I managed to get up at 5.45am this morning and returned to the same scene that I drew yesterday, this time attempting a watercolour. After an hour I felt I had done enough as the light was changing too quickly. I enhanced the colours and tones a little after I got home, using yesterday’s sketch as an aide memoire.

After breakfast we went back to the resort at Mt Macpherson and took the gondola up to the Lodge. We hiked up the mountain for some even more spectacular views, and tried to follow a path that seemed to take us around the edge of the mountain to see what we could see. But the pine trees just got thicker and the mosquitoes got fiercer, so we abandoned the project and set off downhill, following a track that weaves in and out of the woods and passes close to the Pipe which we did last week. We had no qualms about meeting any bears as the screams that were emanating from the Pipe would have frightened off all the bears in the district.

The downhill hike took less time than we thought it would, even with stops to photograph views. I found a shady spot at last and commenced a watercolour, only to be threatened once more with inclement weather. But my unfinished sketch somehow embodies the menace of the impending storm. Perhaps I have been learning lessons from Petar Tale.