Item 01: Oliver Hogue letters, November 1914-29 December 1915 - Page 53

[Page 53]

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on & the hot baths are being rejected in favour of the cold shower. Yet even now it can be beautifully cold at night & in the morning. So I'm glad of my Balaclava Cap (thank you so much Mabel). We always turn out at 5.30 AM . Then as a rule the sun rises in a blaze of glory. I know what it was to see the bluish clouds beating the night shades back in the van  of a golden morning. Of course we have lovely sunrises in Australia even if they are not quite as good as they were before the Labour Party took [Control?] But there is a quality of richness about the sunrise here that Australia lacks. We have here the glint of gold, and the cloud ridges are rosy red - the blaze of amethyst and opal. . But that also has the Australian sky.   But here there is a marvellous blending of blue & emerald & purple that is exquisite.   It seems that the first beams of the sun tip the cones of the age old pyramids and soon these drab edifices shine like molten copper.   Then the sky turns all gold and the scene is duplicated in the placid bosom of the ancient Nile which skirts the Camp.

In the murky distance the desert is shrouded in a dusty haze which has the same blue tint that one sees in the distance of the Blue Mountains.   But once old Sol is fairly above the horizon the brilliant transformation   scene dissolves into a flaring white light that lasts till sunset.   Then the morning glory is re enacted with softer tones & a glory of colour that has to be seen to be believed. And as the Pyramids of Gizah are due west from Maadi, we always see these giant