Winter Solstice - Noosa National Park

Okay, it was the morning after the Winter Solstice, but the sun-blue day was a warm twenty degrees and crying freedom, along Noosa National Park. Perfect for walking, taking photos and singing Coldplay songs.

There was a huge swell pushing in from the south-east and surfers and their boards ran the the path to Hell's Gates like thong-footed lemmings.

Around the points of Melaleuca Bay, Ospreys taunted the wind above the waves and shared the catch with Pacific dolphins.

Jo and I have been blessed to walk the trails along the cliffs of Kilkee, the five villages of Cinque Terre, the winding, alpine spring-time paths below The Jungfraujoch, Wine Glass bay, Carnarvon Gorge and lots of other National Parks around Australia. But there is something that touches our hearts when we find our feet on the familiar path that is Noosa National Park.

And it's not just the string of 'giddays' 
that greet you 
or the fact we can get out of bed 
and be there before breakfast
or the seasonal significance
and the spirits indigenous
that float like eagles
above bays from their Dreaming
where paradise is streaming
on earth as it is... this morning.

(c) Rob Swales