I’ve spent five of the last six weeks sleeping in a tent. And while I did love staying in a house in Margaret River – thank you Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival! – I was keen to get back in the tent. Living out of a tent is a very immersive experience. There is almost nothing between you and the environment. You hear every bird call, every shower of rain and every wind gust. It seeps into you, this richness. In the house, I enjoyed the soft bed, the hot water and cooking in a proper kitchen. But I missed the birds.
I’ve never been a birdwatcher, but I’m trying. I’ve got binoculars and a bird book and when I see a little brown bird I attempt to identify it. It’s been enjoyable trying to put a name to all those flitting friends.
The other thing about camping is that there is often no phone reception in the places – mainly national parks – where we like to camp. The result of this is that I’ve read a lot of books. I’ve found some treasures here and there, given to me by other travellers or picked up at a roadside stop. I also read on my kindle and listen to audio books in the car. I’ve posted a list of all the books I’ve read and the birds I’ve seen below and chosen a favourite of each.
In a couple of weeks, on May 31st, I’ll be talking at Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth and then from June 13 to 16, I’ll be at Geraldton Big Sky Writers Festival. I’ll make an effort to spruce myself up a bit before then, so I don’t look like I just crawled out of a tent!
Books read over the last six weeks.
‘The Story of a Marriage’ by Andrew Sean Greer
‘Catching Teller Crow’ by Ambelin and Ezekial Kwaymullina
‘The Third Wheel’ by Michael J. Richie
‘Imaginary Friends’ by Alison Lurie
‘A Widow for One Year’ by John Irving
‘The World Made Straight’ by Ron Rash
‘Dead Parrot’ by John Huxley
‘Women in Black’ by Madeleine St John
‘Longbourne’ by Jo Baker
‘Coming Rain’ by Stephen Daisley
‘The End of all our Exploring’ by Catherine Anderson
‘The Passenger’ Lisa Lutz
‘The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells’ Andrew Sean Greer
‘The Big Twitch’ Sean Dooley
‘Life List’ Olivia Gentile
‘The Lessons’ Naomi Alderton
Favourite book: ‘Catching Teller Crow’ by Ambelin and Ezekial Kwaymullina
Birds sighted (and identified) over the last six weeks.
Pardalote
Hooded plover
Flame robin
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
Wedge-tailed eagle
Magpie
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
Galah
White-browed scrub wren
Richard’s pipit
Eastern rosella
Crimson rosella
Rainbow lorikeet
Raven
Spur-winged plover
Currawong
Black-headed cuckoo-shrike
Little hawk
Swallow
Major Mitchell Cockatoo
Purple-crowned lorikeet
Superb blue wren
Port Lincoln parrot
Grey shrike-thrush
Hooded robin
Red-eared firetail
Chestnut-breasted shelduck
White-tailed black cockatoo
Kookaburra
Peregrine falcon
Red-capped parrot
Rufous treecreeper
Rock parrot
Red-capped dotterel
Sooty oystercatcher
Pied oystercatcher
Crested tern
Samphire thornbill
Emu
Red wattle bird
Australian bustard
Golden whistler
Silvereye
White-eared honeyeater
Willy wagtail
Brush bronzewing pigeon
Sanderling
Pacific Gull
Silver Gull
Brown falcon
Dusky wood swallow
Mulga parrot
White-browed babbler
Mallee ring-necked parrot
Pelican
Black swan
Butcher bird
Budgerigar
Wood duck
Caspian tern
Elegant parrot
Ibis
Corella
Favourite bird: Major Mitchell Cockatoo
Lisa Walker 