The Wide Brown Land For Me

That line from the Dorothea Mackellar poem reminds us that the current parched conditions we are facing are nothing new even if they are now pushed further by global climate change. Within two days of having returned from the insane greeness of New Zealand I was sitting in a car with friends traversing the yellow-browness on the way from Melbourne to Echuca on the Murray River. It was a strangely refreshing contrast. All my life the land northward of home has been kind of dusty and dry and the experience was reassuringly familiar.

Friends Steve & Nieves were visiting from the UK and as is customary friends got together to do as much with them as we could. Hence the visit to Echuca. While there we stayed at a caravan park and dined at a local pub. The next day we decided to give the steam boat rides a miss (the others surprisingly took on my rule of thumb that if a ride costs more than a movie then it is too much). However Steve got talking to some strangers who it transpired were working on restoring another such steam boat and so we got a private tour round what looks like it will be an exquisite craft once completed (we later gave them a six pack of beer in thanks).

We also went to Glenrowan with its giant Ned Kelly, the Milawa Cheese Factory, and historic gold mining town Bendigo. Sometimes one can experience ones own home in a new way in the company of visitors and this was definitely a case of that. Back in Melbourne the following week we did other cool things that I tend to neglect in my hometown. We had pizza on Lygon Street. We played pool at the Red Triangle off Brunswick Street. We swam and played beach cricket in Sandringham. We played games like Pictonary. It was all fun and a good repatriation for me into local life.

Now I am back into the swing of things possibly I will also return to my practice of weekly blog posts. We shall see.