Beyond the Blue Mountains

Myra and George Purbeck, aboard …. Empress of Sydney, rode through …. Hawkesbury River valley. …. Empress of Sydney was …. coach, of …. extravagance that neither had ever before experienced, …. double-decker with ….picture windows of ….tinted glass, ….luxuriantly upholstered seating and …. small tilted movie screens lest …. voyager should weary of …. landscape. From ….time to ….time …. stewardess plied them with ….coffee or ….freshly squeezed orange juice. …. air-conditioning was just right; …. restful and uninsistent background music was interrupted periodically by …. voice which delivered …. laconic, informative and sometimes witty account of …. passing scene. They had been given …. run-down of …. social composition of suburban Sydney, with …. digression on ….architectural style. They had learned about …. crops grown in …. farmland through which they now passed and about …. breeds of ….cattle and of ….sheep. “Look left and you’ll see ….three black swans on …. billabong. …. black swan is native to Australia.” Myra listened with ….interest.

She said, ‘Is it …. driver who does this commentary, do you imagine?’

‘Presumably.’ George was reading – intermittently – …. copy of …. London Financial Times. He was also, of course, gathering ….strength for …. next leg of …. exacting business trip. It was Sunday. …. coach trip was for Myra’s benefit: …. kindly indulgence.

In Sydney, while George performed …business, she had wandered, at first jet-lagged and punch-drunk. She felt as though she had stepped into …. alternative universe. ….birds that flew in …garden of their hotel were …little parrots, she saw with …astonishment. …trees and shrubs were eerie and beautiful developments of familiar trees and shrubs. The very air seemed different. Then she had gone into …art gallery and seen on …walls …further miraculous transformation of … known world. ….paintings showed … brilliant landscape, vibrant with …colour – blues and golds and …bright ochre, … place of …rock and …dust and …tree that was vast, bold and disturbing. Some of … pictures were of ….forest scenes – they depicted …dappled light, ….sparkling water and …exuberant growth. In one, ….aborigine family camped around …fire in …clearing. ….wallabies grazed, …trees were roped with flowering vines, …shafts of …light fell on …emerald grass. Myra gazed in …fascination; … words she did not normally use flew into her head - …glade, …arcadian glade. Emerging once more into …heat and sunshine of … city, she was elated. … jet-lag faded. She began to feel alert and well.

The coach began to climb. They had left ….farmland behind and were entering ….foothills of …Blue Mountains, explained …invisible commentator, are thus named because of …sun’s effect on…haze of …oil vapour given off by …eucalyptus trees. At ….beginning of …nineteenth century they formed …impenetrable barrier between ….expanding settlement and …hinterland beyond, until …pioneering expedition of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in 1813, which led to …construction within six months of ….first road through …mountains by …hand-picked convict labourers.

….coach was sparsely populated. Up here on ….top deck there were ….six immaculately suited Japanese who sat together in …cluster, ….couple of ….backpacking American girls and ….waste of …empty seats. ….commentator began to talk about …..flora and ….fauna. He told ….passengers to look for ….tree-ferns, for ….casuarinas and for sulphur-crested cockatoos. When they reached ….viewpoint and ….revolving restaurant they must take ….stroll and listen for ….bellbirds. If anyone had any questions feel free to hand … note to …stewardess.

Beyond the Blue Mountains by P. Lively (BrE)