We had an early morning walk in the rugged countryside amongst the mountain ash and blackwoods and the Banksia trees that twist and grow together. It was a walk with a panoramic view overlooking Lake Eildon and as we wandered our way downwards, through the eucalypts with their twisted mottled trunks, we chased butterflies and skinks, investigated strange holes and watched bull ants marching and spiders spinning their webs between trees. The wonderful Australian bush captures my heart with its brittleness and subtle colours and it is somehow enhanced by the golden quality of the sun as we slowly strolled through the crackling, knee-high dry grass. You don't have to listen hard to tune into the rhythm of the land. Cockatoos screamed and squabbled in the eucalypts above us, intermingled with the constant crowing of crows and small birds fussed and chirped, their songs snatched messages on the breeze. We heard the soft thud of a kangaroo and when we turned we saw a grey shadow motionless amongst the darker green's and ecru's and brown's before he thud-thudded onwards and out of sight. I wish I could give you an idea of the beauty, but I feel my words could not do it justice. We took photographs but these would not show you the scent and true colour, nor the sound of the wind in leaves, so essentially a part of Australia.

When the sun dropped and the evening drew in it was almost as if the sky had its own dimming switch. The sky was clear and the stars sat bright in the heavens. The Southern Cross looked so large and bright hanging in the sky. It was good to have a few days of peace and idyll and to be in the country so filled with beauty and to hear Kookaburra laughter and the twilight carol of magpies, so reminiscent of a bubbling, gurgling brook.