LIFE AT 42°S - Russ Grayson
@rg1.bsky.social
Variously a journalist, photojournalist, international development worker (SW Pacific), permaculture practitioner/educator, outdoor educator/guide. Retired but still active in these things.
https://medium.com/pacificedge
http://pacific-edge.info
https://medium.com/pacificedge
http://pacific-edge.info
It’s another edible gift of South American farmers of times long gone. In the loam beneath our feet, its orange heart thickens in silence, storing sunlight and memory and carrying whispers of ancient terraces in distant mountains…
russgrayson-au.medium.com/from-distant...
russgrayson-au.medium.com/from-distant...
From distant shores
It is a story from a distant time, the old man says.
russgrayson-au.medium.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:10 AM
It’s another edible gift of South American farmers of times long gone. In the loam beneath our feet, its orange heart thickens in silence, storing sunlight and memory and carrying whispers of ancient terraces in distant mountains…
russgrayson-au.medium.com/from-distant...
russgrayson-au.medium.com/from-distant...
The last two months have been busy for search and rescue in Tasmania. What is behind this upsurge? Is it unprepared adventure tourists going into places and into conditions they should not? Are there deeper causes? That’s what we look at in this story.
russgrayson-au.medium.com/search-and-r...
russgrayson-au.medium.com/search-and-r...
Search and rescue: the dilemma of Tasmania’s wild places
After the two recent rescues and a fatality at Cradle Mountain the online responses followed their usual pattern of blaming national park…
russgrayson-au.medium.com
October 21, 2025 at 10:20 PM
The last two months have been busy for search and rescue in Tasmania. What is behind this upsurge? Is it unprepared adventure tourists going into places and into conditions they should not? Are there deeper causes? That’s what we look at in this story.
russgrayson-au.medium.com/search-and-r...
russgrayson-au.medium.com/search-and-r...
COMBINING ENERGY & AGRICULTURE…
Agrivoltaics integrates farming with solar energy production, producing a double yield from the same field for farmers. photovoltaic panels. Research suggests panels improve livestock welfare, wool quality and some crop yields.
#farmingy #photovoltaics
Agrivoltaics integrates farming with solar energy production, producing a double yield from the same field for farmers. photovoltaic panels. Research suggests panels improve livestock welfare, wool quality and some crop yields.
#farmingy #photovoltaics
How agrivoltaics model permaculture
Photo source: I don’t know where this photo originally came from. A reverse image search on Firefox reveals multiple sources. My use is…
medium.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:15 AM
COMBINING ENERGY & AGRICULTURE…
Agrivoltaics integrates farming with solar energy production, producing a double yield from the same field for farmers. photovoltaic panels. Research suggests panels improve livestock welfare, wool quality and some crop yields.
#farmingy #photovoltaics
Agrivoltaics integrates farming with solar energy production, producing a double yield from the same field for farmers. photovoltaic panels. Research suggests panels improve livestock welfare, wool quality and some crop yields.
#farmingy #photovoltaics
LIFE'S COMINGS AND GOINGS…
People are like characters on a stage. They appear, play their role, then step off. And what are we left with? Something else that might be familiar. That hollow feeling… questions unanswered… a longing to know what became of them.
READ it here: medium.com/pacificedge/...
People are like characters on a stage. They appear, play their role, then step off. And what are we left with? Something else that might be familiar. That hollow feeling… questions unanswered… a longing to know what became of them.
READ it here: medium.com/pacificedge/...
Four friends
THAT’S Todd, Dave and Melinda there on the sand. Melinda always uses her full name when she is introduced to people but all of her friends…
medium.com
October 12, 2025 at 11:02 PM
LIFE'S COMINGS AND GOINGS…
People are like characters on a stage. They appear, play their role, then step off. And what are we left with? Something else that might be familiar. That hollow feeling… questions unanswered… a longing to know what became of them.
READ it here: medium.com/pacificedge/...
People are like characters on a stage. They appear, play their role, then step off. And what are we left with? Something else that might be familiar. That hollow feeling… questions unanswered… a longing to know what became of them.
READ it here: medium.com/pacificedge/...
BUS AS HOME
A couple want to live by the sea. They haven't the money to build. They do the nest-best thing. They buy a used bus and set up home in it.
READ it here: open.substack.com/pub/russgray...
A couple want to live by the sea. They haven't the money to build. They do the nest-best thing. They buy a used bus and set up home in it.
READ it here: open.substack.com/pub/russgray...
The bus
Sometimes, home comes with wheels
open.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 10:53 PM
BUS AS HOME
A couple want to live by the sea. They haven't the money to build. They do the nest-best thing. They buy a used bus and set up home in it.
