beach reverie

While the pace of western life accelerates in a flurry of infernal busyness, and the time stress tightens like a corset as Christmas draws near, I tend to get slower as the torrid wet season approaches. After eight months on rubber time it can be hard to muster up enough motivation to move anywhere - under stimulation being a converse problem to overload. Each day begins as a blank page, challenging me to be mindful and quiet, while the inner being never shuts up. It can be confronting when the distractions of the typical modern life are stripped away and you realise the commotion is in the mind as it fights with reality. 

See what pondering your navel does? In between times there is always the wind, surf and tides to consider.

sunset picnic

It is not often we get visitors, so when someone makes the effort to brave the unreliable transport connections and overnight stopovers in Kupang, we are very excited and grateful.  My cousin Jamie has been threatening to come for years, and finally the planets aligned for him and his girlfriend Rachel to escape their busy Sydney lives and spend a week in our island home.  

After a rough start that included six hours waiting in the Denpasar domestic terminal for a delayed flight that was eventually cancelled, an extra night in Bali and a missed connection to a charter flight we had organised, they made it the slow and steady Indo way. Utter boredom and frustration led Jamie to buy the featured tropical print shirt from the airport. Very becoming. 

In between the surf and eating programme, we went on adventures by foot, motorbike and ute to visit our favourite beaches, bush tracks and palm groves. Throw in a few cold beers and a sunset beach picnic and you have a complete holiday. 

Thank you Jamie and Rach for coming all that way to share our simple life. X

golden hour

An hour before sunset, the warm light penetrates beneath the palm canopy in our front yard and illuminates the living room. It is perfect for highlighting the day's accumulation of dust and sand on the floor; so the trick is, don't look down, keep gazing at the horizon.  We recently replaced our light shade with a big rooster basket, designed to keep the prize cock under control, but more beautiful and compassionate when strung from the ceiling.  

the final days

We left our home at the end of the long dry season, before the dump of monsoonal rain (that continues to fall, along with cyclonic onshore winds), and we are currently under cloudless autumn skies at home in WA.  The shut down procedure took a couple of days, and hopefully it has protected our beach shack from weather and intruders - both two and four legged.  The final days brought a heightened sense of presence and gratitude, along with excitement and a dash of trepidation about our migration.   

  

western sky

Often the best colour emerges after the sun has dropped below the horizon. The monsoonal clouds provide a canvas for the evening light.  They dance through a spectrum of pink, blue and purple before the indigo blue of night closes the day.

salt farming

Aside from the zone where the fishing boats anchor, the water around the island is uncontaminated and provides a pure source for mineral rich sea salt.  During the long dry season the sun and wind evaporates the "farmed water" and leaves behind a fine layer of salt.  This process is repeated until a thick crust forms, which is then harvested with a spoon and sold or stored for personal use. Much easier than growing wheat.

The more traditional and romatic technique employs giant clam shells arranged like a keyhole garden for easy access. The modern fandangled method is to use any plastic containter cut in half, or a piece of tarp nailed to a makeshift frame.

The salt sells for around 10c per cup at the markets and is far superior to the processed iodine fortified poison the government promotes as healthy, or the handfuls of MSG liberally added to make lifeless noodles edible.  While hand harvested Celtic sea salt is a gourmet product in Australian health food stores, we are lucky to have a local source that is natural, unwashed, unrefined, and free of pesticides, herbicides, or additives. Long may the artisan salt farming continue.

full moon in capricorn

sunset.....moonrise

moonset...back to bed

a pod sunset

Dropped in to see the boys at the pods, who were knocking back a few cold ones on a tropical afternoon. As is the custom of many where surf and holidays coincide.  I was a bit thirsty after my walk, but there wasn't a drop of water in the whole place; all refrigeration and bench space was reserved for the Bintang.  The bottle top mosaic is their doing, not the intervening hand of a stylist. When you get to 100, it is time to go home.

land's edge

It takes a decent sunset to impress a Sandgroper, spoiled are we with a life of the golden orb dipping below the ocean horizon.  I thought this one was worthy of a snap.  Off to a going away party now, sure to be dead animal and Bintang beer on offer, so I'm taking a salad.  The expats are all departing to their off season homes, only eight of us left, with me the only female.  Four of the remaining blokes are hooked up with local girls so have a more of a reason to hang around during the wet.

setting in a finer location

Following in the wake of slate grey and silver comes the kaleidoscope of pink, yellow, orange and mauve.  If the lagoon is calm it reflects the colours like a velvet tablecloth.  Don't pack your camera away as soon as the sun dips below the horizon, the best is yet to come.

And finally, a classic Indo image to feed your reverie.  Taken from our front yard.  

shadows grow longer

I love dawn and dusk.  The long shadows; the dancing colours; the subtle blue time after sunset.  Days here fall into the rhythm of the sun and phases of the moon.  Woken early by the first birds and roosters, I can tell what time it is by the fall of light on the coconuts.  If the tank stand is sunlit, I've managed to sleep in.  

Our house faces west, overlooking the ocean and the setting sun. Being West Australian's we are lucky to be born into a life of sunsets over the sea. so I don't photograph them often - unlike our east coast cousins - yet I am always moved by the heartbeat of nature as it faultlessly drops behind the horizon to brighten someone's day on the other side.  

 Being close to the equator, day length does not vary significantly throughout the year, however we can watch the sun move north toward the winter equinox, then south again to the solstice. We see the moon rise and set; watch its transition through the phases, and how it relates to the tides.  Spring, neap, incoming, outgoing, waxing, waning.  Sleeping.