It took nine creek crossings in a borrowed car to arrive at the wedding destination last weekend, deep inside one of the rainforest valleys outside Byron Bay. Hidden behind a high brush fence was a private home of uber eco-luxury, nestled on the bend of a fast flowing creek that glistened with turquoise luminosity, springs bursting forth from the dense foliage on the opposite side to join it...

Visiting Canberra recently, it was with some surprise that I bumped into my friend Gaby who I hadn’t seen for 15 years.  Given our connection was through forest conservation, we decided to catch up for an early morning walk up Mt Ainslie...

Who doesn’t love a Willie Wagtail? That ubiquitous chatterbox, that neighbourhood gossip, that social butterfly flicking his fail feathers from side-to-side in fantastic flirtation...

I grew up on a wide tanned stretch of the Paterson River, a good day’s paddle from where it greets the Hunter at Hinton, and many more twists and turns from where it empties into the salty swell at the Newcastle harbour river mouth... 

A summer evening some years ago as I wallowed in the tepid waters of the ocean baths, I watched as a woman sauntered in and quietly settled on the bleachers. Extracting a thermos and book from her basket, she sat for some time, slowly sipping and turning pages in between lengthy glances at the bathers, and beyond that to the duskhorizon. Swimming came last, almost as an afterthought, a brief dry-haired drift through the shallows, her face a picture of calm...

I’m seated around a table carved of recycled celery top pine hundreds years old, feeling a little star-struck. Next to me is David Holgrem, the pioneer of permaculture, looking a little weary from an overnight ferry journey across the Bass Strait where he was attending a national conference on the subject. Still, he shakes my hand warmly, welcoming me to his home...