Free to Come and Go ~ Choosing to Stay

June 23, 2012 Joanne14 Comments

It was back in February this year that I first introduced my pair of very welcome visitors to my back garden. They have been the most elusive couple, and extremely camera-shy, but I recently had the opportunity of encouraging them so stay just a little longer.

Each morning I feed the birds when they visit my garden. The visitors, including kookaburras, magpies, minors and honey eaters, have all become progressively more and more trusting of me, these days congregating within a metre of my feet as I drop a few crumbs of bread for them all to nibble on.

Out of the corner of my eye a few mornings ago, I noticed a flash of “something”, followed by a huge splash! into my swimming pool. The ducks are back!

Needing some form of encouragement for the ducks to stick around, while I quietly dashed inside to grab my camera, I flung a few chunks of bread down to the pool area, which the ducks noticed immediately.

The camera I have used during the past month has become my new best friend. I’m totally obsessed with photography since getting this camera about a month ago. (Obsessed to the point of neglecting my blog, you may have noticed!)

The zoom on my new camera is brilliant! There are so many options available to play around with that I’m feeling like quite the photographer these days! My camera is rarely far from my side, and it’s not unusual for me to take at least fifty to one-hundred photos each day.

Well, the chunks of bread throw into the pool area did the trick, the ducks lingered, whilst I clicked away, photo after photo, from this angle and that. Even when the cute little couple waddled down further into the garden away from the pool, pecking at the grass, I still clicked away, the result being around eighty photos of, well, just the ducks!

This story gets even better though. (I’m hoping at this point that I’m not the only person in the world who is extremely excited by a pair of ducks choosing my back yard to hang out in!) The ducks came back the next day, but this visit, they came right up to the house, sharing the birds bread, just a few steps away from my back door!

Surveying the yard ~ A new view of the world.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Okay, maybe it could; imagine if they will eventually become so trusting that they would eat out of my hand! Am I being too optimist?After quite a bit of research I have learned that this handsome couple are “Australian Wood Ducks”. The breeding season is around November, when the female lays eight to ten eggs. I wonder if they will one day bring their ducklings to visit?

Australia · autumn · Tweed Valley

Towns of the Tweed ~ Over the Bridge in Tweed Heads.

May 18, 2012 Joanne13 Comments

“If only we lost our minds and arrived at our hearts.” ~ Robert James Waller.

My interest in photography is opening up a whole new world to me. There is such great enjoyment in losing my mind and following my heart, during the pursuit of capturing another image with my camera.

“One day I will go there, when I have the time” has been replaced by “I’ll go there right now!”. And so much for my old way of thinking, when I had imagined that stopping off somewhere, just for a few minutes, would throw my schedule out for the day. Since forgetting about my schedule, real or imaginary, I am finding that the days are not only becoming more enjoyable after my “photo-fix”, I’m actually achieving more overall, throughout each day!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — A walk across the bridge will lead to....

This gorgeous footbridge, part of a parkland area in Tweed Heads alongside the Tweed River, is a perfect example of ‘doing things, one day’. For so many years I have admired the bridge, as I have whizzed past in my car, never stopping, but intending to stop ‘one day’.

On a fine sunny day, just as we have enjoyed during these last couple of weeks, the river to the right of the bridge is simply beautiful….

….and to left, the river continues on into the man-made canals, which back on to an exclusive residential area.

Heading over to the other side of the river, the first thing you see is the children’s playground. I’m sure that the only time I have ever seen this play area empty is at night, and during a storm!

Beside the park is a boat ramp, which can always be seen being used, either by private or day-tripper boats. The bridge in the distance is the main traffic bridge over the Tweed River, which leads into Tweed Heads.

The park is full of huge old trees, providing an endless amount of shade. Just across the road from the park is a fabulous fish and chip shop, which I must admit we don’t go to often, as the wait is so long! But they have previously been voted the best fish and chip shop in the Tweed area.

It’s also a popular fishing spot, where my son and his mates have often spent hours fishing, during their school holidays. (Well, most of the time trying to catch fish, but they don’t mind if they go home empty-handed, which they often do!)

When you go under the bridge, there’s even more to be seen, especially if you know what you’re looking for, which I don’t! Luckily for me, my husband does….

….in among the mangroves, where fresh oysters grow. My husband tells me that mangroves such as these are crucial to the ecology of the Tweed River.

As we head back over the bridge and back to the car, we look down again towards the water. My husband is enthralled by the oysters….

….I see our shadows, and another moment to freeze for all time with my camera. 🙂

Australia · autumn · gratitude · spiritual

Over the Border ~ Magic at Point Danger.

May 16, 2012 Joanne10 Comments

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.” ~ Eleanora Duse.

Every single aspect of the Point Danger Lookout had the power to move me this week, and indeed, I did rejoice!

And I believe that I was not the only one affected. There were people everywhere, walking, taking photos, or simply sitting and passing the time of day. No one seemed to be in any hurry to leave.

There was magic in the air; filling the blue skies, the crashing waves, and the green grass.

The highrise buildings of Surfer’s Paradise showed up clearly along the horizon.

In the next photo, you can see that even a seagull was flying high! You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it though, to see him soaring across the sky in front of the rays from the sun.

Whichever way I turned I could see, and feel, the gentle energy in the air. Was it the sun? The ocean? The sounds of the waves?

