A corner of this place

We have landed on this troubled but defiant little island which is my homeland - so small that it would disappear many hundreds of times over in the Australian continent but big enough when I was growing up to fill my world and to be the image of all that I had.

Coming back is always a nervous affair and there is no rationale for it. I have butterflies in my tummy as the plane comes in to land over the sea. I walk into an airport with the welcoming but very bored airport officials before jumping into a car and speeding down the motorway, part fearful of changes that might have happened since the last time I was here, part blasé about how well I know it.The central reservations on the otherwise unremarkable motorway in total bloom of white and pink oleanders, possibly the most effective barriers on the globe and such pretty ones too.

We holiday in the north western tip of the island overlooking the mountains of Turkey which might just be shadowed on the horizon on a clear day. The bay is quicksilver broken only by the movements of blue where the wind has disturbed the surface.

The villa is in an orchard of fruit trees, some lie forlorn on the ground. There was obviously a surfeit this year. On the one side I look out onto a harvested field of wheat and mountains in the background. On the far side olive trees and carobs.Inside a mixture of Cypriot kitsch, dried flower arrangements and supermarket art work, but comfortable and welcoming with a fridge stocked with food so that as weary travellers we did not need to look any further. Cypriot hospitality at is best.

Waking up to the sound of a cock crowing in the distance is so comforting and familiar.The air is cool in the morning and the sun just beginning to work its magic. Not long now before the cicadas will overtake the music score and silence the cocks.There is a good dose of rural in this corner of western luxury villas, welcoming tourists, and the mixture fills me with solace. Over the years I have been coming, the road by the sea is largely untouched and while the buildings have proliferated they are mainly low lying and acceptable. I walk into the bakers - I have not seen them for two years, yet the baker smiles and welcomes me as if I haven't been away for more than a day. Possibly the best bit is swimming in the sea freely. My sister and I swim out for miles, jumping into the waves and under them and floating on our backs, chatting, catching up on the gossip and the politics, enjoying the salt on our faces and the deep underneath with no fear or failure other than sheer physical fatigue.

Seeing family and friends for precious moments in this over demanding time is a gift. Gift giving and taking all play a part. I remember arriving on so many occasions and my older sister would have something a little special she had set aside for me or collected on her travels. Thinking them all up afresh each time is a challenge but good fun. I await the arrival of my boys and my mother in law with a real sense of excitement in anticipation of my niece's wedding on the 25th.

We have so much to catch up on, to share over a cold bottle of Keo and the ubiquitous kebab. It's hard to sum up how this place sits in my life and Cypriots say " There is nothing like Cyprus." Σαν την Κυπρο εννεσιη. It is a gift to me. I can truly say "There is nothing like Cyprus" and now I can add and "Australia is something else" and life unfolds between the two, because luck and birth have allowed me the luxury of being part of both. 

Cunningham's Gap

Allan Cunningham (1791-1839), botanist and explorer was an extraordinary man with a love of plants. He collected hundreds and thousands of botanical samples from his voyages of discovery arriving in Sydney cover in 1816 and on numerous trips thereafter.

'I find I can blend discovery with botanical research tolerably well',

he wrote and I think that sums up perfectly his whole persona.

While exploring the Darling Downs he found a gap in the ranges, now called Spicer’s Gap, which he thought would give access from Moreton Bay to the downs, with fine grazing lands. In July and August 1828 he returned to Moreton Bay by sea and explored the country southward to the Logan River and Macpherson Ranges and found another gap, now known as Cunningham's Gap, and in May 1829 explored the upper part of the Brisbane River valley.

So when we visited Cunningham’s Gap at the weekend it was with this man’s life work very much in our minds. We stayed at Spicers Peak Lodge which has its own interesting history and you can read more about this on http://spicersretreats.com/spicers-peak-lodge/

The journey from Brisbane is an easy one. The last part of the road leading up to the Lodge is narrow and not all tarmac but do-able by most four by fours.

The lodge is perched on top of a hill looking out onto the Great Dividing Range and Main range of Mountains. It is nothing short of spectacular. The architecture of the lodge allows you to enjoy beautiful views in all directions. It has a safari feel to it and is full of comfortable sofas, great coffee table books, good coffee and good food.

The pool and hot tub are in the front of the lodge and after a fairly up and down hike of approximately four hours, the hot tub, even on a cool evening, was really welcome.

Hiking around the area, and there are lots of tracks, we came across kangaroos and wallabies, all quite human shy, which I think is a good sign and countless birds, black cockatoos, red and green parrots and crimson rosellas. The vistas are heavenly. We walked on forest trails full of fallen eucalyptus branches and turning leaves or fields of yellowing grass that were springy and light underfoot. The perfect weekend gateway and largely thanks to this man and his early discoveries through these majestic mountains.

1st June 2015 - The first day of winter

Its the start of the Australian winter today and as if not wanting to disappoint us "seasonalists," the clouds have rolled in and covered the antipodean blue which so often graces these skies, snow has come down in parts of Victoria, and I have reluctantly put on a top as the wind is chilly for a change. 

It is still quite hard to get my head around  thinking of the 1st of June as winter and I wonder if this will ever change.Two years into my Australian adventure I am still surprised to go to the shops in June and find strawberries but also the freshest tangerines. Pumpkins and butternuts are being rolled out and the web is chocker with winter warmers. 

