(click on each of the bottom thumbnails for its entire picture)

Did you guess where our Belle bag is? Amanda in Sydney, Australia took this picture of her Belle bag at the edge of the Hawkesbury River, made notable to readers in Kate Grenville's
A Secret River.

Kate Grenville's character of William Thornhill was transported with his family to Australia in 1806. In the hopes of starting over and eventually buying his freedom, he settles his family in the primitive wilds along the Hawkesbury River, a large river northwest of Sydney. A Secret River is a riveting story of colonial life and the confrontation between the aboriginals and the settlers.

1. Top: Our Belle bag on the banks of the now not-so-secret river.
2. Bottom left: Sydney Harbour Bridge with the city proper on the left and North Sydney on the right. Thornhill (and his real counterparts) would have landed in this area first. Many of Grenville's books are set in the Sydney area.
3. Bottom center: A giant Moreton Bay fig tree (also known as a strangler fig) in the Sydney Botanical Gardens, although the tree is native to the countryside.
4. Bottom right: Another view of the Hawkesbury River courtesy of Australia-Sydney.net

Is your Belle bag travelling? Email us at info [at] belletrista [dot] com and tell us about it!