I saw a lot of Blue Gum trees when I was living in South Africa. They looked like such messy trees; tree trunks reaching for the sky and limbs askew, colour the tones of grey. Bark that shredded and curled, and did not look like normal woody bark of trees growing around them. Eucalyptus leaves that tasted funny when you bit down. They were a symbol of conservation gone wrong: a displaced tree, grown quickly to provide shade, but not naturally occurring. I would normally see them stand alone, or in sheltered pockets or rows. Now I see them all around me in Australia. There are forests of Blue Gum trees. The Eucapyptus trees on top of Mount Wellington are wizened and stunted and a testament to survival in harsh mountain conditions. In many rainforests here, massive Blue Gum trees reach for the sky, forming canopies, each tree vying for sunshine. I see a forest of Blue Gums stretching for kilometres close to suburbia where I live, a haven for possums and wallabies and kangaroos. Blue Gums in Australia do not look out of place. The forests are beautiful. Why is it that in South Africa these trees seemed ugly to me, out of place in African Savannah, and here they blend in and look lovely? And now I realise, they have always been beautiful trees. Perhaps it is my own perception that has been seeing them differently in these different locations?
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