That precious, familiar calm. Tree climbing. Different from rock climbing. Trees lived. Even mighty Pallawarra gave with the wind. He moved. Matt moved too, away from the people and cars and the ravaged earth. He moved into another dimension. For the first time in a long time, Matt focused on the moment. On his breath, his feet, his fingers. A meditation. There was no choice. Any slip was death.
The darkening forest lay in mysterious degrees of light and shade. The more Matt looked at the tree, the more he saw the tree. Its position, its size and form – its unique structure and balance. He saw through its bark-dangled camouflage.
Now light rain began falling, deepening the colours. The auburns and browns, the greens and golds, the glistening mottled curls of stringybark streamers. Birds of the upper canopy had fled, leaving the forest unusually silent. Except for the sound of a strengthening breeze, like the seashell psalm of a distant sea.
With a loud tearing noise, a sudden gust ripped at a long piece of bark beside him. It peeled like a bandage from a healed wound, revealing the creamy porcelain perfection of trunk beneath. Sailing out on the current, the four-metre ribbon began its journey to the forest floor. Once upon a time, it might have caught in a forked branch with others of its kind, all gathered like lovely tassels on a giant Christmas tree. It might have floated further afield to help weave a blanket for the fragrant understorey of sassafras and myrtle. It might have taken months to find its final resting place on the ground, providing food and board for lichen and moss and tiny creatures of the leaf litter. But now there was nothing to break its fall. It reached earth in one long drift, destined to provide sustenance only for the foresters’ fires.
Matt hoisted himself up onto the canvas-covered platform. A tall, lanky man with bleached blond dreadlocks watched him with amused eyes, from under a football beanie. Drake. He was lying at ease on a treeboat, a type of hammock climbers used to enjoy picnics or naps high in tree canopies. Anchored cables – emergency escape routes – disappeared into the forest. A dented exercise bike, hooked up to a generator, stood strapped to Pallawarra’s giant trunk.
‘It’s about time you got here.’ Drake took a drag on what looked like a joint, then offered it to his visitor.
Matt shook his head. ‘What are you playing at, mate?’
‘Just trying to get your attention,’ said Drake. ‘We’re overdue for a chat.’
‘Wouldn’t the phone have been simpler?’ Matt regretted those words as soon as they were out. Drake had used the phone. He’d texted him, called him, left messages. Plenty of them. It wasn’t Drake who’d let their friendship lapse. Since Theo, Matt had let a lot of things slide.
He put that unwelcome thought aside and took a look around the roomy treetop camp. An impressive set-up: fridge, laptop, satellite phone – all the comforts of home. Quite a feat, to get all this up here unseen.
Drake followed Matt’s gaze and gestured around them with a flourish. ‘Hauled the platform up two months ago. Ken Murphy from the mill gave us the timber and second-hand steel. We hid sections in the bush and dragged them up, one by one, at night. Six radial supports, six floor sections.’ Drake stamped his foot and smiled. ‘See that? Solid as a rock.’ He pointed to the roof. ‘Gutters funnel rain into that poly tank.’ He stroked the rough tree trunk with the tenderness of a lover and his expression grew grim. ‘Pallawarra here was our tipping point. We planned to ramp up the campaign when the logging crews reached him. Truth is, none of us expected it to happen so soon.’
‘You lot don’t have much of a presence on the ground.’ Matt peered into the gloom. ‘Nothing but loggers and cops down there.’
‘Just wait until tomorrow.’ Drake clipped himself into a harness and sprang back once to test the rope. ‘Aren’t you ever going to talk me down from here? I’m freezing my arse off.’
Matt smiled and used his phone. ‘We’re on our way.’ A faraway cheer and faint staccato applause drifted up through the branches.
‘You know,’ said Drake, ‘more people have stood at the top of Mount Everest than at the top of this tree.’ He saluted and kicked off. Mist closed fast around him. Matt took one last look at the dark canopy, then followed his friend back to earth.