“My rental home doesn’t have the familiar smells in it yet,” said a friend,” I need to make it smell like home”.

She intends placing familiar scented candles in all the rooms to make it feel more like home.

I think that smell of the familiar, the scent of home is what grounds me in Australia, where I have lived for the past eight years.

My best memories of my childhood on a nursery in Bainsvlei, South Africa are about two  rows of giant blue gums. Apparently they were more than 100 years old. They were my strong and loyal friends. On stormy, dusty days, the sound of the wind through their leaves and the sight of their swaying branches depicted the battle of the elements and the Giants.  And after the storm, the smell of rain on red dry earth and the heavenly smell of the Eucalypts. Refreshing and aromatic, their presence was a constant in my life.

I climbed those trees. Took sanctuary there when life seemed complicated. Rode out some storms in their branches, confident of our togetherness.

It was when a seed company sent my father a tinned toy koala bear, scented with the fragrance of flowers of Australia, that I first realised that my blue gums originated from a faraway place- Australia. My koala represented this aromatic continent.

Every evening  my father and I would walk the nursery. I picked a blue gum leaf and chewed  while taking in the sounds of the evening and dad checked that all the plants were watered and sheltered from frost or hail. He was intrigued by Australia- he had met many Australians in the war.

When I left home, I missed my leaf fix. Trips back home included the ritual of holding a handful of red soil and chewing a leaf of the Eucalypt. I was Home.

It appears that Eucalypts were exchanged between British settlers from Australia and those in South Africa, especially between 1850 to 1870. Botanists claimed that these trees could drain marshes and help eliminate malaria. The blue gum is now considered by many in South Africa to be an alien curse.

There are about 800 species of Eucalypt in Australia and they are hardy and survive drought and bushfire. They are used for fibre and paper production, eucalyptus oil, honey production and cut flowers.

As I write, I can smell the aroma of the early morning gum trees. The crushed leaves underfoot leave a soft scent that reminds me of home. As I chew a fresh leaf, I’m transported to my childhood. My home smells like home. And I realise how deeply rooted I am in the land of the Eucalypt.