Wonder Own Under

FROM THE OPENNESS OF THE SKIES TO THE SIZE OF THE SPIDERS, EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN AUSTRALIA, FINDS LATHA ANANTHARAMAN.

- Latha Anantharaman

A wombat-crossing road sign. Furry cattle on the horizon. Ahead, a tunnel of majestic eucalyptus, with peeled bark fallen to their ankles. This is a drive through Hunter Valley, just north of Sydney, where the land swells and drops along curving river banks and the skies are huge. They drive on the left in Australia, and many tourists from India are now exploring the countryside on their own.

Just half an hour north of Sydney is Glenworth Valley, an active farm with cattle, emus and over 200 horses. The farm offers camping space and basic gear for a fee, and some corporate groups bring their own glamping paraphernalia. Guests can also go kayaking, abseiling, and quad biking. Some visitors walk through the trails, bird guidebook in hand. And, of course, there is the horse riding. They find two mild horses for us novices, and we are guided through a trail over two hours, crossing streams and edging along hills. Eucalyptus of various kinds, acacia, wild cinnamon, ficus, trailing vines and yellow termite hills make the landscape familiar to those who have travelled in the Western Ghats, but this is a whole other world. We pass a small cave with ochre Aboriginal paintings of canoes and a boomerang. The kookaburra met us first thing, even before the gates were opened, and the rainbow lorikeets, magpies, wrens and red-faced swallows fluttered about while we were saddling up. In the forest there is birdsong everywhere. The lyre bird slides through the underbrush like a mongoose. The bell bird and dove cuckoo tweet their sweet notes. Billy points out a wombat’s burrow. Now and then we see fist-sized holes in the ground, made by spiders. Everything is bigger in Australia.