READ it here: open.substack.com/pub/russgray...
A couple want to live by the sea. They haven't the money to build. They do the nest-best thing. They buy a used bus and set up home in it.
READ it here: open.substack.com/pub/russgray...
A REWILDING MOMENT…
Jagged branches twist skyward, stubbornly defying the passage of the years, of the decades. Morning sun glints off of a trunk hardened and smoothed by summer sun and the winds of the Roaring 40s.
#photography #blackandwhitephotography #trees #Tasmania
Jagged branches twist skyward, stubbornly defying the passage of the years, of the decades. Morning sun glints off of a trunk hardened and smoothed by summer sun and the winds of the Roaring 40s.
#photography #blackandwhitephotography #trees #Tasmania
September 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
A REWILDING MOMENT…
Jagged branches twist skyward, stubbornly defying the passage of the years, of the decades. Morning sun glints off of a trunk hardened and smoothed by summer sun and the winds of the Roaring 40s.
#photography #blackandwhitephotography #trees #Tasmania
Jagged branches twist skyward, stubbornly defying the passage of the years, of the decades. Morning sun glints off of a trunk hardened and smoothed by summer sun and the winds of the Roaring 40s.
#photography #blackandwhitephotography #trees #Tasmania
FRANSTRALIE: a nation that could have been…
What if the French maritime explorers who charted the Australian southeast coast had been followed by voyages of colonisation?
Here’s an alternative history of our continent.
READ IT HERE:
russgrayson-au.medium.com/franstralie-...
What if the French maritime explorers who charted the Australian southeast coast had been followed by voyages of colonisation?
Here’s an alternative history of our continent.
READ IT HERE:
russgrayson-au.medium.com/franstralie-...
Franstralie: a nation that could have been
Terra Australie: le nouveau territoire français. It could have been. Maybe. If France’s early explorations of the Australian coast had…
russgrayson-au.medium.com
September 7, 2025 at 2:33 AM
FRANSTRALIE: a nation that could have been…
What if the French maritime explorers who charted the Australian southeast coast had been followed by voyages of colonisation?
Here’s an alternative history of our continent.
READ IT HERE:
russgrayson-au.medium.com/franstralie-...
What if the French maritime explorers who charted the Australian southeast coast had been followed by voyages of colonisation?
Here’s an alternative history of our continent.
READ IT HERE:
russgrayson-au.medium.com/franstralie-...
OUR LAND, OUR FOOD…
You come to settle a new land you know nothing about. You carry seed to start agriculture. But will it be enough to sustain your colony?
READ IT HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
You come to settle a new land you know nothing about. You carry seed to start agriculture. But will it be enough to sustain your colony?
READ IT HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
Old land, new food: the story of what we eat
A preliminary commentary on a book still being read.
medium.com
September 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
OUR LAND, OUR FOOD…
You come to settle a new land you know nothing about. You carry seed to start agriculture. But will it be enough to sustain your colony?
READ IT HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
You come to settle a new land you know nothing about. You carry seed to start agriculture. But will it be enough to sustain your colony?
READ IT HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
Video of fascist blackshirts violence at yesterday's march for Australia rally in Melbourne.
Just one of the violent incidents in Melbourne, Brisbane and elsewhere.
www.facebook.com/share/p/19mK...
Just one of the violent incidents in Melbourne, Brisbane and elsewhere.
www.facebook.com/share/p/19mK...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
September 1, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Video of fascist blackshirts violence at yesterday's march for Australia rally in Melbourne.
Just one of the violent incidents in Melbourne, Brisbane and elsewhere.
www.facebook.com/share/p/19mK...
Just one of the violent incidents in Melbourne, Brisbane and elsewhere.
www.facebook.com/share/p/19mK...
An anti-tourism car sticker in Tasmania discloses unease over the number of tourists, most from the Australian mainland, coming into the island state in summer.
August 31, 2025 at 2:13 PM
An anti-tourism car sticker in Tasmania discloses unease over the number of tourists, most from the Australian mainland, coming into the island state in summer.
Signs of spring: first flowers on apricot tree.
August 31, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Signs of spring: first flowers on apricot tree.
VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION…
Had the English not established a colony at Port Jackson, would we be eating croissants for breakfast instead of porridge? Perhaps, because the French were exploring the south east Australian coast before and after the English arrived.
medium.com/pacificedge/...
Had the English not established a colony at Port Jackson, would we be eating croissants for breakfast instead of porridge? Perhaps, because the French were exploring the south east Australian coast before and after the English arrived.
medium.com/pacificedge/...
