Going South
February 21, 2010
More snow fell yesterday, a Siberian North wind blows over the landscape today and although the sun is trying to shine, its rays are still too weak to warm up the atmosphere. So I thought why not going South ? in my memories at least. When I mean South, I mean one of the most Southern parts of the world if you live in Europe. That is Australia. About three years ago I went there for a while, I left Winter behind and found Summer in Victoria, beautifully warm and green in many places.
Walking in the bush was quite a discovery for me. Eucalypts and plants unheard of over here. Forests that seemed to have grown in a kind of disorder but once you walk through them, you notice a natural harmony in those twisted tree trunks and wild plants covering a rather dry soil. The woods were either silent or very noisy with the cockatoes’ calls.
An amazing entanglement of trees, bushes, high ferns. Sometimes a beautiful confusion, at other times a forest as imposing as a cathedral.
The beautiful canopy of a eucalypt, its silvery leaves barely moving in the heat of the day.
Here and there the Australian forests reminded me of a poem of Baudelaire :
La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles ;
L’homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l’observent avec des regards familiers.
Nature is a temple where live pillars
Sometimes whisper confused words
Man walks across it through forests of symbols
Which observe him with familiar looks.
Charles Baudelaire
Extract from the poem “Correspondances”
Here is a site about Australian nature that I love to visit :
http://robertburcul.wordpress.com/
Robert Burcul’s amazing and artistic pictures of Queensland are well worth seeing.
Isathreadsoflife's Blog 
That was a nice walk–thank you! I can almost smell the eucalyptus and feel the summer heat. Australia seems at once utterly exotic and as familiar as California. I long to visit. Someday, someday.
You are a very good writer, I enjoyed the walk, and imagined for a moment how it must have been for you to walk in a completely different kind of wood, with other smells and sounds,- and unknown animals and insects. I wonder if you had someone to guide you? It must have been a great experience for you, – I think you were brave! 🙂
I am glad you enjoyed the walk, Gerry. The little I saw of Australian nature was very exotic to me. I enjoyed visiting Victoria province, traditional gold mines towns, hills covered with thick vegetation, and wider spaces like you don’t find over here. Quite a change of scene !
giiid, yes indeed I had a guide, I am not that brave as to walk through those unknown forests on my own. You mentioned animals, insects… those worried me, mind you, especially the snakes that apparently are not rare. But I was lucky, no such encounter !
It must have been an interesting experience to walk through wild vegetation and forests. Trees in your photos leave me speechless… Those twisting and turning branches are so beautiful.
Thank you iniyaal for your appreciation. Yes, walking through the Australian bush is an experience I will not forget.