This is Australia

Australia - Clear, blue skies... kookaburras... and the sweet scent of lemon

Recently I was asked how I remembered Australia, my native home, while I was living so far away.

The first thing that always comes to mind for me about this country is the endless miles of white beaches and the sound of a constant shore break which is always the sweetest music to my ears. But that's probably because I was born and lived within a few kilometres of the Pacific Ocean for most of my life. The beach is every thing familiar for me. When all else around me appears to be failing, to quietly sit on a sand dune and watch the birth of each new wave and what it has to offer the world, is a meditative state that gives me time to regather reality, to understand and adopt what is true about some human situation that is waving a tattered flag in front of me and pretending to be something else.

But there is a one picture, a landscape only Australia can lay claim to, that clearly defines that sense of home for me. And yesterday, while hard at work in my outdoor office, I was able to capture a digital imprint of this memory I have carried with me since childhood. A kookaburra sitting in a lemon scented gum tree (Eucalyptus Citriodora). No matter where I have travelled in Australia, their early morning call letting other contenders know that this is their land or territory, assures me that I never need refer to a Lonely Planet guide to know where I am and what lies to the east or west of where I am sleeping. Two of these guys have set up home in one of our native gums and I look forward to their daily visits.

And for a taste of their distinctive sound


And an Aussie song that always fills my senses... we went for a surf before breakfast yesterday... there's nothing quite like it