Scraps Of Mind

Orstraya Day

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Australians all love ostriches
Four less one is three
…
Our land abounds in nature strips
Of beauty which is rare…

I really do know the words to our National Anthem, but I just love the mondegreens that kids sing before they learn the real words. And, let’s be honest, the real words are nowhere near as much fun.

Anyway Australia Day is here again. A celebration of our nationhood. Patriotic and family events going on across the country. And for me, a lovely afternoon picnicking at the Sugarloaf Reservoir.

But what a shock to see the depleted water levels. Intellectually I, like everyone else in Australia, have an awareness of the lower than ever water resources we are experiencing this summer. I know that our water resources are running at 37% compared to 52% at the same time last year. But actually looking at the vast expanse of uncovered banks of a depleted reservoir makes it all very real.

But nonetheless we had a lovely picnic. Allan, a card carrying 2-minute noodle man, is becoming really good at the spontaneous picnic (he does all the organising and I just go along; the way nature intended things to be). So we chilled out under the welcome shade of a group of small trees on our little low slung picnic chairs. Enjoying our cheese and biscuits, fruit and chocolate washed down with cider followed by champagne and strawberries. With a background of soft classical music. Just chatting and enjoying the panoramic vista. And as a special Australia Day bonus a small mob of four kangas came down to the reservoir to drink.

Pretty damn good.

Eventually we were evicted by a bunch of territorial bull ants so we took the little remote controlled plane that I gave Allan for Christmas to a nearby park. Well a couple of bottles of cider and a bottle of champagne may have taken the edge off our piloting skills. And the plane ended up in the top branches of a bunch of very tall gum trees. We could hear it but we couldn’t see it, much less get it down. In the end we had to give up and leave it there.

And to add to the Australia Day bonus we got a good dump of rain overnight. Just hope a lot of it landed in the catchment areas.

Oh, and in news just to hand, Allan has just rung me to say that he went back to the park and found the plane where last night’s wind and rain had washed it out of the trees.

A perfect ending.