*
It was a rainy afternoon
but a walk was required...
so in between the showers
the walkers took to those steps
then continued around into the park...
the sky was dramatic
and begged to be photographed,
so let me tell you a story
as you wander through the sky walk
with me...
Shall I tell you the story
of how I came to live in Noosa?
OK,
well it was way back in 1978...
when Beloved and I lived
in a small parochial,
provincial farming town
in the Wairarapa at the bottom
of the North Island of New Zealand
and at the suggestion of our Uni friends
we came to Noosa for a holiday
to where the friends then lived
we left Wellington
on a cold 6*C mid winters day
and arrived in Brisbane
to a balmy 21*C winter's evening
We settled the baby,
and threw open the hotel window
amazed at the difference
three hours across the Tasman Sea
and a very degrees latitude north could make
We travelled North to Noosa
on a Skennar's Bus
and when we passed through
the coastal town of Maroochydore
I recognised the scene:
there was a pelican on a jetty
a park beside the river
and a neighbourhood store -
I had dreamed it all
a few weeks before...
We stayed at Eumundi
with a hippy family
in a Queensland house
on a few acres
in the country
One day we attended a picnic
to celebrate the birthday
of a lama from the Tibetan monastery
high in the hinterland at Eudlo
the birthday party was held
on the shores of Tea Tree Bay
in this picture above,
and while sitting there
under the weeping Melaluca shade
we looked at each other
and we knew...
Out of the blue
we received a phone call
from across the Tasman
from a friend advising us
that he could sell our house
and then another
to say that the last of the apartments
that we had built
had a buyer
so we returned to New Zealand
refreshed from our holiday
in tropical Queensland
packed up our home
settled our accounts
and told our disbelieving family
and much loved friends
that we were leaving
to start a new adventure
and we returned
within one month
to Noosa
to this beautiful coastal town
of diverse and unspoiled beauty
and arrived here on my birthday
nearly thirty one years ago...
and there has not been
one day since
that we have not
counted our blessings
Oh Happy Days...
*
