The Bush Capital

When things aren't too busy in the office, I try to get out for a walk around the block at lunchtime. 15 minutes away from the computer screen moving limbs that are otherwise stationary, it is a good feeling.

And today is just a sublimely beautiful day to be out and about. Clear blue skies, warm sun, perfumed breeze. The rain has Canberra green but now the grasses have grown long seed heads which sway like a silver wave over the verdant green landscape. Young birds have emerged, I watched a spindly breath of a wren hopping along a hedge with its parents and a baby currawong eyed me wearily from a branch that was probably a tad too low for its comfort.

The first flush of spring flowers have disappeared but in their place are leaves of every shade including an amazing purple/red stand of trees which line my path. As I peer over hedges of the nearby townhouses there are roses and lavender filling courtyards and their scent combined with the jasmine vines that wend their way up the houses is tantalising.

I'm not the only one out and about at lunch. I saw people sitting eating their lunch in the park, or on similar brain break walks like me.

I'm right in the middle of the city, but being Canberra, the bush isn't confined to the edge of the city. It isn't unusual to see a kangaroo mid-town and today as I walked back into the office a blue tongue lizard was also wandering in. I love that I live in a place where in the middle of the city I can take a stroll out of the office and be so surrounded by nature.