By The Wind Sailors

Cast up by the sea, caught in the light of the setting sun. 

 

Here (Self Portrait)

I arise before first light to take photos of the sunrise over K'gari and the Sandy Straits. 

Before the sun appears, the ground is sharply cold underfoot. There is little sand, but rocks, oyster shells, gravel. Within the water sludge-silt lines the bottom. The clarity of the water is disrupted by my careful footprints and brown rises in clouds. 

I am a newcomer to the area, still feel a newcomer to the state. Despite having birthed two kids here, married a Queenslander, lived here for getting on to ten years I still refer to 'you Queenslanders' and blink in astonishment at various things. 

But here. On the shore. Here, wading in sea, tottering over rocks with my non-balance, questing for falls of light. I belong. 

Happiness is the sea. 

 

Mangroves

 

Mangroves have their own peculiar magic. I've only really met them in the last few years and I am awed by their otherness. They own the liminal land between sea and shore, weathering time and tide in the in-between that few can survive in. 

And they thrive. 

Home to so many, unobtrusively shaping the coast, saving the coast, their roots binding against erosion even in the most inhospitable salt-laden environment, they are the unsung heroes. 

Mangroves, I salute you. 

May I strive to be like you. Indomitable. Resilient. Green and growing. Life sustaining. 

Rain

 

Ocean Joy

 

She runs with joy along the shore - completely within the moment. 

From the shallows

 

Wading in the shallows, as the last light fades, I look back to shore. 

Sunrise Spider Beauty

 

While they stereotype of spiders is that they are black or brown, hairy legged creatures of horror, once you start looking, there are actually hundreds of dainty, delicately coloured spiders, with almost translucent legs, downy bodies, and sweet expressions (despite the eight eyes.) 

I know I may win few converts to the beauty and appeal of spiders, but I am quite convinced of their attraction myself, and full of the delight of a new discovery. 

This one was found just after sunrise on a stalk of marram grass at Rainbow Beach (see, they like the beach - how Australian!) 

I'm unsure what she was breakfasting on (and truly don't want to know) but her expression was particularly sweet, although hard to catch in the low light. 

Spider Face Envy

 

So for awhile now I've suffered from spider-face-envy. 

It's not something I knew existed before I succumbed. 

To be clear, I don't envy spiders their faces, (cute as they are) I envy people who can take photos of spiders' faces with all eight eyes in focus. 

I'm having some problems - mainly because I like to take photos in the half light, and that level of macro-photography requires full light and then some. 

However, I really do think I'm getting closer. 

This was a gorgeous little spider (and I believe her egg sac) along the path at Rainbow Beach. Isn't she gorgeous? Look at her sweet expression, her lovely patterning. Her slight down. 

(I may be a little obsessed. Ahum.)

Although as a photo the colours are washed out and not what I want, I feel I'm one step closer to my ultimate aim - the perfectly in-focus spider face, with all eight eyes clear and alert. 

Jellyfish

As a child my brothers and I loved to play with the blobs of jellyfish washed up on the shore, throwing them, putting them down each others tops, hiding them in each others beds. 

Now, it's the way they eat the light that I play with. If I were to film a sci-fi film, I'd use these to film the alien spacecraft they look so otherworldly and oddly beautiful. 

Ephemeral wonder

The interplay of water and light fascinates me, the way the few small drops of condensation catch the sun, glitter, gleam, glisten, sparkle. 

I wonder about how the plants hold to the water, as if capturing them, refusing to let them leave, keeping them as long as they can, their serrations keeping the dew with them as long as possible. 

The changing reflections in the short-lived drops entrance. 

Here and then gone, the ephemeral beauty pierces. 

Wonder. 

 

Sea Treasures

The tide has washed away all the previous days footprints leaving the beach smooth and cool and scattered in sun-caught treasures. 

I lie on the sand for a better look at the dew caught on a small by-the-wind sailor or velella-velella, and wade through shallow water, admiring the shadows cast by the ripples, the ever-changing reflections in the clear water. 

Along the water mark are small shells and tiny blobs of jelly fish, illumined with the gold of the rising sun to look jewel-light. 

Without even my dogs to lunge and pull and stare at me with expectation, its a time of stillness, a time to observe and reflect and wonder at the journey that brought such a small thing across such a vast ocean and how far it might have travelled.