From the Editor

WHEN YOU unpick a life, what are the threads that glimmer the brightest? When I lost my father at the beginning of the year it was patently obvious what matters most. Family. Friends. Community. Meaningful work. Shared experiences.

In the months leading up to his death we spent quality time together as a family; talking about everything and nothing and reminiscing about the past. And travel kept popping up again and again. We spoke of Dad’s favourite cities. I’m sorry he never got to New York but, oh, how he loved Paris and its cobbled lanes and sense of story.

We also talked about the great journeys of his life.

Our first overseas family holiday was to the United States. In the days after Dad died, I revisited the photographs (and the ’80s fashion). I was only 17 but there are so many moments of that trip that will stay with me. The overwhelming vastness of the Grand Canyon. The sweet coolness of the ancient redwood forest outside San Francisco. Garish Las Vegas.

Mum and Dad said it was their best ever holiday. I was on the cusp of adulthood, as was my sister, but time away gives everyone permission to be childlike. We all raced around Disneyland like excited toddlers. Our lives were on the verge of change so it felt like very precious time together.

And the destination my father would have loved to return to? The same as mine. Africa. Like me, he loved the landscape and the plump, life-giving baobab trees that splay their branches across the endless sky. He loved the thrill of not knowing which incredible beast was around the next bend. I wish I’d asked him if he’d ever stood still in the dusk, breathed in the cool air and marvelled that a country boy from Mossman in Far North Queensland could be in this most exotic of continents.

Because of his love of Africa and that trip, we played one of the songs from Out of Africa at his funeral. It’s a film my mother and I love and its soundtrack makes you feel everything. We wanted to send him soaring.

And now? Wherever he is, I dream of him still exploring, contemplating the wonder of it all.