A circle of ladies sit wearing fluffy ponchos and knitting woollen blankets. The bundles of fabric heap at their feet, blending into a homogeneous mass. Are the five ladies knitting five blankets, or are they each knitting one corner of the same five-cornered blanket? It’s hard to tell. The air was so clear yesterday that … Continue reading The Five Ladies
The dirt track is bounded at its edges by a dense wall of melaleucas. Their foliage brushes the ground and towers metres above. The pretty red flowers contradict the spiky leaves. Pushing past the splintery natural boundary you find a clearing. You can be sure that it hasn’t been touched for hundreds of years because … Continue reading Do You Really Trust the Trees?
The man walks up to the open book, pressing his nose to the leaves. He smells it, scratches it, and even tastes it. It’s not a book of paper and leather, but it has quite the story to tell. The man adjusts his glasses, straightens his beard, flicks his suspenders and goes in for another … Continue reading Strange Way of Reading
He’s the king of the birds, and this evening he’s eating like a king. The rain has stopped and the worms are coming up for air in the waterlogged soil. The magpie barely needs to work to fill his belly. A human is watching and that’s okay, as long as he keeps his distance. If … Continue reading The Grass is Greener
It’s so ridiculous being poor, literally! Like, no one listens to you. There’s this rich guy called Trenton J. Rhys-King. His parents like, own a salvage company that found a super-old Portuguese boat that sunk like, ages ago. Well, the city tried to put a highway like right next to their mansion, so Trenton’s dad … Continue reading Sucks to be Poor
There’s a bay they call Jonas’ Bay, because Jonas was the first white fella to spot it. Others call it Gilbert’s Bay. Mr Gilbert’s the bloke that planted the poplar trees. Some call it Mary Bay, because Mary raised the kids whose names are written on the paper that says the bay’s theirs. Some call … Continue reading Burra-Budgial Bay
Walking through the Morton National Park, on the eastern end of Australia, I prick my ears to the strange symphony coming from the trees. The ranger told me to listen out for this peculiar song of the bush. It sounds oddly familiar. On the grassy highland plains where I grew up, the laughing would start … Continue reading Catalan Kookaburras
There’s a man that sits on the beach every day with a scruffy piece of paper and a tiny little pencil. He’s got holes in his boots, and no laces to speak of. He shaves his head so he can clean himself more easily, and his jacket pockets are stuffed full of all that he … Continue reading Demons on the Beach
The sound was deep and painful. The soil under our feet moved, and shook and trembled like a whimpering animal, scared and suffering. It was only for a moment. After that everything was silent. The sky was silent, the grass was still, the trees did not move, the animals were nowhere to be seen. The … Continue reading The Crack in the Ground
It’s a cool day in the rainforest. The branches are dripping with just-fallen rain. The leaves are crackling in stereo as droplets fall upon them. It’s like the forest is stretching after a long slumber. Tiny birds chirp happily as the insects are out. The insects chirp happily too. The forest air is thick with … Continue reading The Rainforest
Tandi Tales 