The unexpected joys of parks

When everything seems a bit overwhelming, there is still delight in nature, music and art. 

After a lunch at the Coal Loader Sustainability Centre, my wife and I took a walk around Balls Head. Our path took us through the magnificent angophora forest where shedding bark revealed their beautiful burnt orange trunks.

Returning from the south, we arrived at the ground floor of the coal loader, framed by huge figs, like a giant ruined temple. Sheltered by 15m of earth and concrete, the tunnels were a cool respite from the 28 degree day.

Climbing up onto the coal loader there were a couple of old guys playing boules on the gravel. But we could also hear music. We discovered its source in a young lad in his mid 20s playing a piano. The piano was sitting beside a green wall, sheltered from the rain by the all-access ramp. This also made for quite good acoustics.

He played for 15 minutes from memory, tinkling away in his own little world. It was quite beautiful. One of the tunes sounded very much like daft Punk, another like one of those epic movie themes.  For all I know it could have been Bach. Whatever the case it was delightful.

We left the park feeling quite uplifted.