Australia does fireworks for New Year's Eve, and in Port Douglas, there's one show at eight in the evening so the kids can enjoy it too, and then one at midnight, for which we were equipped with blankets and lots of bubbly except we all were really tired and so went to bed instead.
I'm glad we had an earlier show, but the birds weren't. You know the way a flock of very tweety birds will nest in a tree, so that as you walk past while they're settling in for the night, there's a cacophony of chirrups, and you can tell that the tree houses a bustling metropolis of feathers? Well, when fireworks are nearby the birds all leave in a huff, very unimpressed.
The next day we few into Brisbane to stay with my brother who lives in the boonies of Byron Shire. First and third Sundays boast a huge market in Byron Bay, and we knew we were in the right place when we saw this:
My daughter did much of her Christmas shopping, we both bought some soaps, were earnestly sold on the antibacterial properties of camphor laurel cutting boards (I'll admit I was tempted), Jelly Bush honey (the Ozzie version of Manuka honey), hand-crafted leather, spice mixes, tie-dye, jewellery, soy candles, and other delights.
We did succumb to frozen mango-banana goodness: chunks of frozen fruit are fed into a machine (I want one!) which extrudes something the consistency of soft-serve ice cream which is pure fruit yumminess.
Because there are so many of us (my middle brother decided to send my nephews with us at the last minute), we have a large mini-van which has to be driven along hairpin bends to my brother's house. The road travels along a mountain ridge, so that the sweeping valleys present themselves alternately to the left and the right. It's lovely during the day when you can (a) see the view, and (b) see a few curves ahead, and (c) have been on the road at least once before, but was on the nerve-wracking side the first evening when we arrived and had to navigate somewhere we'd never been before.
But there's wi-fi here, and a bathroom with huge windows because there are no neighbours in sight.
My brother lives on 3.8 acres, and this is the view from his upper verandah.
My brother lives on 3.8 acres, and this is the view from his upper verandah.
See the white tree with all the y-shaped branching? If you look carefully on the lowest branch on the right, you can see a small grey lump, a koala bear, just hanging out:
Today (January 3rd local time) we spent the morning at Minyon Falls.
It was cool and sweet and burbly. If not for restless kids and no food and the approach of lunchtime, I could have stayed there for another couple of hours.
After that, we drove to the hemp capital of Australia, Nimbin.
The countryside here is gorgeous: lush and green with rolling hills, fields and horses and cows. I suspect it's a bit too humid for sheep (they'd get wool rot), but despite the moisture-laden air (which incidentally is marvellous for my daughter's cold), temperatures are very comfortable.
There's something very primal about being in this landscape.
It occurred to me that my burning desire to bead and knit and generally make things when I'm immersed in my regular daily life may be in part an attempt to reach for the serenity imbued by all this beauty. To be sure, I'm working on a pair of cashmere-silk socks (although "working" doesn't really capture the essence of what I'm doing which is more akin to fondling while I knit) so my Need To Make Stuff is satisfied, but at the same time, I'm not buzzing with ideas for things I have to make Right Now. I think I'm getting a good dose of visual stimulation from the surroundings, as well as duh, being on vacation where every day is full of "What sounds like a fun thing to do today?" rather than "Can I find some quiet time for me?"
It's rather nice, actually.
Nimbin is full of hemp-related everything, though some of the prices are a bit jacked for the tourists. It's a tiny little place, and I think every single shop-front on the main drag (which is perhaps one city block long) is painted in psychedelic designs and colours and mentions hemp or cannabis or smells of it.
We did have excellent burgers though.
No comments:
Post a Comment