BOBBIN HEAD

Wildflowers and Natural Sculptors in the Bush by Colleen Keating

colleen Bush walks , , , ,

Mid October, Spring here in our Southern Hemisphere,  perfect for immersing ourselves in the Australian Wildflowers. We visit the Ku-Ring-Gai Wildflower Garden and another day the Bobbin Head National Park. And walk with our eyes alert to the hues of colour, scent of eucalypt and many of the wildflowers .  

Today we walk to observe the natural beauty of our landscape with its sense of place. Of course the First peoples  looked at these plants differently as they were aware of living in this world finding its riches in foods and medicine and  ritual for their spirituality . In a way my spirituality is also braided by the colours, sounds and aroma of this bush  and  they weave into my life and well being today.

Australian Wildflowers

Often under-rated.

They bloom in the wilderness  

naturally

in a rustic habitat

around fallen branches and leaves  

half hidden by logs and undergrowth

not showy

not trying to be spectacular as English flowers are

easily missed unless you take time to look

easily  ignored by the settlers on arrival in their white sailed ships

and easily replaced  by their familar gardens

some needing fire to crack their seed

some able to resist drought

 wait decades for their time to self-propagate 

a natural world that has survived for hundreds of thousand  of years 

not needing humans at all 

yet human have needed them for food , medicine and ritual

and  today we need them for our eyes that search for beauty 

 as Hopkins writes “The World is Charged with the grandeur of God” 

in a world that needs beauty to remind  us of the mystery in a world  where

“Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

and all is seared with trade, smeared with toil

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell”

 

Wonderful memories of the Mountain Devil from our Blue Mountain Days  Labertia Formosa here is the flower and the second photo see if you can spot the devil with his horns. In the old days made into real deveils with pipe clieaners and material. (Well before conservation !!)

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Finally we enjoyed spotting Natural Sculptures in the bush. We are unable to walk the Sculptors by the sea this year as we will be out of the city so we are making up for it with

SCULPTURES IN THE BUSH

 

 

 

 

Spring in the Australian bush at Burrawang and Bobbin Head

colleen General, Poetry , , , , ,

 

THE BURRAWANG WALKING TRACK IN SPRING

 

 

 

Whenever we are out walking especially in the areas of beauty around our place on the Central Coast we pay tribute to the Awabakal and Darkinjung peoples and this makes us a little more aware we walk on sacred ground.

There is something mindful to briefly pause as one does on a threshold  allow our mind to catch up with our footsteps.  It is a reminderto pay attention asking permission and being thankful for  our entry into a place .

Spring is for stepping out and our local Wyrrbalong National Park ( gazetted in 1991) has the best of all worlds , the wonderful Australian Bush with its Red Gums and  Scribbly Eucalyptus,  the linger of wattle and other Acacias, Hakea, Myrtles,  Banksia  and the odd siren of a red Waratah  backgrounded by the coastal bird life with the odd iconic crack of the Whip Bird and the spectacular glimpses of the blue remind us we are walking in a rare piece of land where the bush meets the sea well the lake in our walk today which curls around Tuggerah Lake 

We parked our car at a small car park off the road not far after Magenta. The first sign told us fox poison was laid . . . I felt sad after the wonderfully wild fox we saw in the past few days in the Water pond off Ibis Road  but then if they are taking the birds and wild life maybe it has to be done. It reminds me of another walk I do  at Normanhurst in Sydney  where last year  signs appeared that they had laid baits against the rabbits . ( that saddened me too as I loved their little furry ears popping up and watching me as I walk. But I think the rabbits had the last laugh as they moved down onto the grass near the railway line and I travelled past they were hopping about everywhere.  I love it when the Grandchildren are on the walk with me we sneak along telling each other shshsh and tiptoeing along watching for little ears to pop up and then run off.  

 The Burrawang Walking Track was the beginning walk and we walked taking in the fresh, unwithered air and breathing deeply to find an inner calm. 

BOBBIN HEAD WALK

Another walk that needs to feature here is our walk at Bobbin Heads in the Ku ring gai National Park along the shores of the Berowra Waters. A picture tells a thousand words.

 

One of the special walks here is the Aboriginal Heritage Walk. Red hands Cave is one of its special sites . it is not known how old some of this art is but either way you are bound to be in awe of this natural Aboriginal  art from the Guringai people There are impressive rock cravings  and further down the track there is a historical occupation shelter. During the colder months families would lighta fire inside warming the stones and themselves.

The people of West Head were virtually decimated by an outbreak of small pox within a year of the arrival of the First Fleet.

Pause for a moment in this beautiful bushland to reflect and pay your respect.