THIS week's column is not just a little bit different - it is a lot different.

For the last two weeks I have been in Australia on behalf of the Mersey Basin Campaign. I have been talking to world scientists about how much cleaner our rivers are now compared with 10 years ago.

In Australia they also have water problems although not as worrying as ours have been in the past. I visited islands, rivers and rain forests seeing a stunning variety of wildlife.

By a bilabong (a pond) I did not see a swagman (tramp) but I did see a koolabah tree and black swans swimming around. They looked as graceful as only swans can be.

In Australia it is now spring and in the Brisbane area it is very hot. It did seem strange coming home to autumn. In a few weeks time I shall be visiting Canada where it really will be cold.

The black swans were already collecting nesting material and so were moorhens which are almost identical to those we have in East Lancashire.

In many parts of the world the ibis is a rare bird but in this part of Australia they are so common that they are regarded as a pest.

The most notorious pests in Australia, however, are the dingoes or wild dogs. On Fraser Island they have had to shoot some of the dingoes because they have attacked careless visitors who try to treat them like their pets at home. In the case of two or three children, this has proved fatal.

I found my dingoes drinking at a fresh water creek which flows into the Pacific Ocean and which was described by Captain Cook in 1770.

Fraser Island is twice the size of Singapore and is the largest sand island in the world. The dunes are more than 200 metres high (520 feet) and over millions of years have developed into huge rain forests. Recently, Fraser Island has been designated as a world heritage site and is reached from the mainland by ferry.

The best way to purify water is by filtering it through sand and that is why the creeks here are so pure. So are the freshwater lakes which are found all over the summit of the island.

I visited these lakes and then drove, along tracks made only for four wheeled vehicles, into the rain forests. Here I was able to study tree ferns which are millions of years old and are among the most ancient plants on the planet.

Birds were everywhere but so high in the canopy that they were difficult to see.

Back off the island I continued my study by walking the banks of the Brisbane river. After an hour or so hunting among the riverside trees, I found what I was looking for. This was the kookaburra, a kingfisher-like bird also called the "laughing jackass" because of the sound it makes.

Once I located the bird, I was able to study it closely as it sat taking a siesta in the sunshine.

Next year I am returning to Australia to discuss in more detail the problems facing the world's water. It is a fact that pure drinking water or the lack of it is causing very many more species to become extinct than is the case with all other environmental problems put together.

I am glad that my work with the Mersey Basin Campaign, which covers East Lancashire, is allowing me also to work on World Conservation issues.

Normal service including 'Spy' will be back next week.