The winter months here at Journey Jottings are some of our busiest months when it comes to supplying retailers, as this is the prime travelling season for visitors to explore northern Australia.

The weather in the Top End and the Kimberley region is uncomfortably hot and humid during the summer months (November ~ March), not to mention the monsoonal rains that cut swathes of the country off as rivers flood, and makes roads impassable ~ That is the Wet season up in the tropical north.

The winter (April ~ October), on the other hand is the Dry season and is therefore the optimum time to explore this area while the weather offers sunny, blue sky days with comfortable cool evenings. Its a win:win scenario for both escaping the southern cold winter, while holidaying in a stunningly beautiful scenic area with a perfect climate

Kimberley Map Magnet

The highlight for this month therefore has to be the Kimberley region Map Magnet literally flying out the door to supply all those lucky travellers touring the gorgeous Kimberley region.

August 2010 Kimberley Map Magnets flying out the door

Click on the ‘2010‘ tag to see ‘my year at a glance’ so far

What was *YOUR* August highlight?

The downside of living on the 27th parallel south in the sub-tropics of Australia is that the season’s tend to be very similar ~ All a bit same same -

It appears that the lower the latitudinal number of where you are on the globe, results in less seasonal variations of vegetation. One lot of 365 days rolls into the next 365 days, with no blatant visual demarcation -

A palm tree is a green palm tree no matter what the time of year!

Also, with Australia’s predominant tree type being the Eucalyptus, which is an evergreen, there are few native trees in this east coastal region (Brisbane) that bare all in winter, allowing for that fabulous flurry of fresh lime green bursting into life as the days lengthen and the sun warms.

There are of course compensations to living on the 27th parallel south but it is nonetheless a thrill when one observes little differentiations heralding signs of seasonal change!

Such as these bees busying about their business, collecting this fluffy fresh pollen.

And this Noisy Friarbird Honeyeater tucking into some (no doubt) tasty Grevillea pollen

Down by the water’s edge these yellow hibiscus (also known as Native Rosella) are starting to flower -

And set back from the cool sparkling water…

This wonderful wattle ~ Australia’s floral emblem

National Wattle Day heralds the onset of spring in Australia on the 1st September ~ In the northern hemisphere spring is not sprung until the equinox which is 20th/21st March ~ The equivalent in the southern hemisphere being 20th/21st September.

What signs of spring are you noticing?

At times the world seems quite manic.

Family life feels fast and furious, business gets busier and there’s a constant race servicing the needs of family members, business colleagues and company customers.

With so much energy pouring out of the pot (solving other people’s problems) one can’t help but cry

“What about ME!!”

In her series of Artist’s Way books Julia Cameron refers to the risk of your ‘well’ being sucked dry… not good for your family, your business and of course most importantly YOU!!

To ensure the well gets replenished she talks of making an ‘Artist Date‘ with yourself where you go on:

“A solitary expedition with your ‘creative self’ into new, interesting, and expansive territory. Expeditions do not need to involve ‘high art’. They might be a trip to an aquarium store, a concert, a used-record store, a drive in the country – anything that ‘fills the well’ – for you. Artist dates are undertaken alone.”

I love my ‘Artist’s dates’  so, on Saturday I went to GoMA (Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art), which always re-hydrates me!

The Valentino retrospective that opened on the 7th August is running until the 14th November 2010 so I decided to leave that for another day ~

Along the upper gallery were some beautiful indigenous works ~ Here  is a detail from a work by Angelina Ngal portraying an ethereal landscape  of her grandfather’s Arlparra country in the Eastern Desert:

Arlparra Country (detail) 2006 by Angelina Nga

A stark contrast to Robert Macpherson’s hardware paintbrushes demonstrating how inspiration can flow from anything ~ even down to formulating the colours used and matching their proportions

I couldn’t help but be attracted to this with its global map projection appearance ~ And it always amuses me when does a straight line become a curve

While most of the galleries are enclosed, there are some beautiful large windows that connect the inside art with the outside world ~ I loved this view of a futuristic feeling sculptural work that hummed at various electronic frequencies depending on your proximity to it juxtaposed, out of the window, against a classic pioneering Aussie icon the wind mill to one side and what seems to be becoming a modern day city icon on the other, a ferris wheel!

