It's lunchtime in Sydney's Town Hall Square. The sun is shining and a jazz band is playing as office workers crowd into cafes and restaurants. Svelte secretaries click past on high heels. Just another day in a city renowned for its easy-going lifestyle.
Except that beneath the veneer, all is not well. A year, a month and a day after Islamic fundamentalists struck the United States, terrorists struck once again, this time on the idyllic holiday island of Bali. Most victims of last Saturday's Kuta bombings - at least 110, it is feared - were Australian.
Like the rest of the world, Australia was deeply affected by September 11. But what happened last weekend was personal. This was a terrorist outrage on Australia's doorstep. The country is still trying to come to grips with what has been labelled its blackest day since World War II.
The Lucky Country is no longer feeling quite so lucky, or safe.
'It could happen here, I have no illusions about that,' said Ian Lennie, 56, a work injuries compensation manager, munching a sandwich in the shade of a tree. 'I'm worried that the government will feel it has to respond, and go off and blast the Iraqis, even though there's no link.'
Australia's sense of invulnerability has been punctured just once before, when the Japanese bombed Darwin and attacked Sydney Harbour with midget submarines during the war.
That was 60 years ago. Since then Australian forces have been involved in conflicts in Malaya, Borneo, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor and, most recently, Afghanistan. For all the dangers faced by the troops on the front line, though, there was never a threat to those who stayed at home.