I feel so privileged to live where I do.
I have to admit though, it has taken many years of adjustment to adapt to living in Australia.
I came here from Scotland when I was 15, very resistantly I might add.
I like Scotland. I loved the countryside. I liked strolling along trout-filled river banks and climbing mossy hills.
I loved the smell of the air, and that special sort of light you get in the summer months.
Fields of daffodils, a woodland of bluebells, hedgehogs, red robins and badgers.
But once you have children in another country, you enter a kind of 'no mans land'.
You don't really belong to either place.
So this is why I am now happy to say, that I have found a kind of 'peace' about where I live.
We moved to the Southern Highlands area of New South Wales about 17 years ago. Yes, I know, for a Scot, the Highlands is an apt place to be!
And what is more, I live in a very Scottish named village - Robertson.
This village has no airs or graces (although it is home to many celebrities that buy country homes here, and they are often found eating in local cafes, shopping in town, etc. Even had Nicole Kidman and Keith whatshisname casually morning-teaing in the nearby town a few months ago).
But Robertson is unpretentious.
I can feel quite at liberty to pop down to the cafe for a coffee in my gardening clothes -
and noone would bat an eyelid! Don't you just love that?
When your dog runs away in a storm (and yes, Cindy Bee, she did have a tag on), you come home to a message on the phone to tell you that it's ok, your dog is here at the pub, pick her up when you're ready, mate.
What was that 'Cheers' song? A place where everybody knows your name...
Anyway, I thought I would share some photos with you when I went on my stroll the other day.
These photos were taken on the road where I live.
Maybe you can see why, being a Scot, I like it here. It could sort of be anywhere really.
That's mostly why they filmed the 'Babe' the pig movie in this village - hard to tell what country it is.
Dandelions in profusion amongst the grass and brambles.
Picking and eating blackberries warmed by the sun - brilliant.
Now, in this photo, I am standing on the road taking the picture and where the red arrow is, shows where the road winds down and around the fields and farms. It eventually winds down to some beautiful waterfalls.
Wild fennel
And look at these beauties I spied down the bottom, having a grand old time in the water.
There are lots of wild fowl and animal life around here.
Can't forget the dear old cows.
Hope you've enjoyed our stroll today.
Where do you live, and what do you like about it?
cheers
Fi