I like to take my coffee on the deck in the pre-dawn waking of the rainforest.
There is the sound of the North Johnstone River in its shushy hush rush towards Innisfail and the warm Coral Sea beyond.
I try to distinguish between the various waking bird calls – four, maybe five. Many are still sleeping and the forest is mostly quiet and still.
That stillness is reflected in the motionless canopy of the tallest eucalyptus I can see from here – which rises above the rest. Just as I’m finishing my coffee, it catches a breeze and the branches sway gently.
