Day 6

Drove down to Melbourne following a generous morning tea with the la Trobe Art staff. The road was blocked, so we took a detour though the back country. Beautiful gums twisting in strange shapes, grassland and waterholes, half empty from the drought. Autumn Rainstorms beat down , but the ground is so hard now it runs off and makes little difference. The air was full of cockatoo flocks and an emu was grazing in the distance.

This is a beautiful part of the country and a deeply different landscape to anything European, in spite of the reminicent place names such as Malmsbury. We passed Hanging rock in the distance. Melbourne is a vibrant and huge metropolis. I braved the excellent rapid transit system to visit my brother in law, who lives in Caulfield. This is a great base to visit the galleries and talk to curators.