Tag: Queensland

FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND
(Phil and Kaye’s place, Malanda FNQ June 2024)

Overcast sky – air moist with pending drops – from the comfortable chair on the back verandah in this micro-Eden framed by roof and posts I watch the green King Parrots fly to the feeders and boot the Emerald Doves and little Mannikin Finches out. They soon return like a scherzo in a symphony – the Bar-shouldered Doves and cheeky Lorikeets follow. Almost everything else is green except the surprise of flowers in winter – Flame of the Forest and Morning Glory – red and purple survivors of uncertain weather – days of warmth and sunshine after a slow cold front.
On this afternoon it’s humid but cool enough for a cardigan. At dusk dwarfed by the Black Wattle and Kaurie Pines behind – the leafless Frangipani’s ghostly white limbs reach for the stars. It blooms in summer – an effusion of pink and yellow blossoms thick with bright green leaves – an arboreal attention-getter beside the huge Red Torch Ginger clump and the pond bursting with water lilies.
The old tall trees creak and chatter in the afternoon flurries –– stories and secrets veiled in their leafy realm – and I drift dreamily between the worlds –– here and there –– like the lovely Blue Emperor butterfly in the canopy.

TRIANGULATION OF HOME 

Home is barely more than 100 metres from the beach, though I rarely take the wretched stairs. I make the five-flight descent, all the way thinking about the return climb.
Walking with icy sand underfoot, in strong wind, as waves suck back, and forth again, I notice the seaweed, the shells, the crumbling cliffs, the open space, the expanse of sky.
But from the table high on the bluff, east-southeast I see the round hills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, the lush McLaren Vale vineyards, and full south, past the cliffs, I imagine the southern tip of Cape Jervis.
To the west at dusk, the sun sets over the gulf, most days in splendiferous colour. It’s a very long drop to the sea, and winter cold after heavy rain, with seagulls cawing overhead.
Disembodied in this timeless space above the wild grey ocean, my mind takes flight to the north
through the car park, over the combis, the SUVs, the 741 bus, and children playing on swings.
From the bluff, near home, it seems as though below the lone fisherman stands on the edge of the earth, and for a luminous moment, we merge in a quantum mist. 
Atoms in fleeting form at the interstices.