Australia Day

Australia Day - here is my own little Aussie DS #2, well not so little but isn't he gorgeous. He was cheering during the tennis match and I couldn't help but snap a photo.

Yesterday was an extremely stressful day. We received a phone call that DS#1 had an accident on his push bike and was in hospital.  He is home now but very sore and he can hardly move his jaw - his head is very sore.  His bike is in a million pieces - I told him that I would rather the bike in a million pieces instead of him.

What does living in Australia mean to me:-

Freedom to worship God without fear, Freedom of free speech.  Wide blue skies, pristine beaches, beautiful weather most of the time. Easy going people and the lifestyle.  I am proud to be an Australian.

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share:
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,

Advance Australia Fair.

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Here is a picture of the Chocolate Cherry Slice - well I guess it could be classed as Australian.

It has chocolate, coconut and cherries a little like a Cherry Ripe.

Australian food I love:-

Lamingtons,

Pavlovas,

Tim Tams

Cherry Ripes

Unique Australian Animals:-

Koala

kangaroo,

emu

platypus

echidna

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My favourite poem by Dorethea McKellar

I Love a Sunburnt Country

I love a sunburnt country,
  A land of sweeping plains,
  Of ragged mountain ranges,
  Of drought and flooding rains,
  I love her far horizons,
  I love her jewel sea,
  Her beauty and her terror -
  The wide brown land for me.

The tragic ring-barked forests
  Stark white beneath the moon,
  The sapphire-misted mountains,
  The hot gold hush of noon.
  Green tangle of the brushes
  Where lithe lianas coil,
  An orchids deck the tree-tops
  And ferns the crimson soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
  Her pitiless blue sky,
  When sick at heart around us
  We see the cattle die -
  But then the grey clouds gather
  And we can bless again
  The drumming of an army,
  The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
  Land of the Rainbow Gold,
  For flood and fire and famine,
  She pays us back threefold;
  Over the thirsty paddocks,
  Watch, after many days,
  The filmy veil of greenness
  That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
  A wilful, lavish land -
  All you who have not loved her,
  You will not understand -
  Though Earth holds many splendours,
  Wherever I may die,
  I know to what brown Country
  My homing thoughts will fly.

Hope you have enjoyed my thoughts on Australia.

Annette B