Deep Pool.

[Guest guest]

I lie-lowed down the Colo River in the Wollemi

Wilderness.<br>At first, although the shore was rocky, the Colo was

wide, slow and sandy.<br>Then the shore started to rise

up into broken, sandstone escarpements.<br>And the

river began to run through broken boulders and the sun

seemed less powerful. There was no way back. I wondered

when I would send my next email.<br>One black pool

followed by a white gushing fall and into the

boulders.<br>I felt the lie-low rip as I sank into the pushing

water. Everything was gone, my food, my tent, my

knife.<br>I washed into a small creek, running into the Colo.

The sharp sandstone cliffs rose around me. The river

was a jumble of rocks and water while<br>the creek

banks were grassy and the rivulet sparkled in the sun.

It seemed natural to follow the grassy creek,

through a narrow defile into a very small, cupped

clearing. Except it was full of trees which were full of

fruit. The first tree looked like nectarines and full,

juicy nectarines they were. There were plum and peach,

cherry and apple and grapefruit. I breathed deeply as I

moved through the fruit trees as something sparkled

ahead. Right in the middle of the fruit grove was a

pond, a deep pond from which ran the sparkling rivulet.

But there was no water running into the pool which

must be spring-fed, cool but not cold.<br><br>I knew I

was to eat the fruit but I didn't know what to do

next.