Picnic at Hanging Rock
"What we see and what we seem is but a dream, a dream within a dream."
Ooooh. Creepy. I went to see "Picnic at Hanging Rock" at the Darwin Cinema, all by myself, at the age of 9. What was my mum thinking? It was school holidays and I think she trusted my judgment. I came out feeling enormously uneasy. This is probably the first film I ever felt "touched" by. Even now, when I hear pan pipes, I get a chill down my spine.
Today we took a leap into the great outdoors, and actually went to Hanging Rock, about an hour-and-a-half's drive from here. It was everything and more that the movie showed it to be. Spiritual, eerie, enchanting, beautiful. I had my own "oh my God I'm spinning out" moment when I looked up at the sky and the clouds were moving so quickly against the bleakness of the rocks. I felt dizzy and nearly fell over.
I could almost imagine Joan Lindsay's story to be true. I had to catch myself from looking for skeletons of 105 year old corpses dressed in white stuck in crevasses and gullies.
The climb was difficult in places, particularly when the paving trailed away to the summit of the rock. C, the Intern and the Midget were in their glory running ahead and seeing what they could discover next. I preferred to contemplate (and catch my breath) as I went along. The landscape looked a little different from the movie. We were visiting in mid-winter, whereas the film takes place on Valentine's day, in the harshest part of the Australian summer. The rocks were covered in moss and lichen and there were many puddles from recent rainfall in the area. It was a truly delightful walk, with not too many other walkers to spoil the atmosphere.
I took some photos with my brand new camera (a late (unexpected but very welcome) birthday gift) and will endeavour to post them on here soon.
After the walk we went down to the cafe at the foot of the rock. It was heated by a lovely woodfire, painted in warm colours and filled with lots of homely eclectic furniture. I had warm scones, jam and cream, and they were to die for. The boys had apricot crumble and bruschetta, and the Midget had a toasted sandwich (simpler tastes).
In the distance we could see some people looking at a kangaroo on the picnic ground. We decided to go down and have a look, and it turned out that she had a huge joey in her pouch. He stuck his head at at just the opportune time for everybody to see. We couldn't have asked for a more Australian experience for the intern.
"Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place."
Ooooh. Creepy. I went to see "Picnic at Hanging Rock" at the Darwin Cinema, all by myself, at the age of 9. What was my mum thinking? It was school holidays and I think she trusted my judgment. I came out feeling enormously uneasy. This is probably the first film I ever felt "touched" by. Even now, when I hear pan pipes, I get a chill down my spine.
Today we took a leap into the great outdoors, and actually went to Hanging Rock, about an hour-and-a-half's drive from here. It was everything and more that the movie showed it to be. Spiritual, eerie, enchanting, beautiful. I had my own "oh my God I'm spinning out" moment when I looked up at the sky and the clouds were moving so quickly against the bleakness of the rocks. I felt dizzy and nearly fell over.
I could almost imagine Joan Lindsay's story to be true. I had to catch myself from looking for skeletons of 105 year old corpses dressed in white stuck in crevasses and gullies.
The climb was difficult in places, particularly when the paving trailed away to the summit of the rock. C, the Intern and the Midget were in their glory running ahead and seeing what they could discover next. I preferred to contemplate (and catch my breath) as I went along. The landscape looked a little different from the movie. We were visiting in mid-winter, whereas the film takes place on Valentine's day, in the harshest part of the Australian summer. The rocks were covered in moss and lichen and there were many puddles from recent rainfall in the area. It was a truly delightful walk, with not too many other walkers to spoil the atmosphere.
I took some photos with my brand new camera (a late (unexpected but very welcome) birthday gift) and will endeavour to post them on here soon.
After the walk we went down to the cafe at the foot of the rock. It was heated by a lovely woodfire, painted in warm colours and filled with lots of homely eclectic furniture. I had warm scones, jam and cream, and they were to die for. The boys had apricot crumble and bruschetta, and the Midget had a toasted sandwich (simpler tastes).
In the distance we could see some people looking at a kangaroo on the picnic ground. We decided to go down and have a look, and it turned out that she had a huge joey in her pouch. He stuck his head at at just the opportune time for everybody to see. We couldn't have asked for a more Australian experience for the intern.
"Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place."
posted by Cathy at 2:14 pm
1 Comments:
I look forward to your photographs. Thank you for visiting my blog :).
Post a Comment
<< Home