Devastation...

Devastation surrounded me as I embarked on what I had thought would be a revitalising meander in the bushland. Instead, I was left feeling devasted by what I saw. The lack of rain has taken its toll on the bushlands and the outlook is grim. 

It has taken me a few days to be even able to look at the images I captured, let alone share them. 

By this time of year, the gentle rains of autumn have normally begun. The first wave of autumnal flowers would be decorating the landscape with a beautiful show of colour. Along with the flowers, succulent green shoots of the winter grasses would begin to appear. What I saw was absolutely shocking.

The bush land is dying. 

To see the impact of the drought was more that I could bare, I had seen signs of the drought on the environment as I go about my days, I had made an unconscious decision to avoid the bushlands though. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. 

With the searing heat of summer what little moisture the trees could tap into has long since dried up. Canopies normally green are now dangling dried dead leaves. 

No life apart from a family of magpies and a wedged tail eagle were seen. Both hunting for food, which given that lack of it on the ground would prove difficult. 

It really was heartbreaking.

I left distraught. 

So much rain is needed, and to do what little I can to call it in I have been chanting for rain. Singing it in as my ancestors once did. Speaking the words from the depth of my soul as tears travel down my cheeks, mourning the loss of the lives I saw...