Off to rural Australia

Having been bushwacked by my cousin Steve on Friday night I no longer needed the train and we travellled to Broadford about 50 miles North of Melbourne in a big arc to the West of the city through the countrysde. We passed Hanging Rock, nice place for a picnic (and it is the one in the film) and Mount Macedon and had great views of the Blue Mountains. And they are blue but this is the effect of the sun on eucalyptus oil in the atmosphere from the heavily wooded slope.s As I took the opportunity of  a stop to take a photo I realised that a kangaroo was in the field close by. It eventually bounced off to join a mob of others further down. So graceful.
And then  the carnage.
Kangaroo and Wombat (think a corgi shape weighing at least 30kg with a big black nose) bodies by the side and even in the middle of the road. Both are marsupials and signs encourage drivers to report kills to allow volunteers tosave babies in pouches.
Small towns are growing madly as people move out from the city to have a better life in the country and commute to work by train. But each has at least cafe serving good coffee (and most other drinks) and calorie laden cakes. And even where supermarkets trade, the range of independent shos seems to survive.
A stop for supplies at a supermarket  - almost all fruit and veg and meat had "produce of Australia" on the packet. And these drinking coconuts I've seen all over. Dehusked for the buyer.

Into Broadford, a small set of shops but surrounded by plots being built on or up for sale so it is bound to grow dramatically. Just 1 hour by train to Mebourne so commuter land. Like all expanding towns it means farmland is disappearing fast. It strikes you more when you see the Great Dividing Range in the distance and realise that one side is basically desert and the other is the more fertile area.
My cousins house has just been built and in Australian style is a bungalow with what Brits would call a corrugated iron roof. Forget though shiny zinc finish, these panels are colour bonded a light grey. The house is marvellous and spacious and I'd just like to highlight some differences to UK style.
A solar water heating panel is on the roof and this feeds hot water logically to a tank - but it is outside. And should there not be enough solar heated water, the gas heater is alongside it on the outside wall. The large box on the roof is part of the air cooler system using evaporation of water for the cooling needed and it is fed through ceiling vents. Unlike air conditioning, it works best with a window open as it is bringing in fresh air all the time in use. In fact most opening windows and all doors have flyscreen doors/window covers. In the winter the air system feeds other ceiling vents and the gas heater - in the roof! - heats the air. The heater has to be instaled before the ceiings go in.
I find the small differences between home and here sometimes more interesting than the more obvious things.
Out in the garden massive pumpkins are growing even bigger, tomatoes ripenng and a dwarf lemon has many green still fruits also ripening slowly. The effects of 20-30C  temoeratures. Whilst this a quiet area the cockatoos have a raucous cry and near to dusk ensure the world knows they are roosting in the nearby trees. Magpies are almost tame and at dawn have this amazing bell like call, straight out of jungle films.
Another fascinating day