Colours of Australia ( 1 )

Colours of Australia ( 1 )

Posted on 18 Oct, 2008 11 comments

COLOURS OF AUSTRALIA ( part 1 )

I went to Perth earlier this year and I wrote a report on my flight home as it was a wonderful experience which I would also like to share with GOY, since it sure has to do with growing things.

Leaving Perth at lunchtime under a clear blue sky, heading for the clouds in Cairns I could not help but feeling sad.
But I took it all in its stride, you can only sit back and relax in a plane.I always choose a window seat, so I can look out and see the earth beneath me.
The city, although changed in a couple of years, looked so familiar from above, I could name highways and bridges, buildings and rivers. A bit of green here and there but definitely on water restriction.
Soon I could see the grey and yellow thirsty soils in the hills, with some surviving green rowed vineyards. But then near emppty dams were visible, dry and barren land surrounding it. A very sad sight. Furthermore the once water holes were now black and dry, the salt from the water showing as an angry white rim around them. The flats came into sight. Here the ground looks brownish with a tinge of orange and the white blobs of salt taking shapes like a huge aboriginal painting. Wavy, dotted and twirled around, you can picture a bird, a face, a man and even a kangaroo, as if some people had been drawing them onto the soil. Amazing artistery!
Further North and flying in N.E.erly direction the soil becomes brownish red, here and there little hills pushed up by the wind, or were there lakes in the beginning?These resembled giant antnest holes on top of the mounds of reddish earth. Here and there a bright orange creamy line, positively identified as a “road”, going it seems, to nowhere. The roads are straight and endless. This is a desolated place, one would not want to live out there. The flight only takes just over 2.5 hours, but at 850 kms an hour and from a height of 10 kms you can get the feel of its enormity. This is Australia and I am heading for the Red Centre, the BIG rock in the middle of the country. We have now crossed the borderline and are flying over the Northern Territory, truly the outback and the red centre. The earth is brown-red but as we are getting closer to the middle you can see that there has been a lot of rain in the last months as bits of green emerge. About half an hour before landing in ULURU ( other word for Ayers Rock ) airport we are descending and now the little black dots I spotted are turning in green small trees. As we get closer we can see little white tufts of grass, once green, now dry. Again there are waves on the ground, which look like they’ve been swept up by the strong winds.
Landing was difficult as there indeed were strong hot winds, which kept pushing the plane upwards. We can see some wonderful sandstone or rock formations, I don’t know what they are made off, but they are just standing there, like a big family together. These are the Olga’s ( I think ! ) and there, just on the right is this silly big floppy rock called Ayers Rock all by itself. At this moment it looks just as red as the soil around it, but I know the colours change by the hour as the sun rises or sets. To me from this distance it looks like a big fat elephant lying in the middle of the desert.
We circle a bit and finally make the last dive onto the tarmac. We are in the middle of Australia, truly the red centre, but very colourful with green, white, black, orange and yellow plantlife.

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