'Gone Bush'
-a poem from client Vicki Vande Voort,
September 1996
Off to the Australian bush we go
Mud Map men with Rainbow women in tow.
Sydney's skyline
Becomes a byline
With Goulburn to Yass by the Murrumbidgee our newest mainline.
Onto the backs of horses we climb
To smell the eucalyptus leaves like fine wine
Our minds forever to Australia bind.
To discover my first view
of kangaroo,
My heart soars, but little does it know what magic is in store, for me and you.
Road kill rules the night
But Wee Jasper is almost in sight
The sheep shearer's shed is our home for this twilight.
The Stables' food is uptown
But the company is downtown
The songs and verse are of Gundagai
With Daisy and "the apron" shining bry(te).
Jet lag rules my sleep
The Southern Cross caresses the sheep
The sounds reverberates through the valley
Cockatoos, Galahs, and Kookaburras echoing the rally.
The magic of this place.....
Shall remain within my face,
The peace, the quiet, the mist, the green, the trees, the rocks,
the hills, the frills, the sheep, the roos, the birds, the sounds, the smells, the moon's shadow,
the Southern Cross, the moon set, the sunrise, the coolness of breath, the shoes clumping through the shed with no
stealth, the photo race, ...
The Australian Alps fill my heart's space.
Breakfast at the cave
Let's all do the wave.
Carey's Caves is a magical underground nave.
Jim's "baby" is shown to us all.
A place of creative lighting, tranquil pools, squires of salt, and walls of color call.
We have a ball.
Using our eyes to capture its gall.
We hit the grog and toad
To find skippie and his foes
To Mikalong's Creek we go
A Barbie (BBQ) by the Creek is within our know.
The road stretches out before us
No toilet breaks are near us
Kalawa is the destination for us
Full bladders (an American trait - HA!) are our next best guess.
But no, it is a gourmet best-fest.
Elizabeth and Roger expand our knowledge in hospitality,
The Flat Top Mountain's Gumtrees quake in tranquillity.
The sheepdogs show off their herding skills.
Roger demonstrates his style of ranching in new and ecological wills.
Elizabeth cultivates our stomachs and hearts with garden and loving meals.
Adoption is a serious consideration
To stay in New South Wales is our motivation.
We hit the dusty trail
The wineries are about to be nailed
From whites to red
The women are fed
By wines drifting down their pharynxes
By wines accumulating in the back paxes.
A new slogan in Albury is banned
"A Tim Tam
is better than a Man."
What a stand!?
The journey to Mount Buffalo is up in pitches
A lyre bird is diving into the ditches
The chalet is on top.
The waterfalls will not stop.
Crimson rosellas alight our arms.
Our heads become their barns.
Snow gum trees stretch out for yarns.
The wind whips up our paces
The mist drapes our aces
The rain wash our faces
We want to stay, but it is not in our cases.
Australian folk songs we hear
John Williams and Jenna Jefferies melodies fill our ears,
The Dandenong Mountains strike the tire.
Flat is Flat, of so very Flat!
It makes Mike & Mark, oh so tired.
But the gum trees are crying in the mist, to add to my mind's mire.
On the road to Melbourne
We learn
Of Australian slang: Tucker, no worries mate
Good Old bloke, spit the dummy, the word Fanny will not cross our plate,
No drama, G'day, petrol, lollies, those phrases will remain on our slate.
The Adventures of Mud Map men and Rainbow women end in Melbourne at the Rydges
Memories now to be carried in our brain ridges.
The Australian Alps are tops.
But it took the Mud Map men to show them off.
I'm not sure what I will treasure more
The mountains or the people, I am unsure.
GONE BUSH!
WHAT A WHOOSH!
September, 1996
Vicki Vande Voort
(United States of America)
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