Skip to main content

I Still Call Australia Home...a Transcontinental Journey...




I haven't been to Europe this year and will have to wait until next year to visit now.  There are a number of reasons why, mainly my family related visits to Sydney from my home in Perth,  but also because I have had friends visiting from overseas and interstate and the renovations on my beach house have continued.  

While I have kept up with my French language online courses following my visits to the Institut de Français I have missed the interaction with living as a local in a little French village and testing my language skills particularly during my visits to the weekly markets.

But the advantage has been that I have been able to appreciate much of my own country.  My regular trips across my country offer the most fabulous panorama of the landscape.  I have been enchanted by the changing vistas offered as I peer down from a window seat.  I hope you enjoy my transcontinental picture journey.

Leaving Western Australia and the dry landscape behind
The beautiful southern most coastline of Western Australia
The Great Australian Bight...from West to East
Over the verdant landscape of South Australia, and into New South Wales ...
The East coast was much greener than the West coast last summer

...before magnificent Sydney harbour comes into view as the sun is setting.

The Harbour Bridge in the background is a welcoming beacon to Sydney


The flight between Perth and Sydney takes about four and a half hours.  For me it is time to relax, and to prepare myself for the joy that two little toddler grandchildren will give me in the days  that follow.





Labels:

Comments

  1. jagbirOctober 19, 2018 at 6:15 PM

    Usually, I never comment on blogs but your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job Man. Best article I have ever read

    Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Villefranche-sur-Mer...a ville and its food....

Villefranche...the restaurant strip beside the water (Photo LP 2013) After four weeks in Villefranche-sur-Mer,France, I have settled in and feel a little like a local.  My regular contact with the people in the little boulangerie, the nearby small supermarket, the butcher,  the Tabac and the small shops I pass each day on my way to and from  Institut de Français  has resulted in a familiarity which I would not have expected.  The regular " bonjour, ça va?" as I pass, or when I visit the market each Saturday morning, has made me feel at home.  When I have mentioned  that I am a student at the Institut the local people immediately smile and encourage me to speak in French, which was awkward in the beginning but as I have improved my confidence and my ability to speak in their language, these "locals" have encouraged me with their compliments, week by week. I am going to miss each and every one of them when I leave. My first meal inVil...
4 comments
Read more

Bare Breasts, Betel Nut, Weetbix... and Yapese Manners

(Artist: Tommy Tamangmed. http://www.yapeseart.com/) And so, yes, I have returned. The time came for me to leave the “remote” islands of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia and the tiny nation of Palau and return to western “civilisation”. It has taken a few weeks to readjust to the pace of “modern” life having experienced the tranquillity of living in a mobile phone/ television free environment. The concession of extremely slow and eventful internet connection seemed incongruous in these places of ancient yet vitally living culture. My spirit is uplifted and my sense of pride in the human ability to share kindness and show good manners has been restored. Arriving in Yap in the early hours of the morning was exhausting. A tiny airport, tired passengers, equally tired immigration officials but then the first of many Yapese warm and ready smiles in the arrival hall as I was given a beautiful lei by a young girl wearing only a lava lava and a wreath of flowers artfully draped a...
2 comments
Read more

Bali…Bogans, Tattoos and the Ugly Australian…

Balinese temple (photo LP 2010) I have returned in the past few days from a holiday in Bali, Indonesia, with my sister.  Unlike my trip in 2010 when I stayed more remotely in the north west at Pemuteran  and  the north east at Amed, this visit was to a five star resort in Legian. What a difference!  The streets of Legian were very busy, the locals almost outnumbered by the Australian tourists.  I heard very few languages other than “Aussie” spoken and it reminded me that when I travelled with my French boyfriend to the northern part of Bali, I was told by the Europeans I met that they tended to avoid the tourist hubs of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak because of the loud, rude and crude Australians…yes a generalisation about the Aussies, but unfortunately, as I was to learn, a correct one. A friendly local trying to sell us a toy (photo LP 2012) It is difficult to write this post without appearing a “snob”.  But having canvassed my ideas wit...
15 comments
Read more