I want to tell you something. And maybe it’s something I shouldn’t tell you. Maybe it’s something I should keep to myself, because it’s not the right image I want to portray for the campaign. But I’m going to tell you anyway. Because I just want to write honestly. I had a plan for you – I wanted to share this forest with you in order to make you fall in love with it. But the trick was I wanted to do that without loving  it myself. I don’t know how I expected to convey a sense of wonder about this place without feeling it too. But you know what, I felt scared. I felt afraid to love this forest. I didn’t want to become connected to it and then have to sit here and watch it get torn apart limb by limb, tree by tree. I’ve already done that in my life and I didn’t think I could manage another round.

I’ve briefly mentioned the Floz a few times in my blog so far. It is the place that I found something people search their whole lives for. I found home, belonging, a sense of place. I spent the best part of a few years in the Upper Florentine Valley. Almost every day I went for walks. I visited my favorite grove of sassafras trees. The ones that twisted up around each other, and seem to almost droop, laden with moss. I liked to climb up into their branches and I liked the distinct smell of sassafras and moss that lingered in my clothes long after I’d gotten down.

I liked to visit that patch of bauera and boronia that seemed to appear out of nowhere. You’d walk through tall eucalypt and suddenly be in an area open, but bursting with flowers. I loved the smell of the lemon scented boronia, and the joy of seeing the little flower buds appearing in spring.

At night time I’d climb up to the top branches of Front Sit. Every night’s climb was unique. There were the clear dark nights, when I’d dangle from the rope suspended in the darkness, looking up into the stars. There were the nights when the moon was so bright you didn’t need a light. It would throw shadows of tall trees across the forest. And you’d climb out of the darkness into the brilliant light of the moon and back into shadow again. I loved the moment in each climb when I’d pop above the surrounding sassafras trees and get my first glimpse of The Needles mountain range. And Mount Mueller.

Then there were of course the rainy nights. When I’d be sitting cozy by the fire and thinking…. hmmm…. do I really have to climb tonight?? But off I’d go – climbing up into the rain, the water running down the inside of my sleeves, and pooling around the bottom of my pants. My fingers painfully cold, gripping the rope. I’d never regret it when I got to the top and look out across the snow-capped peaks of Mount Field, the needles and Mt Mueller. And then settle down in my swag, drifting off to sleep with the sound of rain on the tarp.

And those who know me will know well the story of my first time seeing snow. I like to retell it often because I have absolutely come to love the snow since moving to Tasmania. Being from Brisbane originally I’d never seen snow till I came here. And it was one cold winter night when I’d just made it to the platform in Front Sit that I noticed the small specks of light reflecting in my head torch. And then more and more of them. Glistening white. I sat out in the snow for hours that night, perched on a branch, watching it gather on the tarp, the platform, the branches around me. Watching in wonder as it gathered on my pants and my jumper, my shoes, my rope. Finally I went to sleep. And woke in the morning to a wonderland of white beneath me. Looking down over the forest, the sassafras, myrtle and celery top pines bending under the weight of clumps of white snow, clinging to their tiny leaves. The tree ferns making amazing patterns as you look down on them from above. And I never got sick of the snow. Every winter (and sometimes even in summer!) I am overjoyed when the snow comes to the forest.

I could almost talk forever about the Floz. Just now I am thinking of a million stories, about the double circular rainbow I saw from Front Sit, the echidna I’d always meet along Timbs Track, the sugar glider that would visit the tree sit, the pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles that soured above me…. so many stories to tell.

But I guess the point I wanted to make was this – falling in love with the Florentine was the hardest thing I ever did. But I guess love is like that right? I will never forget the day that Front Sit was felled. It’s funny because I had a feeling, a sense that morning that it would happen. And when I heard that the police had been checking to make sure no one was walking along Timbs Track I knew straight away what it meant – they were going to fall Front Sit. It is a strange feeling to stand there and let it happen. After all those years of trying to defend it, of sitting in that tree and feeling like we were a team together, like I’d be there for Front Sit when it came down to it, that I was here to protect this forest. I really felt like we could. And then to stand there and do nothing, as the chainsaws started. I wanted to run, right through the police line, right in front of the chainsaw. I wanted to be one of those irrational and hysterical people you see on TV, screaming and flailing their arms. But maybe I’m too rational and I knew that it wouldn’t help. That running towards the tree would only have me arrested, that I’d never get through that solid line of cops. So I stood there. I just stood there and watched. I kept thinking – if your friend was being killed would you just stand there and watch? Or would you try to save them, even if there wasn’t much chance that you could, wouldn’t you at least try? I kept thinking that. But I didn’t try. I just stood there with the video camera and filmed it. I don’t know how I stayed steady enough to keep filming. Through the sound of the chainsaw. Through the cracking of wood. Through the earth-shaking thud as the tree hit the forest floor, bringing a few sassys down with it. At the end I turned the camera off and sat down on the ground, on the side of Gordon River Road and cried.

