‘Stralia Day…

So, on January 26th 1788 this Pommy (English) bloke called Captain Arthur Phillip landed in Sydney with a mob of convicts and started the first known white settlement with a bunch of rule breakers and ne’re do-wells. The Jones family had a couple of ne’re do-wells of their own turn up in chains several years after that and I thank the cosmos that my ancestors had enough sense to either nick things and get transported or they made the decision to leave Scotland for a better life in a new country.

Australia day is about celebrating who we are. Aussies are unique, smart, charming and good looking. There’s nothing we can’t do. And the country? The best in the world. Ask us – we’ll confirm that.

Happy Australia Day from Cairns!

Went for a wander...

…on Australia Day to Kuranda which is in the heart of the rainforest and about 20 mins up an incredibly steep and winding road from where I live. It’s very much a village that originally started out as a hippy retreat 40 years ago and then became commercial…as all hippies do. I strolled around aimlessly as you do when you have a day off. Kuranda of course also caters to the overseas tourist market with all things Aussie from fine pearls to toy Kangaroos and cane toad purses. While it is catering to the almighty dollar, American fast food chain conglomerates have not infiltrated it yet. It still retains it's village like atmosphere. Let’s hope it stays that way.

I had my tarot read as I do when I’m Kuranda. It’s the same bloke. He’s quite interesting. I’m fascinated by people and the things they believe and the spirits that speak to them. I was quite floored by the accuracy of several things he said to me as they were only things I would know. Spooky.

Day off? Go for a wander and see what’s in your own backyard.

Top pic – yes, it’s odd. At first I thought it was a plane that had crashed into the rainforest of Queensland during WW2 as many did in those days. But no, it’s a US plane from WW2 called Geronimo that was decommissioned after the war and someone said – ‘let’s get a crane and plonk that old aircraft in Kuranda.' Gotta’s love bizarre ideas.

Bottom pic – on the road trip down the mountain. I hate heights but I stopped and took this one. It’s looks off towards the northern beaches of Cairns.

Okay…that’s enough useless knowledge for one day…

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

I Am Australian ~ Song "I AM AUSTRALIAN"

I love Australia and I’m proud to be an Aussie.

Happy Australia Day

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…Oy ! Oy ! Oy !

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Happy Australia Day....

January 26th 1788 - a bunch of poms (British people) landed at Sydney Cove. It was the First Fleet – the first wave of British law enforcement transporting a mob of ne’re do-well convicts to Australian shores to serve out sentences due to their criminal actions. Some were bad buggers who had got caught doing the wrong thing. Others were victims of a system that just wanted to de-populate an already crowed country and since the US closed its gates to the transportation of convicts, the British government had to look further a field.

Some of my ancestors came willingly. They wanted a new and better life. Others came in chains while some came with stories that didn’t make sense and to this day we still wonder about – she did what? How? And with a baby? Who was the father? Huh? What sea captain? A Spy? What the? However they arrived, or for what reason, I’m just glad they did.

Maybe it was a strange way to found a country but I think we’re better for it – maybe it’s our distance from other countries that sets a part as being unique, plain spoken and irreverent – not to mention good looking, charming and modest. Maybe it’s our convict heritage. Maybe we like who we are and we don’t give a rat’s arse what others think – I’m not sure. But I am bloody glad my ancestors left Blighty (Britain) – either in chains or of their own accord – because Australia is the best country in the word. Yeah, I’ve travelled the world and I have seen stuff but the sky is more blue, the sun more dazzling and the stars more sparkling down under. I would never live anywhere else.

From the land that brought you Hugh Jackman and chateau cardboard…Happy Australia Day.

This is a fun song and yeah the clip is ancient but it’s still a bloody good – click here.

I love Australia. There is no place like home.

http://www.australiaday.org.au/experience/
http://www.australiaday.org.au/whatson/qld/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Go Ahead : Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?

From the Land that brought you Hugh Jackman....

I Still Call Australia Home –Peter Allen

I've been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rome and old London Town
But I realise something I've always known,
I still call Australia home.

