Some of my closest girlfriends live in the suburbs of Melbourne and at least once a year (before the terrible early 2020s) we converge in the CBD for eating, shopping and lots and lots of talking. It’s been a few years since I have been there and this time I took Miss E, now 14. So I have a few new perspectives on this glorious city. Shopping: Finding your own style Kinki Gerlinki has an understated eccentricity- playful, elegantly vintage looks. They find a fabric and then create  ...

A Short History of the Christmas Tree Christmas trees probably began as a European pagan tradition long before the coming of Christ: homes were decorated with the branches of evergreen fir trees in order to bring colour and light into their dull winters. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was also a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. The modern Christmas tree originated in western Germany. Candles, symbolic of Christ as the light  ...

(This blog post contains images of the late actor David Gulpilil) We had to leave the house last Saturday. It had only been a week of lockdown but the four walls seemed to be closing in on us. The winter weather had kept us indoors anyway. Too cold and rainy and windy to even get to the park for our ninety minutes of fresh air. Where to go? It couldn’t be too far, as the winter days are short and we had already slept in until almost lunchtime… We decided to drive to Eudunda, and then  ...

A blue-sky day in Angaston, the crown of the Barossa Valley. The air is crisp and still; the cool of the morning has not yet been warmed by the spring sun. After two cups of tea and a cursory read of the weekend papers, I embark upon a little wander to stretch my weary body. With an elevation of 347m, Angaston is one of the highest points in the valley, yet the town is nestled in a sort of hollow, which made it one of the last places in Australia to be able to get good reception for digital  ...

I have never seen a Mallee Hen in their natural habitat. Despite frequently visiting their nests (Which is more a dug out hole that looks like a mound) and living in the Mallee throughout my childhood, they successfully eluded me and my curious family and friends. The chattering and the vibrations from our excited approach toward their mound probably warned them: however they have pretty much developed quite a few survival techniques and characteristics- one of them being their plumage  ...

Living in the Barossa Valley, one of the routes to get over the ranges and onto the Murray River Flats is the Keyneton/Sedan Road. It is a slow, twisting sealed road with steep descents and the most spectacular view of the flats. It is one of my favourite Sunday drives too because I marvel at the pioneer built stone fences which line this road and are also still used on the properties to keep the sheep in. Before European settlement there was no need for fences- there was no need for land  ...