I start this blog with a memory. When I announced to George that we were planning to move to Australia he answered” What the hell mum, that means I am going to see you 10 times in the next 10 years.” He was not happy. I was stunned. I had not thought of it in those terms. So it has always been my mission to make sure I exceeded that ridiculously inadequate quota!

He is here for a week with extended travel within Australia and New Zealand for his latest start up. Plans centre around him. Dinners on the deck. Walks in the hood, in Banks Street Reserve and today in Nudgee. Spending precious time together. My gift, some home cooked meals. His gift a tech delight for me – how to use Google lens. We are both winners.

At Nudgee considering the mangroves and their importance to the shore birds and the crustaceans that live in it. Salt encrusted leaves. That is how they deal with the salinity, they excrete it through their leaves. Walking in bright sun but with a vigorous breeze keeping us cool, all of us delighting in the collared kingfisher I spotted on the branch, the Wimbral C spotted in the mud flats and the magical hibiscus harlequin bug G spotted on a leaf.

In the distance enormous and big billed pelicans, one of them yawning, ibises and cormorants sunning themselves, plovers and oyster catchers, and two ospreys and a sea eagle.

Slowing our pace to a crawl and they are crawling out to meet us.