Autumn leaves.
It's not actually Autumn here, we have moved on to Australian Winter. I still get confused with seasons that do not follow European timing. Winter in June? I got married in June in Ireland because it was the least likely month to rain on me! Summer in December? It just doesn't sound right!
We were at Speers Point park today. As we walked along the path beside the lake I saw the most beautiful sight... a tree glowing orange with hundreds of dry crunchy golden leaves scattered around it's base.
If you are from Europe or America you will be used to trees shedding their leaves in Autumn and will probably have had leaf fights throwing handfuls of crisp dry leaves at each other as you crunch and scrunch leaves underfoot. In Australia the native trees do not shed their leaves in Autumn. They shed their bark in summer! There are some non-native trees scattered around that have been brought in from Europe and this maple tree was one of them.
It was so gorgeous that I grabbed Gareth's hand and told him we were going on an adventure. The poor fella was on skates and I was dragging him behind me as we left the path and ran towards the tree. 
He looked a bit bemused as I started squealing and throwing leaves in the air. It didn't take him long to join in and soon we were out of breath and covered in bits of dry brittle leaves. 
When we went back to Sian, Rhiannon and Byron we persuaded them to come back to the tree with us. 
Some friends kids tagged along too and we had so much fun burying each other in the leaves and making "leaf angels" on the ground. There were some families with young kids nearby and they looked at us like we were bonkers but as we headed back to our picnic spot I saw them heading off to "our" tree with cameras in hand!
I'm way behind on blog reading, so sorry! I love living vicariously through your seasons. It's so increadibly hot here right now with no end in sight, that seeing the leaves changing and frost on the ground gives me hope that one day, perhaps we can venture outside again!
...and I read your blog dreaming of the day we get to use sunscreen again!