More on a landscape of huge contrasts

We had some wonderful moments at the centre of things in continental terms, and at the edges of beautiful things while exploring the country around Alice Springs a few years ago. My previous post touched upon the unusual needs of some of our species and the high variability of some of our rivers, and while thinking on those things I was reminded of other extremes we have come across in this spectacular continent. I admit that I thought in particular of this trip because it has not gone unnoticed that there is a disproportionally large red dot on my reader 'clustrmap' in the middle of Australia- a place not generally known for boats or violins...and I do wonder if that dot is one very voracious reader, or several! Either way, this post is to acknowledge the producers of that dot and the bit of our country in which you live.
The space and the light in this landscape combine to give things a shift in value, including our very self. Whatever our thoughts are, the context is overwhelming. This has a habit of making for unpretentious attitudes, I think.
There is water to be had at the edges of things. The lack of it all around only serves to make water more magical when you find it. These wet places have been hugely significant to people for times longer than any history on Earth.

In geological time we pass across it like shadows.