The French in Tasmania’s maritime history
Tasmania might have been colonised by the English but it was also explored by the French. It was the English who planted the first European…
medium.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:25 AM
VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION…
Had the English not established a colony at Port Jackson, would we be eating croissants for breakfast instead of porridge? Perhaps, because the French were exploring the south east Australian coast before and after the English arrived.
medium.com/pacificedge/...
Had the English not established a colony at Port Jackson, would we be eating croissants for breakfast instead of porridge? Perhaps, because the French were exploring the south east Australian coast before and after the English arrived.
medium.com/pacificedge/...
The first flowers of the season bloom on the apricot. The plum, too.
Nearby, the golden spheres are Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana).
Out front, the wattle trees are in bloom.
The first sign of spring.
#Gardening #Flowers #FruitTrees #permaculture #Tasmania
Nearby, the golden spheres are Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana).
Out front, the wattle trees are in bloom.
The first sign of spring.
#Gardening #Flowers #FruitTrees #permaculture #Tasmania
August 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
The first flowers of the season bloom on the apricot. The plum, too.
Nearby, the golden spheres are Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana).
Out front, the wattle trees are in bloom.
The first sign of spring.
#Gardening #Flowers #FruitTrees #permaculture #Tasmania
Nearby, the golden spheres are Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana).
Out front, the wattle trees are in bloom.
The first sign of spring.
#Gardening #Flowers #FruitTrees #permaculture #Tasmania
A REWILDING MOMENT…
From the sun
A journey of eight minutes and twenty seconds
Then, sunrise
Golden light spreads across the land.
#photons#Sunrise #Morning#Tasmania
From the sun
A journey of eight minutes and twenty seconds
Then, sunrise
Golden light spreads across the land.
#photons#Sunrise #Morning#Tasmania
August 28, 2025 at 10:06 PM
A REWILDING MOMENT…
From the sun
A journey of eight minutes and twenty seconds
Then, sunrise
Golden light spreads across the land.
#photons#Sunrise #Morning#Tasmania
From the sun
A journey of eight minutes and twenty seconds
Then, sunrise
Golden light spreads across the land.
#photons#Sunrise #Morning#Tasmania
TALES OF THE NOT-QUITE-TRUE…
Sometimes, fiction is based on fact. The characters, their actions and dialog might be made up, but the core of the story that forms the plot really did happen.
So it is with this story…
READ IT HERE:
F: russgrayson-au.medium.com/the-pack-208...
Sometimes, fiction is based on fact. The characters, their actions and dialog might be made up, but the core of the story that forms the plot really did happen.
So it is with this story…
READ IT HERE:
F: russgrayson-au.medium.com/the-pack-208...
The pack
It is no secret that fiction writers draw on observation, on events in the real world and on their own experience to concoct their stories…
russgrayson-au.medium.com
August 10, 2025 at 8:00 AM
TALES OF THE NOT-QUITE-TRUE…
Sometimes, fiction is based on fact. The characters, their actions and dialog might be made up, but the core of the story that forms the plot really did happen.
So it is with this story…
READ IT HERE:
F: russgrayson-au.medium.com/the-pack-208...
Sometimes, fiction is based on fact. The characters, their actions and dialog might be made up, but the core of the story that forms the plot really did happen.
So it is with this story…
READ IT HERE:
F: russgrayson-au.medium.com/the-pack-208...
A REWILDING MOMENT…
Eucalyptus, Lewisham foreshore track, SE Tasmania.
#trees #eucalypyus #tasmania #bushwalking #hiking #photography #landscapephotography
Eucalyptus, Lewisham foreshore track, SE Tasmania.
#trees #eucalypyus #tasmania #bushwalking #hiking #photography #landscapephotography
August 9, 2025 at 8:48 AM
A REWILDING MOMENT…
Eucalyptus, Lewisham foreshore track, SE Tasmania.
#trees #eucalypyus #tasmania #bushwalking #hiking #photography #landscapephotography
Eucalyptus, Lewisham foreshore track, SE Tasmania.
#trees #eucalypyus #tasmania #bushwalking #hiking #photography #landscapephotography
THE WILD…
Crossing Tasmania's Franklin River is easier these days. An old photo reawakens memories on journeys past, and on the present state of wilderness walking.
READ HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/....
#tasmania #franklinriver #rivers #bushwalking #bushwalkingaustralia #Backpacking #memoir
Crossing Tasmania's Franklin River is easier these days. An old photo reawakens memories on journeys past, and on the present state of wilderness walking.
READ HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/....