I didn’t feel crushed, like I thought I might. I didn’t feel broken. I felt strangely strong. I felt undefeatable. The whole time I had lived at the Floz, I’d always thought: “I don’t know how I’ll cope if they cut down Front Sit, I just couldn’t cope.” But I did. I felt like they had taken from me the tree I loved the most in all these forests, and if I could survive that loss, then I could survive anything. That they could never break me, no matter what they did.

The stump of Front Sit remains right by Camp Floz. When no one is watching I go and sit with it. I will always feel a sense of loss there. But it reminds me to be strong. And it reminds me that I will never give up. I know that one day this forest will get the protection it deserves. I know that it has to, because otherwise we will be losing something that we can never replace.

But in order to continue to fight this battle for the forests, I thought that I could never let myself feel that connection again. I walked through the forest with different eyes since then. I walk through the forest with campaign eyes – looking for places that would make a good photo to really get people noticing. Walking through clear-fells semi-detached – look at that massive stump smoldering in a bed of ash – that’ll make a great photo that will really get people paying attention! Well, I mean, not completely that detached, but you know what I mean. When I thought about The Observer Tree project I really wanted people to find a connection to this forest, I really wanted people to fall in love with it so that they would be inspired to take action and help to save it. But I felt in my own heart a need to be guarded. To protect myself if the time came that I would have to sit here and watch it be destroyed in front of my eyes.

It seems almost crazy, doesn’t it? For someone who loves trees to willingly sit and watch an area of spectacular ancient forest be clear-felled? But if I don’t watch it, then who will? This amazing area of irreplaceable forest would be lost forever and nobody would know. It would be done out of sight, hidden behind locked gates. Just a few kilometers away tourists would drive past on Styx Road, on their way to see the few trees protected in the Big Tree Reserve, none the wiser that right that minute an ancient ecosystem is being wiped off the earth as the bulldozers move in. That to me seems the greater loss, for it to just disappear without any body even knowing it was here. The only ones to see it, the people with chainsaws in their hands. And so, even though I know it will be hard to watch, I want to be here, so that I can bring this out of the secrecy of hidden broken promises, into your lounge rooms and offices. And maybe when the world sees this, they will step in and stop this devastation from continuing.

This brings me back to the point that I started with. It has been a long winded explanation, but I guess you needed some context of my forest experiences to know what I meant. And so I was sitting here tonight. Having a break from the phone and computer. Perched on the edge of the sit looking out across the gully to the ridge on the other side. And I realized that no matter how hard I try….I can’t keep it out…. it just creeps in on you. It is impossible to live up here in the canopy of this tree and remain disconnected from the forest.

Bit by bit, without meaning to, I start to know this forest. The little hollow in the tree next to mine, where I was so certain the other day I could see an owl staring out at me, but after it didn’t move for a whole day I realized it was the shape of the rotting wood inside the hole. The distinct shadows of the tall eucalypts across the ridge. The glimpses of tree ferns and celery top I can see below me. The feeling of sitting on the edge of this platform, with nothing beneath my feet, like I could almost soar off across the valley, joining the yellow tailed black cockatoos as they effortlessly pass over the forest.

I wish I could show you. Not through the computer screen or the video camera. But really show you. I wish I could bring you up here to see for yourself. Because the video can never do it justice, can never capture the way it really is. I wish you could see the way the afternoon light dances across the trees, turning them slightly golden. Or the way the mist subtly reveals silhouettes of trees in the distance. I wish you could feel the wind penetrating through your jumper to bite at your skin, as it softly rustles the branches and the tree sways slightly beneath you. I wish you could hear the silence, interrupted only by the boo-boo of an owl. If only you could see it the way I can, if you could sit up here day after day and let it take hold of you the way it is doing for me……

Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. They say. And I think maybe they are right. I would never trade my experiences in the Floz for anything. No matter how much sadness I have felt from watching my home smashed there. The joy of coming to know the forest and what that brought into my life – I will always be thankful for. And so here I am again. And yes, I guess I am willing to take the risk, willing to let myself fall in love with this forest. I think I just have to be, because it seems to be giving me no other choice. Maybe this time, we will gather enough support and enough momentum in this campaign so that I don’t’ have to lose it. Maybe we will save it for long enough that you will be able to come and see it for yourself. Maybe we’ll even save it long enough for your great-great-grandkids to see it for themselves too? I can only hope so.

