koala keen

Noosa Head National Park:

A few steps into the park, an Australian man came up to me and hesitantly said, "Oh, please excuse me...there is a koala in that tree there, he's a little bit far up, but you can still see him sleeping." I waited, wondering what it was that he expected me to do about it. Should I be climbing up the tree to rescue it?

Oh, he had only meant to point it out to me so that I could enjoy looking up at it. As I walked through the park, I was stopped by several Australians and told to take a peek at koalas sleeping in trees (that's what koalas do all day apparently). The friendly people seemed to enjoy telling me about the koalas as much as I enjoyed looking at the fury creatures!

In response to little Lisa G who asked how big my paintings are, they are pretty small. Here is an image of the painting beside a shiny Canadian penny. Thanks for your interest, Lisa!

the site of the WOW!

It was a very twisty and kinetosis inducing Great Ocean Road that I found myself on for most of the day. Then just before the sun was about to set, my brother, steered the rental car into a parking lot. I opened the door to jump out,but it gave some resistance. It was a fierce wind that pushed back against the door! I fought my way out and then followed the signs that pointed me towards the Twelve Apostles.

No, not the followers of Jesus, these were rock formations in Victoria, Australia. I struggled against the wind towards the cliff edge, peeped out towards the ocean, and WOW!
The sun cast all it's raging orange brilliance on every form, the waves threw themselves relentlessly against the rocks. And the stoic rocks, just leaned into the wind and withstood all the fury of the scene.

The next morning we came back to the same spot to capture the scene in better photographic conditions. But in the friendly morning light, the wind was docile, and the waves were lazy - I just didn't appreciate the scene as much as I did the night before.