla before commencing to...
by kapow | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog, Contributor, Miscellaneous
David Ross Stoddart, the world’s coastal and reef geographer David Stoddart, (PC: THe Guardian) David Ross Stoddart died in Berkeley, California on 23 November, 2014. When I first went to Louisiana State University in 1962, I heard tales of “Red Beard” from my...
by kapow | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog, Government Policy, Miscellaneous
SALTWATER ECONOMY Surf, sun, sand and nbn will change how we work, live and play outside major cities. (Photo credit: Visit NSW). Sam Wills lives in Port Stephens and is a research fellow in economics at Oxford University. He works with a team based in Boston, New...