I spoke in an earlier blog about the influence my dad had on me in my love for nature and the bush and being outdoors. I want to chat a little further about dad.

There were three main elements to my father (if I can put it in that rather clumsy way).

He was an intensely devoted family man. Family was so very important to him.

Apart from family his Christian faith was his cornerstone. He was a ‘Believer’ for the whole of his life.

The third aspect was his adoration of ‘country’. And it is this aspect with which I resonate.

He loved and needed to be outside. In his garden or any garden or at the farm. He was intensely interested in the animals and it especially brought him great pleasure to spend time with the dogs and cats. He had no fear of the larger animals and would pat them and talk to them. I think he probably would’ve spent much more time out here on the farm if he did not have competing demands.

He grew up in the rural Western District of Victoria, Australia at a time when life wasn’t nearly as busy and complicated as it is now. It was these early influences, I believe, which instilled in him his primary loves.

As a young girl, I recall him taking us on trips to the country where his father lived. He would rent a giant army tent and we would camp there in the summer for a couple of weeks. It was a bit nerve racking as the tent had no floor (unlike our modern day tents and swags!). Snakes (and I refer you to my earlier story where I stepped on a snake one summer in this very area). Spiders. Mosquitoes and flies. Rain. Wind. We had it all.

But we loved it.

Every morning we would get up and check out all the farm animals and their enclosures - chooks and ducks and peacocks and all sorts of other creatures. Then we would wander around my grandfather’s giant vegetable garden. Walk in the bush along the trails, through the fern forests with the giant Eucalyptus trees. Kookaburras and magpies over head. An occasional kangaroo or wallaby.

All of these experiences were so important to me in shaping who I was to become - shaping my love of animals and nature. And air. Wonderful fresh air.

In later years when he came up to the farm he would help me out with the chores. Feeding out the hay to the cattle and working in the vegetable patch.

And later still, when he was less able-bodied (and rather too fat!), I remember him trying to climb through a wire fence to go from one paddock to the next. He overbalanced and flopped and rolled like a giant bag of potatoes through the fence. No injuries. We just laughed. He was good like that. Saw the humor in his own failings.

Another time he and one of his mates joined me for a day out with my horse riding crew. We loaded up the float with my horse and the car with food and chairs and such.

He wasn’t a horse rider but he loved a stroll through the bush. And a sit around the fire. And this was where we found him when we arrived back from our ride. Comfortably seated in a camp chair around the fire ready for the BBQ lunch. Relaxed and loving every moment of it.

He was a soft man in many ways. He had a huge heart. Very gentle and I rarely saw him angry. He was extremely convicted in his beliefs and very committed.

And he was intensely loyal. To me.

He loved the great outdoors. As do I. I thank him for that.

I wish he was still here so he that could walk with me through the paddocks. I can hear him chattering to the dogs as we watch the horses make their way up the paddock.

Vale Graeme.