This is post #1 in the Beautiful Bloggers Australian Adventure House Swap.
I'm planning an overseas trip for mid 2012 and am looking for a blogger that would like to swap houses with me. But you don't have to want to house swap to join in the fun!
Each week I'll post a topic, and each Saturday everyone will write about the topic and link up here at my blog. We'll all have so much fun and learn heaps and heaps about each other, and different countries, and lifestyles, and cultures. It will be super educational!
This week's topic is The Geography Lesson. Please, please, please rush back to your blog and whip up a post about the country that you live in and then rush right back and link up!
Just to sweeten the deal...
Everyone that links up will go in a draw to win a super dooper Australian care package!!!
Also, if you tweet about this competition or promote it in any way, leave me a comment letting me know and you'll get extra entries!!!
At this point I don't need to know if you're interested in house swapping or not. I just want to see lots and lots of people linking up and telling me all about their country.
My 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dorothea Mackellar
This iconic poem, beloved in Australia, is a great introduction to the geography of my country. Let's get a bit more specific about the part of Australia that I live in.
Here's a map of the country:
Let's look more closely at NSW:
The greater Sydney metropolitan area has been highlighted in red, and just above it you can see the region that I live in: The Central Coast. We have the best of both worlds; we are close to Sydney but not in Sydney!
Here's more detail on the Central Coast:
As you can see, we are blessed with surf beaches, lakes and National Parks. The Central Coast is a popular tourist destination for Sydneysiders.
So what does it look like?
The suburb that I live in is bordered by Brisbane Water National Park.
I didn't take this photo, but a view like this is available at the end of my street.
Somersby Falls, shown above, are just a short drive from my place, and there are great bushwalks and picnic spots nearby.
Terrigal Beach is probably the most well-known beach on the Central Coast. Here are two photos that I took recently at Terrigal:
Gosford in the main "city centre" for the lower Central Coast. Here are a couple of photos I took at the Gosford waterfront:
So what do you think? I'm guessing that you're now dying to swap houses with me and come and experience the beautiful Central Coast of NSW Australia!
What are you waiting for? Add your post to the linky below. Get tweeting. Shamelessly promote me in order to get more entries in the competition!
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...
If you'd like to add my button to your post then copy the code below:
copy button code
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...
If you'd like to add my button to your post then copy the code below:
copy button code
No comments:
Post a Comment