Today is Australia Day, an excuse to get drunk around a barbie and eat lamb chops. Good times.
What is Australia to me?
It’s singing Waltzing Matilda at the top of your lungs with mates and eating charred lamb chops with your fingers, while the woodsmoke gets in your eyes.
It is feeding the dogs the scraps.
It is the high summers and the smell of bushfires on the wind.
It is the freezing winters and black ice on the roads.
It is letting your lawn die because there isn’t any water for frivolities.
Showers over 1 minute are a frivolity.
It is having no mobile phone coverage in my back yard.
Or broadband access either.
It was having an outside dunny when I was a kid.
And eating raspberries straight from the garden.
It is soaring petrol prices. ($1.49 per litre? I mean, really)
It is wearing the flag with pride. (Except! if that is all you are wearing, you better be extremely good looking or else I might be annoyed. Or blinded.)
It is tolerance for EVERYONE, because we are ALL immigrants except the aboriginals.
It is drought.
And flood.
It is playing in the sunshine.
And worrying about the ozone layer, as we slip, slop and slap.
It is saying Mummy, not Mommy and humour and metre and litre. Centigrade, not farenheit and kilometres, not miles.
It is making fun of songs at the top of our lungs in the car (Amy is going to be so embarrassed when she is bigger).
It is not worrying about terrorists, because hello? What good is Tassie to them anyway? Do you want our APPLE ORCHARDS? Egads! Blow up our proposed Pulp Mill? Why CERTAINLY! Half of the state will help you with that.
It is worrying about the lack of environmental protection in my beautiful state.
It is clear felling, fire bombing and poisoned animals.
This
is going to become this?
And then they will do this to finish up.
It is so sad and so scary. 90% of the logs go for woodchips. WOODCHIPS for goodness sakes. *sigh*
It is having the right to write whatever I want. And fighting for that right, because I don’t want my internet filtered at an ISP level.
It is being able to get political on my blog, even though I rarely do.
It is going off on a tangent.
And coming back. Hello there!
Being Australian is a whole bundle of things. Mostly for me, it is being who I am and believing in what I like.
Happy Australia Day. Have a beer by the barbie for me, okay? And a chop. Is lamb, is good.
Comments
23 responses to “My Australia”
I’m coming to visit you…IMMEDIATELY. Put all kinds of comfy pillows and blankets on the couch for me 😉
Nikki’s last blog post..Blogging Basics 101
HAHAHAHA That post is VEry good…..LOL! 🙂
kaylee’s last blog post..Want to know something that I haven’t shared?
Woot! I am proud of you My Daughter
frogpondsrock’s last blog post..Favourite Photo Friday (on Saturday) #2
I spell and do temperatures the same as you. Happy Australia day!
witchypoo’s last blog post..Refeeding the Feed
Considering Shortman is planning to move to Australia, “Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie, Oy Oy Oy!”
(I was TOLD to write that. We send our love. We would send cheese, but I don’t think it would survive the trip.)
Ree’s last blog post..Weekly Wrap-up
Can I say Happy Australia Day? Even though it’s only 10 p.m. on Friday here in the states? =)
Great post. We are celebrating Australia today by watching the Australian Open, yay!
SusanB’s last blog post..Snapshots
wow… you got Shortman’s attention?!
Dawn’s last blog post..Haiku Friday – joy of raising a boy
Sounds kind of like our 4th of July (minus the logging and poisoned animals…)
Enjoy! 🙂
happy australia day.. 🙂
i intend to enjoy my day..
have a nice day..
happy australia day..
Well, Happy Australia Day to you too.
Really, since when do Aussies need an excuse for a beer and/or barbie?
I’m not a fan of lamb, we did chicken schnitzel here.In the kitchen as we don’t have a barbie.
Happy Australia Day! What a great post 🙂
Sandy (Momisodes)’s last blog post..It’s Still In Theeeere!!!
Veronica,
that was a fabulous post! I am in tears. You are a proud Australian and I love it!
Of course the tears could be because I am an over emotional git without a high enough dose of crazy pills to stop me from crying…
Thanks for a great insight into your Australia.
Tiffany’s last blog post..Something positive and then a break… maybe.
Happy Australia Day!
Leslie’s last blog post..Someone Took Cute Lessons
this was a very impressive post, Veronica. Wow.
julie’s last blog post..Favorite Photo Friday. On Saturday. The Abe version.
Happy Australia Day.
Xbox4NappyRash’s last blog post..FYI
Wonderful post Veronica – clapping hands an cheering.
Babyamore (Trish)’s last blog post..Weekly Winners
I loved this post Ronnie!!! you wrote it sooo well!!!
Great post! Really, really great. 🙂
Cat’s last blog post..So much fun!
I wanna be a Ozzie. I’m tired of being a Merkin. If this stupid country elects McBush III, can I come down there and live with you guys? Pleeeeease? I’ll bring beer…
You forgot fending off the blowies that are the size of a small plane 😀
Nice blog 🙂
Great post. What about listening to cicadas while trying to escape the heat of the day? Still sweating at 11pm as you fall into a restless sleep. Listening to kids playing in the creek and the kookaburras laughing in the early dawn?
Well it used to be miles and farenheit, we just went Metric. My dad used to say Miles well into the 80s as I remember.
The funny thing is that although we are metric, certain things are still spoken about in feet and inches.
“Is that the 12″ re-mix?”
“I’m six and a half feet tall”
Hrmmm….
Wolfie!
Oh…
Nice note…
I’m from Croatia, but I hope that one day I’ll see Australia… I hope so…
But, for now, I can only read about it & dream that one day koala bear will hug me too…:)
Sorry for this stupid comment that I made, but my dreams are too big I think…
Hello Australia, here I come…
Kisses for all…