Monday 26 October 2009

New England all the way

The final segment of my trip to Brisbane was the return drive down the New England Highway. I set out to drive the 1000 kms between Brisbane and Sydney over two days. Having driven on both the Pacific and New England Highways during this trip, my clear preference now is for the New England. It has much less traffic and takes you through, arguably, finer scenery, climbing up to the tablelands of south Queeensland and into the pastures of New England around Armidale, which reminded me of the rugged terrain of Avila Province in Spain. The road takes you through a number of small country towns, such as Uralla (pictured)- my first real sight of the rural interior of this vast land and its open Bushland.

I stopped overnight in Tamworth, from there the New England drops down into the glorious wine region of the Hunter Valley, and so onto Sydney.
I also saw my first wild Kangaroos, big greys - some of them very big - and lots of them. I was amazed to see how many kangaroo carcasses lay by the side of the road, presumably having been hit by passing vehicles. Some of them were enormous; I wonder what damage they did to the cars that hit them! There was probably a carcass for every kilometre I drove, and yet I imagine that this doesn't make the slightest dint in their population.

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