Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Misty Morning Walk


A misty haze filled the sky


a mist made of smoke
humidity 
and sprinkled rain


the sun rose from the Pacific
as usual 
eager to pierce through the gauzy veil

Walking today 
down the wide swathe of foreshore


the high tide nibbling our ankles


to the Headland of the National Park
where dogs are given free reign


to run and scamper chase and swim
without restraint


the persistent sun finds a portal


a misty sky is pierced


however temporarily
and the world below remains


enshrouded...


Friday, November 25, 2011

Walking along the River

One early morning
I opted for a change of walk venue


taking the riverside path
opposite my home
The Noosa River
a sedate old lady


makes her way to the river mouth
and ocean
the mighty Pacific
weaving its way down from the Lakes
Cootharaba, Cooroibah
Como and Cooloola
originating in the Great Sandy National park
in the Wahpoonga Range


Loggers floated their booty
down her flanks in the 1860s


Richard Branson purchased 
her island Makepeace
near Tewantin township in 2003
A small 9 hectare heart shaped island
originally called Pig Island
as pigs were once quarantined there
You can stay the night
in luxury for only $9000.00
without the pigs...

Though they grow well, the coconuts
that sway and rustle 
along her shores never bear fruit
the climate not warm enough


The white cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets
have left their roosts for the day
thousands upon thousands of them
rising circling screeching


except for a few stragglers
high in the gums
leaving the trees for the mourning doves
the fig birds and the noisy miners


The river is a place for meeting
for families and friends


for fun and water activities
for relaxing and cooling


the Illawarra flame tree
Brachychiton acerifolious


a kurrajong - a genus of about 30 species
drops its leaves in early summer
and flaunts her beauty
of tiny bell shaped flowers


which sprinkle the lawns and sand below
like hundreds and thousands
maybe you know them as non pareils 
or sprinkles
that cover a child's sandwich treat
called fairy bread


The name Kurrajong means fishing line
the tree's bark was used by the Aborigine
to make fishing lines 


the early morning sunshine
is like the Dreamtime 


like the rainbow serpent
conjuring elements and images
form and shape
from another world


a world of water and light
and colour
and even perfume...










Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Real World

 



I, and many others
have come to a new realization


It is this: 

The only reality I can possibly know
is the world as I perceive and experience it
at this moment

The only reality you can possibly know
is the world as you perceive and experience it
at this moment


And the only certainty is 
that those perceived realities are different


There are as many real worlds
as there are people

Carl Rogers

Friday, November 18, 2011

Walking Through this Week....

It has been hot in Noosa
too hot to walk once the day warms up
so I ventured out one morning at 5.30am


walking from the beach
into the National park
on my well beaten track 
along the coastal cliffs
Only a handful of people
walked or ran 
so it was peaceful and cool


looking through the curtain
of Casuarina tassels


I was surprised to glimpse
sparkles of dew



A spongy moist fungi growth
on a tree trunk caught my eye


A baby brown snake 
lies on the track
this one left 
for the Great Rainbow Serpent 
in the sky

The Rainbow Serpent
is one of the great spirits of creation
who inhabits deep permanent waterholes
He descended from the dark streak
in the Milky Way

  Tobwabba Collective Art


and reveals himself as a rainbow
as he moves through water and rain
In Aboriginal legend
the Rainbow Serpent moved over 
the flat newly formed earth
creating deep valleys and rivers
nourishing the planet



the Macaranga flower that I showed you
a week or more ago


now looks like a medieval mace
the flower turned to seed


the sun creeping around the points 
along the walk


painted the rocks and grasses
in a different light to usual


the grasses glowed with rust and tarnish


the bright blue sky


held stark old trees in contrast





another blessed day has begun...

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Great Roots







We did not come to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves like the trees,
The trees that are broken
And start again, 
drawing up from the great roots

Robert Bly

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Walking Through the Week

The creeping crawling and climbing critters
are out and about



scampering, slithering and sunning
my walks along the coastal tracks


and over the hill through the forests
and banksia wallum 


don't seem complete without ~
a critter or two


this well camouflaged fellow
is a small frill neck lizard
keeping absolutely motionless


in the first picture 
you almost miss him in the twigs


look at the fine detail
in his suit of armour


without ~
a wildflower or bunch
I thought this butterfly
was a moth
until I learned that moths 
are mainly nocturnal
that they rest 
with their wings flat open
and they never ever have knobs
on the ends of their antennae
so those facts would determine
that this creature is a butterfly
see his long proboscis
sucking, straw-like,
the nectar from the flower
The flower
is a Long Podolepis



without ~ a splash of green 
today from the Livistona fan palm
in the rain forest



and without ~
an obliging bird 
even if that bird
is just a humble pied butcher bird
with a lovely trill...


camera critters