This weekend, Supercars came to Newcastle after months of prep.  I may as well be in Timbuktu as all I saw was on TV and car racing has become a regular procession.
Virgin Australia Supercars Championships are held in 14 locations around the land plus one meet in NZ, I believe. Pehaps the tv coverage is a money spinner.
It was impossible to find a channel among the satellite services overseas in Asia that aired programs with any real content, there were only two minute snatches in between advertorial and nothing substantial was found and that was from the major Western style programmers. It is difficult to imagine who  would be happy if interested in what's going on and in entertainment. Sport is another matter. Nor were all the sat services trialed.

A lucky sighting when a beautiful snake slide across the road ahead.  There was no time for the best angle and what if it was venomous?  Looks like a Diamond Python.  A venomous and vulnerable Broad Headed snake looks similar.
We are always advised to leave a snake alone.  Many people are bitten when they try to kill a snake.

A flock of ducks was caught napping in a park by the shore.
 We can be full of thanksgiving for birdlife.
 And Thanks Be for The Australian Ballet; for environmentalists and, despite the lack of risk, for our good life in a strange land - to mention but a few.

Fairy-Wrens are tiny birds.  Like a large insect.  The blue version takes the eye but this bird is never still for the camera, even these seemed familiar with the campers.

The birds I know as Plovers. Are they Masked Lapwings?  Imagine their indignation consternation on living near a walking path.  The uproar is almost constant.  And a mobile group is different to the usual solo bird.

Pied Currowong?  Their 'call' is loud and bold.

Could this be a mature Crimson Rosella?  Could we be camping in wonderland?

Laughing Kookaburra - the most massive of our kingfishers and best known. These are youngsters.
We can take their laughter for granted yet it is very bizzare.  A benign stretch of bushland will suddenly erupt in unheard of sound effects.

Heirloom embroidery, Australiana style.  Gum blossom in detail.
Could be the Eastern Rosella where a hundred per cent accuracy of colour was not the point of the exercise.

Campers visiting a spot near Chichester Dam would very likely know and love a flock of Australian King Parrots who front up seeking attention.
The local said over 150 different birds had been identified by birdwatchers and thought bird numbers had not declined there.

Self referential....

My wish to you is that in your life time you will drive down a country road and find the countryside a true delight.

something nothing....

Babbling brook is channelled into a tiny passage

I wish that in your life time you will enjoy seeing a country stream.

Beersheba and the first world war and one of the last large cavalry charges, is honoured today at its centenary with an enactment in the Middle East.


 ....an order was given; one unheard before in military history. Cavalry were to be sent against infantry who were well entrenched, supported by machine guns and covered by artillery. The 4th and 12th Regiments of Light Horse were ordered to charge.....


Drawings from a little old copy of The Wells of Beersheba by Frank Dalby Davison with illustrations by Will Mahony, 1947.
Horses, said to be from all corners of our land, were shipped out for an alarming cruel long desert march to a battle front that put everything at risk.

 It is the time for blue blossoming jacaranda trees all round town. Thunder storms arrive now and hail pounded us last week.  The storms batter the flowering trees and are a disaster for mango trees where the fruit is in early stage - what could be worse? At least delicious mangos from the north are on the shelves.

From the past: Lambton Memorial Baby Health Centre.  Now our offspring are not monitored in that way but in the nearby shopping centre is the commercial equivalent in a 'baby nurse'.
The memorial has become a tea room.  Panels at the entrance refer to the war years.

Times of change.  Want that 'sickie' validated at the chemists?
 Same sex marriage is best accepted in our present day.  It is a matter for the state to enshrine it in law.
  Respect for LGBQ community is due in a just society.
It is frowned upon to mix this with further issues but does it imply that relationships, casual or other, are made between people of any genders or of any sexual orientations? Is it gone along with that more than homosexuality that all or any orientations are acceptable relationships. It is a totally private matter most of the time.  Change is underway.  I'm slow on the uptake.

Jumping ship. 
No original thinking in these words.  They say the young and old have become disillusioned with politics.  Look at the latest romp in federal politics.  It means interviews, publicity and focus on the group of dual citizens whom the court has invalidated.
We have got it all wrong.
Loss of a seat in parliament is significant but no other specific "sentence" so to speak.  What is the penalty for wasting time and money on elections, for leading supporters up the garden path, for parliamentary salaries and more, for legislating while disqualified or for using resources to determine next in line or by-election. For High court deliberations priced at millions per day.  No penalty. Not even an apology.
There are some extenuating circumstances but that's too bad.