Day 8 – It’s been just over a week now that I’ve been sitting here in this tree in an area we have come to call “Julia’s Forest.” The most incredible part of the experience has been the messages and phone calls that have been bursting with inspiration, enthusiasm and passion. This has been so uplifting, especially those messages from people who have worked tirelessly for so long to protect the forest, many of whom have become weary and disheartened by the roller coaster ride of fresh hopes followed by broken promises.

It all started getting close to two years ago now. The forest industry was in crisis. The international market was becoming less tolerant of paper and wood products coming from Tasmania’s old growth. This was one factor in a range of forces that lead to the industry coming to the table to be a part of the “forest peace talks” as they were to become known as.

Industry bodies, union reps and greenies were sitting down together talking. As strange as it seemed, it made sense. Because really we have more in common than maybe we realise. What environmentalists want is what most people want, after all, right? A future. A future with clean air and clean water and a climate that we can survive in. And what forest industry workers want is a future too.  I can’t claim to know what other people really want, but I imagine that it’s something along the lines of a future where there is work for themselves and for the next generation. These things don’t have to be incompatible. And it seemed like a whole new realisation was being made along those lines. Everybody’s future depended on a change in the industry, shifting out of native forest destruction.

Then the announcement came that Gunns Ltd, the biggest woodchipper in Tassie, was exiting from native forest logging. Tasmania’s forests were still being decimated at the same rate as ever, but now the end seemed in sight. So we waited.

Finally, October 2010: The Statement of Principles was announced, which included a moratorium on 572,000 hectares. Within 90 days logging would cease in that area for the duration of the verification process, which would lead to formal protection. Time to celebrate!  I imagined the day when we would soon be packing up Camp Floz- no longer needing to blockade to defend the Upper Florentine Valley. Every one was talking about the good news!!

Yet, something wasn’t quite right. The machines were still in the forest. And not only were they not moving from areas they were in – they were starting new ones, and to top it all off, they were building more roads! New logging roads being built into areas that weren’t going to be logged? No, something just didn’t seem to add up.

… Did we say 90 days? Um, no what we meant was, really, 90 days from when the government announces their support for the Statement of Principles, not 90 days from the signing of it……

Ok, so good to clear that up. Now we just had to wait for the pollies to get their act together.

Dec 14th 2010: Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett announces their support for the Statement of Principles, in full, including the Moratorium to be implemented within 90 days.  This gave Forestry Tasmania plenty of time to get organised and reschedule out of logging coupes, shifting workers located to other sites. But Forestry Tasmania just didn’t seem to be moving – there was no progress being made. The deadline for the moratorium, March 15th, loomed ever closer. Was FT going to suddenly be able to reschedule all those coupes at the last minute? Why weren’t they moving any contractors out by now? All these questions began to arise and no one could give a straight answer.

Still Wild Still Threatened worked on documenting the coupes within the 572,000 in our local area (the Derwent region). We assessed which coupes were being logged and also surveyed those areas that were left for their conservation value. I spend a lot of time in amazing areas of old growth that we have left, see, these are the places I spend most of my time. And so, in a way, I guess I’d almost come to take it for granted. This documentation process really brought it home to me how rare and precious those areas are how quickly they are disappearing.

Most places we surveyed were being logged.

March 15th 2011:  The day came and went… The bulldozers and chainsaws ceaselessly continued. Hectares upon hectares of forest that was meant to be protected was felled.

But the act of bad faith on the part of Forestry Tasmania and the State and Federal government did not go unnoticed. March 15th was the beginning of 10 days of action held by the Huon Valley Environment Center and Still Wild Still Threatened.  In addition to actions in the forest, every  day for 10 days community members stood outside the office of Lara Giddings and maintained a vigil.  The 10 days rolled on into 10 weeks. We jokingly suggested announcing a “10 years of action” – but hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. The sinking feeling in our hearts reminding us that the forest doesn’t actually have 10 years left to wait.

