Walk on the Wallum Side

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Walking in the Wallum
on Mondays...

It's Monday
at 3.30 pm
and you know what that means

It time we got started
down through the dunes...

and onto Sunshine Beach
en route to the Wallum

we'll walk on this path
up on the dunes
amongst the creeping vines
and Pig Face
Carpobrotus glaucescens

until we reach
the Northern end of the beach
and climb
up the wood and chain track
to where the Scarlet Wrens flit


















but instead of wrens we see today's
Golden Everlasting Paper Daisy

yesterday's spent ones

and tomorrow's
promise of a new flower

and here
we enter the Wallum

and under a Wallum sky
it is quiet

the afternoon light
falls through the Paper Barks
and onto the dry bracken
that cannot survive without water...

Let's take this turn
down these gentle steps

beside a young Grass Tree
a magnet for the sun

and we'll make our way
through fern gully

across a little bridge
over Tea Tree stained water

and enter the flat Wallum country
where a giant grass tree flower
marks the path crossroads













let's stop to look
at this intriguing flower stem

The forest grass tree
Xanthorrhoea latifiolia
does not have a trunk

It flowers profusely
after a fire
and you may remember
that I showed you
a controlled burn recently
in the Wallum
that came right up to this corner

the flower stalk was used
by the Aborigines
in fire making,
the nectar to make drinks,
the leaf base nibbled
and the resin,
a traded item,
was used as glue

today
the wild bees
are enjoying a feast

now we are entering the Wallum
Banksia country
after which the Wallum is named

Stop!
Look over here...

walk back this way
and the Frill Neck Lizard
will move into the sun

Oh what a beauty you are
Mr Frill Neck

Look at his scaly skin
his toes
and watchful eye

and do you see
that loose pouch of skin
folded on his shoulders
which can become his frill

look at his long rigid tail
in silhouette,
he resembles a branch

thank you Mr Frill Neck Lizard
for your co-operation

Listen!

It's the pair of Black Cockatoos
we heard and saw
circling over the dunes


they are keeping their distance
eating the Banksia nuts

The sun is telling me
that I must get you home
This walk
at a fast pace
can take 45 minutes
But we have spent two hours
immersed in the Wallum
lost in nature



We are blessed


Oh happy Days...








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