Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
The first thing I remembered was the awe-inspiring beauty of the orange soil of the Red Centre, watching the prickly yellow balls spinifex rolling along in the wind like spherical hedgehogs, the cerulean blue sky encompassing the vast orange plains and the familiar but gob-smackingly beautiful Uluru and the feeling of healing warmth of the sun through my body.
The Japanese have a saying. Their lives will be complete if just once in their lives they experience the vast space and timelessness of the Red Centre, Australia – the opposite of their densely populated, elbow to elbow lives back home.
Similarly the beauty of the Daintree is inspiring. The rainforest plants, frond of giant Tree Ferns, giant trees, verdant and abundant.
Originally cassowaries inhabited the Daintree but these days they are quite scarce, maybe even verging on endangered.
I loved sampling the little green ants, as suggested by the tour guide, but I was looking forward to an icy cold rum and coke and lounging in the recliner chair back at the resort.
…reliving the magnificent day.
What do I like best? Daintree Rainforest beside the crashing waves of the surf or the colours of the Red Centre that assault the senses.
It was brilliant – the forever open spaces and the vibrant colours of the Rock close up. The undulating wave-shapes of the sides of the Rock suggesting that millions of years ago this inland sanctuary was under water; a mind blowing theory, supported by the shells and sea creature fossils that abound in the area.
Is life what you thought it would? Stresses and strains, yes, but the consolation comes from the out-of-body experiences of magnificent natural wonders like Uluru and Daintree., as well as travel to various novel and exciting places around the world. I’ve seen parts of Europe, Russia, India, Alaska, but nowhere is near as life-enhancing as Australia’s natural beauty.
The most random experiences were watching the baby fairy penguins hobble up the beach of Phillip Island and releasing the baby turtles into the welcoming waves of Seminyak Beach, Bali. Hoping “my” turtle would survive the very poor odds of being eaten by predators or succumbing to stormy seas and would grow to maturity and return to the same beach to reproduce. And the cycle continues.
Above all I am a nature lover and colours such as orange, yellow, green and blue, in all their variations, feed my soul.