Magic at the Corroboree Rock

For all those who think there can be no life outside the Earth I say they are wrong. If this plant in my picture can grow from a rock in the middle of the Outback, life can sprout in the harshest conditions. I sometimes link the places and names I am referring to with Wikipedia and other popular information sites, but I do it for two reasons. First, I don’t want to overlap with sites out there that provide this kind of information and don’t want to overload you with things within reach on these other websites. Second, all these other websites focus on the BIG things, the most popular stuff. I like to focus on the magic of the “other” things, the details that touch us in a more personal manner. For example, just walking through the East MacDonnell Ranges, the desert and ancient mountainous formations stand out. I thought that the red rocks and ridges fragmented by old age and extreme heat and changes in temperature are what Martian landscape looks like. But a slow walk around the Corroboree Rock in late spring led me to this magic discovery of beautiful pink flowers on the side of it. I saw it as a small symbol of life’s victory over nothingness. I was not sure if some water accumulated during the generous spring rains in a hard to see slit in the rocks, but with the heat of the days when we visited, it’s hard to believe that water was sufficient to sustain the plant’s life. Or maybe at night, the cold air condenses on the rock and turns into precious water that then drips into the slit to still feed the flower… I am not sure, but the simple beauty of this plant and its strength in clinging on to life and the rock come back to my mind first when I think of the Corroboree Rock. The Australian Outback has plenty of such sites to discover!