whales – COME AWAY WITH ME

July 3rd 2021. Still in Bundjalung Country, at Lennox Head.

Some friends get confused, easily. They must skim over the blog, presume I’ve left Lennox, then get a shock when I reappear.

By the way, I have written more under the heading Portraiture which you can see in the menu. It gives some of my thoughts about portrait photography.

We’re not leaving for another month, but it will be a busy one. Already finding that packing up the house to rent it out is a far bigger chore than I thought. After 11 years of accumulated stuff rises to the surface, I am faced with the inevitable question, keep it or toss it? Be brutal, I’m told, make a fresh start, clear the dross, lighten the load, all great mantras, but for the hoarder of memories and memorabilia, this is not easy.

Some of my shells & precious stuff!
The office

I started in my studio/office, only to discover diaries from my teenage years, travel diaries from the 1970’s, aerograms, letters and postcards from another era, slides, photos and negatives, so many memories. Of course they all had to be read, relived, and marvelled at. Hours, days, passed, in fact after a month, still my office was not cleared out. 3 days were spent with a new shredder, tax documents from the ’90’s had to go. Not wanting to waste the bonus of now having a mountain of finely shredded paper, I tossed it onto the compost. Of course, 2 days later the dreaded bush turkey had added his spin to my recycling effort by spreading the shredded paper all over my lawn and garden. It looked like snow.

Nick’s task of creating space in the garage for 2 tenant’s cars has been a far more onerous task than I faced; a much dirtier job with more stuff than anyone, but an ardent car restorer, could ever imagine. Soon, the little 1953 Series 1 Land Rover will be re-housed in a friend’s shed, the BMW motorbike will squeeze into the back of the garage amongst the boxes of stored things, and my car will take a holiday with a friend, who will keep the hybrid battery charged.

The garden is not being forgotten. The trees and shrubs are being pruned heavily. Tip runs are a weekly job, bins are stuffed to the hilt. Areas which had been ignored since we moved here 11 years ago have been tackled. A magnificent blue tongue lizard has resided in some old hidden agi pipe for many years in a difficult part of the garden. She came out to greet us briefly, then slid back into her pipe. We will leave her in peace and hope to see her again when we return.

Precious items are being given to friends and family to mind. Potted plants, an old clock and lamp from my grandfather’s house at Wye River, my jewels (of which there are almost none), and a nest, have all been taken into care. My friend who collects nests was thoroughly overjoyed to babysit mine for 12 months.

We are witness to a society being buffeted by climate challenges, a covid pandemic, uncertainty, family disruption and separation, heightened fears of all sorts and the mental health stress born by so many people. It is going to be interesting to see what forces push and pull us as we travel around. No doubt many weather factors will impact us, we are prepared for that. And covid issues too might demand we stop at borders. Both of us will be fully vaccinated when we leave. And we will look after each other. I’ll certainly let Nick know if his mental health needs attention……..

I’ve been reading a wonderful little book in preparation for the trip. It’s called “Wise Women of the Dreamtime” Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers. Collected by K. Langloh Parker at the turn of the 19th Century. She was one of the first European women to see the significance and spiritual sophisitication of the Aboriginal tribal stories. This book was given to me by my mother, a gift I now gracefully accept.

I took 3 grandsons on a whale watching trip out of Ballina on a glorious sunny winter day in late June. This was a little parting gift for them. Their birthdays will go by without us being around. Tom (10), James (almost 12) and Jeremy (20) escorted me into the Pacific Ocean where whales were everywhere to be seen. James loved the spray off the boat as we sped over the waves. Tom was masquerading as Al Capone.