Australia Day

I’m staying with Andrew and Anna in Port Maquarie . It’s been a fun change to get out of the comp rat race for a few days, and stay in a real house with some real people.

While I’ve been here I’ve had a chance to see some Aussie TV, read the paper, and pester Andrew and Anna with questions about Australian culture, customs and speech.

Today is Australia Day, a day when the Australian people celebrate their genuine and deep love of their country; a fact which here is quite separate from the details of politics and government. Regardless of national origin it gives one pause, and makes one think about the true meaning of pride in ones country.

I’ve also managed to see one of Australia’s oddest creatures while I was here. The Tawny Frogmouth is by far the strangest bird I have ever seen. It is nocturnal bird which spends its days posed in a tree doing an uncanny impression of a dead limb. He’s a bit hard to pick out of the photo, but I’ve also taken a movie where a lorikeet manages to disturb him and get a small reaction. If I can figure out how to snip out a section to post, I'll add it in the future. Definitely a very odd bird.

And, of course there has been flying. Yesterday I had a nice little flight from Middle Brother, and today we flew from North Brother. The Three Brothers were named by Captain Cook when he first saw them. Coincidentally the local aborigines also called them the three brothers before the arrival of white men. They are three very distinct mountains in the otherwise rolling coastal plains.

On the way home from flying today we picked up a kilo and half of fresh prawns – what better way to celebrate Australia Day than to “throw a shrimp on the barbie!” Then to top it off Australia beat the bloody Poms at cricket with 9 wickets and 20 overs to spare. How good is that!