What I did on my holidays by Dee, aged 27 and a third.

Sometimes I suspect that the Melburnians I tell stories about my hometown don't actually believe in it. Not quite a conspiracy of cartographers, they just don't believe the place can be the way I describe it.

I do love Queensland. The weather, for starters, is so much better (though hey, a little more rain? would be dandy). And Queensland is much more relaxed than the southern half of the country. Though, in a way, that makes things more insidious. Everyone seems like a cool, laidback dude, until they start spouting their right-wing, firmly entrenched beliefs.

Marvellous people are always thin on the ground, but they can always be found. And there are marvellous, charming, friendly, intelligent, supportive people in my hometown. Some of them, now that we're all growing up, are even in my age-group and not part of the group I associated with. It's heartening, I suppose.

But I still would never live in the place again, no matter how pleasant it is to lounge about on the couch in the warm Queensland air and do nothing for a week.

And then I came home and watched Afny chase a moth around the living room with the vacuum cleaner.