The serenity was there to be held, tasted, and clung to as a relief from the humdrum of everyday life.

“Can’t you feel it?” asked dad as another insect hit the insect catcher, and the silence was once again interrupted by the zap of the poor creature being exterminated.

Mum passed the plate of dip and crackers as we sat around, watching the sunset over the western sky.

It was part of our weekend getaway, the rush to get to the holiday house, a stop at the Greasy Fork for hamburgers and chips and then the customary sitting on the veranda admiring the beauty of the evening.

It never mattered that the electric transmission wires hummed overhead or the sound of the prawn boats out on the lake sounding their horns, and the voices of the prawners whose language laced with expletives wafted across to us because it was the…