Australia sunrise - Queensland

Here are some very nice thoughts and lovely sunrise photos from the opposite side of the globe.  These sunrise photos were taken about 4 days ago.

Many thanks to Ann from Queensland, Australia!

Sunrise and Mangroves - Slightly cloudy this morning but there's blue sky and no rain! The island is surrounded by mangroves

I came across your blog by "accident" from googling Rachel Field. I had been fortunate to come across her beautiful poem "Autumn's Coming" and wanted to find out who she was, and where I could find more of her poetry. Finding your blog was like finding a treasure! I could identify with the reasons that prompted you to begin your journey. I made a similar one myself when last year started with the shock of losing my job, my eldest daughter leaving home and youngest planning the same.

  Sleeping Ferries: the only photo which captured a little tinge of pink

I was encouraged by my family to start a blog. I found a diary in a secondhand market written by a lady in 1937 about her voyage by steamship from Adelaide to Japan and back. I typed it up and released an entry a day as the dates of 1937 and 2010 were the same. Trying to find out who wrote the diary and what happened to her son, produced another story which has now become a website (www.sealikeglass.com). This project kept me going and introduced me to a new world.

 Ibis flying over the jetty - this might be a bit fuzzy but I'm sending it because it reminded me of Rachel's poem.

This morning I was woken up at 4.20 am by two laughing Kookaburras outside my window. They wake up the Morning Chorus, and so the day begins. I had been thinking of trying to take some photos for you of a sunrise here. For quite a while, we have had nothing but rain. I'm sure you've seen footage of what's been happening in Australia on the news.

I went straight to the computer to check the time of sunrise - it was 5:07, so I jumped to it! Attached are some photos from Russell Island which is the largest (8x3kms) of the Southern Morton Bay Islands and is snuggled inside North Stradbroke Island off the coast of Queensland.

 The (indirect) early morning ferry departs Russell Island (Aboriginal name: Canaipa) for the islands of Karragarra, Lamb (Nguderoo), Macleay (Alcheringa). In the distance you can see the sand dunes of North Stradbroke Island.

When all is quiet, you can hear the roar of the South Pacific Ocean pounding the beaches on Straddie. It takes 20 minutes on a direct ferry to reach the mainland and then a 35 minute (off peak) car journey north to Brisbane; 35 minutes south takes you to the Gold Coast - another country really! I moved here last September from sunny, dry Adelaide, South Australia where all my things are in storage. I'm not sure where I will settle or call home. It's a strange thing to be starting again from scratch at 53. In one way, it's akin to being 18 and not knowing what's ahead.

I walked through the quiet, past the pine trees and scribbly gums, down to the jetty with the light just breaking. The photos were taken today between 5:07 am and 5:30 when the early morning ferry left.

 The Kookaburra who woke up the morning came and laughed at me on my return walk. In the evenings and through the night, we have the haunting cry of the Curlews.
Greetings and best wishes from Australia--