The Changing Seasons, Version 2 : January

During 2015 Cardinal Guzman hosted a monthly challenge. The challenge was to choose one place and visit it every month to record the changes. A fascinating project. But unfortunately, last year I could not visit the same place every month because of my Gypsy wanderings.

Fast forward to 2016…

I was delighted to discover that the dear Cardinal has decided to continue his challenge but to add a version 2.

These are the rules for Version 2 (The Changing Seasons V2):

• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons
• Each month, post one photo (recipe, painting, drawing, whatever) that represents your interpretation of the month.
• Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!

Now this year is also a year of change for me. I plan to stay, more or less, put. After 5 years of roaming far and wide around Australia, I’ll be exploring the Southeast corner of Queensland and Northern New South Wales, the place I call home. No distant travels (to a galaxy far, far away) to far-flung parts of Australia.

So yesterday I went out to search for an image that says “January on the Gold Coast”. The bigger challenge being to do it in ONE photo…

This is Burleigh Beach, my local beach, and it is the last weekend of the school summer holidays. It is hot, it is humid and the surf is pumping. Just look at the crowds, but it is still possible to find an oasis of calm with a book, a coffee and your loved one under a tropical Pandanus palm. Room for a couple of young boys to play ball and a young woman heading for the ocean to catch a wave.

In the background, just visible through the fronds of the Pandanus, the Burleigh Heads National Park keeps a majestic watch over the scene.

Thousands of years ago this was known as a favourite meeting place for the Aboriginal tribes of the area. They would gather for ceremonies and share the bounty of the sea, leaving middens of shells to tell the tale of times long gone.

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