At the start of the film Love The Beast, Eric Bana made an observation about how people who grew up in Australia are perceived by those overseas. Australians are assumed to have spent their formative years by the beach, swimming and surfing. In fact, he grew up near Tullamarine, Melbourne's main airport, surrounded by factories and warehouses and where beaches are a long way away. Similarly before I moved down the coast (10 and a bit years ago now when I first wrote this, 12 and a bit by the time I post the photo) it was a 40 minute drive to a beach, as long as you left early in the morning to avoid traffic. Or it was a good hour or so with a mixture of trains and buses.

Now, a beach is 5 minutes in any direction from north east to south east. Much as I don't EVER want to go into the ocean which has every intention of killing you, I have to admit that the sight and sound of the ocean is both awe inspiring and beautiful. But since I rarely go a week without seeing it I do occasionally start to take it for granted, until I pull myself up and remind myself to really look at it.

I do wonder whether the same is true of people who have this view from their back yards. It's the kind of awesome and beautiful view that would be unimaginable to most people, and which most people would never see. If someone were to see it every day, would it become commonplace? Or would it still inspire them to look at it afresh from time to time, and appreciate how astounding it is?