8. Manjimup Day 1

Winter in Manjimup. I asked for it. As to be expected, it is fff-freezing. Meagre warmth from the sun earlier, has now dissipated into the clear ether, leaving me huddling inside my tiny van, swaddled in layers of clothing and fur-lined boots. I can’t complain, the weather enabled me to set up my camp without a drenching, and it was my choice not to go for a walk around the town. However, I feel justified in my slackness after driving most of the day.

Not surprisingly I am almost alone in the campsite. Who else wants to come south and camp at this time of year? The alternative, warmer accommodation I tried to find is apparently all booked out, needed to house the workers who are establishing a lithium mine in Greenbushes.

Lithium is what we need to help technology for green energy. And at the moment, I am ignorant of the process of digging it up but somehow, it feels like a sick joke that we have to mine the stuff from the middle of our precious native forests.

So tonight, after some pea and ham soup, heated up in my little air-fryer (the best invention) and a couple of glasses of red, I’m off to bed with Michael Christie. I hope he doesn’t keep me up too late with his novel ‘Greenwood’. Tomorrow I’m off to explore the old growth forests if I can find any still standing.