Porcine Peregrinations 1

Late at night, along the grey floodplain there can be seen a bobbing light .No, it is not a Min-Min light, nor a fireball .It's merely  my headlamp and its progress marks the end of my day.. the time when I can 'wind down'... as I trundle about with my walking companion, April pig, and usually a dog or four -oh, and maybe a cat or a goat !
I have my walking stick, camera, and of course my trusty headlamp, and we spend a pleasant half hour or so just 'being'.

Seeing/experiencing our night walks thru the snout/eyes/ears of a pig is an interesting experience. We both really enjoy the cool and misty nights, when scents hang low and thick, when the very earth smells sweet and there are pockets of cold dampness in little hollows...with the warmer air just up the rise a tad.When there are new fungi pushing their way out of the soil, when dew drips off eucalypt leaves, and carries the scent with each droplet , and when the sky is dark and cold and  stars twinkle with a sharpness as of ice :)

There are , depending on the weather, different shrubs/grasses to smell/taste..and when we have had rain, the brown and sticky puddles are fascinating. In the hot weather, often walks are done in the early early morning -temperatures above 30 C are not unusual even close to midnight.Walking then is not ideal- pigs do not sweat, and so , get overheated easily.

In warm weather, there are all sorts of creatures scuttling around in the red sand, or hiding in cracks on the clay flats.Scorpions, snakes, geckoes,spiders..oh, and the flying brigade is well represented, with moths, and on good nights, bats! :)

The ground and small shrubs all glitter in the beam of the light, as hundreds of wolf spider eyes reflect the torch ...It's like walking amongst  diamonds ;)

I love my night walks .

They may not be long ones-

distance is not measured in kilometres.

sights and scents and sounds

Are my rewards.