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Cloudcatchers Ginko No. 27

Ginko No. 27 (spring)
Meldrum Park, Ballina
Date: Thursday 11 October 2012

Meldrum Park in Ballina is a new venue for the Cloudcatchers. It is on the shore of North Creek, and was chosen to coincide with low tide. Nine poets trod the sandflats spreading out before us as the water receded.

The sun was hiding, and so were the soldier crabs, but the abundant crabholes, bird tracks and vacant oyster shells on bits of basalt rock provided plenty to keep the pencils scribbling. A yabbie pumper attracted a migration of gulls, herons and pelicans from their sandbank, and these contended with the village dogs being taken for a walk along the sands. Sandpipers stepped over pawprints. A soft breeze stirred the eucalypts on the shore, but the lofty pines remained steady in their row. Lorikeets, noisy miners and ibis provided the aural backdrop, while the distance bridge traffic moved silently in front of the lesser arch of the grey ocean beyond. An email round robin workshop is currently in progress. The summer ginko is planned for Thursday 31 January 2013. For particulars contact: quendrythyoung@bigpond.com