sling diaries - inspiration

 

There are children of this land that have never known rain. They watch golden crops plead to the heavens for a drop of nourishment. Thunder clouds roll in and out to tease the hopeful, the hardened barely notice their presence and just get on with it. The children, freckled faced and rowdy kick balls on dusty ground and grow despite it all. They smile often.

Surfers bide their time. Legs dangle in sapphires and hair gnarls and tints under the strong hands of the sun and sea. Luminous barrels heave to life and feet snap to attention.  Above the roar of surging water there is a silence; an ethereal existence. The endless tide laps every shore of this island and calls all to its majesty. I am not above its powers.

Ancient trees creak and groan towards the sun. A canopy of jade. Jewelled frogs burrow beneath the leaf litter and all is cool. A whip bird calls and its sound echos over limb and branch and shards of sunlight catch minutiae in suspension in the air above. This breathing, dancing organism in perfect harmony with sun and rain and soil.

This is the only home I have ever known and although my boots have carried me all around this sphere of rock my heart is tethered here.  I will show my babies its magic, its menace, its raw beauty. Together we will walk in dappled light under proud trees, stoop and enquire on golden sands and immerse our bodies in streams as clear as glass. We will eat at lopsided pubs and dance with raggle taggle new friends. I will show them endangered turtle rookeries, coral reefs and cavernous gorges eroded by wind and time. Our bodies will smell of salt and sea air and our fingers will be ruddied with crimson earth. We will cloak our skin from the searing sun but it will burnish nonetheless. Our feather collection will outgrow it's vessel.

This land - harsh and intriguing , raw and magnificent. Its people - light hearted do-ers full of uncrushable spirit and laughter. Men and women overflowing with story and spark who've conquered fire and drought and flood. A closeness in kinship.

Australia - my home, my inspiration.

Steph x

Remy is snuggled in his linen Sakura Bloom Pure Baby sling in wheat.
Photos taken by my beloved.