Cooee : the Australian bush call.
While in Australia we spent 10 days travelling from Brisbane on the east coast to Perth on the west coast. We managed to 'hitch' a ride with friends from Bunbury, WA, who were bringing a camper van back for a friend of theirs. With a roomy annex off one side there was plenty of room for two couples and we had great weather and a great time seeing places we hadn't seen before or hadn't seen for over 40 years. Most of Australia has had excellent winter rains and the classic description of Australia as a wide brown land did not match what we saw. The rivers were flowing, dams full, lakes full, crops green and healthy and even the Nullarbor Plain was looking good. It wasn't until we reached Norseman in Western Australia that the drought on the west coast became apparent - dust, sparse and stunted crops, dry riverbeds, etc. However, it was the roadtrains carrying loads of live sheep heading east as we headed west that really brought home just how bad it was. Sheep by the thousands were being transported to greener pastures on the other side of the country to keep them alive.
Here are a few of the highlights of our trip :
Some of the birds - Pink and grey Galah, Double-barred finch, Australian magpie, Kookaburra, King parrots - male and female, Superb blue wren, Pacific gull, Silver gulls, Pied and Sooty oystercatchers, and Dusky moorhen.
While in Australia we spent 10 days travelling from Brisbane on the east coast to Perth on the west coast. We managed to 'hitch' a ride with friends from Bunbury, WA, who were bringing a camper van back for a friend of theirs. With a roomy annex off one side there was plenty of room for two couples and we had great weather and a great time seeing places we hadn't seen before or hadn't seen for over 40 years. Most of Australia has had excellent winter rains and the classic description of Australia as a wide brown land did not match what we saw. The rivers were flowing, dams full, lakes full, crops green and healthy and even the Nullarbor Plain was looking good. It wasn't until we reached Norseman in Western Australia that the drought on the west coast became apparent - dust, sparse and stunted crops, dry riverbeds, etc. However, it was the roadtrains carrying loads of live sheep heading east as we headed west that really brought home just how bad it was. Sheep by the thousands were being transported to greener pastures on the other side of the country to keep them alive.
Here are a few of the highlights of our trip :
A few of the many wildflowers out in bloom
 |
Some of the birds - Pink and grey Galah, Double-barred finch, Australian magpie, Kookaburra, King parrots - male and female, Superb blue wren, Pacific gull, Silver gulls, Pied and Sooty oystercatchers, and Dusky moorhen.
Viewpoint on an early morning walk on a property in the Armidale area in the Great Dividing Range. Mist fills the valley in the distance.
Kangaroos grazing in the late afternoon
The Dish, on the Western Plains at Parkes, played an instrumental part in the first lunar landing in 1969 in communicating with the astronauts as they made their first steps.
Setting up camp at Balranald, on the Murrumbidgee River, NSW
One of the preserved buildings in the old tin-mining
town of Burra, South Australia
town of Burra, South Australia
Leaving the Burra area for the drive through to Port Augusta - bright yellow peeping through the trees is canola crop in flower.
Roadside honesty box at Colton for bread freshly baked in wood-fired Scottish ovens
Shucking fresh oysters (A$7.50/doz) at Coffin Bay, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Are we nearly there? The road stretches out ahead across the Nullarbor Plain
Corrugated iron camel sculptures, Norseman, WA
The happy campers!
