Most mornings, Barbara and Alan walk along the quiet beach in front of their home, examining the marks made by the birds, snakes, din­goes and other native animals. Barbara is at present compiling a book of animal tracks and has for years researched the habits of native animals, and her laboratory is perhaps the most beautiful in the world.

I talked with Alan as he was painting his old clinker yacht. He painted without haste, sucking his pipe and gazing out over the islands and the blue lake^vhich is an indescribable beautiful blue. He was be­mused to think that his life would be of interest to anyone. He shrugged his shoulders and applied paint to his craft with loving care, the craft he sails around the myriad islands, rivers and quiet corners of the Malla­coota waterway.