Destination Paradise

January - country Western Australia - and it's hot!
Another blistering 100 degree day – and more to come.
I sit at the computer, wipe the perspiration from my brow and dream of Paradise.
‘Paradise’ - what does that word conjure in your imagination?
Some ethereal super film-set with billowing clouds floating like fluffy magic carpets transporting harp-playing angels to who knows where?
The ultimate destination on many people’s life wish-list! Maybe.
Talking of ultimate destinations – then consider Paradise Bay.
If you were asked to write down what images come to mind, how would you describe it?
Blue sky reflecting from an even bluer lagoon. A tropical island perhaps? Crystal clear water rimmed with white sand, shaded by a fringe of palm trees which lean down to touch the lazy water?
Maybe.
Then imagine this - Cold. Colder than you have ever known.
Instead of clouds floating like fluffy magic carpets, imagine icebergs motionless on a mercury sea.
Instead of palm trees leaning down to touch the water, a rainbow arching slowly from the land to barely skim the water's surface before sliding back into the bay.
Instead of white beaches, imagine being surrounded by walls of ice – some smooth and undulating, some fractured, all frozen - white, blue and dappled grey.
And as the snow begins to fall imagine a ship’s deck and fittings upholstered in a carpet of soft white shag-pile.

Back in the real world – I add more ice to my drink, gaze at the holiday photos and let my mind transport me back to a cooler kind of Paradise:

Paradise Bay, Antarctica (Jan 2005) photo Peter J Ryan