I am currently mapping walks in the extensive Winton Wetlands. Greens Hill is one of my favourites. See the full Victoria Walks walkingmaps version here: Greens Hill Walk












I am currently mapping walks in the extensive Winton Wetlands. Greens Hill is one of my favourites. See the full Victoria Walks walkingmaps version here: Greens Hill Walk
The most recent walk from my work for Winton Wetlands. For the full Victoria Walks version use this link: Heron Loop Walk
The most recent walk I have mapped in Winton Wetlands. View the full version on Victoria Walks walkingmaps here: Woodland Walk
A new walk I have published on Victoria Walks walkingmaps. You can see the full version here: Mokoan Ponds Walk
A special walk that adds to the wonderful outdoor public art collection at Winton Wetlands. You can view the full version and artist details here: Lotjpatj Natjan Danak
A new Towong region walk I have published on VictoriaWalks walkingmaps: https://walkingmaps.com.au/walk/5472
Victoria is a beautiful state big as the United Kingdom, but in Australia rates as quite small. If you travel in any direction from capital city Melbourne there is pleasure and inspiration in visiting the natural world. 1/2 hour short distances, 8 hour long distances, extremes of snow or desert, amazing bushland instances. Every place I choose to go provides a kind of joy. No two places ever show the same kinds of joy though. But also losses are mounting. I see it in most places now. Degradation is a haunting. Yet to fix it we know how. Let’s do something about re-wilding as Attenborough says we should. Let’s stop the carping and the chiding and talk about how we all could.
Written for the W3 on The Skeptic’s Kaddish Britta prompted for a poem that included the name of a city, town or village.
immersed in water
luxuriously suspended in space
cut off from the entire breathing human race
reflecting on water
so much to consider
when water as commodity goes to the highest bidder
tumbling in water
battered by an abused life giving sea
will i survive this wave crunching of me?
drinking any water
found on a scorching day
too many of these are making the earth pay
freezing in water
a break in the ice
i pull myself up, but just fall in twice
drawing down water
bought for the farm
having to buy water represents harm
a well full of water
a sense of security
an empty well brings fear to my family
river bed water
evaporates into the air
when will i see it again? i can’t up there
everywhere water
after drought comes flooding rain
our homes went under last year, then again and again
methane in the water
turn the tap and it burns
fracking structural layers causes geological churn
water suspension
plastic on every scale
next on the weather agenda - plastic hail
toxic water
neutralises fishing skills
no good fisherman can live on massive fish kills
ocean water
systems anchor for the world
danger warning flags ignored although they’ve been unfurled
wars over water
beginning and the end
is your water consuming neighbour enemy or friend?
drowning in water issues
battling exhaustion
this marks the end of my allocated portion
My first attempt at responding to David’s W3 where PoW Sylvia Cognac’s prompt is “water”
Here is a link to the latest walk I have published on VictoriaWalks walkingmaps https://walkingmaps.com.au/walk/5485
Here is a link to the latest walk I have published on VictoriaWalks walkingmaps https://walkingmaps.com.au/walk/5484
Brittle branch breaks under weight of bird landing
Falls to ground
Alarmed bird flutters to new bough
Insects break down branch
All is right with the world
Butterfly lands on native flower head
Tongue extends for life giving nectar
Butterfly moves on
Flower is pollenated
All may be right with the world
Mountain Water flows over rock
Down toward the sea
Sediment forms floodplain soil
Landscapes bloom with new life
All was right with the world
Forests, grasslands, wetlands and ocean life
Breathe for and cleanse earth and sky
Working together
part of a whole
All is not right with the world
Broken branch is tidied up by gardener
Native flower is replaced by agricultural product
Mountain water is harvested for commercial gain
Land and ocean are raided
Diversity is diminished
Brittle the world breaks
The words
I have always heard
about the silence
of the forest
have never
rung true
There is no silence
in the forest
No matter how much
you romanticise
or wish
there to be
The forest is noisy
relative only to
just how hard
you choose to listen
1. A Grey Shrike Thrush sang for us from the verandah as we ate breakfast while a Scrub Wren scoured the brickwork and window frames for its own breakfast.
2. Starting a new book and enjoying it from page 1. Shadow Hawk by Andre Norton.
3. Listening to a Late Night Live podcast while exercising.
4. Deciding not to walk amongst undulating hills of grazing land in the wind and rain.
5. Deciding to walk in the shelter of Strathbogie Forest instead. The rain stopped when we got there. It didn’t resume until we returned to the car. Adding to the pleasure of being in the forest, we observed many Greenhood Orchids.
