I need to make a few amendments. For one, I didn’t actually spend Christmas in "The Outback". I was told that is where we were going but then got mocked because apparently people don’t really live in the outback (Aboriginal people and a few very remote "farms" in the red, hot desert maybe), but where I went is more accurately known as "The Bush". The farm was incredible. Having been plagued by storms we were seeing it in the first green year for a long time (this year it had floods to contend with in the place of ferocious forest fires). The weather has gone crazy on a global scale, London is snowy and freezing but many parts of Australia have been battered by fierce storms after twelve years of drought. They like the rain; they want the rain but not to the point of this serve flooding. In fact, as Sam pointed out, disasters seem to be following my trail. Many of the places I have just passed through here are now under water. Forest fires or floods, it seems there is no in between.
The second amendment is to take back the comment about how I can’t imagine living in a "one horse town". I can understand it a bit better now, with incredible countryside on your back doorstep and quad bikes to ride at break neck speeds, rounding up big angry bulls and dodging kangaroos as rampant as rabbits. It’s all part of the fun. I even take back those "remote" comments. "Remote is being out where the driveway to the house is five miles long," I was told. "This is not remote". I suppose it was less remote than I had imagined but still, I’m not use to towns like this.
98% of Australians live within a stone’s throw of the coast. That leaves a very vast, lonely land in the centre. The annoying Australian Sat-Nav frequently tells us to, "Continue 160km along Bruce Highway," and then remains silent for the next hour and a half, shocking you when she suddenly asks you to make a turn. No wonder the highways are littered with signs challenging you to "Survive this Drive"; it can be pretty damn boring. But along a lot of these roads the scenery was stunning with waterfalls and gorges round every corner. The rainforests and National Parks we visited have been beautiful (especially Dorrigo National Park). The Snowy Mountains and the Blue Mountains are both impressive sites, and to roam the farm was something else altogether (they have their own sunset views points).
But as pretty as the farm was, drinking Pimms as the sun shines on Christmas Day is just wrong, wrong, wrong. I can’t see it any other way. There was a storm in the afternoon, that made me feel more at home, but still it was so warm! I got to see the Christmas Special of Spicks and Specks (the show I watched being filmed back in Melbourne) and the puddings were better, chocolate mousse and Crunchie ice cream, instead of boring Christmas pudding. England needs Christmas more than Australia does, they’re pretty happy without the build up and without the hype. It’d be nice if you were used to it. For me it was upside and strange.
After Christmas, I visited Canberra on route to The Blue Mountains. It was a ghost-like, ready-made city, with a new Parliament House built in 1988 and a town that reminded me of The City in London, emptied in the holiday season as people fled to Sydney for New Year.
The pounds gone crap (note my financial knowledge) and even budget travelling is kind of impossible for me here. Luckily though, if you look at the weather map of Australia I can pretty much say I’ve been to most of the major places on it (excluding Adelaide, Perth and Darwin)! And that’s a strange thing to be able to say for such a huge country, after only being here five weeks. I’ll miss the BYO (bring your own) alcohol system they have in most of the restaurants (I’ve heard alcohol is often served disguised in India, in tea pots or under the table), and I’ll miss the friendly people who ask "how are you going?" all the time. I can see why people move here too. It’s got all the good bits of England and then sun, sea and a lot less stress on top of that. But then a small part of me doesn’t want random people asking me how I’m going all the time, and that’s my Englishness kicking in. The only reason I wouldn’t emigrate here is because it’s too far away from England. That and it has too many flies.
Photos to follow...
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