Evergreen Frangipani After Rain (© Magi Nams)
Until I came to Townsville, ‘steamy darkness’ was a term I’d only encountered in novels. This morning, I ran and walked in it, until the slow approach of dawn stole away darkness and rain washed the steam from the air. The early light seemed dirty, smearing the river and low clouds with a colour somewhere between yellow and brown.
For a half hour, I had the river parkway to myself before being joined by two walkers, two cyclists, two fishermen, and a blue-winged kookaburra that shook moisture from its sodden plumage. Thunder cracked and rumbled, drowning the rain-muted sounds of dawn. Flashes of lightning lit murky clouds. Like the track at Paluma, the parkway pavement became a collection of scattered pools and shallow streams seeking the river. But the moisture was warm. After all, this is the tropics.
This is also storm season. For the past week, ABC Radio National has reported on severe storms recently endured by southern Queensland and New South Wales, where flash flooding has swept cars off roads and caused drownings.1 This morning, an emergency rescue spokesperson warned drivers not to attempt to cross flooded roads, saying that unless you can see the surface of the road, it’s not safe. If you can’t see the surface, it may not be there; it could have been washed away.
On and off throughout the day, rain spilled from the sky, interspersed with bouts of sunshine and swamping humidity. During an interlude of cloudy skies after rain, I flip-flopped about in the neighbourhood (sneakers in the oven to dry), photographing evergreen frangipani glistening with raindrops and experimenting on other subjects with my photographic eye. However, for most of the day, I holed up in the house, editing my blog postings and adding photographs to many of them. During the past two weeks, I’ve become mildly obsessed with taking photographs. Sometimes, a picture really does speak the thousand words I can’t find or don’t think to write.
Storm Clouds over Downtown Townsville (© Magi Nams)
After supper, Vilis and I walked northwest into Bicentennial Park, with the sticky heat still clinging. Again, as on our walk home from Coles last Wednesday, clouds billowed upward in shades of milky blue and periwinkle, washing the entire landscape with a bluish hue and threatening more rain. No prairie storm I ever saw as a child looked like those blue clouds; no tumultuous sky I’ve perceived as an adult ever held that thick, lush beauty. Again, I told myself, this is the tropics.
References:
1. ABC News. Prepare for flooding, NSW warned. February 6, 2010, 2:50 p.m. Accessed 23-Nov-2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/06/2812190.htm; ABC News. Wild storms lash Sydney. February 13, 2010, 10:51 a.m. Accessed 23-Nov-2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/13/2818601.htm; ABC News. Record rain drenches south-east Queensland. February 8, 2010, 7:38 a.m. Accessed 23-Nov-2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2812676.htm; ABC News. Queensland storms turn deadly. February 7, 2010, 8:27 a.m. Accessed 23-Nov-2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/07/2812365.htm
