the dry and harsh country beauty

According to Bob the owner of the hotel I stayed at in Avenel (about 10min from the flying academy at Mangalore Airport), they have not seen decent rainfall in the Victorian country regions for 11 years. Most of the farmers there have had a longdrawn battle with drought.

Just before we left for the airport to fly back to Sydney, Bob drove us round the Avenel area and even brought us round the 800 acres farm where he works at 2 days a week. Trees are dying everywhere. It's yellow, brown, dry and harsh land all around. But even that has its own unique beauty and that's what's keeping people like Bob and his family still living in the area.


This was taken one afternoon at the school. The houses in the pic were the cadets' canteen and bunk areas. Even though the clouds hung low, heavy and ominous, the highly anticipated rains didn't come.




Exploring the 800 acres farm in the back of a ute.






The girls took this candid pic of me seated in the back of the ute and I quote them "Wah. Very emo leh."




Of cos emo la. I didn't have my someone beside me to share the harsh country beauty with. Sian one leh.