Sunday, March 6, 2011

THE GULLIES ROAD

The Gullies Rd., between Grey Gum Lane and Church St, often asks my Cocker Spaniel and I to walk it. In one sense, it's an unspoiled, fecund wonderland, and in another, a tarnished, tattered spot that needs serious reinvention. In between the imposing, sentinel-like trunks of eucalypts and a rich variety of native flora, there are imported, invasive species such as cotoneaster, wandering jew etc. In certain sections, crippled trees have fallen on others. From a strangled thicket, a barbed briar lashes the pathway like some sadist's whip or Triffid. Blackbirds (forget the Beatles-infused romance - should they have stayed in England?) utter their sharp scoldings in the weed-ways, whilst ravenous Brown and Striated Thornbills map and celebrate the reaching, expansive, native canopy. The Gullies Road is a gorgeous corner of Bundanoon, yet it is a riot of contradictions. In turn, it is fascinating, eye-catching, disappointing and bleak.

LJ, March 6 2011.

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