burnt embers

In my previous post Urban Dune I mentioned the feeling that dunes invoke for me of there must be a palm tree just the other side. Well, this being Victoria, in fact there is an Arbutus grove just the other side of this dune – it is up-inlet of the Bay Street Bridge which the dune is next to and from which this photo is taken. The small dock and arbutus grove are in front of Point Ellice House, a heritage structure built in 1867 as the residence of early pioneer and land surveyor Patrick O’Reilly. It is surrounded by industrial lands – many of them in the “wasteland” category, including on its far boundary a metal recycling yard that belches smoke, fumes, flames, explosions and immense noise on a regular basis. The O’Reilly property is an oasis in this industrial desert and a reminder of how wonderful this waterfront must have been prior to development. The house is another National Heritage Site (another is the Chinese Cemetery, a frequent visitor to this blog) and is owned and managed by the provincial government’s Heritage branch.

In the distance are redeveloped industrial lands – the site of an old sawmill that is now mostly government offices. Ironically the Ministry of Environment, responsible for keeping BC’s environment in good shape, is across from the filthy metal recycling yard. The larger dock visible in that area mainly serves a rowing facility that sees a great deal of action with many of the local schools using the facility for their rowing teams, as well as other recreational rowers. The trestle bridge is a former rail bridge that is now part of the Galloping Goose foot and bicycle trail which follows old rail lines to the west and the north of Victoria for many tens of miles. I used to cycle over that bridge on my daily commute and its a lovely spot, though on a frosty winter morning it can be ‘exhilarating’ in its slipperiness.

On the other side of the bridge, at the base of the property with the dunes on it, is a wall along the waterfront that hides industrial waste from boaters, but not from photographers on the bridge sidewalk. This is a pretty stark contrast to the arbutus grove and a serious waste of perfectly good waterfront. Those tires are really very large from concrete mixer trucks.

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Canon EOS 5Dii, Canon 50mm/f1.4 lens. Top: ISO100, f8, 1/125th. Bottom: ISO100, f10, 1/20th, handheld (got lucky again)

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