Big Country

The blog has been quiet as we have spent the last 10 days visiting family and friends and we have logged about 40 hours of train time from Cairns to Canberra. The scenery has been spectacular, fine views into the distance which you know will never look the same in a photograph but you take one anyway! Cairns-Brisbane is primarily sugar cane and banana plantations for about 300 miles. Brisbane-Sydney is cattle and horse ranching with some kangaroos mixed in. Steep hills and full rivers flowing through the valleys of the Great Divide, this is a huge country.
One of the amazing aspects is the wildlife, in most countries one would need to visit a zoo to see the birds and animals which you can see here from the front porch. Wallabies,cockatoos and Scarlett Rosellas just to name a few.

Our host in Sydney is a volunteer bushcare worker, possum nurser and snake relocator which appears to be almost a full time job judging by the number of calls she receives. If you find a snake in your home or garden you can ring the hotline and a volunteer will remove it for you. Clare went out to help capture this 2 metre long diamond python, not what you would usually expect on holiday.

In most cases the snakes are released at the bottom of the garden which borders on parkland in the middle of the North Sydney suburbs which has over 25,000 hectares of National Parks.
We took a ferry down the Parramatta River into Sydney, as everyone has seen the Harbour Bridge and Opera House here's a shot of Bondi Beach on a glorious day, the whole scene is very like California.

Yesterday was a short 5 hour ride to Canberra, after the Sydney suburbs it's a long gentle climb into the tablelands, large sheep ranches with some cattle and horses. After years of drought this has been the wettest summer for a long time and everyone is moaning about it, except us because Australia has never been more green and the views from the train were varied and stunning.