I'm always travelling - I love being free
And so I keep leaving the sun and the sea
But my heart lies waiting, over the foam
I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters, spinning 'round the world
Away from their family and friends
But as the world gets older, and colder
It’s good to know where your journey ends.
And some day we'll all be together once more
When all the ships come back to the shore
And we'll realise something we've always known
We still call Australia
Still call Australia
Still call Australia home

Saturday 26th January is Australia Day. It’s also a long weekend and like most Aussies I will take advantage of this and go walkabout. So no blog on Saturday - but I’m celebrating Australia Day with you early. What is Australia Day? I’m glad you asked. It commemorates way back in 1788 when a Pommy bloke in a scarlet tunic, Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain turned up with said convicts at Sydney Cove and planted a flag to basically say ‘here we are ready to colonize this country with these bunch of bad buggers.’ Of course for thousands of years before the indigenous people had been here and naturally they were not happy about it. But thoughtless white colonists and the need for power overwhelmed natural justice as it has for centuries.

What does Australia Day mean now? It’s an important National Day for Aussies. It’s about coming together and recognizing what a bloody great country we have and what it means to be an Australian – smart, good looking, talented – but also lucky and
free. We are made up of great people, larrikins and ratbags. We are descended from sinners and saints. We are from every culture known to man. Australia is the proverbial melting pot of multiculturalism.

On Australia Day people will go bush, have barbies, attend cane toad or cockroach races, drink beer, laugh and realize once again what a fantastic country we live in. No prizes for guessing I love my country. It’s the best in the world. We brought you Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, Ugg boots, the wine cask, flight box recorders, countless vaccines, Vegemite, Tim Tams and words that confuse many. We are Australian and bloody proud of it mate.

I am Australian – Bruce Woodley from The Seekers
I came from the dreamtime from the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame
I stood upon the rocky shore I watched the tall ships come For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.



I came upon the prison ship bowed down by iron chains.
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler. I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man I became Australian.
I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road

I'm a child of the depression
I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler
I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I'm a teller of storiesI'm a singer of songs
I am Albert NamatjiraI paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse
I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda
I am Australian

I'm the hot wind from the desert
I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys
I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock,
I am the sky
The rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land
I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

So raise a tinny, chuck a prawn on the Barbie, tell tall stories and just be who you are and that’s what being an Aussie is. Better still come on down under and spend your money – we’ll take it with a smile.

On www.kkirch.blogspot.com Kelly life us with…

"Arrrrrrr." From behind them, a pirate exited the portal. "I'll be scrapin' ye blind, ye scallywags!"

"What does that mean?" Rinalda asked, clearly irritated with the constant need for a translator.

"Heck if I know. But I see no sign of Emmeline. I think we beat her to the Tourmaline Chalice."

Rinalda gasped, "Is that what we came here to find?"

"Arrrrrrr. Me parrot crunches mighty peaches lo' the doxy walks the bleedin' plank to never-never."

Sounds like a load of hornswaggling to me…I’m going with…

Suddenly a meteor fell from the sky and instantly killed Rinalda, Jonas, the pirate and anyone else that may have been with them. But this was no ordinary meteor. It was the traveling space laboratory of Dr Garth Flugelheimer-Watts and his assistant Miss Primrose Grimly.

“Hell of a landing that, Prim Grim.” Dr Garth brushed down his aluminum foil space suit, straightened his spats and checked his two tone shoes had not been scuffed. “Where are we?” He pushed up his bifocals and surveyed the area around him keenly.

Primrose sighed deeply. Moron, fool, ninny. If only I did not owe him my life. Debts of honor sucked. “I believe Dr Garth we are in a place call Nebraska. It’s nowhere near San Francisco.” Like I frigging told you seventeen times before.

“I’m sure I read the map right.” He put his hands on his hips and looked thoughtfully.

You could not find your arse with your hands. “Never mind Dr Garth, the sooner we leave the quicker we get there.”

“By jove that’s what I like about you Primmers, you’re as smart as a whip.” The Doctor looked down and saw a foot poking out from under the meteor ship “Is that foot yours?”

Give me strength. “No, I just have the standard two, Doctor.

“Hmmm, it’s not mine so that mean they must grow feet as a crop in these parts.”

Primrose rolled her eyes knew sock puppets had more intelligence. “Yes, that would be it.” Nitwit.

“Okay – onwards to this Dan Sandisco place to find Tortunga.” Dr Garth marched into the space ship.

What will Anny do with Dr Garth on www.annycook.blogspot.com? Tune in tomorrow for all the answers from Anny. I will be back on Sunday….enjoy

www.freewebs.com/amarindajones/

Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?