i.
on the bus to
pick a car up
two tourists ask for suggestions
on what to do in Sydney,
a city I've been downtown in
only last night for a concert
at the Opera House.
They're from England,
can make me some recommendations
for where to visit to the North,
and came to Sydney last night
for the same concert.
ii.
a invisible fast movement
while de-tenting
catches the eye, reveals
a four-inch spider with furry
gangly legs, comically large eyes.
it walks on tiptoe
then sprints, hiding everywhere,
first sticking to the bottom of a leaf
flattening so convincingly
I half-think it's gone, despite my eyes
then bursts to a one-inch knothole
shrinking inside without pause.
iii.
parking next to a camper, worried
I'll intrude on their privacy, but
Maureen offers chicken casserole,
and Al wants to tell stories of sailing,
of wind-surfing, and of
overambitious kitesurfers.
They're touring with the trailer
"most of the time now": Al
reccomends a phone application
for finding campsites. I leave
a postcard on their stoop early
in the morning, hope for an email.
iv.
rock-hop past families looking
for, I don't know, another adventure
in this misty day, this waterfall, I
find a sharp turn: a smaller waterfall
has scooped a pool out of solid rock.
turning back, the families are gone,
four, well, kids my age are dipping
below the big fall, I turn back and
climb to this concealed cup.
back up, wetter, skirt the observation
deck to clamber to the four of them
start an awkward
conversation, but soon I'm showing
off the little pool, and we're clambering
up new rocks;
back at the cars,
swap peanut-butter on banana slices
("this seems very American, somehow")
for places to visit next.
and of course it turns out that
two of them did degrees in the same
building as the friend I'm visiting
in Sydney, and they sing Monday
sea shanties with the group I
sought out at the folk festival
last week; but these similarities
are commonplace; we poke fun at Bryan
for his pun while pointing this out
and carry on