Well, I'm safely back from our 1,400km trip to the wonders of our arid lands.
I have no idea why Blogger had to 'fix' something that was working well, at least much better and easier than now where every time I try to change something, I lose the whole post! This is my fourth attempt to get up an Our World post and I sincerely hope it works.
Once a thriving and important railway town with a prosperous agricultural base, Peterborough now still boasts a main street with four large hotels of the colonial era as well as the most imposing YMCA building I have seen anywhere.
Our overnight stop proved to be a goldmine of 18th and early 19th century architecture built to outlast the usefulness of the town itself.
The railway station has gone and unfortunately, there are many gaps in the once splendid main street.
The four hotels still left are the 'Federation', the 'Railway Hotel', the 'Peterborough Hotel' and, if I remember rightly, the 'Commercial.
A view to the YMCA and Town Hall with a typical palm tree of the 1870's still growing strong.
At left, the YMCA, a massive building with 15-18 foot ceilings and flanking it is the equally impressive Town Hall. Sorry, the photo does not capture the grandiloquence of either building and leaves out entirely the third in this row which is an even more opulent mansion, complete with ballroom.
For a sunrise walker, even the backstreets offer dear little cottages as well as many other houses marking the passage of the well-to-do of another era.
A little further back, there are also somewhat less salubrious sights.
And, lucky last, a peep at what lies ahead for a week or two of other posts to come.
