{"id":6072,"date":"2014-07-26T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T13:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soundslikewish.wordpress.com\/?p=6072"},"modified":"2014-07-26T13:54:50","modified_gmt":"2014-07-26T13:54:50","slug":"one-trip-every-month-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/?p=6072","title":{"rendered":"One trip EVERY month: July"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a story of mud, bats and abandoned boats.\u00a0 But it’s also a story of a certain beauty I found in a suburb that was far from a favourite when I was a child.\u00a0 Fifty years ago, Wynnum was a Brisbane suburb about 20 minutes away from our house, down the road on the edge of Moreton Bay.\u00a0 In my small mind, families poorer than mine lived there.<\/p>\n

So it was weird this month to be holidaying in Wynnum, in a street where many of the old homes have been renovated by owners richer than their ancestors.<\/p>\n

My memory of the bay is of mud flats, the poor man’s waterfront.\u00a0 Sure enough, as I approached the esplanade for the first time in a long time, it was night, but there was enough city light to see the vast expanse of mud.<\/p>\n

\"Wynnum,<\/a>
Wynnum, tide out, evening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I walked to the esplanade in the morning, there was still nothing to see but mud, and rocks tumbling across it from the raised walkway.<\/p>\n

\"Mudflats,<\/a>
Mudflats, Wynnum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To make a fair comparison, I had to see the bay when the tide was in, so I returned mid-afternoon which seems to be a good time to see the sand and sea, sans mud.<\/p>\n

\"Wynnum,<\/a>
Wynnum, tide in, afternoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For water views there’s not only the ocean;\u00a0 there’s Wynnum creek and the mangroves where bats sleep, black, upside down and ugly.<\/p>\n

\"Bats,<\/a>
Bats, Wynnum mangroves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But they’re not half as ugly as these abandoned boats in the creek, which the locals must find shameful.\u00a0 Whose responsibility is it to dispose of them?<\/p>\n