Who cares! It was there to enjoy, and enjoy I did.The car park was full, yet there was hardly any traffic sounds. The “Sounds of Nature” dominated every sense I have.

I took this last photo through my car window, as I was about to leave. I had noticed a couple who had stopped to admire the ocean, and a magpie who had momentarily stopped walking along the grass. As I started up my car, the couple headed in one direction, the magpie in the other.

We were all headed off, on our way to who knows where, each having shared just a little touch of magic.

Australia · blessings · spiritual

Over the Border ~ Queensland. “Ye Olde Houses of God”

May 12, 2012 Joanne12 Comments

Whilst taking photos of the other day from Kirra Point Lookout, my camera happened upon an old church building, sitting atop a hill in Coolangatta.

Camera poised, I took a closer look.

Well, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Coolangatta may not compare to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, but by the standards of this area, it really is a magnificent church building.

The foundation stone was laid on Easter Monday of 1925, with the first mass in the completed church held on January 2nd, 1927, making the church eighty-five years old.

Being married to a Catholic for many years has taught me that any indecipherable words, relating to anything Catholic, will no doubt be Latin. “HIC EST DOMUS DEI” (which you will see above the doorway here), I have discovered, translates to “This is the House of God”.

In need of repairs.

Apparently the church is in need of funds for repairs to the building. Excuse me for possibly sounding cynical, but I’m quite sure that if the local parishioners cannot come up with the required funds, head office may be able to chip in a dollar or two.

And so they should. A building as grand as this deserves to be cared for. If I hear of any upcoming fundraising events, I will make a point of attending, to help this worthy cause. Perhaps I should encourage my husband to attend a few masses at this church, just to help their fund-raising along. Every little bit helps.

Taking photos of the church high up on the hill, from the position of standing down on street level, really gives the illusion of the church scraping the sky, and just look at the colour of the sky!

Have you ever seen any more brilliant a sky-blue than in these photos? It was blinding in beauty! A gift from God, you might say.

Just down the hill and around the corner is another beautiful Olde House of God, this time St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

Being a Protestant myself, I felt more of a personal connection to this church. It has a wonderful welcoming “feel” to it, and is kept in the most immaculate condition.

The plaque on the side wall of the church tells us that the foundation stone was laid on October 31^st, 1937, making the church seventy-five years of age this year. We can all only hope that we are in such a good state of repair when we reach the age of seventy-five!

I really liked the arched windows around the building. Some of the windows were stained in pastel colours, but the sunlight would not allow me to take a successful photo of those. Perhaps that would be a photo for a day with less brilliant sunshine.

Although the old buildings in my area of Australia are few and far between, I have really enjoyed taking photos of, and learning something about, the history of the old buildings around me.

I do hope you have enjoyed visiting these churches with me. 🙂

Australia · Changes · new

Over the Border ~ Kirra Point Lookout, Queensland.

May 10, 2012 Joanne15 Comments

After weeks and weeks of less than perfect weather, it is so wonderful to finally see days on end of nothing but the sun! The weather has cooled down dramatically and everything is looking pristine and sparkly.

I paid a visit to Kirra Point Lookout the other day, knowing I had the perfect weather for taking some great photos of the ocean.

From the lookout to the north is Kirra Beach, usually jammed packed full of surfers. Kirra Beach is world-famous for its surfing conditions. In fact, it was at Kirra that the second Surf Life Saving Club was established in Queenland, at a meeting held on January 7th 1916, with the Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club, established in 1911 being the oldest in the state.

As you can see here, Kirra Beach was almost deserted. Perhaps the surfing conditions were not as they should be, even on the sunniest of days…

Coolangatta Beach too, to the south of the lookout, was all but deserted.

I loved the blueness of the sky as a backdrop for this white apartment building in Coolangatta.

Over the last twenty-five to thirty years a number of older style beachside apartment buildings have been demolished, in favour of these multi-story apartment buildings and holiday units.

A monument of a large iron eagle, with the appearance of it soaring through the air towards the ocean, has been erected at Kirra Point Lookout. Whilst it is very interesting to see the iron eagle, I don’t know the significance of it.

I wonder if there is a significance, or whether someone simply liked the idea?…I’ll keep asking around.

Whilst I stood at Kirra Point Lookout, clicking away in this direction and that with my camera, I spotted an old church, nestled beside some other buildings, up on a hill in the distance at Coolangatta.

It started me thinking and casting my mind back to the Tweed Heads and Coolangatta area that I first knew, back in the days before the new apartment buildings and holiday lets were constructed.

How many old buildings remain in the area?

The weatherboard holiday lets along the beach – gone, and replaced with highrise buildings.

The row of shops containing two cinemas – gone, and replaced with a multi-level shopping centre, office space and one new cinema.

An old roller skating rink ~ gone, and replaced by a car park.

The original lighthouse at Point Danger ~ gone, and replaced by the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse.

I have decided that, by and large, Australians are an unsentimental (is that a word?) race of people and prefer to re-built rather than refurbish and extend!

Anyway, yesterday I took myself off to the old church on the hill and took a number of photos. I found another church of a similar vintage just around the corner also, but have yet to find any other old buildings in this area!

Next post, I’ll share with you my two old churches, (and any other old buildings I may come across in the meantime, if they exist!)

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