Every morning I pour myself a coffee and I sit by the creek for an hour. Every single day. Now that I’ve been here for 4 weeks, sitting in that same spot, I don’t usually expect to see anything new but it’s a beautiful way to start the day - technology free and surrounded by nature. The soft morning sun breaks through the trees and the reflections in the water are perfect and still and dappled with light. Little Corellas squawk. Frogs croak. Black bream snap at the surface of the water for insects and the occasional frantic small frog trying desperately to escape. Terry the turtle is there consistently, navigating the labyrinth of submerged Pandanus leaves. Freddy the friendly freshie floats nearby. The story repeats itself every morning, playing out in front of me as I wake up slowly.
And sometimes there is something new. A new bird. A Mertens’ Water Monitor, big and plump, also enjoys the morning sun. A Northern Fantail sits in its nest, tucked away in the paperbarks a little upstream. And a Great Bowerbird - the mimic of the savannah woodland - clicks and clunks in the tree above. This is life on Camp Creek. Nature never fails to surprise and never fails to impress.
