We walk around thinking our landscape is permanent, stable, supportive and then... whoosh!!! It disappears! Sinkholes are both terrifying and awesome. We're more likely to experience landslides on our coast than sinkholes as such, but it's this kind of movement of the Earth that formed the beautiful 12 Apostles, and shuffled them into the sea again.
An old postcard of the Apostles, kept in the State Library
I'll never forget the collapse of the London Bridge - not that London! - down the coast 25 years ago. The shock that something so seemingly solid could collapse would be something those stuck on her for 3 hours until they were rescued by a helicopter is something they'll never forget:
“We were the only ones there and Kelly and I stood in the middle, as everyone did,” he said.
‘‘She asked if it was safe and I said ‘don’t be stupid, it’s been here for thousands of years.
‘‘We did what most tourists did, we took a photo and had a look around.”
To illustrate his point, Mr Darrington, 52, even jumped up and down on the natural bridge in the Port Campbell National Park.
Kelly became alarmed when she noticed small rocks falling and said “it might fall down”.
“I said ‘no, bits and pieces must fall off’,” Mr Darrington said.
The next thing he remembers is “it just went bang”.]
(https://www.standard.net.au/story/1726914/london-bridge-collapse-survivor-relives-fateful-day/)
Such is the nature of the Earth. Time moves differently for her, than it does for us. Seemingly stable, she grunts and moans and turns underneath her crust until in creative frenzy or despairing resignation she erupts, falls, sinks and cracks.
For most of my life I've been walking the length of Point Addis beach under it's magical cliffs. In the mid 1960's Dad used to drive down it from Southside ramp in the days they didn't frown on cars on beaches. My best mate and I used to gallop our horses bareback along it naked and skinny dip there - in the days, of course, where you wouldn't see a soul. We surfed there and still do. It's my heart landscape - I go there when I'm sad, when I need inspiration, when I need space. It's truly one of the delights of this Earth that it can bring you so much peace, solace and joy.
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair - Kahlil Gibran
Yet as sinkholes, landslides and other shifts of the earth tell us, we can't expect the landscape to stay the same. It's just not the way it works. For me, it's both a reminder of the passing of time and to feel awe for the Earth that will be here, alive and shifting, long after we are gone.
My mate captured this new change to the Point Addis landscape this week. Dad thinks it looks like a big butthole and I seriously can't unsee that. However, despite musings of time and the instability of the earth, it's pretty cool to see the landscape shift before our eyes. There's a lot of landslides along that coast of late - we can't hold it together, except in our memories.
Have you got stories of the landscape changing around you? I'd love to hear them! Please comment below, and feel free to upvote or resteem!
There was a recent collapse on the cliffs while we were there. I don't have any recall of the collapse of London Bridge though. I would have loved to have seen it up!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Wow... seems to be a lot of crumbles along the coast of late. Thanks for this one!!!! And thanks for reading ... yeah i remember it when I was little!!!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You're welcome! : )
Always happy to read what's going on in the backyard ; )
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That looks like such a still day too!!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah it wasn't too bad... and that's pretty fresh. That's a pretty big chuck now missing that we'll never get back. I look at where the road gets closer to the coastline in a couple of areas and wonder how it will survive over time... how much will we lose to the ocean? If our weather patterns continue to get worse as they are, how long will such a thing take... it's a beautiful, beautiful area though... love it!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Awesome story!
I knew it fell down but I didn't know there were people on it when it happened. That would be a great story to tell the Grand kids, Grandpa broke London Bridge.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
He he he would have never lived it down!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Lol. It really does look like a butthole now that you've pointed it out.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I know right!!!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I was on London bridge got home two weeks later and it was on the news that it had collapsed. That made me feel a bit lucky and scared as it could have collapsed when i was on it with my Dad.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That is scary! Heaps of people have stories just like that. I remember being scared for the poor people stuck on the island!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
How scary it would be to see the floor suddenly collapse!
It took us over 4 billion years of evolution to get to where we are, if we think evolution has stopped we are too naive, right?
It's sad to see nature degrade under our feet and it's even more sad to know that most of earth's destruction is caused by humans.
That's why I'm so anxious to visit Antarctica one day, will it be here in the future?
Jus like you said in your header:
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Gosh you and I have so much in common! I would so much love to go to Antartica!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Wow, and we are not even that far from Antartica, right? Problem is to take a sail boat there xD
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I always get nervous walking on the beach at Gibson Steps because the cliff could come crashing down at any point!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh my god yeah Gibbos. I remember once walking up those steps and there was this mad storm came through - high winds, tons of lightning cracking everywhere - exhilarating... !!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit