Nature Writing Project- Cycle 3

The following six pieces make up the third and final cycle of work from our Australian Nature Writing Project. 

The pieces were selected by Ben Walter, who also initiated the project. This is what Ben had to say about this set of works.

Recently, I found myself with a spare day in Launceston. I thought about climbing an obscure mountain nearby, but there’d been major rain, with flooding in the area – the huge weather event that trammelled over Victoria in mid-October had also blasted Tasmania. While it wasn’t likely that my route would be spilling with water, that kind of rainfall tends to block dodgy roads to trailheads, felling trees and carving washouts in the gravel. Instead, I strolled to the edge of the city and wandered around the Cataract Gorge, watching the South Esk River bursting with water.   

The writing in this final cycle of Island’s nature writing project explores how we can experience the natural world closer to home. As remarkable as the wilder places are, nature hasn’t abandoned our roads and towns, our homes and backyards, and even our works of art. When the wilder landscapes seem distant, these pieces can encourage us to remember that we might not have to step so far to breathe that kind of air.