Quick Update

Wow, so much time has passed. Haven't been near a computer for weeks. Apologies.

So much done. Green Island was a lot of fun once the wind finally died down and the sun came out ...

Finally, the sun!

By the time we left!

... but the water was still far too cold to go out on the Great Barrier Reef, or even to swim on the little reef surrounding the island so don't expect any stories in the future about fish or coral or anything else even vaguely marine-ish ...

... apart from this black-tipped
reef shark we saw near the jetty.

And then, after playing "householders" and doing all sorts of chores at our house near Townsville,

Oiling the wood!

... we went out into the desert because Keith said his soul was craving absolute silence - the antithesis of Hong Kong - and we got that in abundance with the bonus of a most amazing full moon which seemed to last for the entire week ...

... and a river of stars right across the sky. Have you ever seen that? That massive row of zillions of stars that's in another part of the sky altogether from the Milky Way? It's stunning. I have heard that it's something only seen when you're surrounded by thousands of miles of desert-country because the humidity or condensation or whatever it's called in the atmosphere prevents blah blah blah ... don't have the language to explain, only to say I have seen it before but only ever in the desert.

Did you know it was there? Before I saw it for the first time about three years back, I'd only ever heard about it. Oh, and it's also mentioned in one of Johnny Clegg and Savuka's songs - is it "Great Heart" or "Scatterlings of Africa"? - so obviously you see it from African deserts as well.

Found the song in question. It's the first line of the second verse of "Great Heart". And the line goes "There's a highway of stars across the heavens". Gosh, I do like youtube. Simplifies life. Sorry it's such an awful version of the song. Usually it sounds so good, it makes you long to rip off your top and go all primal with your dancing.



But back to us. Keith is already back in HK, already drowsing off during those endless rounds of endless meetings, all in Chinese, poor honey. Me, I'm still lurking in Oz as Baby Jane wants me to do her a mosaic of a gecko on the ground next to her garage ... so I'll be returning to HK when that's done.

In the meantime, I'm back in Townsville and again playing "householder", mainly painting everything made of wood with decking oil because I've noticed that this is the only product that allows wood to survive an entire year of abject neglect. I highly recommend it.