Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
My quick lunch-time sketch of the Caretakers Cottage in Albert Park got dominated by an attention seeking Australian visitor. As you can see a massive Moreton Bay Fig tree has found its way into my view and dominated the composition.
As their name suggests they’re from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia and have grown to massive proportions. They look a little otherworldly with their massive buttressed root systems and massive horizontal branches.
These days they're generally considered a noxious pest as they are epiphytic, and will eventually strangle their host tree. A bit like some other Australian visitors — I’m thinking orchard and forest devouring possums and wallabies here, not Australians!
While it might now be illegal to grow Moreton Bay Fig tree seedlings in Auckland, we can at least enjoy these impressive beauties!
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