COAST Australia.

All I can say is WOW, and double WOW.

Earlier this week I set up my sky box to record this series, and just watched first one. And as have said at the start, WOW!

I have frequently bemoaned the fact that none of my early ancestors were sent there, or that my immediate ancestors did not emigrate there, because it has always seemed such a wonderful and beautiful place to live. But having seen only the first five minute introduction to this amazing country in a way I am glad that they didn't. Why? Well I am certainly not disillusioned by it, oh no not by any means. It is simply that I could not bear to live in one single spot!

Thirty times larger than the UK, and with amazingly divergent landscapes, I could only live there if I had the wherewithal to see EVERYTHING.

Re: COAST Australia.

Must take a look at this then.

Re: COAST Australia.

Daisy there is a little bit of every country in the world here in Australia.

From Beaches to snow, to mountains to deserts to islands and rainforests.

Fortunately I do come from the first ancestor sent here. He stole some material, so aren't I lucky, as I call this place home.

He was just a young boy.

Re: COAST Australia.

A Poem
My Country

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar

Re: COAST Australia.

It is a huge Country with nothing in the middle, love the holiday there but would not like to have had to stay. I love England with our seasons....yes the cold and rain too as it doesn't last forever. I like that we can pop on a plane in winter for a holiday in the sun in a few hours.....

Re: COAST Australia.

Sandi, not exactly on topic, but you are the person to ask. I heard somewhere that along the southern area of Australia the days/nights were evenly split, that is, night falls around 7pm all year 'round. Was I severely misled?

Re: COAST Australia.

We have visited close relatives in Brisbane and it's certainly a beautiful area. It was Winter time when we visited and it was dark around 7.30 pm and Dawn around 5 am.

Re: COAST Australia.

Yes you were misled Daisymay. Lately it's been dark around 5 pm. and Sunrise about 7 am. in winter. We do have fog, even Pea soupers as we call them.
We would have the variations the same as everywhere else.

Gabi we can also hop on a plane and be in sunshine in a few hours the same when it's winter. We do have snowfields here for skiing. Places like Thredbo, Bright,Mount Kosciuszko just to name a few in NSW.

We have 4 distinct seasons. Queensland and Darwin are in the tropics, so they rarely get lower than 20 degrees mostly about 26 C in summer and winter.
The cold areas down south in winter. Desert in the middle. It also rains here believe it or not.

Adelaide is in the middle of the southern coastline and it occasionally snows here in the hills. We have hot summers though.

Re: COAST Australia.

Lots of pensioners from Adelaide and Melbourne go North for the winter.

Caravans are popular for travelling. Wouldn't mind doing that myself.

Re: COAST Australia.

We spent almost a year in Perth, West Australia. We were surprised how suddenly it got dark in the evenings - all happened very quickly. Also how huge the moon looked. It is very hot there in the summer and we spent Christmas day on Mullaloo beach having a swim and a barbecue - lovely.