August 2011: This is where Julia’s promise comes in. After a process facilitated by government appointed Bill Kelty, which brought together the interests of all negotiating parties, an agreement was signed. This was called the Tasmanian Forest Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA). As those who are following this blog would know by now, this was full of promise for the forest. Even stronger than a moratorium- this time there was promise of an immediate conservation agreement would be placed on the area ear-marked for protection. By this time the area had been reduced by over 140,000 hectares, though those areas not covered by the conservation agreement could still have a chance of formal protection through the verification process, if there was anything left of them by then. Still Wild Still Threatened and the Huon Valley Environment Center had serious concerns about this reduction to 430,000 hectares. In fact we took our message straight to Parliament House in Canberra, making it clear to the Prime Minister that our forests needed a better deal.

A common questions asked by the media these days is something along the lines of – but shouldn’t you be willing to compromise? But you see, if they could only see the areas of forest and the areas of clearfell that I have seen then perhaps this concept of ‘compromise’ would take on a different meaning. It is those of us who spend our time traipsing about in the forest on a day to day basis who know what it really means for even a hectare to  be taken off the agenda, let alone 140,000.  And now, for logging to continue and we are losing more and more from the 430,00 hectares as we speak. When you live in these forests you begin to realise what it really means for that big old tree over there with the hollows in it to be felled and burnt. What it means for that Tasmanian Devil, the one with the little spot on the left side of it’s bottom, that visits the same spot every few days… you  begin to realise what it really means here in the forest to compromise. And quiet frankly, the forest cannot afford anymore compromises. It has been doing so for decades. The industry has made no compromises, however… it seems they are able to continue with business as usual. in fact, they’re doing even better than business as usual. You could say they got to have their cake and eat it to. For example, Forestry was given millions of dollars of tax payers money to reschedule coupes, then they still get to log those coupes. It doesn’t take a mathematician to tally up the checks and balances and see that the it is the forest that has done all the compromising. Especially when you take into account the fact that despite this whole process, not one single hectare has been protected.

So, that just about takes us up to the present. Four months passed since Julia made that announcement . And even though there were some flaws in the agreement, the least she could have done, really, is actually implement it!

I couldn’t help it…. once again i got my hopes up that this was it – a conservation agreement would be announced and we could step back and take a breath. I thought of all the areas of forest that I love so much…. the Styx, Counsel, Tyenna, Upper Florentine… Soon they would be safely guarded by a conservation agreement and waiting for the day when they would be formally declared national parks and world heritage areas.

Today, not one hectare is protected and logging is due to continue in over 30 coupes, including this one. You can see why it has been a tough year.

And so that brings me to where I started this blog…. I wanted to write this message to all of you out there who care about this forest, especially those of you weighed down by broken promises.. don’t give up. We cannot afford to. These forests are too precious, too unique, too irreplaceable, to give up now. I know it’s hard to hold onto a sense of hope after so many let downs, but I think that there is still reason to be hopefully. I think something is beginning…. I can sense it in the emails and messages I have received this past week. A new spark seems to be emerging and now is the time, more than ever to give it the best we’ve got.  Julia Gillard, Ta Ann, Forestry Tasmania, and all those responsible for the decimation of our precious natural heritage….they will know soon enough that we will not tolerate it. And that change needs to come now, before our forests are lost forever.

Till tomorrow, Miranda.

P.S:  For anyone wondering what you can do to help. Here a few small suggestions. Feel free to add more ideas in your comments….
– Post and share our introduction video like crazy on face book, email and on any other websites you can.  The more people watch it the more we can get the message out there. As well as showing to the government that we have the support and interest of a large amount of people. We have reached over 1000 views now. Lets get even more – next lets aim for 10,000!
– “Like” the Facebook page and get your friends to do  so too. This also helps us show that we have a large amount of people supporting this campaign.
– Host a community forum or a get together with people to live-chat with me. I am happy to talk to people about what is going on here, answer questions and have a chat.
– Put up posters around your town, hand out flyers, hold a stall. Go to the Take Action page of our website for downloadable copies.
– Write an article and get it out there – in a newsletter, local paper, magazine – any where you can.
– Write to the Prime Minister.
– Donate to help us keep this project running – you will find a link on the Take Action page.
– Do an action in your city to highlight what is going on.
– Contact companies that are purchasing products from our native forests

Day 6 – Following on from yesterdays blog – today a report was released that makes it quiet clear that Ta Ann are one of the driving forces behind the on-going destruction of high conservation value forests.

