My Happy Place (Kate Taylor)

Kate Taylor
Bush Heritage Project Officer
@my_desert_life

Sitting under this Western Myall and looking out over the salt lake is one of my favourite spots to stop for lunch and is luckily exactly the halfway mark when I do my rounds, checking the camera monitoring grid on Bon Bon Station Reserve.

This has been my lunchroom for one day every month for the last two years. While I'm here, I like to think about whom, over the years, has visited this area and also admired its beauty. I love the feeling of being out in the bush, on Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara country, and knowing I'm the only person out here within thousands of hectares.

I enjoy listening to the wind blowing through the Black Oaks that hug the western side of the salt lake (right of photo). I love listening to the chorus of birds, which always seem to be chirping away; I never forget to pack my binoculars. I notice the different birds that visit during different times of the year and the buzzing of the many native bees and wasps as they busily pollinate plants such as the Sturt's Pigface, which grows below the canopy of the great Western Myall when in flower.