Surveying the Landscape

 Just as in New Zealand, Andy and I are often captivated by the landscape of Australia. It doesn't change nearly as quickly as it did in NZ, but it is definitely an interesting variety. I've become well practiced at taking pictures out of windows while riding the train or while Andy is driving. Here is a selection of photos to give you a sense of the land.

In the dairy farm area of Victoria where we live, we see a lot of this:

They call it "Wet and Windy Warrnambool." Windy it is. This is confirmed by two separate large wind farms within 45 minutes of us. This is a picture of some turbines just near the coast:

 In some places we have seen fox pelts hanging from fences indicating how many the farmer has killed to keep them away from his sheep. Here are fence hangings of another type. We don't know much about the story of this shoe fence line, but I think we've both agreed it is art:

 

 Getting non-blurry pictures of the stone fences out the window was a real challenge for me. In certain parts of Victoria, there are long stretches of stone walls similar to those outside of Chico. You can read more about their history:

We have been told that when the English came to Australia, they brought with them their traditions of using a non-native evergreen tree to create their windbreaks. The result is what appears to be very tidy boundary lines throughout parts of the farmland:

Much of the area is built on extinct volcanoes. On a very cloudy day, we drove to Camperdown and to the top of Mt. Leura where we had a view of Mt. Sugarloaf. Both mountains are part of the third largest volcanic plain in the world. This particular volcanic complex is known as the Leura Maar which was formed more than 20,000 years ago by a series of major volcanic eruptions:

Mount Leura & Mount Sugarloaf are part of a large volcanic complex known as the Leura Maar which was formed more than 20,000 years ago by a series of major volcanic eruptions. - See more at: http://www.mtleura.org.au/#sthash.aevZpFHT.dpuf

Mount Leura & Mount Sugarloaf are part of a large volcanic complex known as the Leura Maar which was formed more than 20,000 years ago by a series of major volcanic eruptions. - See more at: http://www.mtleura.org.au/#sthash.aevZpFHT.dpuf

Tower Hill, a nature reserve where we can visit the emus, the kangaroos, and the koalas, is located about 20 km outside of Warrnambool. It is also a volcano remnant with a lake in the center:

I haven't included any views of the ocean, but I liked this view, coming back from what was a spectacular view of the ocean. I like the way the trees dot the fields and the layers of colors:

The views in South Australia, on our drive to Adelaide, were decidedly browner. The hills reminded me of the blonde buttes outside Chico. Notice the lone chimney where presumably a farmhouse once stood:

These are our views of the land as we see them. It's tempting to just post pictures of the ocean and the beaches, but these panoramas are evocative in different ways.