Walking around our camp at Tawonga Huts campsite, there’s much to see. Light and shadows are ever-changing, catching the lines of grey bark on naked smooth trunks. White glimmers. Leaves glisten. Mallee branches twist and curl from the ground, thick and strong. Escaping summer’s sunshine, coolness under sparse foliage, I ponder how old this tree may be. One hundred? Two hundred years old? How many times have its branches been burnt? How many times has the underground stem, the corm, sprouted fresh fragile leaves to a blackened hill? Summer’s ever-present fear. Fascinating how snow gums survive such intense heat then stand tall the following winter surrounded by snow, deep clean, whiteness. Now vivid blue sky accentuates the light and shadows, white and grey, green grass touches from below. Majestic. Obeisance to you O great and inspiring tree.
