Artists Blog

The power of water is unimaginable and unstoppable.

Even though cyclone Charlotte never quite reached us here in Cairns, her far reaching effects were certainly felt.

The beaches were hit really hard, with the beach itself pretty much dragged away. Where once there was wide expanses of  golden sand, there are now steep drops and exposed roots. Below is my own beach, Clifton, that I visited on my way to the Post Office this arvo.

“Just a few shots” I said to myself as I stood at the water’s edge. BUT,  whilst taking this photo, a big wave washed over me, my handbag and my dress. Drowned rats have looked more elegant. However, the water was bubblebath warm, so it wasn’t unpleasant, until I remembered the irukandji about….

A quick trip back home, and a change into another dress, handbag and out the door again BUT the Spray truck got me! Wet again in the space of 10 mins.

With the overflow of Dead Man’s Gully, huge deposits of mud and silt clog our gutters and street. The Vacuum Truck tried this morning in vain to take it away:

After 40 mins of sucking and blowing clouds of dust, it was time for the reinforcements:

Filling the tank from the neighbour’s lawn manhole.

Then it’s time to play with a gigantic waterpistol!

He spent a lot of time on our section of driveway, and about 1.5 hours just in our end of the street.

He even gave our driveway the “extra cannons”, which squirt out sideways.

He was a lovely fellow and thoroughly deserved ” Tradie’s Afternoon Tea” (Beer). He diligently said he’d drink it after work though!

I finally made it to the Post Office, sans sea water, beachsand, tank water and mud.

Upon my return I saw that the Vacuum truck had returned, and this time managed to make beautifully swirly patterns in our gutter mud. At least it’s only 4 inches thick now…

And for details of the final withdrawal, we took a look at Trinity Beach this afternoon. It was very heavily damaged by the king tides, with the concrete foundations for not only the swimming nets, but the Life Savers Hut, being washed away. They managed to salvage the Hut with a quick thinking crane operator.

The steps end very abruptly now.

Where the Life Savers hut and the swimming net reels used to be.

The boys, with Yorkey’s Knob in the background on the left. Delightful name for a suburb don’t you think?

What a difference 24 hours makes.

Today the sun was shining and wispy clouds drifted by in a sky so azure it almost looked abnormal.

Late in the afternnoon was overcast, but none of the “torrential rain” predicted. Yet.

Compare these pictures, taken a day apart:

How to confuse a cat.

The creek is calm once again, with the foot bridge now visiblle. Whenever I look at our bridge, I think of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Who’s the Troll under the bridge? Don’t answer that.

The only drawback to the receding waters are the huge amounts of mud and silt left behind. It bakes dry as hard as concrete.

Into town this morning, flying past flattened canefields and latte coloured rivers gushing beneath the road. Once in town you would never have known that it was flooded (in some parts waist deep) only yesterday.

Had a lovely coffee at The Art Cafe, which combines caffeine & original works direct from local artists. Then it was a quick pop into a new Artist’s Collective Studio – The Crate. You may remember these guys (Kristin and Ed) from my previous post on their old studio space.

It’s a huge Industrial space with amazing natural light, right in the middle of town. Quite a few other artists are busy setting up their own studio spaces in this building, so hopefully it will become quite a vibrant hub in the local contemporary art scene.

There’s Ed and Kristin hiding in the corner.

My own art contribution for the day was the purchase of 2 new brushes (like I need MORE brushes!). At least it felt like I was doing something to feed the inner artist!

15 inches of rain.

King tide at 10am.

98% humidity

Anyone for a holiday in Cairns????

This was at the bottom of my driveway at 6.15 this morning:

Make a mental note of the silver blue car across the street for later…

My submerged front lawn looking up the street. Spy a white car in the distance on the left?

Damp Volvo. Those people are standing on the bridge, our only access in and out of our street. We were cut off. How exciting.

Up my end of the street. That’s our submerged footbridge over the “wee creek” of Dead Man’s Gully.

Rapids even. This was making a fair bit of noise, especially as logs sailed past, whacking into things. But it was Deep Creek behind the house that was really roaring.

Once the waters had subsided it was time for the Silver Blue car to go off and dry out……..

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and well wishes. Compared to some areas of Cairns, where actual boats were required to get through the streets, we got off lightly.

The adventures continue!

As I paid for my groceries this afternoon, I asked the checkout chick if all the newspapers had sold out.

“Yes” she said rather excitedly “because of the cyclone.”

“WHAT!?!” I squealed.

A rather nasty low in the Gulf could develop into a cyclone by Sunday, and it’s headed our way.