The Report of Independent Expert Schedulers: appointed under the Tasmanian Forests Inter-Governmental Agreement was released today by Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck. The report was developed as part of the IGA process, Forestry Tasmania claimed that they were unable to reschedule logging operations out of the 430,000 hectares ear-marked for protection. This lead to independent verifiers to asses these claims and produce this report.

The report indicated that Forestry Tasmania did indeed have intentions to log at least 34 coupes in the area that is meant to be under a conservation agreement. The report indicated that contracts, one of the major ones being with Ta Ann, could not be met outside of the proposed reserve area.

This report confirms that Ta Ann are a major blocker to forest protection due to their contract for 265,000 cubic metres of wood a year, which is unable to be met outside of the area allocated for protection. In fact, the report proved that a much larger amount of forest is going to Ta Ann than this, because to produce 265,000 cubic meters of peeler billets they are actually taking 330,000 cubic meters of wood.

It will be interesting to see if Forestry Tasmania attempts to use this report to justify their continued logging in high conservation value areas. Rather then provide a reason to continue forest destruction this report provides evidence that the government must now use to enact Clause 27 of the IGA. This clause in the agreement states that if contracts cannot be meet outside the 430,000 hectares then compensation would be given instead. There is no option in this agreement for logging to continue in those areas, regardless of the contracts. The contractual requirements of Forestry Tasmania will be fulfilled through the compensation process.

It is the failure of Forestry Tasmania to do adequate preparation for rescheduling that has lead to this situation where contracts are not able to be meet elsewhere. They were given the work to a long time ago, yet have not managed to reschedule any significant number of operations. This is interesting considering they were recently given millions of dollars of tax payers money to do this work! In fact millions they received was taken out of the budget that had been allocated to oversee conservation outcomes and manage the new reserves. How ironic that it went instead to FT, who have done nothing but continue to log in areas that are meant to be protected by a conservation agreement by now.

It is interesting too that Senator Colbeck claims the IGA to be a sham. The only thing that is making the IGA a sham right now is the fact that the government has failed to actually implement any of the conservation outcomes that are clearly outline in it.

Senator Colbeck claims that there “will never be peace” due to protest actions by myself and other environment groups. I would say that it is the bulldozers and chainsaws that are ripping apart this valley that are disrupting the peace, wouldn’t you? My presence here is simply documenting and exposing that disruption to the world. It would seem that the real culprit in this situation is Julia Gillard, signing a deal and then not honouring it is certainly one way to destabilise the integrity of the entire IGA process. And so, yes, I would agree with Senator Colbeck on that point – the IGA is in risk of being a complete sham.

All this talk of “peace” in the forests takes on a whole new meaning when you sit here in the middle of a logging coupe and day after day hear the sound of trees falling. There will be no peace in the forests for the Tasmanian devils, spotted tailed quolls or white goshawks… there will be no peace in the forests for these 400 year old trees… there will be no peace in the forest for me here in this tree-sit… so long as the chainsaws continue.

Till tomorrow – take care. Miranda.

Download Schedulers Report

Day 5 – Why would the Prime Minister risk the controversial act of breaking her own promise and allowing logging here? This was a question I was asked yesterday and yes… I was wondering the same thing! Only Julia can know her own motivations, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might have something to do with Ta Ann – a company fast becoming known as “the new Gunns,” due to their position as the driving force behind logging in Tasmania since Gunns Ltd took a step back.

Ta Ann are a Malaysian company based in Sarawak. They started operations here five years ago, with an attractive deal from our government – the offer of wood prices far below the cost of logging in their own country. Executive Chairman Datuk Hamed Sepawi told the media that rates were lower in Tasmania than Malaysia or Indonesia. While the company is by no means poor (being part of a corrupt network of companies under the control of the wealthy Taib family) their operations in Tasmania are propped up by tax payers money. Not only do they get the wood at rock bottom prices they also receive tax payer funded subsidies. Despite this they still managed to record an $18 million loss last year.

The company has a deplorable record internationally. They are responsible for the displacement of Indigenous people in Sarawak to secure access to forests for logging. The company should not be welcomed in Tasmania, let alone supported by tax payers money.

