March 20, 2019, was the Covid year that will remain in the minds of many people forever. The year that not only stopped the nation but the world from travelling. Since then, I have not travelled. My last journey before the pandemic hit, I was on a 28-Day trip to Hawaii, travelling around Hawaiian Islands.
When the world was in lock down, I remained idle in writing travel stories. I then turn to photography. Whether it was landscape, sunrise and sunset or anything that captured my attention, every photograph taken told a story. In the last 3 years, I remained within 150 kilometre radius of Cairns city taking photographs of places from north to Cape Tribulation, south to Innisfail and west to Mount Garnet. It was a great new adventure with a lot to learn and continue to do so.
Since the day, my photography journey began, I never stopped clicking away. In the mornings and evenings, I would stroll around Cairns city’s pathways and backstreets taking photographs from arts on the walls to outdoor topographies. What I have seen hidden was incredible amazing art of work.
My morning and evening walks along the footpaths and around backstreets turned into looking at variety of plants which captured my imagination. These plants grow in unusual places. Plants grow in unusual places in concrete, from locks, tall buildings and on poles. Most had random flowers, others look like wild weeds and there’s others that look like trees and ferns that grow on buildings.
The other morning while walking along the footpath in the city across from the building where I live, I spotted this huge fig plant growing above the building, with its roots making its way down the side and front of the building.
While driving along one of the busy streets, I spotted this same tree (fig tree) plant growing out of a crack in the thick conrete overhead bridge.
One of the mind-boggling was this fern growing out of the water drainage above a 15-storey building right in the city centre. How this plant start to grow in this building is a mystery. The most likely scenario, while pigeons took scraps out of the ground, dragging it above there and leaving a tiny seed to grow.
Right in the heart of the city is the Martin Munro Parklands. A place where great outdoor events take place from concerts to market stalls where thousands of people flock the park on the grass. Along the concrete walls is this plant growing which can be visible.
Right along the Trinity wharf waterfront, I took a walk along the waterfront walkway. Just below was this mangrove growing among the stumps that were placed inside this metal to create plathforms for boardwalks.
Some of the most obvious plants that grow and survive in unsual places were spotted on the waterfront and footpaths. Some are larger plants and others are tiny. I tend to wonder how these plants make it through harsh summer or winter months, yet some remnant must have survived.
These plants growing through the most difficult places. It brings a lot of strenght and courage to people during difficult times that survival is possible at most challening and difficult times.
Categories: LIFESTYLE
akamau 