after the deluge

In a forest last week...
scribbly gums
paper wasps
swamp hens
lagoons
makeshift bridges
frilly lizards
paperbarks
kangaroos
wild may

and a storm...
A storm indeed.
A storm that has made these the last photos my beloved camera (as she was) and I will take together in quite a while.
I dropped her off at the repair shop this morning.
Seems despite a snug fit down my front, fast running legs and desperately hunched shoulders one cannot keep a camera dry when several kilometers deep and just so slightly lost within a forest when a thunderstorm decides to hit.

Oh my goodness... soaked as soaked could be we powered on along paths that turned to mini muddy torrents, over creeks, up hill and down...between thunderclaps and heavy drops upon our faces that we drank right off our skin as we ran. The little ones were frightened and cold but perhaps like the Mama kangaroo that almost bounded blindly into us I reassured them and reminded them to laugh and feel, really feel, that beating wet and roaring wind for what it was...
wild simple adventure.

So while I may be camera-less for a bit... I am also a little *water* wiser... and somewhat more astute at reading maps... and I wouldn't give it back, that little adventure.

In fact I went back.
To the scene of the crime.... the next day.
Seven kilometers of beautiful forest filled with post rain frog call I walked, and emerged just post sundown. Tired yet dry, satiated and smiling again even if at the fact that that's how it should have been the first time.
It may not have been revenge but it was indeed most sweet and still wild after the deluge.

sea glass

I'm off in search of sea glass tomorrow...
Rubbish carelessly discarded then tossed, trustingly, by the wilds of the sea and sand, smoothing it's broken and jagged edges until it is a gem... ruined by man... a treasure of nature.
A bit like me.
Sunday I saw in 39 years tossing around in this universe. And let me tell you it was indeed quite a weekend of tossing around! Dinner, comedy, nightlife, 3am, family, half naked men sharing their skills in a ring, breakfast, cakes and a long long driveway at the farm filled with balloons and banners in my name! I don't think I've ever felt quite so loved by so many as this Birthday... and all over three days! I tell you I am blessed after all.
But tomorrow it is down time. Beach combing. Sea glass hunting.
A recovery of sorts. A breath.
Though a working holiday it is, I think the mecca that is Byron Bay is just the place for me to smooth my jagged edges for a bit, allow myself to be tossed again in the wilds of the sea for a week and then return home... hopefully another step closer to being my own little piece of sea glass.

Floating in the Flood

Seems all this rain has taken it's toll...
I've returned from a stay at the farm to a former river city that has quickly gone underwater....no *river* to speak of.
A raging brown torrent exists instead and deserted city streets strangely filling with calm yet dirty rising water.
The sun has eerily been shining here since yesterday
and the footage I have been watching on the TV has been so incredibly surreal.
Streets and places I have walked and driven are not even recognisable now.



but ever so gratefully me and mine are safe and dry and if not for the footage and the strangely quiet streets and empty supermarket shelves we would not even know what is occurring just *down the road*.
Homes submerged... restaurants, pontoons, jetty's and boats washed down river and out to the bay.



And compared to those in a neighbouring city up on the range we are the lucky ones.
My heart breaks for those with no warning. Lost.






Queenslanders are a tough bunch though. Even our animal friends are banding together.

It's a humbling experience.
The power of Mother Nature and our vulnerability even in the *big* city.

My heart is with those suffering...please spare a little of yours too?

Here's a little more on the disaster...

a wander up the common

So far the school holidays have been marked by beautiful rain.
Oh so great for the garden and all the digging I have to do re-designing the back yard....
but not so great for the little ones who have been just a tad restless and maybe a little tired of ducking in and out of downpours in order to get their feet and hands into the earth.
So when a morning of only looming clouds dawned for us we took advantage and ventured off to The Common in search of birds (for which it is much loved) and a good stretch of the legs and lungs.
So so good...
though we didn't quite plan on the biggest stretch of the legs coming from a chase by a rather protective nesting male scrub turkey! Handsome though don't you think?
Today the sun is out again and we are off to Pottsville for a few days of sea air and hopefully some more stretching of the best kind.
See you soon.

the sea and six

Our seaside abode and adventures of four days.
We left with a girl of five and returned with a girl of six.
With a long weekend falling on or near Mia's birthday each year and this year falling on the very same day of her birth to be exact, we decided to take advantage of it and spend a few nights celebrating by the sea.
Her only requests were to return to *our island* and that there should be no goannas...difficult but with the cooler weather I was confident we could fudge our way through without a close sighting anyway.
So we stole an extra day from school and took off on an adventure to sleep under a glorious starry sky...our southern cross shining brightest... and to indulge in the sound of the gentle lapping of the Pacific by day and night.

