Tag: Australia

Australia · gratitude · happiness

Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Mountains

Joanne2 Comments

The theme for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge for this week is irresistible to me, being “mountains” and it’s the easiest photo ever to come up with, considering my recent trip to the Blue Mountains, where I visited the world-famous “Three Sisters”.

Mountains have the power to move me; to make my soul sing; to bring an overwhelming feeling within my heart that everything is, and always will be, right with the world.

Mountains bring a smile to my face. I lose track of time when I look at a mountain, any mountain, even if it is just a photo of mountains I am looking at.

However, whenever I have the rare and fortunate opportunity to visit “The Three Sisters” all of the above feelings are magnified, one thousand times over.

These massive rocks, the surrounding mountains and the valley below simply take my breath away! 🙂

Australia · autumn

“Gilding the Morrow”

Joanne4 Comments

 “Ah, Hope! What would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow”. ~ Susanna Moodie.

Whilst many prefer the bright blue skies reminiscent of favourable weather, the photo above shows that there is just as much beauty in grey skies.

This photo, looking north across the ocean at Burleigh Heads beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast also proves that, contrary to popular belief, it does rain in Queensland!

The late autumn weather on the day was indeed very chilly, but I could not resist the opportunity to linger amongst the elements, enjoying the grey cloud formations as they presented themselves.

Just as in life, there were indeed golden beams of sunlight hiding behind the grey clouds, awaiting the exact right moment to shine their way through, reassuring us yet again that they will always be there to “gild the morrow”.

After the photo session, a hasty retreat was made back to the warmth of my awaiting car. A cosy jacket would have come in handy that day!

 

Australia · autumn · gratitude · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Autumn Sunset

Joanne6 Comments
An autumn sunset over Mount Warning

“How fine has the day been, how bright was the sun,

How lovely and joyful the course that he run!

Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun,

And there followed some droppings of rain:

But now the fair traveller’s come to the west,

His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best;

He paints the skies gay as he sinks to his rest,

And foretells a bright rising again.” ~ Isaac Watts.

With summer now behind us, Mother Nature has taken it upon herself to have her last hoorah of hot summer’s days and nights, which we know to expect during the months of the summer season.

During this afternoon, I noticed the temperature had reached 31 degrees Celsius, a hot day for this time of year.

But when you see the brilliant red formations of clouds in the western sky late in the day, it is so worth the unseasonal heat!

Following my previous photos of Mount Warning, The Mesmerising Mountain, I just had to add yet another magical photo to the series. How could I resist?

“Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows In yonder West : the fair, frail palaces, The fading Alps and archipelagoes, And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas.” ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Looking to the west of Mount Warning
Australia · friends · Mount Warning · spiritual · Tweed Valley

Mesmerising Mount Warning

Joanne8 Comments

View of Mount Warning across the Tweed River

QuinnCreative and I have engaged in a comment chat recently, discussing the spiritual nature of the area around Tucson, Arizona.

Time stands still for me when reading Quinn’s stories. My son nearly missed the school bus a couple of mornings ago, as I had become so enthralled in reading Quinn’s blog posts!

When Quinn made mention of the Australian Aborigines in her post “Dreaming Your Life Awake”, I simply had to mention my Magical Mountain, which I admire daily from the back of my home.

The Aboriginal name for my Magical Mountain is “Wollumbin”. The European name, given to the mountain by Captain James Cook in 1770 is “Mount Warning”.

Looking across sugar cane fields

Regular visitors will no doubt remember my waxing lyrical over the mountain on many occasions. I find myself staring at the mountain regularly, in an almost hypnotic state.

The closer I drive towards the mountain, the stronger I feel the “pull” towards it, as the folds within the rocky face of the mountain and the gigantic trees become clearer and clearer.

The “feel” of Mount Warning is both hypnotic and tranquil. I’m sure that the spirits of the local Aboriginals smile upon those who admire their “Wollumbin”.

Mount Warning from Lyon's Lookout, Murwillumbah

Quinn asked for a list of posts I have written on Mount Warning. I discovered five posts in total, although two of those posts are mostly about landmarks in my area, named by Captain James Cook.

Here’s a list of links to the five posts ~

Thank you, Quinn, for giving me the opportunity to show off the beautiful area where I live yet again. I constantly complain about the humidity during the summer months ( sorry, patient readers!) but apart from the heat, we really do have the most magical scenery.

There are quite a few links here to explore, so grab a cuppa, sit back, relax, and explore a part of my world!

 

 

gardening · gratitude · herbs · lemon · mangoes · pecan nuts · summer

Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Abundance.

Joanne1 Comment
Abundance

This past week has been a rather hectic one for me, with an abundance of work, mostly paper work, taking up most of my waking hours each day.

As a result I have missed out on posting anything here for quite a few days. I’ve even missed the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge for last week!

Now, where in the rules does it say a photo can’t be posted a couple of days late?… No where?… That’s what I thought!

So here I am with my photo, which represents last week’s theme ~ “abundance”.

This photo was taken last year, when our garden produced a massive abundance of extremely tasty food; tomatoes, lemons, limes, mangoes, pecan nuts, chillies, and a number of my favourite herbs, including rosemary, basil, sage, parsley and thyme.

This time last year, the planets must have aligned perfectly, giving us a bumper crop of absolutely everything we grow! The right amount of rain and just enough sunshine, with the right amount of heat beating down upon the earth.

This summer, however, Mother Nature has not been quite so kind to us. Luckily, I have my photos from last year, showing my garden in all of its lush glory with an abundance of edibles, with which to reminisce, until the perfect weather conditions return again.

And the perfect weather conditions will return. Mother Nature is kind that way. 🙂