Butterflies....

About a month ago I was privileged enough to make my way, (via this train), to Kuranda, near Cairns, Far North Queensland.

I went to this butterfly sanctuary:

http://www.australianbutterflies.com/

I had dearly hoped to get some pictures of this, the Ulysses butterfly, but they are tricky little things to photo...they fly around quite a lot, nervous and agile, then, when they do land, the underside of their wings isn't the beautiful blue at all....there is an art and touch of luck to the photo of the elusive Ulysses....oh well...

To get to the rainforest you can either rail or skyrail..I went up rail and skyrailed back.

"But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:

And now from having ridden out desire

They lie closed over in the wind and cling

Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire."

~Robert Frost, "Blue-Butterfly Day"

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine."

~Jeffrey Glassberg

"With the rose the butterfly's deep in love,

A thousand times hovering round;

But round himself, all tender like gold,

The sun's sweet ray is hovering found."

~Heinrich Heine, "New Spring"

"I've watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly!

Indeed I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! - not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!"

~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

~Maya Angelou