A creek bed in the outback

Standing under a midday Sun, gravel and pebbles underfoot, a washed out blue sky with wisps of cloud. There is a breeze and there are flys. There is a wide flat creek bed but no water, not today. There are big sturdy gnarled gum trees the kind that stand up to a flooding torrent and hold up the debris. Red clay and ochre banks give it the shape which meanders through the dunes and desert. There is heat — radiant heat that warms me on this…