Kristofferson: The Pilgrim

Kris Kristofferson (22 June 1936 – 28 September 2024) wrote some of the greatest songs of the last century. He wrote intimate love songs, adventure songs, freedom songs, outlaw songs, anti-war songs, comradeship and friendship songs, political songs, songs about heroes, and most of all songs of family and gratitude. He wrote simple yet deep and intricate lyrics. He followed his heart and trod his own path, and many have followed the trail he blazed.

I saw him in concert twice - a great pleasure and privilege. Play a song in tribute. Or get on the road of Kris Kristofferson. Then check out the rest of his discography and colorful rich career.

Kris Kristofferson playlist

Visiting Bruny Island (Tasmania)

It is only an hour from Hobart by car and ferry, but wild Bruny Island is a remote location. The only thing between here and the South Pole is Antarctica. But even before contemplating that, I started exploring at the south of the island.

South Bruny is surrounded by bays, beaches, capes, steep high cliffs, rugged coastlines.

 

It has spectacular landscapes and a variety of natural environments.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse. This is one of the oldest lighthouses in Australia, it's almost a natural feature.

Cloudy Bay is popular for its great beach, camping, lagoon and wild surf.

It also features a 14km walking track that includes all 3.5km of Long Beach, CB.

Mount Mangana.

Mangana was the father of Truganini, renowned Aboriginal leader.

The Two Trees of Adventure Bay. Two Tree Point is a known “Watering Place” by the early British explorers Tobias Furneaux (1773), James Cook (1777), and William Bligh (1788). An artist, Lt George Tobin accompanied Captain Bligh on his next expedition in 1792. Tobin sketched seven paintings of Adventure Bay, including one showing these same two trees that still stand today making them at least 250 years old.

Truganini Lookout sits atop a high sand hill at the northern end of an isthmus called The Neck. The lookout offers panoramic views in all directions.

Sunrise and sunset at The Neck

It's especially good early or late in the day "during the magic hour", which is also the best time for birdwatching.

Little Penguin and Short-tailed Shearwater (muttonbird) reside in burrows at the hillsides here, but the best time to see these two species is during the first couple of hours after dark. As a bird enthusiast I was itching to go twitching all 12 of Tasmania’s endemic birds. I did find some of the endemic birds as well as other species.

Then I went to post my photos, but I could not remember my password, rather my address. So I'll post the bird photos later.

On my way back to catch the ferry to the mainland, I ended up in a tasty address. Bruny Island House of Whisky. I don't remember taking a photo. Maybe it was tipsy.

Here's some more photos. Not tipsy.

Travelling around Lunawanna-Alonnah (Bruny Island), one hears the voices of the ancients in the breeze, the trees, bays and landforms.

The ability and indeed the privilege to explore, to amble, to ramble, and to babble; is what freedom means.

But with that freedom comes responsibility, to keep oneself and others safe. To nurture nature. It also means respect for the places that you travel through.

Heroes of Lung Kwu Tan (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. It is home to the seventh-highest number of billionaires of any city and has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. A highly developed territory, Hong Kong ranks fourth in the world for Human Development Index (HDI).

A traveller transiting through Hong Kong airport hardly knows none of the above, but I knew I have a couple of hours spare waiting for an onward flight. So I thought to go shopping.

Whilst looking through the windows I was hit with a dose of reality: I had no easy change to spare for shopping- and it made me feel sad. In my kalungkutan I thought of you.

Pero, dahil wala ka sa kalungkutan ko, naghanap ako ng kasayahan. Napadpad ako sa Lung Kwu Tan.

The village has a few hundred years of recorded history, but I left kalungkutan and came to Lung Kwu Tan to find kasayahan not history lessons. I came to look for endorphins, the natural feel-good ‘high’ that apparently one gets from exercise. But instead of endorphins I found this natural lookout for watching the rare and endangered Chinese white dolphins.

It was warm that day in Hong Kong, and I was the only fool hiking up to the lookout. My senses didn’t feel the endorphins and my eyes could not see dolphins. Then I stumbled on a huge rock, I found the Fato of Lung Kwu Tan! 

There are some great monoliths around the world, but this has to be in the top three greatest rocks, at least on this side of Lung Kwu Tan. Here's Fato of Australia and Fato of Bontoc.

Lung Kwu Tan is an area located on the southwest of Castle Peak, the highest granitic hill in Hong Kong.

It has a good length of black-sand beach which is rare in these parts.

Lung Kwu Tan occupies a quiet stretch of coastline that boasts unimpeded views looking out west to the sea and east inland to the mountain range including Castle Peak and its hinterland.

The hills of Lung Kwu Tan have little vegetation but are strewn with boulders. It is well away from the bustling centres- I was a little surprised that there was no one else there.

They say that dolphins may be observed from the shores so I waited and observed for a very long 120 minutes, but the white dolphins did not show up.

A secondary objective of my visit to Lung Kwu Tan was to look for the Chinese Francolin, a species of game bird that inhabits shrubby areas and especially common in the hilly regions of the southeast of mainland Asia. Well, I hate to disappoint my uncle Vancolin so I won’t tell him I did not find his favourite bird…

And in my search for Francolins- never mind…

Here is some history instead:

In May 1943 during the period of Japanese occupation, a guerilla leader Liu Chunxiang led a team of six defenders against the Japanese. Liu and his guerillas included local boatman Leung Hak. Leung, his wife, two daughters and one son, all lost their lives in the resistance against the Japanese invaders. In May 2023 80 years on from the invasion, the Chinese government dedicated a cenotaph in honour of the heroes of Lung Kwu Tan.

A visitor from Chong-Li-An can only pay his respects to the noble heroes and their land of Lung Kwu Tan.

I hope to explore some of these places on foot someday: Sliced Bread Rock, Mong Hau Shek Teng and Yuet Nga Valley.