Ta Ann is now a major driver of forest destruction in Tasmania, with their contract of 265,000 cubic metres of wood per year now being used as an excuse for continued logging in high conservation value areas ear-marked for protection. The contract lasts until 2027, though the government has also given an option of a 15 year extension. The company has lobbied Forestry Tasmania (FT) and the government to secure on-going wood supply, undermining the Statement Of Principles and the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA). When the IGA was announced FT managing director Bob Gordon claimed forest protection could not be achieved due to 59 logging coupes on the plan that were “critical to the supply of logs to Ta Ann.”

Ta Ann’s continued pressure on the government for access to native forest is a major block in Tasmania moving forward. These past 2 years during the negotiation process the Tasmanian community has shown determination to see an end to the so-called “forest conflict” that has gone on for generations – by moving out of an unsustainable native forest logging industry. It seems now that the only thing holding us back is a Malaysian company that is hell-bent on destroying the forests at no benefit (financial, social, environmental or otherwise) to the Tasmanian community. That and a government that appears to lack the back bone to stand up to them.

Writing this has felt like “extreme blogging!” I’m sitting here gripping tight as I write. My tarp like a wild animal trying to free itself from the ropes holding it down… the wind plunging it this way and that. The noise deafening. The tree is swaying … the movement intensified by the counteracting sway of near-by trees, so that the whole forest itself seems to be in motion. Although it feels hectic, it also makes me feel like a part of this landscape as it heaves and moves in the wind, taking me along for the ride. It seems impossible to imagine one day the wind might whip up these slopes and touch no trees, stirring only the ash from a burnt out and lifeless clearfell.

Please take action to help make sure this tree I’m sitting in doesn’t end up as veneer flooring beneath your feet. Thank you for following my blog. I’ll be updating with more about Ta Ann and the forest negotiations over time. For now check out this article that appeared this week in the Asia Sentinel.

Talk to you tomorrow ~ Miranda.

Day 3 – Some people aren’t too fond of Currawongs, in fact the poor things never seem to be anybody’s favourite bird. Maybe it’s because they lack in vibrant colours or melodic and dainty song, rather they are black and grey with their song more like a squawk. Or maybe it’s their beady eyes and slight resemblance to the kind of birds likely to star in old school horror films. But me, I have a soft spot for the Currawong. Once, when I left Tassie to visit Melbourne, for some strange reason it was that sound that I missed the most as I walked through the streets surrounded by unfamiliar buildings. I guess because hearing their call is a reminder to me that I am home. It is the every day sound of life in the Upper Florentine Valley, which lies on the other side of Mount Mueller, and has been home to me for several years. There you can hear their cries echoing eerily across the valley. And sometimes they would gather together in a tree, hundreds chattering away in some kind of Currawong convergence. It’s nice to hear them here in my new home too.

Last night I slept out on the deck and fell asleep looking at the stars scattered across the sky between the top branches of my tree. Across the gully the moonlight reflecting on leaves made the forest look as though it was speckled with stars too.

This morning I woke to the chirps of White Throated Honeyeaters busy getting breakfast in the branches above me. Today was the first time they came to visit. I wonder if they’ve been a bit cautious of my presence these past few days. It must seem strange having a human move in up here. It made me smile to see them. They are one of my favourite birds, and they too remind of feeling home at home in the Upper Florentine.

We’ve had several tree-sits at Camp Floz, but the tree I spent the most time in was called Front Sit. I know we didn’t have the most original names – Front Sit, Middle Sit, Back Sit – though we also had The Lungs of the Land (or simply ‘Lungs’ for short), Birds Nest and Floating Sit (a platform suspended mid-air between several trees). But Front Sit was my special tree where I spent many nights and days. Every morning the same group of White Throated Honeyeaters would visit me like clock work. Well, to be honest, they weren’t really there to see me, they were there for breakfast. But I enjoyed their presence. They have a sweet and happy sounding chirp as they hop around on the branches. Sometimes I would catch them watching me watching them. Interestingly they didn’t come to the other tree sits, only the Front Sit on a regular basis. Perhaps it had the best tucker on the block, I don’t know. I wonder if they feel the same about the empty space where the Front Sit once stood as I do.

I hope that today’s Honeyeaters will be back to visit me tomorrow morning. I guess we’ll wait and see. I hope you’re having a good night, talk to you again tomorrow – Miranda.