All those birds falling from the sky Some birds live More birds die So consider Why oh why? We poison food chains and nature deny We pave We divert We scrape the sky We take too much don’t comply heat the planet watch it dry Then only crocodile tears do we cry As our legacy becomes the worlds biggest lie That we care action says we deny
I think you might eat me
I‘m scared that you will
If I run you beat me
No light on the hill
In the hope of appeasement
Still desperate to run
I appeal for lenience
For my trashing your home
So I’ll say I’m sorry
That we humans are dumb
I’ll say we forgot
Where we’ve been and come from
You don’t need to eat me
Because we’ll eat ourselves
Let me go quietly
From the home where you dwell
Humans all will be leaving
It’s our destiny
There will be no grieving
And your world will be free
Autumn sees the trees
Losing greenery with leaves
Winter strips them bare
Autumn sees the trees
Losing greenery with leaves
Winter strips me bare
Strathbogie poetry #strathbogiepoetry
Mountains old worn down by time and weather Peaks smoothed Summits rounded Rocks broken to new beginnings Stones to gravel sand to granules dust to mud growth to decay decay to soil Inclined to slippage Declined to fertility Treacherous nurturing home of the tenacious Boon to the potency of flood plains Mountains old are so much more alive than the hard sharp ridges and strewn craggy defiles of the young
strathbogie poetry #strathbogiepoetry
strathbogie photography #strathbogiephotography
The trees, the trees are prophesy
Their collective memory grand
equips the trees to well foresee
beyond the reign of man
In forests or in parks or standing on their own if trees of the world could speak as one I know what they’d say before they are gone For happiness, health and wealth For worthwhile survival Save the trees to save yourself re-wilding equates with revival strathbogie poetry strathbogie photography strathbogie cycling
This morning’s interview with presenter Matt Dowling regarding my work on tracks and trails promotion in the Strathbogie region. Commences at 43.30minutes.
Click on this link for access to my photos in the report Strathbogie Shire Council Annual Report 2020
When the last butterfly flutters by your seat on the grass When the sun moves overhead in one more timeless pass When the creek’s empty water flows by and on When the creatures of the bush all around you have gone Will you sit and reflect on what could have been When you knew it was coming it had been foreseen Will you ask why you didn’t when there was time and you could While you sat on the grass thinking I must then I should
This being human is brutal
Where survival remains primal
Where savagery can be ruthless
Where being human is animal
This being human is joyful
Where sharing is a pleasure
Where smiles reflect happiness
Where being human rises above
This being human is indulgent
Where affluence is wasted
Where consumption is recreational
Where being human is an economic unit
This being human is religious
Where unknowns engender hope
Where faith equates with confidence
Where being human could be spiritual
This being human is political
Where a few choices matter
Where many choices don’t
Where being human is good and evil
This being human is being creative
Where knowledge grows exponentially
Where caution is thrown to the wind
Where being human is a contradiction
This being human is arrogant
Where entitlement reigns
Where extinctions surprise no one
Where being human is collective stupidity
This being human is ridiculous
Where universes are vast
Where consciousness is nebulous
Where being human is being alone
This being human is scary
Where thoughts beget actions
Where actions beget unanticipated consequences
Where being human is in itself an existential risk
To add another dimension to your experience of poetry, I recommend you also engage with the international community of fellow poets at d’verse virtual pub poetry challenges
I sit on my green cane chair The best chair for thinking It is outside It has the advantage of being in a good place A verandah from which there is much to see Even if the weather is cold it is in the right position because the wind slides past laterally In this chair you can avoid confronting winds of change You can sit here for a long time confident you won’t have to move or make way for someone or something You can watch all sorts of things unfold from this chair Insects birds animals people the day the night the light Seasons pass you by I unfold from this chair This is a sitting for thinking chair It gives access to great scope for thought A matching cane table stands by this chair It is for all the paraphernalia I choose to utilise for observation and thinking for research recording and writing Endless cups of tea Vegemite and salad rolls Fruit nuts stacks of books Pens paper Camera iPad and phone Background noises surrounding this chair are soothing Creek water tumbling over rocks An irregular breeze wafting at leaves Morning song birdsong evensong Another nice sound I often hear from this chair is children playing Always happy to be outside In cooler months running along the bush track In summer swimming in the waterhole by the bridge or excitedly calling to each other as they splash about amongst the cascades You need to wear a brimmed hat sitting in this chair regardless of the season This is to shade your eyes from the northerly and westering sun To balance the glare against the shadows on the surface you are working on This chair has soft cushions for the seat and for the back They rest against its structure of bent cane It is a very good fit You can sit for a long time before needing to move However, the arms of this chair are narrow They may confine you to a limited range of positions This has the advantage of forcing movement This state of affairs is conducive to constructive thinking by prompting physical activity around the house along the verandah in the garden along the creek Such activity can be necessary to continue to be effective A mental activity reset New approaches come with a reset Quite often they are so new you get a pleasant surprise This is because you didn’t know they were there within you beforehand Another way to reset is change the scene move this chair to the edge of the verandah or reorientate A different outlook New space New thinking You have to remember to take the cushions in every evening to stop them getting damp They get tired and worn They are due for a new skin Just like me This chair is exposed to the elements One day it won’t be there I wonder will another chair be so generous?
Thoroughly documented by principal activist Bert Lobert, click the link below to view the remarkable chronicle of the successful local campaign for forest preservation and re-wilding. A golden example of what needs to be happening around the rest of the nation and the globe. .
https://strathbogiesustainableforests.wordpress.com/2021/02/18/the-forest-campaign-in-pictures/