Throughout inland Queensland, New South Wales and now Victoria, we've travelled within and around unusually severe weather events. Today has followed the same pattern. Our detour into Western Victoria to see my 92-year-old mother (who's living with my brother and sister-in-law) saw country drenched with recent rain. At Camperdown we stopped to exercise the dogs, with the walk extending into the Botanic Gardens. Designed in 1879, the gardens perch on top of a volcanic rim, with two lakes, one on each side. Cavelike, an avenue of old elms create their own mini-climate, while around them flourish other exotics: conifers, oaks and a huge bank of roses in full bloom.
Back at the caravan park in Colac (also located beside a lake and alongside a Botanic Garden) we found a bunya pine about 30 m high, with the trunk about 2 1/2 metres in diameter -- and aged well over 100 years. I paused beside its massive, gnarled trunk, stroked its bark, felt the flow of energy, felt the wonder of its very presence.
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