#tasmania #franklinriver #rivers #bushwalking #bushwalkingaustralia #Backpacking #memoir
August 1, 2025 at 2:36 AM
THE WILD…
Crossing Tasmania's Franklin River is easier these days. An old photo reawakens memories on journeys past, and on the present state of wilderness walking.
READ HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/....
#tasmania #franklinriver #rivers #bushwalking #bushwalkingaustralia #Backpacking #memoir
Crossing Tasmania's Franklin River is easier these days. An old photo reawakens memories on journeys past, and on the present state of wilderness walking.
READ HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/....
#tasmania #franklinriver #rivers #bushwalking #bushwalkingaustralia #Backpacking #memoir
THE OUTDOOR MUSEUM…
Here, near the southeastern Tasmanian town of Cygnet, a rusting traction engine decays through the decades next to an early gasoline powered road roller.
#Tasmania #Cygnet #Technology #machines #IndustrialRevolution
Here, near the southeastern Tasmanian town of Cygnet, a rusting traction engine decays through the decades next to an early gasoline powered road roller.
#Tasmania #Cygnet #Technology #machines #IndustrialRevolution
July 29, 2025 at 5:21 AM
THE OUTDOOR MUSEUM…
Here, near the southeastern Tasmanian town of Cygnet, a rusting traction engine decays through the decades next to an early gasoline powered road roller.
#Tasmania #Cygnet #Technology #machines #IndustrialRevolution
Here, near the southeastern Tasmanian town of Cygnet, a rusting traction engine decays through the decades next to an early gasoline powered road roller.
#Tasmania #Cygnet #Technology #machines #IndustrialRevolution
STORIES OF THE COAST…
The beach shacks at Bulgo on the Illawarra coast in NSW are typical of the informal vernacular architecture of Australian shack building…
#shacks #beachshacks #huts #coastalliving #NSWAustralia #Bulgo #Bulgoshacks
russgrayson-au.medium.com/shacks-on-th...
The beach shacks at Bulgo on the Illawarra coast in NSW are typical of the informal vernacular architecture of Australian shack building…
#shacks #beachshacks #huts #coastalliving #NSWAustralia #Bulgo #Bulgoshacks
russgrayson-au.medium.com/shacks-on-th...
Shacks on the seashore
IT IS DIM and still. Little light penetrates the canopy of eucalypts and cabbage tree palms. I’ve been following the rough track down…
russgrayson-au.medium.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:07 AM
STORIES OF THE COAST…
The beach shacks at Bulgo on the Illawarra coast in NSW are typical of the informal vernacular architecture of Australian shack building…
#shacks #beachshacks #huts #coastalliving #NSWAustralia #Bulgo #Bulgoshacks
russgrayson-au.medium.com/shacks-on-th...
The beach shacks at Bulgo on the Illawarra coast in NSW are typical of the informal vernacular architecture of Australian shack building…
#shacks #beachshacks #huts #coastalliving #NSWAustralia #Bulgo #Bulgoshacks
russgrayson-au.medium.com/shacks-on-th...
THINGS IN THE WORLD…
What does the TV series Alone have to teach us about the psychology and physical skills of survival in hostile cold and wet environments?
READ THE STORY:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
#Alone #survival #survivalpsychology #survivalskills #survivalequipment #Tasmania #TV
What does the TV series Alone have to teach us about the psychology and physical skills of survival in hostile cold and wet environments?
READ THE STORY:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
#Alone #survival #survivalpsychology #survivalskills #survivalequipment #Tasmania #TV
Alone, and the value of bushcrafting
Finding the TV series, Alone, took me back to my experience of camping in the bush under a tarp, under what Australians know as a hoochie…
medium.com
July 22, 2025 at 7:01 AM
THINGS IN THE WORLD…
What does the TV series Alone have to teach us about the psychology and physical skills of survival in hostile cold and wet environments?
READ THE STORY:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
#Alone #survival #survivalpsychology #survivalskills #survivalequipment #Tasmania #TV
What does the TV series Alone have to teach us about the psychology and physical skills of survival in hostile cold and wet environments?
READ THE STORY:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
#Alone #survival #survivalpsychology #survivalskills #survivalequipment #Tasmania #TV
THE MOUNTAINS…
When was it? some time ago now. I was looking through old photos when I came across some I took decades ago on walks into the Walls Of Jerusalem, the cluster of peaks near Tasmania's Central Plateau.
READ THE STORY HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
When was it? some time ago now. I was looking through old photos when I came across some I took decades ago on walks into the Walls Of Jerusalem, the cluster of peaks near Tasmania's Central Plateau.
