“It looks like a school of tiny fish or plankton,” I said. The pulsing mass extended all the way to the ground from the tall brightly lit pole. “It looks like a snowstorm,” said C. Every 50 metres or so, another column of multitudinous specks towered in the surrounding desert darkness.
Read MoreA special snake created the landforms, rivers and lakes, mountains and reef. The entire landscape of earth was made from her body. She communicates now through the rainbow, her giant colourful body having been consumed in the world’s creation.
Read MoreIn ancient — but still human — times, animals lived at Mungo that challenge the imagination. Called Megafauna, they were giant animals of many kinds. There were kangaroo-like beasts that weighed over 200kg (440lb) and could reach three metres (10 feet) to eat leaves off the tree tops, called now Procoptodon goliah. There was the Diprotodon, the biggest marsupial known to have lived on this island.
Read MoreA spindly-limbed lizard sped up the fly screen on the door. It was the type that gets up and runs on its back legs when the ground gets too hot to touch. The lizard’s deftness reminded me that many plants and animals thrive in the desert heat. There is a sweet spot for them, somewhere within the scorching temperatures .
Read MoreI was exposed to a lot of people who had never seen dreadlocked hair up close. “I see, it’s a hat!” said one nurse looking closely at my braided locs. Another told me that she told her children to brush their hair or they would end up looking like me.
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Spiders that are as big as a small bird are hard to kill. I pulled a piece of sturdy paper from my work bag and tried to persuade the spider to step onto it, promising her a long and happy life in the grass of the highway exit.
Read More “I got 11. What’s it out of?” asked Yvonne. “Twenty?”
“Naah, it’s a percent, I think,” said Mandy sadly.
“Percent? You’re kidding! Jeez, that’s what you get for writing your name on the paper!” said Yvonne, disgusted.
Her Aboriginal face wore an intelligent expression. Another young Aboriginal woman looked at me over the shoulder of the first. My mouth was open.
“What are you two doing here?” I asked.
“We live here. We’re studying medicine.”
“What? You can do that?”
The women smiled.
Slot Canyon photograph in banner by Sebastian Boguszewicz
Creative Writing by Dr. Janelle Trees
Photo: Claudia Jocher
I'm a doctor of Aboriginal descent living and travelling with my photographer wife, Claudia. I see myself as a bridge between 'races' and cultures, gay and straight, the child and the crone, arts and sciences. I am inspired by Nature, including humans in all our splendid individuality.
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