Past, Future & Present

Past... Future... Present

And looking out the other way towards the William Jolly Bridge an image of  merging cultures.

William Jolly Bridge, Brisbane

On the river-side of the gallery is the new walking bridge that links South Bank to the City, offering a short-cut up to Roma Street Parklands ~ Called Kurilpa Bridge, the word Kurilpa was a term used by the original Aboriginal inhabitants in the West End Area meaning a ‘place for water rats’.

Feeling replete from the absorption of fresh new sights and sounds, and inspired by all manner of concepts taking my thinking bouncing off at tangents, I’m feeling fired back up and ready to burn

John Giorno

Tell me in the comments below…

Do you make and take Artist’s Dates?

What do you like to do, or

where do you go to replenish your soul?

A beach is enticing, but what is it that makes it so alluring?

Blue sea… white sand… and thoughts of lying in the shade of a tree whilst listening to the water lapping up on the shore can’t help but wash waves of relaxation over you.

There are few people who have  ’work’ associations with the beach, so it’s a place that has virtually a universal connectedness for rest, recuperation and unwinding from the toils of everyday life. Its a carefree zone ~ off limits to our daily trials and tribulations.

The beach is an area of abundant discovery ~

You never know what you might find washed up along a shoreline so there is a feeling of endless possibilities.

I spotted these beautiful flower pods washed up on the beach the other evening and seeing no immediate local source marveled at where they’d come from… How far had they floated and bobbed before coming to rest here?

Not far as it turned out! A few nights later their origination came to light ~ Mangrove flowers from just up the coast

How blind I’d been not noticing them before, until seeing them isolated away from their every day environs.

A beach can offer great clarity.

While crabs straddle both land and sea…

for humans the beach demarcates the end of our landmass world and the beginning of a watery world, which for most of us will remain undiscovered below its shrouded glassy surface.

Going to the beach is a bit like going to the ends of the earth! While you can’t go any further (without getting wet!)  its far enough away from your daily strife to provide a safe haven, a respite from worldly worries.

The lure of the sea is undeniable. Even if one is not a seafaring person with aspirations of wanting to sail the high seas; or yearnings to explore its deep watery depths, that image of ‘Hope” peering out to sea reflects the feeling I get when I’m on the beach ~

a sense of optimism for the future ~

Homeward bound at sunset

There’s always something new on the horizon

How do you feel when you go to the beach?

I’ve only ever seen a koala in the wild twice.

Once in a beautiful piece of eucalyptus forest in northern NSW where tucked high up in the fork of the tree between trunk and branch the koala was perched, or was it wedged?

And the second time was the other day on an horrendously busy road in an outer Brisbane suburb where this koala was attempting to cross in between the cars

"Mammals of Australia", Vol. I Plate 14

Koalas are not mammals (nor are they koala bears!) but rather they are a marsupial meaning their young crawl into a front facing pouch when only a centimeter in length, where they attach themselves to a teat to spend the next 6 months suckling milk and growing ~ When they emerge from their mother’s pouch they spend a further 6 months with her either riding on her back or clinging to her abdomen returning to the pouch for milk (in between the odd eucalyptus leaf) until it is too big to fit. The joey will finally leave its mother at between 1 and 3 years old, depending on when the mother has her next young.

Koala with young in pouch

Koalas are not found in either WA or Tasmania ~ Their habitat covers an area roughly from Adelaide, South Australia to the southern part of Cape York in Queensland, around the coastal regions and inland as far as there is sufficient moisture to support their preferred woodlands. While there are over 600 differing types of eucalypts in Australia, koalas are quite selective only browsing on a select few species within their area.

They are essentially nocturnal, although there is a fair degree of overlap here as they sleep up to 18 -20 hours! Conserving energy is a necessity whilst digesting their gum-leaf diet, which is fibrous, low in nutrition as well as being toxic.

