Then suddenly, in a few hours, we were transported from one culture to another very different one and are now in Australia for some rest & recuperation before our next volunteer work in Sri Lanka.
When we first arrived in Australia, we felt quite disorientated, everything being very clean, orderly. Things worked and you could drink the water! As India had such an impact, it has taken a while to settle into relaxation. Having said that, Australia is amazing. Sydney is a photographically stunning city with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge as wonderful as all the pictures. The ferries ply back & fore across the harbour and we took one to Manly, a seaside town across the water where we walked along the scenic coastal path.
From Sydney we headed north via amazingly diverse countryside with gum (eucalyptus) forests, rain forests, mountains, hundreds of miles of sugar cane crossed by narrow rail tracks only used during harvesting, orange groves, banana plantations, prairies, horse studs, wineries, avocado & mango groves (out-of-season in India and here!) and, of course, the coast with its ubiquitous surfers. Away from the surfers, many beaches are deserted and pristine. We tried to stick to the less touristy , more natural beauty of things, but there are a few attractions not to be missed. The Great Barrier Reef (despite strong winds) is all they say, one of the natural wonders of the world � diverse coral, fish and azure waters. Fraser Island, the largest sandpit island in the world is covered in rainforest and with a 70 mile beach. In the absence of seeing koala in the wild (very rare), a sanctuary beckoned and cuddling a koala was essential. They are so cute and well looked after.
A highlight has been sightings of platypus at a rainforest river at a place called Broken River west of Brisbane and the sighting of a cassowary bird (an endangered species � vital to the regeneration of rainforest � looks a bit like an emu but with a blue neck).
We have driven over 4000km on the east side of Australia from Sydney to Port Douglas. One of our favourite places was the Atherton Table Lands, a mix of high altitude, world heritage, wet tropical rainforest, waterfalls, and historic (some gold mining) villages. Lots of the houses, historic and modern, are called Queenslanders made of wood with verandas, very picturesque, each with so much space around them. We have stayed in a mixture of backpacker hostels, motels and the occasional B & B, all varied. We have self-catered a lot for economy as well as the fact that finding vegetarian food is surprisingly difficult. Another surprise has been the lack of Internet facilities. We were so spoilt for them in India. We have met a lot of people from around the world travelling and some of them make us look like amateurs! Anyway, signing off now ��� our journey continues.
a classic view