READ THE STORY HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
Two tales of the mountains
A brief memoir of bushwalking in Tasmania’s Walls of Jerusalem in the 1970s…
medium.com
July 12, 2025 at 4:56 AM
THE MOUNTAINS…
When was it? some time ago now. I was looking through old photos when I came across some I took decades ago on walks into the Walls Of Jerusalem, the cluster of peaks near Tasmania's Central Plateau.
READ THE STORY HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
When was it? some time ago now. I was looking through old photos when I came across some I took decades ago on walks into the Walls Of Jerusalem, the cluster of peaks near Tasmania's Central Plateau.
READ THE STORY HERE:
medium.com/pacificedge/...
THINKING ABOUT PERMACULTURE…
How do permaculture practitioners deal with the deteriorating geopolitical scene forcing itself upon us today?
Some are already taking action. Let's take a look at them.
READ THE STORY HERE: medium.com/permaculture...
How do permaculture practitioners deal with the deteriorating geopolitical scene forcing itself upon us today?
Some are already taking action. Let's take a look at them.
READ THE STORY HERE: medium.com/permaculture...
Permaculture in a time of crisis, war and displacement
We stand at a moment of crisis in our world. Wars rage in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, producing huge refugeee flows. An…
medium.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:28 AM
THINKING ABOUT PERMACULTURE…
How do permaculture practitioners deal with the deteriorating geopolitical scene forcing itself upon us today?
Some are already taking action. Let's take a look at them.
READ THE STORY HERE: medium.com/permaculture...
How do permaculture practitioners deal with the deteriorating geopolitical scene forcing itself upon us today?
Some are already taking action. Let's take a look at them.
READ THE STORY HERE: medium.com/permaculture...
You will find this superb example of an Art Norveau doorway at the Saint Marys Hotel on Main Street, St Marys, Tasmania.
The flowing line of the window frame that makes an almost-complete circle that is repeated in the surrounding brickwork.
#ArtNorveau #architecture #StMarysTasmania #Tasmania
The flowing line of the window frame that makes an almost-complete circle that is repeated in the surrounding brickwork.
#ArtNorveau #architecture #StMarysTasmania #Tasmania
July 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
You will find this superb example of an Art Norveau doorway at the Saint Marys Hotel on Main Street, St Marys, Tasmania.
The flowing line of the window frame that makes an almost-complete circle that is repeated in the surrounding brickwork.
#ArtNorveau #architecture #StMarysTasmania #Tasmania
The flowing line of the window frame that makes an almost-complete circle that is repeated in the surrounding brickwork.
#ArtNorveau #architecture #StMarysTasmania #Tasmania
THINGS IN THE WORLD…
Nearly every morning a large, black bird with a pointed head lands on the railing, and looking inside through the window makes the same three note call.
What is it after?
#Birds #Wildlife #Tasmania #Tasmanian wildlife #ForestRaven
Nearly every morning a large, black bird with a pointed head lands on the railing, and looking inside through the window makes the same three note call.
What is it after?
#Birds #Wildlife #Tasmania #Tasmanian wildlife #ForestRaven
July 2, 2025 at 7:17 AM
THINGS IN THE WORLD…
Nearly every morning a large, black bird with a pointed head lands on the railing, and looking inside through the window makes the same three note call.
What is it after?
#Birds #Wildlife #Tasmania #Tasmanian wildlife #ForestRaven
Nearly every morning a large, black bird with a pointed head lands on the railing, and looking inside through the window makes the same three note call.
What is it after?
#Birds #Wildlife #Tasmania #Tasmanian wildlife #ForestRaven
PLANT NOTES…
Maybe you have eaten chia, but have you tried growing it?
We experimented with a few bushes here in our cool temperate climate and the plant did well.
#chia #food #seeds #gardening #permaculture
medium.com/permaculture...
Maybe you have eaten chia, but have you tried growing it?
We experimented with a few bushes here in our cool temperate climate and the plant did well.
#chia #food #seeds #gardening #permaculture
medium.com/permaculture...
Chia
Chia is one of the Central and South American food species that we can grow on Australia’s warm to cool temperate climates.
medium.com
June 29, 2025 at 7:02 AM
PLANT NOTES…
Maybe you have eaten chia, but have you tried growing it?
We experimented with a few bushes here in our cool temperate climate and the plant did well.
#chia #food #seeds #gardening #permaculture
medium.com/permaculture...
Maybe you have eaten chia, but have you tried growing it?
We experimented with a few bushes here in our cool temperate climate and the plant did well.
#chia #food #seeds #gardening #permaculture
medium.com/permaculture...