Magic Locations In Present Times 

July 16, 2020

 

Nature at its best, serenity, soothing waters, inviting for a dip perhaps? Where do you suppose this is? Paradise? Kakadu? Just how far do you have to travel to get there? Not far at all, in fact, I walked to it. Before telling you the secret, let me set the scene.  

Another beautiful day beckoned in the Sunshine State on Wednesday morning. I said to my husband Geoff, let’s go for a walk. Something we did on Monday, to the cinema and back that was. With slightly sore legs from that excursion we now left home at Kelvin Grove and headed for Enoggera Creek. This stream drains from the D’Aguilar Range to become Breakfast Creek (Aboriginal: Barrambin) near Herston to then flow into the Brisbane River where the same named iconic hotel is located. The water is clean enough to be the habitat for fish and ducks.

We took the path towards Ashgrove. I had forgotten how beautiful the parklands along the Creek are. At times I felt myself to be near the streams of the Bregenzer forest in Austria. Though this time I was not suffering jet lag just leg lag. The air was crisp and clear, inviting walkers, joggers and parents pushing prams with babies. Some mothers set themselves up in the park on blankets to play games with the kids. Yes, it is possible to be close to the gifts that nature gives so freely and generously within a mere three to four kms of the CBD.

As we meandered along the path we passed a group of Council workmen who were busy planting trees and shrubs and generally contributing to the maintenance of these beautiful surrounds. Bird houses up in the trees attracted rainbow lorikeets inside to do whatever lorikeets do. 

We passed a few signs inviting interested citizens to become part of the parkland working bees. While this is to be encouraged I had my mind set on something else, that is something of a culinary delight. You see Ashgrove is the suburb in which my favourite Italian pasticceria is located. And it just so happened, would you believe it, that Gerbino’s was reachable from the edge of the parklands.

Well, it did take no persuation at all for Geoff to accompany me into the establishment that had supplied us with tortes and gateaux for special celebrations in the past. Still remembering the delicious taste of the Italian Torte I had bought a few months ago, I now ordered the miniature version with a cappuchino. 

So delicious, so decadent, and so well deserved after the long walk of about, well – two kilometres, may be? It matters not the metres; it matters more the calories. Fortunately, we had to walk back again thus justifying this luscious halfway indulgence. 

I feel quite optimistic that this kind of walk might become a regular habit of ours. All the more since it combines flora, fauna and a healthy walk with indulgence in walking distance to home. 

 

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