Last week I decided to surprise my sister by walking to her house on the western shore in order to gift her some plant bulbs. I guessed one way might take 2 hours and it was only four minutes short of that. I left home at 5.50  am and, in the pitch black, headed off into the silence of the suburbs, sometimes with umbrella unfurled.  By the time I had crossed the Tasman Bridge and was passing the bottom entrance to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG), the day was light but gloomy.

I felt a thrill seeing the gardens again after so many weeks and was amazed at how the change in weather was affecting the trees. Clearly autumn was arriving. Yellows and oranges and reds and browns tinted the leaves of many deciduous trees.

On the return walk the sun was out and everything seemed even more colourful, although the locked gates were saddening.

These are not great photos but I hope that fellow Food Garden volunteers see these and have a similar wistful feeling of yearning to be back there, getting our hands dirty and learning more.