Their docile appearance dozing in a tree by day belies the noise they are able to make when fully awake at night! The first time I heard the sound I thought I’d heard a yowie It was like the start of a donkey’s ‘eeyore’ but having gathered breath on the ‘ee’ expelled it not with a mere ‘yore’ but a roar like a lion! I have since heard their ‘call’ referred to as a bellow.

Have you seen a koala in the wild?

Or heard one? If so where?

I love travelling on my home turf.

I live on an island out in the bay off Brisbane, which is only an hour from the centre but each time I go into the city I enjoy viewing it as though through the eyes of a visitor!

I took the vehicle ferry this time as opposed to the passenger water taxi, which I saw zip past us out of the port hole

Port Hole

Rather than drive, I took the train from Cleveland. For those not familiar with Brisbane public transport its well worth buying a ‘Go Card‘ for hopping on and off trains and buses ~ They work out a lot cheaper than buying individual fares and also quicker and more convenient. This link also gives you a Journey Planner.

Cleveland to the City train

Brisbane has a subtropical climate so its lovely to see palm trees in between the skyscrapers

Brisbane City

But a slightly more surprising sight was these Boab trees in the middle of Brisbane!

Boab Trees in Brisbane

The boab occurs natively up in the Kimberleys and the Top End of Australia, where they are sometimes called ‘Bottle trees’ due to their bulbous trunks which can reach a girth of 20 metres!  One such boab near Derby, WA is  so huge the inside of the trunk was used as a prison back in the 1890′s.

Boabs also grow in Madagascar and Africa ~ There has therefore been debate whether their genus is connected from the days of Gondwanaland when Australia was connected to these land masses or whether, the more likely speculation that the large boab seed pods sailed their way across the Indian Ocean, where they were washed up on the north-west shores.

Boab Tree in Brisbane

Boabs are deciduous so loose their leaves in the winter months ~ They flower in the spring and then produce large seed pods or nuts, which are a nutritious food source used by the Aboriginal people and are sometimes carved with beautiful decoration.

Brisbane and Boab trees

I had arranged to have lunch at the Brisbane Tea Shop

The Brisbane Tea Shop

Where I met up with May King Tsang (of MayKingTea) who introduced me to Dung Ti Oolong tea, which was delicious ~ She had a Gyokuro tea

Linda and May in the Brisbane Tea Shop

I had a divine lemon tart, while May had a cheescake with Anti-stress sauce (!!)….

but unfortunately they got devoured before I could photograph them

Have you seen a Boab tree?

In July it was announced that Journey Jottings was a finalist in the Australian Home-Based Business Awards.

On 30th July I flew to Melbourne where I was presented with my Award by the Victorian State  Minister for Small Business the Honorable Joe Helper MP.

On Friday of last week I flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for the day to be presented, by the Victorian Minister for Small Business the Honourable Joe Helper MP, with a certificate honouring Journey Jottings being a finalist in the Australian Home Based Business Awards this year.

The Exhibition Centre is next to the Maritime Museum so after the presentation I came out into the evening air and walked down to the recently restored three-masted iron barque Polly Woodside.

The contrast of a tall ship’s rigging (built in 1885) is a beautiful and stark contrast against the modern Melbourne skyline ~

The old, seen below, reflected in the new Convention Centre.

Seeing Polly Woodside made me think of ‘our friend’ A.Whelen who sailed into Melbourne from London aboard the iron clipper Hesperides  in 1878 ~

At the end of last year I reproduced each day (on the exact day that they had occurred 131 years earlier) extracts from A.Whelan’s journal, written in 1878. For a summary of the trip I selected 10 journal entries, which can be read here, or for all 97 entries (he was at sea for 93 days) click here

I then walked across the pedestrian Seafarers Bridge to the Docklands.

Where the maritime theme continued…

…down this laneway to another ~

I was then treated to a beautiful sunset…

as I looked back across the Yarra River

and down to the city over Spencer Street Bridge

All photos taken by Linda Fairbairn