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worshipped by millions. It is this temple that is truly the most sacred in Buddhism and I felt very lucky to have visited.
The mountains in central Sri Lanka are breathtaking; they keep going and going, every turn is another spectacular view, cow, bus, dog, car, person or surprise!
As we rode through the mountains, tea plantations were everywhere. I was surprised to learn the average wage in Sri Lanka is AU $ 360 / month, which is about $ 100 / month short of the cost of living, this means most parents are forced to find employment, leaving children with grandparents for the day.
Most of the workers in the tea plantations are elderly, paid per kilo of tea leaves picked and significantly underpaid. The terraces on the mountain slopes are steep, there is no way to get machinery in to harvest, so I wonder when these elderly workers stop working, who will pick the leaves? The younger generations don’ t work in the plantations, it is a problem the commercial farms are aware of, could it be the end of the tea industry here?
Winding further into the mountains the climate changed, the hills became dry, sparce and hot. It reminded me of my time in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Sri Lanka’ s scenery reminded me of a lot of places actually, it’ s got a bit of everything, which is incredible, it is so diverse, so unique and so very beautiful!!
Arriving in Nuwara Eliya I saw the only horses on the island. Ponies to be more precise, free roaming and also offered for pony rides, some a lot skinnier than they should be. Here in Nuwara Eliya was the only horse racetrack in the country. There are two race days here for the year and was currently a source of lush grass for the local cows and horses.
This area became known as Little England, due to the buildings and English influences over time, also because it is so high up spending a great deal of time in the clouds. Lake Gregory seemed to be the place to be, plenty of activity on the lake, jet skis and other watercraft, over the weekend its apparently packed with day trippers from the cities.
Riding the central mountains was incredible. I could not believe how pockets of Sri Lanka look like home. Riding through the fields where they are cutting and stacking grass by hand onto the trailer and tractor, is dairy country and it felt just like East Gippsland. Further on, I felt like I was riding in and around the Dandenong’ s and further up the road it felt like Macedon Ranges.
The Horton Plains felt like our Alpine region, as the weather
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