As a city kid in summer on many Saturday mornings I would head out of town on my bicycle, with a tent and my school buddy Terry. After two days of camping and fishing we would return Sunday evening tired, hungry and laughing all the way. In winter most weekends were spent skiing. My first summer jobs were in drilling camps on remote lakes in Northern Canada, accessible by float plane only. I would later work in mining and help raise our family in small towns across the country and deep in natural forests.

In the autumn of my life my trips in nature now consist mostly of cycling through forest trails and strolling the beaches here on the Canadian Pacific coast. Nature is still so enjoyable after all these years. It should be a large part of everybody's life, if they can break away from the house.

"There is however, a true music of nature - the song of the birds, the whisper of leaves, the ripple of waters upon a sandy shore, the wail of wind or sea." - John Lubbock (1834-1913)

Great article. Nature (and pitting oneself against it) develops charecter in the young and rejuvinates the sould in the not-so-young.

All schools should have regular wilderness camps.

We are too late in most circumstances, but town planning shoulw leave wilderness coridors in the suburbs.

I love these back-to-nature articles.

Makes me nostalgic for all the back-to-nature articles I read in my youth. Ah, those were the days.

I'm a city person. I enjoy the occasional trip into the countryside, walking through some relatively unspoilt green bits. But "bonding with nature", as described in the article, is overkill.

City living, let's not forget, is intrinsically a very environmentally friendly thing to do. I walk to work. The energy used in the building I work in supports many hundreds of others. All amenities are within walking distance.

The paradox is, of course, that I have to drive a car to reach the countryside...

The real problem is not cities, as the authors quite correctly point out, but the suburbs. We seem to have a fascination for them. The vast majority of Sydney's population live in them. They sprawl endlessly. As indeed, do Melbourne's.

But in that context, what practical options do the authors see being open to the kids? If they all wanted to take their tuckerbags to the billabong at the same time, they'd never get there. They'd all be stuck in traffic jams.

Let's not go overboard here. It is not necessary to "bond" with nature. There are some who have the opportunity to do so, and enjoy it, fair enough. But I don't go around promoting the idea that countryfolk "bond" with the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, even though contemplating them can be quite spiritually uplifting.

By all means come and visit.

But come on your bike, will you?