I’m still processing our recent holiday.
After last week’s reflection on my initial overwhelm at the pace of the trip…
It’s made me realise how much my life has changed over the past five years.
I now like to take my time.
Of late I’ve taken to calling myself a ‘bumpkin’.
Today, for some reason, I actually looked up the word and it’s not very nice…
Generally speaking it refers to an awkward, simple, rustic person.
That’s mot quite what I meant by my description (although maybe I am!)
I meant more a country bumpkin… who likes the peace and quiet.
Not the hustle and bustle of the city.
The last time we were in Sydney, I felt really out of place…
So loud, so busy.
Now I find I feel like that even going into Brisbane.
It’s no longer the big country town it was often described as… due to its relaxed atmosphere, friendly locals, and close-knit community.
I think it’s still more relaxed than Sydney or Melbourne… but not by much.
I like the quiet.
I like looking at the trees…
Listening to the birds.
We’ve started using a new app called Merlin… which can help to identify birdsongs.
It’s not perfect… but I’ve found cross matching it with another bird app – The Michael Morecombe eGuide to Australian Birds…
I’m starting to discover other birds around our home…
For example the Scarlet Myzomela…
Or the Striated Pardalote…
And the stunning Golden Whistler…
We went for a walk on Sunday afternoon… we weren’t many minutes in when we stopped and started recording the various birdsongs around us…
One of the new (to us) ones was what it described as a Torresian Kingfisher…
But I couldn’t find any such bird listed.
Now we’d noticed on an information board mention of a Collared Kingfisher…
So I crossed checked that one and sure enough, it was the same song.
We couldn’t believe it when a few moments later we spotted one!
We were also delighted to see another couple looking intently at something…
A snake… (we think a Carpet Python)…
How they ever spotted it I’ll never know…
But it was nice to see someone else taking their time…
Noticing what’s there.
The walk itself was only 1.5kms but it took us 40 minutes…
(If you search how long does it take to walk 1.5kms – most estimates are between 11 and 22 minutes)
But I have to say I like our pace of life better…
And this country bumpkin has no intention of speeding up anytime soon.
Ann 🙏