As I plan the next adventure
My head fills with images
Thoughts of last year
Special places
Unique in nature
That have left a lasting impression on me
One of nature’s sculptures
Carved by the wind and waves of the Bay of Biscay
The Praia de Augas Santas
The Bay of Cathedrals
Is certainly a natural masterpiece
A place of spiritual beauty and wonder.
Flags are the traditional way of ship comminication
The flags tell a message of respect.
The club burgee at top of the mast says the ship is from Hobsons Bay Yacht Club
The Australian flag from the back stay identifies an Australian ship
The courtesy flag is a sign of respect to the country you are in.
The flying of the aboriginal flag from the cross trees says we are in aboriginal country.
Three flags can give a simple but true message.
The heavenly goddess
Rising from the remnants of industrial decay
An old abattoir
Now parkland that were once holding pens for slaughter
Waterways once polluted now revived
Renewal
I had a teacher once
A boat builder
As I made mistakes when building a my clinker row boat
He would say
There is nothing that cant be fixed
Maybe the Heavenly Goddess is a symbol of renewal
That there is nothing that cant be fixed
There just needs to be the will for renewal
A river of wine I saw
As I looked through the cellar door
Where’s my cup?
Where’s a straw?
Or should I lick it from the cellar floor!
Tahbilk winery in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria is like stepping back in time.
One of Australia’s oldest wine producers.
A nice ride through the hills to get there.
Alone or in company.
Did you go to the Guggenheim in Bilbao?
And I had
The huge construction of of shiny titanium with its labyrinthine galleries
The best of humanities construction
And the oohing and aahing ensued
But only 80km away was the Picos de Europa
Vast canyons of granite
Ribbons of gorges
Crystalline glaciers
Shaped by the earth itself by nature the great creator.
I saw the Cathedral in Santiago de Compestella
With its imposing edifice
Its halls and alters adorned with gold and silver
The faithfuls tribute to God above
To his heavenly powers
But north of Santiago de Compestella
On the coast is the Praia das Catedrais
The marble buttresses carved by the sea and the wind
The halls and caves rich in the colors of nature, the sheen of the rock the soft green of the moss
Natures gift to us to treasure and enjoy
I find I have my faith now in nature
In the earth
Not in a belief, a god, a spirit, an omnipotent by non existent creation of a prophets mind
But in the earth and the land that we too often take for granted
The earth and the land that gives life
I met an Aboriginal Elder in Cape York – Willie Gordon
From the Guugu Yimithirr tribe
His descriptions of the relationship between the Aboriginal Australians and the land shifted my understanding of the land and nature
The life giving force of nature and the land
For we are of the land and at its end we return to the land
