The Australian countryside was, on the surface, very familiar-looking. It could have been Michigan or Indiana in the summer time. When I looked more closely, however, I could see little differences. For example, the trees were different. Their slightly different shapes and leaves had an African or South American feel to them. These trees (which I later learned were gum trees, or Eucalyptus) were more vertical and less bushy than North American trees. The leaves were usually in large clumps, and the bark was often light colored, like a birch or a softwood with its bark stripped off.

The earth was also different. When we passed by an area where rock had been cut away or a wall of earth had been exposed, it was evident that the dirt was an orange color: not the vivid red orange of Alabama or Mississippi, but a hybrid between that and the grey/brown of Michigan. It was starting to look like Australia!

By 1:30pm, we'd left the wooded areas around Sydney, and reached open space, with fewer trees and lower hills. Sheep! There were lots of sheep eating the scrubby, bluish-yellow grass in huge fields--miles to a side, possibly.

The ground was still a light orange, but it was mixed with something bluish-green, like the Statue of Liberty. I'd guess it was copper or nickel.

We'd passed Campbelltown, Bowral, Goulburn, Yass Junction, and Junee. Soon after that, we passed the truly Australian-sounding "Wagga Wagga". (The conductor called it "Wagga".)

The train's cars were styled after the French TGV train, and thus were quite comfortable. The windows were large and clean. Best of all, the conductor warned me when the seat next to me was about to be taken by a boarding passenger, and suggested that I move up to the next car, where some of the seats hadn't been nooked yet. I was able to keep a 2-seat area to myself the entire, giving me space to spread out and relax. To top it off, I got to have tea and scones with strawberry jam. There's nothing like the British Commonwealths for civilization, eh?

We passed The Rock (not Ayer's Rock--a different one), Henty, and Culcairn. The earth was still mainly the same (orange with greenish streaks), but now there were streaks of bright red as well, especially where dirt tracks had been worn into the ground beside the railway. The ground was mostly flat, but there were hills off in the distance with odd, jumbled shapes and steep cliffs near their peaks. This was probably the Great Dividing Range, along the southern coastal region of the continent. There were still cows along the way, and at one point I saw a large herd of lambs running around.