Living on the Gold Coast we are spoilt for choice with all the “worlds” around us – Movie World, Sea World, and my personal favourite Dreamworld.
Dreamworld has a world within its world if you can make it through the sensory overload of the looping Disney music, the screaming crowds and after you’ve been to the wondrous Tiger Island you might race past the Serpent Slayer and The Claw, wave to the little ones on the Dreamworld Express and notice the path becomes a track and the colours have shifted from intensely bright to a shady, cooler atmosphere and finally you’ll stumble upon the unexpected oasis of Australian wildlife featuring around 800 native and barnyard animals.
Lounging kangaroos, sleepy koalas, and an array of birdlife including these two brolgas who live in the section called Kakadu Wetlands. Being able to see these beautiful, elegant creatures up close and to really study them and their graceful movements is an amazing experience.
The mating dance of the brolgas is an extraordinary display of flamboyance perhaps a little over the top not unlike the Gold Coast where these two brolgas have found themselves ... a sunny sin city where meter maids clad in gold bikinis and tiaras would once feed the meters of the overstayers ensuring they stay longer.
Exhibitionists and the exotic come out to play in this wild frontier city. As Australia’s fastest growing city and continued favoured party town and holiday destination it continues to draw us in like the beautiful dance of the brolga.
The colour of the small birds in this painting reflects that sense of liveliness and the joy of freedom from the everyday routine. The black film noir phone with its dial that reads “In Case of Emergency Dial Ext 170” reminds us of the underlying drama and possible danger of this crazy city’s nightlife.
But as the sun comes up over one of the most glorious of all Australian beaches and the exotic dancers and other performers make their way home the tourists are making their plans to visit the other Worlds where they too will perform their own dances in sunburnt skin and colourful kaftans you may even find a few feathers trailing behind them. - Kate Bergin
