fish at Low Isles

Cooktown

Did a run up to Cooktown on Tuesday and it was fabulous- going back to photograph the place seriously in better light when I get an opportunity.
We took it easy because it is a good three hour drive from here but the road is good despite wandering stock and wildlife- and the odd road train.
Our niece from Hong Kong is staying with us at present because she has finished school and is waiting for Uni entrance here in Oz after living overseas for a number of years. Seeing the area through her eyes is an education because she has lived in Europe, Africa and Asia for the past 9 years or so and so it is all fresh to her. She was very pleased to meet a lady in Cooktown who was fostering Joeys and she got to nurse one to her huge delight.
Amber is an artist too so I am planning on get my sh*t together and sorting out my workspace and she wants to learn a few techniques I use so that should be fun. And having her to work with might return my desire to create because I have hit a bit of a flat spot of late. Feeling really lazy after the mad rush to complete the Ex work and just ever so slightly overwhelmed by the fact of the beauty of this place and finding my place here.

When I was in Melbourne the weekend before last I was feeling a bit ambivalent about pretty much everything. Did I miss it? Not the place as such but I do miss my friends- one in particular. I do miss Port Phillip Bay and the light it has that changes so rapidly, very different to the sea here which I DO love but it isnt my beloved Bay. I miss my folks of course but phone calls are frequent and they have finally been able to escape the winter in Vic and head a little way north for some warm before Mum gets all involved with her pennant season with bowls etc.
I really had a good time in Melbourne catching up with people and I didnt really have too much time to think except on the way back to the airport to fly back here and a really eerie thing occured. As anyone who knows me knows my slight obsession with Dr John and I was listening to his CD 'N'awlins. Dis Dat and D'udda" and the final track is called 'I'm Going Home' goosebumps ran up my spine as I heard it start just as I pulled into the car park at the airport- a REAL eerie sensation.
Maybe I think too much LOL but it seemed apt and I must admit I did a dance in my seat when the plane landed at the ungodly hour of 12.45am in temperatures of 24C
So I am home but still working on it and we will see how it progresses.

Exhaustion/exhileration

Since my flying trip to Melbourne last week I have been knackered lol. Spent most the week quietly with a visit here and there from nice neighbours- thankfully the not so nice one has been very scarce of late to the relief of a couple of us ;-)

I played with some discharge ideas during the week but I really have to pull my finger out and organise my workspace to do some more work.
But the weather has made me lazy- wet for most of the week til Thursday I mostly mooched around doing very little LOL then when it got sunny again went outside to play!!

I have to split my workspace in two- the room I will be using faces a large clump of lawyer vine or Wait a While- nasty stuff but the palms look so pretty in the dappled sunlight coming through the trees. The large built in wardrobe has some shelves but I can stack up my big tubs in there no worries and that will help with the issues the wet weather has shown about this house- when it rains it gets damp!!
I will do messy stuff out on the deck dyeing and stuff like that and hopefully when we extend it around the house it will give me access to the laundry area but I have made do for all these years so a couple more probably wont hurt me ;-)

The exhileration part is from yesterday, Ken took us out to Low Isles for a sail and we scraped the weed off the hull of Tau Ceti and amused a rather large angel fish who loved nibbling at the bits of goo coming off the hull. After lunch and a thaw out- the water IS warmer than Victoria of course but it does chill you after an hour or so- we went for a snorkel towed by the dinghy to the very edge of the reef around the barrier island of the group. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Massive brain corals, fans and other formations, myriads of teensy fish of all colours AND then there was the cod! A rather large coral cod with a crew of cleaner wrasses darting all over him. He let me get within two feet of him- even with the magnification of water this fish was about a metre long- and I could watch the little wrasses nipping off the parasites. so bloody cool!!!
M.O.T.H. got towed back to the boat but I elected to go back under my own steam and was surrounded by a school of small blue fish that seemed intent to escort me back to where the big Angel who had parked under the boat was waiting, as soon as he came into view the little fish just disappeared. We fed the Angel scraps of bread from our lunch and he was a greedy fishy that's for sure but so beautiful and free. As one of us observed ' A bloody perfect day'

Maybe I am not

a complete heathen because I can appreciate churches- certainly when they are as pretty as St Mary's
All shot hand held in very low light so only about six of the images are useable but I am planning on taking the tripod next week ;-)

Port Douglas in the evenings

It's pretty nice to be able to just wander around under a dramatic sky in the twilight. As my dear friend Fred would call it 'a sweet light' The fellas went sailing last night but I didnt feel up to it and just wandered with my camera and sketch book while they were out on the briny.
The mangroves are starting to fascinate me more and more- although I am not that keen on the idea of wandering through them on my own between being ever so slightly stinky and full of bitey critters I will have to find a guide LOL.

Beltainn I, II

Woodsmoke

this was previewed a few months back but shot in situ at the Charles Smith Gallery
65 Smith St Fitzroy - show on 'til September 30

Finally!

some pics of "the Work"
Solstise Eve.