MANGOES AND MEMORIES
With the weather warming up, seasonal
fruit is changing once again. I have just had my first mango for the
season. And if the taste and price of this one are anything to go by,
we are in for one of the best mango seasons of my life. Fantastic!
Mango season in Australia has suffered a bit in recent years, with cyclones and storms blowing away buds before they had a chance to grow into the divine fruit they were intended for. Bananas too have copped it bad, for the same reasons - extreme weather in the tropical areas of Australia, where our best bananas and mangoes grow.
Banana prices went through the roof and are now coming down again. But really, there are so many people who do not even have access to delicious, healthy food in the world. So increased banana prices are hardly worth complaining about. At least we still have access to fresh food. So many of our brothers and sisters in the human family do not. If there is fresh fruit in my fruit bowl, I feel rich. That's all it takes - the knowledge that I have fresh, healthy food to eat.
Almost two decades ago I had the fantastic experience of living and working on a beautiful island for just over two years. The greenkeeper of the golf course was a great character, an older Englishman called Roy who loved planting tropical fruit trees. This may not have created the best golfing greens in the history of the world, but it certainly kept us staff members healthy and happy.
Lychee trees were abundant, as were bananas, paw paws, and of course mangoes. In fact, the mangoes were so prolific when in season, that the staff and the resort, which fed about 150 guests, could not keep up with the supply. It was heaven to wander the golf course and pick the freshest and most divine tasting food straight from the tree. Many sunsets were spent on the third and fourth green of the golf course, pigging out on tropical fruit as the skies painted yet another magnificent sunset over the mainland beyond.
Earlier this year, the island was in the main path of a very powerful cyclone that ripped across the north of Queensland. The resort (and still home to many people I know and care for) was destroyed completely. Rainforests were decimated, lush foliage stripped to bare tree trunks. For many months, cleanup, reforestation, and rebuilding plans have been under way.
It was recently announced however, that the resort owners do not have the financial capacity to continue rebuilding the resort. And with no funding on offer through tourism funding bodies, due to the high risk and volatility of the island's location, no more funds have come forth. So the world I knew, even though I've not been back for more than a decade, is no more. Instead, it will remain as a ghost-town as such - incomplete buildings giving way to nature.
Of course, the forest will come back. 90% of the island is rainforest. Nature is the most resilient of forces. It will restore itself time and again. The forest will know the abundance of tree and forest-floor life that it always did, in time. Nature will no doubt be better off without humans traipsing through it day after day and has the amazing intelligence to restore itself.
But the memories of island life for those of us who once knew it as home, are now just that - memories. Photo albums will take us back, sure. But we cannot drop in and visit if passing by, or stay in the loop of the life on the island through contact with those still working there. Times have changed.
It makes me very grateful for the incredible gifts of smell and taste. I don't need to visit in order to remember the incredible beauty of the island. I don't need to live in the tropics to remember the humidity, the wet and dry seasons, the sound of calm waters swishing against clean, white beaches lined with palm trees. I don't need to hear voices or stories to take me back.
All I need is the taste and smell of a good mango and I am back there in a flash. It's a beautiful gift we are given - to be so transported back in time, simply by smelling something familiar. These days I live in an area known for its dry climate. The changes of spring are coming forth more and more each day as trees blossom, new born lambs run around on wobbly, little legs, and the mornings bring incredible purity that only spring mornings can.
But when I eat a mango, I am back on the island - walking and laughing with people I love, falling in love over again with the natural magnificence of the island, and feeling blessed for such an incredible time to experience.
Life in the present is a beautiful thing with so much on offer. But now and then, just now and then, isn't it wonderful to be transported back in time, by something as simple as a smell - the smell of a simple, beautiful piece of fruit.
Thank you mango season. I am in love with you all over again. Welcome back.
Mango season in Australia has suffered a bit in recent years, with cyclones and storms blowing away buds before they had a chance to grow into the divine fruit they were intended for. Bananas too have copped it bad, for the same reasons - extreme weather in the tropical areas of Australia, where our best bananas and mangoes grow.
Banana prices went through the roof and are now coming down again. But really, there are so many people who do not even have access to delicious, healthy food in the world. So increased banana prices are hardly worth complaining about. At least we still have access to fresh food. So many of our brothers and sisters in the human family do not. If there is fresh fruit in my fruit bowl, I feel rich. That's all it takes - the knowledge that I have fresh, healthy food to eat.
Almost two decades ago I had the fantastic experience of living and working on a beautiful island for just over two years. The greenkeeper of the golf course was a great character, an older Englishman called Roy who loved planting tropical fruit trees. This may not have created the best golfing greens in the history of the world, but it certainly kept us staff members healthy and happy.
Lychee trees were abundant, as were bananas, paw paws, and of course mangoes. In fact, the mangoes were so prolific when in season, that the staff and the resort, which fed about 150 guests, could not keep up with the supply. It was heaven to wander the golf course and pick the freshest and most divine tasting food straight from the tree. Many sunsets were spent on the third and fourth green of the golf course, pigging out on tropical fruit as the skies painted yet another magnificent sunset over the mainland beyond.
Earlier this year, the island was in the main path of a very powerful cyclone that ripped across the north of Queensland. The resort (and still home to many people I know and care for) was destroyed completely. Rainforests were decimated, lush foliage stripped to bare tree trunks. For many months, cleanup, reforestation, and rebuilding plans have been under way.
It was recently announced however, that the resort owners do not have the financial capacity to continue rebuilding the resort. And with no funding on offer through tourism funding bodies, due to the high risk and volatility of the island's location, no more funds have come forth. So the world I knew, even though I've not been back for more than a decade, is no more. Instead, it will remain as a ghost-town as such - incomplete buildings giving way to nature.
Of course, the forest will come back. 90% of the island is rainforest. Nature is the most resilient of forces. It will restore itself time and again. The forest will know the abundance of tree and forest-floor life that it always did, in time. Nature will no doubt be better off without humans traipsing through it day after day and has the amazing intelligence to restore itself.
But the memories of island life for those of us who once knew it as home, are now just that - memories. Photo albums will take us back, sure. But we cannot drop in and visit if passing by, or stay in the loop of the life on the island through contact with those still working there. Times have changed.
It makes me very grateful for the incredible gifts of smell and taste. I don't need to visit in order to remember the incredible beauty of the island. I don't need to live in the tropics to remember the humidity, the wet and dry seasons, the sound of calm waters swishing against clean, white beaches lined with palm trees. I don't need to hear voices or stories to take me back.
All I need is the taste and smell of a good mango and I am back there in a flash. It's a beautiful gift we are given - to be so transported back in time, simply by smelling something familiar. These days I live in an area known for its dry climate. The changes of spring are coming forth more and more each day as trees blossom, new born lambs run around on wobbly, little legs, and the mornings bring incredible purity that only spring mornings can.
But when I eat a mango, I am back on the island - walking and laughing with people I love, falling in love over again with the natural magnificence of the island, and feeling blessed for such an incredible time to experience.
Life in the present is a beautiful thing with so much on offer. But now and then, just now and then, isn't it wonderful to be transported back in time, by something as simple as a smell - the smell of a simple, beautiful piece of fruit.
Thank you mango season. I am in love with you all over again. Welcome back.