Calmness was replaced by quiet panic when I got home. There was some cyclone preparedness kit that we were sent when we moved into our home a year ago. Where is it?? I wondered as I search through all the filing. It mentioned batteries, radio, fill the bath with water (we don’t have a bath so that’s useless info) and put important papers in plastic. There was also something about huddling in your toilet or bathroom for safety. I’m not liking cyclones already.

Image courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology (click to see current cyclone path)

They’ve even named this one before it’s been born – it will be “Charlotte”, if it ever eventuates.

In some weird psychic co-incidence, I received a letter from my home insurer advising me of a tsunami excess in the event of a claim. (apparently we have to head for higher ground due to our beach proximity). Just wonderful news.

On a far brighter note, I’m sharing my mango cocktail memories of a week ago. You could make this at home yourself – just muddle some mango pulp with some GOOD vodka, pour over ice in a tall glass and then fill with fresh mango juice. Umbrella optional - just devine.

If you look very closely at the bent over palm in the background, you may just see a little monkey….

Here’s a clearer shot below.

When there’s no-one looking, I’m going to attempt shimmying up that tree also!

I’m back!

After a looong down time with a fault on the telephone line AND a dodgy modem, all seems well with my internet connection again. Fingers crossed, just in case!

Christmas and welcoming in 2009 in the Tropics was lovely. And very warm. I hope all of you who celebrated in the depths of northern winter had just as gorgeous a time.

I’ve lots to catch up on, and look forward to seeing how everyone is getting on with beginnings of this fresh new year (and the maintenance-or-not, of resolutions!)

Here’s my New Year’s Day hangout, Clifton Beach.

Nice to look at, but be wary of the Irukandji stingers, who breed around Double Island (in the background). They float in to shore whenever there is a north easterly blowing. Get stung by one of these thumb nail sized jelly fish and it’s a stay in hospital with the morphine turned waaaay up.

That’s the Life Savers on their dingy doing net drags to see if the Irukandji and deadly Box Jellyfish are hanging aorund the beach. Even though they do these drags several times a day, you can never be certain of what’s in the water. Lots of sting victims already this year.

Still, it’s nice to hang out under the palms, especailly with a mango cocktail, but that’s another post…….

How could I forget our 1 year anniversary of teleporting up here to the Tropics? Don’t know how, but I did.

Just over a year ago this behemoth was pulling away from our kerb, en route to the rainforest….

What a year it’s been!

…your photos make it into the weekly magazines.

And you know you’ve really made it if one of them is a booby magazine.

Because we all know that big boobs and pythons go hand in hand.

(Please excuse my tongue-in-cheekiness!)

After the last post I thought I’d create a “Rogue’s Gallery”, showing geckoes when they’re nice, nasty, or in the mood for some lizard lovin’. Some of these are from the old blog, but are gathered here together in one post.

Pairs of eggs are secreted away in window sills….

Waiting to hatch out as tiny wee things…..

..sometimes still covered in their egg sac.

They grow up to inhabit every ceiling/window of the house inside and out. Keeps the cat occupied.

At night they run around barking like mad things. This dragonfly chose to ignore them.

There’s no gecko in this picture, but there is a reason. This beautiful fellow was so tame I could almost touch it. As soon as I turned to go back inside….

BAM! I was yelling out to Jeff that I needed to get out FAST to help a Dragonfly. Jeff asked” Did you save it?”

No, not quite.

But what they do best is eat moths. By the hundreds. Attracted by the house lights, the moths are the geckoes bread & butter. I’ve seen them take down moths 3 times their size, no problem.

Another favourite thing for geckoes is to have some lovin’ time. The male barks about his ardour to any female that will listen.

Then it’s time to get jiggy.

But it’s not all beer and skittles for the gecko. It’s a jungle out there…

This was an entry originally posted 2 weeks ago. I had to delay it’s publication until now due to media committments.

If you’ve been following this blog, you may remember my recent painting, the very first I’ve sold - of the birds eating the snake.

Even the journalist said it was an amazing karmic coincidence.

In this internet age, it is simply astounding how this news has travelled the globe, proving it’s just not Far North Tropical Queensland that holds a fascination for such things. According to London newspapers, I live “in the jungle”. That’s inside the house I reckon!

On a sadder note, the departed cocky has left behind a lonely mate, who sits in the same spot in the bouganvillea all day, looking a little lost. Thankfully the python won’t be hungry for quite some time…

17 November 2008

Unfortunately my last sentence above proved horribly incorrect. Or maybe it was another python. But he was taken also. This one we tried to save. (I had only hours earlier removed a paralysis tick from above it’s eye). I hosed that python with a full strength hose, but he wasn’t giving up his catch.

There are a lot of images, and I think everyone’s seen most of them around the internet sites and newspapers, so I’m not sure if you would want to see them again on this blog?

Let me know what you think.

A new evening job is to make sure there are no guests sleeping over in the The Tree of Death….