Entering the parking area of THE BIG TREE, you are met by the friendly staff. The entrance was in the process of being modernised. A coffee shop and curio shop and new ticket booth heralded the changing times. The new booth not being ready yet, we paid for our entry at the old hut. Then you walk into the forest.....The quiet majesty of the forest forces you to consider your role in the greater scheme of things. When you are in the presence of trees, a thousand years old, the paltry few years you've lived seems like nothing. All is quiet, if you can call it quiet in a forest. Birds call, insects chirp and the underbrush rustle with life, not quiet, but a dead silence compared to the bustling noise of civilisation. No cars, people shouting and phones ringing, just you and Mother Nature. That was what I processed as I stood in awe staring at a true giant of the forest. I thought for a few moments what it would have been like to have a conversation with this tree, speaking about the changes it saw over the years. I was pulled from this reverie by my grand daughter discovering another lady bug, and showing it off to me. A peaceful and beautiful place, slowly disappearing as civilisation encroaches.