Odyssey went to Gouldburn, we went to Bateman’s Bay
Day 262
We are on the road again, on the road to Sydney. Larry rented a great big station wagon and I do mean big! After riding around in miniature European cars for so long, I forgot how good a big car can feel. Australia is such a big country with so many wide open spaces, they don’t worry about the size of vehicles. Big is OK!
One thing that we have noticed are the huge bumper (cow catcher) add ons to the front of their vehicles. The ‘roo problem is fairly significant. Drivers must protect their vehicles from damage, therefore the ‘roo bumpers. So far we have only seen a few kangaroos. The first live one was in someone’s yard. She kept her distance but let me photograph her and her joey. I kept begging her to come closer to me, but she just wouldn’t co-operate. Later we had a ‘roo hop in front of the car off in the distance. Yes, they have kangaroos here in Australia.
Our trek from the interior at Canberra to the coast went through many changes of scenery, all
very beautiful. The country is very hilly with huge ranches or stations as they are called here. I love the way the ranches have prairie with trees. We also passed through forests so thick they had a jungle feel about them. We enjoyed pointing out the different types of birds unknown to us.
The coast is so jugged the road cannot follow it. In order to get to the ocean, you need to go down a side road perpendicular to the main road. Once there we found magnificent unspoiled beaches where the forest ended. I suppose at one time my home state of New Jersey once had beaches like this, before the trees were all cut down. It is so refreshing to see that Australia has such beautiful beaches.
I watched this gorgeous guy groom himself on a rock then fly away. A pelican’s beak is amazing. They blow it up and sort of turn it inside out when they yawn.
The Australians are doing fantastic job of winning medals in the Olympics. Everywhere we go folks are thrilled about the games and want to know if we are planning to go. I enjoy watching the games on TV. My view is better and it sure is cheaper. Just the same, we will be trying to take in at least an event or two.
Watching the games in the home country is another experience. We never get to see the Americans win, unless by chance. The Aussie’s are covering all their medal races and not ours, understandably so. We grab the morning paper to get the medal count. That’s all the news we are getting here in rural Australia. Sometimes the coverage sounds like it’s the world against the U.S.A.
As Americans we take more for granted than we realize.