Oh, how it's changed!

In the midst of continuing drought, I hate to think how barren Canberra would look without Lake Burley Griffin, which is a dammed up section of the Molonglo River. The brown hills in the foreground of these photos were covered in tall pine plantations until the 2003 bushfires. There are many thousands of small pines trees covering some areas (I'm not sure whether they have been planted or self-sown) but it's a far cry from the picturesque scenes of just a few years ago. The blue hills in the background are the Brindabella Ranges, on which we can see snow occasionally during the winter. The Snowy Mountains, including the main ski resorts of Perisher, Blue Cow and Thredbo, are further to the south.







The large white house at the end of the lake is Yarralumla, the home of the Governor General of Australia.