Islands, Reefs & Clouds
Seen from the mainland, islands can be quite beautiful. Some are also barriers that protect bays and harbours.
Some New Zealand stamps:
The top group:- #428 Bay of Islands, 6¢, is found near the northern tip of New Zealand
- #686 Kawau I., 20¢, is off the northeast coast of NI, near Aukland
- #563 Great Barrier I., 6¢, is located 62 miles to the northeast of Aukland
The next group:- #564 Stewart I., 8¢, lies 19 mi (30 km) south of SI
- #565 White I., 18¢, actually refers to 2 small bits of land off the city of Dunedin, on the Pacific shore of SI
- #566 The Brothers, 23¢, refers to a group of bits of land in Cook Strait, between North & South Is.
Some Australian stamps:
Top pair:- #2627 Maria I., 10¢, off the east coast of Tasmania
- #2628 Rottnest I., 30¢, is off the coast of Western Australia, near Freemantle.
The bottom pair:- #2629 Green I., $1.30 is a coral cay, in the Great Barrier Reef, off Queensland
- #2634 Fraser I., $1.95 - the largest sand island in the world, on the east coast of Queensland. See #1312 in National Parks. This stamp has a large syncopated perf equal to 5 regular ones on the sides.
From Australia:- #1845 Twelve Apostles, $5.00, is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, in Victoria. Despite its name, there are only 9 stacks.
From New Zealand:- #1359 Piercy I., Bay of Islands (as above #428). This is a rock with holes piercing it.
Coral reefs
These underwater features are beautiful, but not easily seen. Hence, stamps can show us what we are missing.
This block of 4 stamps of corals from 2002 shows brightly coloured corals found in Canadian waters. There was a joint issue with China, using the same images: see Hong Kong #979-982.- #1948 Dendronepthea giganitica & Dendronepthea corals
- #1949 Tubastrea & Echinogorgia corals
- #1950 North Atlantic Pink Tree, Pacific Orange Cup & North Pacific Horn corals
- #1951 North Atlantic Giant Orange Tree & Black Corals
These American stamps show different types from different locations around the world.- #1827 Brain Coral, US Virgin Is.
- #1828 Elkhorn coral, Florida
- #1829 Chalice Coral, American Samoa
- #1830 Finger Coral, Hawaii
The US continued the series of self-adhesive stamps in sheets of 10 with this one, the sixth in the series:
- #3831 Pacific Coral Reef: the “Sixth in a Series” of self-adhesive stamps, from 2004.
The stamps include several corals with fish and bottom dwellers too. On the stamps (37¢) are Blue, Mound, Mushroom and Staghorn Coral, and Magnificent Sea Anemone.
Fish on stamps include wrasse, angelfish, puffer, parrotfish, lionfish and an Oriental Sweetlips. A Hawksbill Turtle, an eel, a large snail and a bright red Sea Slug are also on stamps.
Clouds
Well, so this is not a place you can go to, but clouds can be interesting. And all you have to do is look up.
This group of American stamps shows some of the variety of clouds seen. There are 15 stamps in this set, but only 4 here.
- #3878e Cumulonimbus incus with a flat top can cause a tornado to form.
- #3878h Altocumulus undulatus can signal thunderstorms late in the day.
- #3878m Cumulus humilis are also called ‘fair weather clouds’
- #3878o Cumulonimbus with tornado – scary, even on a stamp.
Here are 2 in a set from New Zealand that are called “Scenic Skies”.
- #1526 Red sky over Cambridge, North Island
- #1527 Light clouds over Lake Wanaka, South Island
Return from Islands, Reefs & Clouds to Mother Nature
|
