Following an old bush track we came upon a metal gate which opened onto a cloudless sky. Our thrill at scaling the locked barrier only slightly dampened by the friendly sign suggesting the gate not be left open.

The sun glittered off rooftops in miniature below, I never realised that sight was uniquely Australian until our housemates remarked on it, I think they found the naked metal vaguely appalling and crude. But there is something lovely about a corrugated roof hugged by silver gums, and the bedtime sound of rain pattering on its ripples is a memory that gently drifts me back to childhood snug under the covers.