December 18, 2016
There are countless things I love about Australia, but above all else it’s the array of wonderful animals and plants. A fabulous tree that can’t help but draw attention is the mighty boab. I’ll never forget the first time I saw one, while on a recent trip to the Kimberley Ranges in Australia’s north, towering over the surrounding low-lying scrubby desert bush. Boabs are a fascinating tree. Their flowers bloom only at night, last for just a matter of hours, and begin to wilt after sunrise. It’s estimated that some of the oldest boab trees are at least 1500 years old. The diameter of the trunk has been known to exceed 5 metres and some boabs tower to 24 metres. […]
December 3, 2016
It’s funny (odd funny). These days it’s relatively eay to find people via the Internet – a Facebook account, news articles, LinkedIn, work-related sites, etc. But there’s someone from my past who has proven to be elusive. With all his idiosyncrasies he impacted me when I was in my mid-teens, and every now and then I wonder how life has turned out for him. So here’s an online presence and a tribute to Andrew Ward (Maggot) from Sydney, Australia… once (still?) a talented poet, a tortured soul, the boy who carved AW♥AH in every bus-stop shelter from Palm Beach to Manly. Andrew, Anita, Phil, Lynda, Ben, Gary, Felicity and Lulu in the late 70’s
November 10, 2016
The other day I met a lovely woman who, when asked what she did for a living, lowered her eyes and replied “I’m a librarian.” “Why sound apologetic?” I responded, “There’s nothing wrong with being a librarian. I bet it’s a great job.” She looked up and replied that she loves her job and that it can be very varied, but that people assume she sits around all day reading books and shooshing visitors. “It’s not like that at all!” she explained. I sympathised and we then went on to discuss books, particularly children’s books. I asked her if she can see a change in the way they’re written today. Did she think, like me, that they are less lyrical […]
November 7, 2016
I tend to judge a country by the way it treats its animals, and Rarotonga doesn’t disappoint. Although there isn’t a large amount of working stock – horses, donkeys and the like – there are plenty of chickens, goats and dogs. From our hotel window I watch as every morning several dogs trot down the beach purposefully. And in the evening they trot back the other way. This is their world and they’re free here… not mollycoddled, not pampered and not fenced in. They look happy and I can’t help thinking that our own two labs would call this place Paradise. Much to the amusement of visitors, several dog’s routine is to swim across to the neighbouring island, where every […]