Hell's Gates

I am back in Australia
for a few weeks
attending to chores...
it is wintry
but a good walk today
warmed me up...




Hell's Gates

My walk around the headland

each afternoon

takes me out to Hell's Gates

Here my friend says 

she has seen turtles

I think she confuses the black rocks

beneath the water

for turtle shells...

But wait

is that middle rock moving

Yes it is...

These turtles are Loggerheads

of which there are only 500 nesting females

in Australia

But here comes a set

of huge rolling waves

that crash through Hell's Gates

right up to the abyss

and another wave

rushes in

swirling the sand

and any little turtles

as I walk back

towards the shelter of the bay

The skies redden

and make me think

that on leaving Hell's Gates

I am passing through
Heaven's portals

*

Koalas 6,7,8,9,10,11...

Koala Sightings 

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

and so on...

I have been lucky enough

to see two koalas

each day 

on my walks

I am walking before sunset

which is koala breakfast time

It is hard to identify the koalas

but I know that this one 

is a new one

he is Baby

Although the photos 

make him appear 

a similar size to his buddies

he is quite small

and is referred to

as a baby by the ranger

This sleepy head

who has a comfortable nest

is not the same as this one

because I saw them both

on the same walk

this one has been 

living along the boardwalk

opposite my home

and I run into him

as I walk to the National Park

Last night I met a breathless German tourist

who excitedly told me

that she had almost walked into him

as he ambled along the boardwalk at dusk

I skedaddled up the pathway 

but he had taken to the gum trees

before I arrived

But I saw him again tonight

silhouetted in the fading light

So I think that might take us to 6

confirmed individuals now 

maybe more

if the above koala

whom I have named Big Butt

is a different one to Pinky

It is getting rather confusing

with the regular sightings

but it is great to see 

so many koalas

in the park

especially ones that pose

like Baby

*

Big Seas

*

Big seas

and bright lights

Way out here

at the end of the National Park

before it meets Sunshine Beach

and the great swathe of Pacific Ocean

that runs all the way south of here

to my capital city of Brisbane

there is a secluded bay called

Alexandra Bay

popular with those

who like to wear

their birthday suits 

well it was a bit rough 

for that today

facing into the gusting
south easterly winds

but back here

in the shelter of Laguna Bay

things are very different

the surfers

enjoy the swells

of the late afternoon

and my walk

slows to a crawl

and then a stop

as I soak up

the splendour

before climbing 

up the boardwalk 

to home...

Oh Happy Days

*

Wet Woods

*

Wet Woods

Wet woods

so fresh your scent

I see the glistening

and hear drops fall to kiss the earth

plop plop

Cinquain:

5 lines

2

4

6

8

2

syllables

*

Lush Green

*

Lush Green

In the few weeks

that I was away

the coastal forest

and bush

have been transformed...

from dessicated 

brittle dry brown

to lush green

the hillsides have become 

cloaked in regal emerald

new life springs
and curls

from leafy growth

and wild green

paints the landscape 

fresh

little flying beetles

do the pollination dance

on hibertia scandens

tender wild violets

lean towards 

the soft morning sun

the painted lady
has been in her makeup box

even the rocks

at the ocean's edge

have taken on a green hue

to keep in context

the dry grasses

are festooned with wildflowers

weird flower heads emerge

lush green

has come...

for its season

*

Koala Rescue

*

 Koala Rescue

in the National Park

At the end of my walk 

early this morning

I came across

a wonderful couple

who had rescued an old

and ailing koala

 He had been noticed 

by walkers last night

at the foot of a tree

skinny and weary

too weak to climb

Unable to find him in the dark

they went searching 

early this morning

and tracked him down 

in the bushy undergrowth

I wondered whether

Grandfather koala

was Grey Butt,

shown above,

as koalas tend to keep

to the same foraging corridors

and territory

He will be taken

to the wild life hospital 

and cared for

The lady told me

that there are fewer than ten koalas

in the whole 

Noosa National Park

and where it was once common

to have a sighting

they are now rare

Development and disease

have taken their toll

on the koala community

I think that we have been very lucky

to have had Speckled Butt

as a neighbour

even if only 

for a brief period.

I have not seen him since

the day I posted

of his slumbers

The lady was excited 

to hear of Speckled Butt

Every sighting is good news

when you have a population

dwindling throughout the state

People 

such as these volunteer workers

are so admirable.

*

The Pandanus Parable

*

The Pandanus Parable

In the few weeks

that I have been away

our corner of the state

has received its entire annual rainfall

and more...

the dams are full

and the trees and plants 

are leaping greenly...

when I walked 

into the National Park 

this morning

I saw lush green

but it is not lush 

that I am going 

to tell you about today,

that is the content 

of a future post

Today

I want to tell you 

the Pandanus Parable

When I first moved to Noosa

many moons ago

if you had told me that 

pineapples grew on trees

I would have believed you

not knowing that they grow

in straight rows 

on the ground

like cabbages

but these fruit aren't pineapple

they are the fruit 

of the Pandanus tree

A few years ago

a terrible blight,

a virus,

spread down the Sunshine Coast

attacking all the Pandanus trees

and many

like the one above

lost their limbs

and their multiple heads

And it appeared as if 

the entire population of Pandanus 

was doomed

the Pandanus 

is a gorgeous tree

with a deeply textured 

chicken poxed trunk

and sweeping sculptural limbs 

that arc out over the ocean

and the blue skies

in striking architectural form

it grows along the walking track

in the rocks

precariously clings

to rocky escarpments

and has an amazing root system

the tree throws out

aerial roots

for support

and ballast

to brace itself 

against the prevailing wind

or to hold the trunk upright

on a sloping gradient

the pineapple like fruit

are found way out

on the end of a limb

from where the seeds 

are dropped by munching birds

like the cockatoo

or nibbled on 

by the marauding brush turkey,

when the fruit has fallen

to the ground

and a new plant

will spring up 

over time

today I noticed

that the forest 

was full 

of healthy pandanus trees

the trees had regenerated 

from their ordeal

after a period of endurance

and recovery

the trees are once again flourishing

the Pandanus parable

is a story of persistence

in the face of great odds

of tenacity and resilience

of stoicism and faith

of toughing it out 

and never giving up

It is a story 

of regeneration

regrowth 

and new life...

It is a triumph

*