Marking time in May 2006
Friday 26 May 2006
Dili
In June 1972 I took a TAA flight from Darwin to Portugese Timor, as it then was. To me, it was a wonderfully strange and exotic place, a time-warped colonial leftover. A great start to my adventure.
Today, with Australian troops on the way to Timor again, I am thinking about the people I met there, and the hard times they have had.
Children playing on the foreshore of Dili harbour while their elders fossick for shellfish at low tide. These kids must be nearing forty years of age. If they have survived.
Friday 19 May 2006
Cape Byron lighthouse
I was doing some survey work at Cape Byron lighthouse yesterday. In the tower, on the level below the main light, there is a window facing Julian Rocks not far offshore. A red light in this window gives warning to sailors to watch out for the hazard. It also makes a magic atmosphere inside the lighthouse.
At dusk the inside of the tower is lit by the last of the daylight coming in the window, mixed with the focussed band of red from the auxillary light.