Australia

I’ve just been watching the Baz Leherman film ‘Australia’. I’ve wanted to go to Australia since I was a little girl and finally last year I did.

When you are back-packing there isn’t a lot of time to take notes but here is one entry from my journal:

‘This whole trip seems to have been defined by starlit skies.

In Darwin the night sky was cyclone bound with fast wind-scudded clouds. Humid and noise-filled with the wild-west antics of the Friday night crowds.

In Alice Springs - hot resin sweet gumtree perfumes, hot winds like opening an oven door. A sky so dark it was limitless purple, Venus bright enough to read by and the quick dawn lift of a hot-air balloon.

On the Bellarine Peninsula out of Melbourne it was salt-laden, utterly silent, horizon to horizon and total freedom. Walking across a camp field not sure if I was some kind of Australian spirit - the sense of belonging so strong.

Here in Sydney it’s wet and scented with Murraya blossoms - a highway for giant fruit bats.’

The film brought it all back!