by Louise Hopewell

blowing a tyre
on the 3-hour drive from Cairns
‘accessible outback’

Chillagoe
the winter sun
blazes 33 degrees

wide horizon
long clouds trace
the distant blue range

ancient shallow sea
a limestone outcrop
towers over desert plains

termite mounds
dotted between paperbarks
screeching cockatoos

kurrajong blossoms
a red dragonfly skims
river cascades

a spotted python
slithers down rock steps
cave tour

a huntsman spider
stretches across flowstone
calcite chandelier

abandoned smelter
three chimneys crumble
into desert sands

swirls of red dust
returning to the cool green
of the hinterland