The startling sunshine, the Queensland humidity, the XXXX and the seafood - Parade’s been experiencing it all. And he didn’t even have to get on a plane to do so.

He has – as clever readers would have surmised by now – been visiting Brisbane each morning over breakfast through the pages of a book: the crime and coming-of-age novel Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.

Parade didn’t plan it that way, but Dalton’s book has been the perfect choice for the final weeks of another biting, brutal Bathurst winter. 

While the grey clouds have filled the sky outside Parade’s house and the frost has been melting on the lawn, Parade has been exploring the sun-bleached streets of Brisbane’s working class south-western suburbs with the novel’s main character, Eli Bell.

It really is the cheapest form of travel you can get. 

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ANOTHER form of travel for Bathurstians is to go to the coast around this time of year.

A couple of members of Parade’s family returned this week and it was obvious they had well and truly lost their Central Tablelands acclimatisation during their fortnight away.

When Parade dropped over to their house on Friday morning (and bear in mind the minimum overnight in Bathurst had barely dipped under 10 degrees), he found their heater pumping and the house warmed to about the temperature of the surface of the sun.

Imagine what they would have done if they’d returned a week or so ago, when we were still getting down to -4 degrees.

HOW good has it been to see the rain?

After the hard scrabble of the winter months, Parade’s garden is coming to life as the mornings get warmer and the rain finally starts to fall.

Is there a better sight at this time of year than a camellia in bloom draped in raindrops?

Parade, for one, doesn’t think so.