At Six, I Believed This Was the Magic Faraway Tree

Six Word Photo Story: Freestyle

Climb high, climb fast. Lands await!

It had to be the Magic Faraway Tree. It just had to be. And if I climbed it, I would meet Silky, Saucepan Man, and Moonface. Which land would be at the top? Hopefully, The Land of Do-As-You-Please, or the Land of Goodies. The Land with Dame Slap’s School didn’t sound that great, but the Land of Topsy-turvy would be fun.

The Magic Faraway Tree was on an enormous block, around the corner from my Gran’s house and directly across the road from where my friends, Lana and Shelley, lived.

So, one day I set out to climb to the top. Up I went, high, so high. And then I looked down, and the ground was so far, far away. So there I stayed, stuck.

Lana and Shelley had to go across the road to fetch their mum. She got her stepladder out for me to get down. Don’t laugh — it seemed much higher and scarier at six!

I never was brave enough to claim to the top. As a teenager, I could comfortably sit in the hallow where I got ‘stuck’ many years before. But that’s still as far as I would go.

My son was a tree climber, but the owners put up a massive brick wall before he was born. But given the chance, I’m sure he would have climbed higher than I ever managed.

The F̶a̶r̶a̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶T̶r̶e̶e̶ Moreton Bay Fig Tree is a tree of historical significance. According to Notable Trees of Perth by Barry White, it is both the largest and oldest Morten Bay Fig Tree in the Perth metropolitan area. Planted in the early 1830s, it’s over one hundred and eighty years old.

Thanks for reading, Sandi xx

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Sandi Parsons lives and breathes stories as a reader, writer, and storyteller. She lives with her favourite husband and two problem puppies. She still reads Enid Blyton's books.