Monday 26 January 2009

Australia Day

To celebrate Australia Day, and with help from Dorothea Mackellar, I would like to show you some of my favourite parts of this 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.

Glen Helen Gorge, Northern Territory

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!

Ellery Creek Big Hole, Northern Territory

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.

Kalbarri, Western Australia

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.

Hammersley Gorge, Western Australia

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.

Hancock Gorge, Western Australia

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.

Big Merton, Kimberley region, Western Australia

Mitchell Falls, Kimberley region, Western Australia

Bungle Bungles, Kimberley region, Western Australia

Echidna Chasm, Bungle Bungles, Western Australia

Bungle Bungles, Kimberley region, Western Australia

Kununnurra, Western Australia

12 comments:

B SQUARED said...

Beautiful! Really, really beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across your page. Lovely post, great pictures!
Happy Australia Day to you too! (I'm an Aussie by the way.)

Jilly said...

Oh my, now I'm homesick for Australia! Beautiful images of a gorgeous country. Happy Australia Day, Ann.

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

Nice photographs of the beautiful Australia. And, wish you a very happy Australia Day!!

Unknown said...

hello! love your photos, and thanks for stopping by my blog! I will keep checking back for some inspiration from Syndney!

Jim said...

Some great Aussie landmarks.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Oustanding. You really do live in a wondrous looking country. Belated Happy Australia Day.

Stefan Jansson said...

That's some fine photos of Australia.

Julie said...

I am trying to work out my holiday trip for 2009. I am considering the Kimberleys or around Ningaloo Reef. I am loath to do a drive-myself but hesitant about a group.

How did you do it? How much area can one cover? I have two weeks at the beginning of October. Love to hear your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

interesting read. I would love to follow you on twitter.

Anonymous said...

I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

Hank Freid said...

Austria is a big country & it also has approximately all season weather, Lakes, forest. In my point of view it is the best place to visit for adventure travel