Yesterday it was warm, probably about 26C and half the street wandered off down the Ithaca creek to explore the new farmers market that is being set up every Sunday right next to the Broncos club. This, for those unfamiliar with Brisbane Geography is a stones throw from where I live and so there was great excitement about what we would find. Babies, glorious, cherubic, a melting pot of ethnic  backgrounds making for the most angelic faces, a generation of beauty ahead.My boys would have been a little irritated as I took in every one of those faces, smiled at the mums and conversed with the olive man, told him he had eyes just like his mother, only to find they were not related. Dogs, short, long, fat, massive but rarely mean, being showered with attention by the toddlers and those pet-deprived families. Young people everywhere, young families with some hip grandmothers in tow, a status to which I aspire. 

The market a profusion of fresh cut flowers, fruit and veg, holistic treatments, juices and jumpers. Enough eateries to fill any stomach and we opted for a few coffees and some gozlemes while listening to a lovely ceilidh band. Could not really think of a better way to say bye to autumn. 

My garden of OZ Delights.

Its been a little over two years since we have lived here and we have had great joy in planting the garden with native and non native plants and fruits and see how they have grown. The credit is shared with our lovely Aussie neighbour whose avocados are probably the best in the land but conveniently hang over my fence. So it is a question of who gets to them first, the possum or me. You will be pleased to know its evenly shared.  So today you can share and delight in the plenty of my OZ garden. 

Aboriginal wealth

I have been lucky enough to experience two special exhibitions lately. One is called "Wild Australia" and it showcased the physiques of Aboriginal men. This was an idea of a man called  Archibald Meston who considered himself to be an amateur anthropologist and a spokesperson for the Aboriginals he was in contact with. He was influenced by the classical Greek body and he wanted to showcase the Aboriginals physiques as being equally impressive and noteworthy. The show, which took part in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was called "Wild Australia" and was photographed by some of the early photographers in 1892 - 1893. Meston was not a great business man, and rather patronising to the Aboriginals who he regarded as little more than noble savages.The show did not survive but what did survive were the pictures of the show and the men who were painstakingly identified and linked to families in the area. He became Queensland's advisor on Aboriginal Communities and is remembered for  his efforts in writing the first draft of the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1897. 

Here are some of the impressive pictures of the show which is on at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus in the Anthropology Museum. 

The second exhibition is called "Terrain" and is on in the Gallery of Modern Art on South Bank. It showcases the most beautiful fibre art collected from Aboriginals all over Australia who have not only used traditional methods of basket weaving and matting but have also gone on to make innovative and appealing art from them. 

There is so much wealth and wonder to be gained from considering Australia's first people. 

Noosa Heads

A funny name for a place and I guess like everything there is a story to be told - Quite a few aboriginal tribes inhabited this area, the Umbundi, the Dulingbara and the Gabbi Gabbi and Noosa probably comes from the aboriginal word "Noothera" meaning shade or shadows. The headland is full of beautiful big trees offering that shade and Aboriginal tribes must have been happy in this shady place with an abundance of fish and shellfish and natural resources. The white men did n't come to the area much before the 1800s and then difficult times ensued both for the Aboriginals who saw their land usurped and the developers who wanted to make money. The white men saw the area's potential and there was a lot of timber logging that went on along the Noosa River. In the 1920s it became a favourite holiday destination and it is sometimes referred to as the Jewel in the Sunshine Coasts Crown. It is one of the few north facing beaches and as such is protected from strong winds and storms but at the same time offers up a good surf. Nowadays it has a reputation as an upmarket resort where a lot is made of its good food and food festivals, sporting activities, fishing and shopping. 

We went up on a beautiful autumn day - strong, open sunlight as Queensland is famous for, the sky a clear blue with nothing to interrupt it or disturb the unity. The countryside quite green from all the rain we have had recently and Noosa, well just delightful. Main Beach was warm and friendly, heaps of beautiful sand, families enjoying the best of the weather, surfing, sunning themselves making brilliant sandcastles and having fun. A board walk right there and restaurants and shops galore in Hastings St to satisfy each whim and appetite. Probably best of all, the whole headland being a national park with paths and walkways that everyone can enjoy. 

Some great restaurants down by the Noosa River serving up some fabulous food.

Just the most gorgeous setting for a wedding - the backdrop couldn't be better and Margaret and Tony whoever they may be, are right to choose this place for Take 2 ! 

The nature of the beast

Yesterday I was at home with the windows closed, even the birds were taking refuge under the covered roof. I was wearing my thermal track suit bottoms and fleece and had my British Airways socks on with my flip flops. A right Chav, my boys would say, but the weather called for it. Winds  shook the biggest of trees, rain lashing down for 48 hrs, four people lost their lives being swept away in a flash flood. I live here and I almost incredulous at the nature of the beast. 

Today the sun is out, some pretty white clouds dot the sky and as I cleaned the garden of broken branches and leaves a kookaburra came and sat nearby and I saw the water dragon sunning itself on the branch of the Frangipani tree. Even moments like these need to remembered as their unremarkable nature take on a different tone after the cataclysm of yesterday's storm. So I am off to celebrate the birth of Buddha with Brisbane buddhists.