We spent complete days in the sand...
sitting, digging, looking, lazing, basking.
We parachuted from she oaks...
swinging, flying, bouncing, falling, laughing.
We played and fished and walked and dipped our toes.
We roasted marshmallows on an open fire and warmed those same toes beneath the blanket of night.
We indulged in the company of good friends.
We hung the birthday bunting from the trees and sang and celebrated six...
the sea and six.
No goannas in sight.

walk with me

Care to stroll with me down some of the paths I've recently wandered?
On water and on land...

Some go to nowhere...
Some to everywhere...
Who can resist what might lie around the next bend?

beneath the mountain

It was thanks to heavy traffic that we bid farewell to the setting sun and drove directly into the darkest of rainclouds that I unconvincingly told myself would pass us by.

Arriving at our destination in the pouring rain and pitch black we clumsily found our way bumping in the darkness between large rocks and the tall dark twisted trunks of numerous gum trees, completely missing the road most of the way, to a back corner of the property that would be our new home for the next four days. And admittedly with thoughts of then turning around and driving all the way home to sleep in my own dry bed and then begin our trek again the next morning, we set up our tents by the glow of car headlights and the thundering sound and wetness of the heavens opening.

With soaked hair and clothes clinging to every inch of skin and the ever so frequent looks to each other reassuring ourselves that things will only get better from here we succeeded in pitching our tent and tarp. After some mopping and ringing (yes ringing) of towels to rid our bedrooms of the puddles inside we had a dry and comfortable first nights sleep with dreams of conquest, the feeling of being watched over by another shadowy looming dark shape that seemed to cover half the sky and of a sunny day in the morning.

And indeed that's what we were granted. With the challenges of the night before seeming such a strange and distant memory we discovered what a pretty place we had set up camp amidst and that shadowy looming enormity watching over us the night before showed itself as the strong and ancient rocky face of Mt Edwards.

It's always such an adventure to wake in the crisp misty light of morning, with sun streaming through the cold air leaving swords of foggy yellow light between branches of trees illuminating the unexplored. Like a stripy wrapping paper on a much anticipated gift that you can now unwrap.

Oh and the things that that unwrapping revealed....

new friends....

outdoor baths....

gratefulness for remembering to pack the hammock....

and for the view to be admired while gently rocking there.

I celebrated my 38th year.

We dyed eggs with leaves and onion skins to have for breakfast Easter morning.

We canoed and boated (of which I have no photographs because there was quite a bit of indulgent playing with my new camera which caused the battery to flatten a just a little too early) ever so peacefully in the creek...unfortunately without spying the platypus that live there so I think an earlier row on the creek is required next time.

I made damper and cooked it for the little ones on sticks over the fire and they ate it with melted butter and raspberry jam while we sat mesmerised by the flames.

We collected eggs, fresh from sleep, around dawn on Sunday morning.

So yes, each dawning moment was an unveiling.

Quite the right way to celebrate all the weekend was.
A challenging beginning and a blissful end...all unwrapped beneath the mountain.

to scout and to discover

With Easter quickly approaching us and the talk of spending those days amongst the trees and the wild freedom of the country at risk of remaining just talk, we ventured out in search of some open skies and open spaces this weekend...

An adventure to...
ward off some wander lust...
relieve a large amount of captive frustration with the indoors due to the (lovely) ongoing downpours of late...
escape, for just a little bit, all the craziness that is living within a building site though it was only for a short while (I have to tell you our deck has far superseded our expectations!)...
and most importantly to discover and investigate possible camping locations for the impending holidays.

We found ourselves traversing down back roads and farm lane ways from the Albert river to Running creek.....

to dip our toes and stand together indulging in the great meditative art of rock throwing....

to find old bones to fascinate us....

to scout, to breathe and best of all to discover new places for adventure and ultimately an outdoor *home* for the coming holiday.
Hopefully the perfect nest in nature for us to escape to to nourish ourselves and celebrate it all.