The Land of Oz

What have we not mentioned about Australia? Almost everything about our visit didn't make it to the news page. Highlights are there -- the art, Australia Day, the Margaret River wine country, the wonderful pace of life. But, there was more to it, and here are a few of the things we remember.

Kangaroos Kangaroos -- they're Australia's icon. They're everywhere, and at night they can be a road hazard. In fact, when you rent a car in Australia you agree in writing that you will not drive outside of towns after dark. But they're fun to watch. Here a doe and her joey watch us watching them.


Kookaburras As young campers we all learned the song about how the "kookaburra sits in the ol' gum tree." That may be true, but he also sits in the jacaranda and the she-oak. We heard them all over town, out in the country, and here where he sits on the ol' winery veranda. Does he laugh? Yes. Listen for yourself here.


One Lane Australia is a huge country and in rural areas, with long distances and few people, they cut their road construction costs in half by paving only one lane. You drive down The Lane until you meet another car at which point each of you drives with one set of wheels on the shoulder. Works fine.


Bush Bordering the one lane roads is the Bush. It's the land between the outback desert and the coastal beaches. It isn't the forest around Seattle, but it's equally beautiful. The plant you see front right is a Xanthorrhoea, commonly called a grasstree. They are abundant everywhere in Australia. They get a tall white blossom spear, especially following a bushfire.


Walled City A characteristic feature of Australian cities are walls in front of most homes. Some are tall, some short, some are part wall, part fence. Walkers like us -- we didn't have a car in Perth -- notice them, and admire their many designs. We never could decide if people were walling something in or out.


Grand Opera Test: "'Roos are to Australia, as _ _ _ _ _ _ is to Sydney." The Opera House, Danish architect Jørn Utzon's (9 April 1918 – 29 November 2008) masterpiece, is 36 years old and still strikingly beautiful. It's affectionately described as "Eight nuns in a scrum."


United Colors Australia to us is brilliantly colorful: Soil, Shiraz, Beer, Sand, Harbor, Sky, Bougainvillea, ANZAC Biscuits, Surf and Rock.

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Almost as popular as Waltzing Matilda is the song I Still Call Australia Home ( music and words by Peter Allen). This nostalgic tune, used extensively in advertising, sticks in your head. And its last two lines regularly repeat in our minds ...

No matter how far, or how wide I roam

I still call Australia home.