I seem to have polarised views on the subject of films ranging from them that never watch one to them that watch heaps and love them all even Boyhood. Well we watched a couple of films over Easter and both were Boyhoodish though obviously shorter, thank every deity. The first one was Charlies Country about an Aboriginal elder going walkabout after suffering the usual methods of abuse from white fellas and some other random people. Saying it like that makes it sound as if something happened but it didn’t really. The last offering was Tracks a true story about a lady who wanted to walk from Alice Spring to the west coast in the company of four camels. Now the obvious question is why would you, and unfortunately I never understood it even after sitting through it. Highlights include the usual abuse by white fellas and some other random people, does this sound familiar. However there was a body count namely two wild camels, well they would be wouldn’t they and her dog. This story line about the dog was so obvious the only surprise is it took so long to actually happen, but thinking about it the dog had to save her life first. I’m not going to say how just in case you want to watch a lady walking through miles of desert with four camels.
They, the ubiquitous and unknown they, have burnt part of the forest where we walk the dogs and it has become a bird magnet. Even after all the rain we had the other day there are still a few hot spots smouldering away quietly which show how recent it’s been set alight but they certainly reduced the fuel load by a lot. The first bird I saw taking advantage of the openness was that Australian bush icon the Laughing Kookaburra, it was feeding on what looked like a small snake or legless lizard. I tried a photo but it’s like spot the bird time. There were also lots of small stuff about as well especially yellow-rumped thornbills and their brown cousins. Also lots of Fairy-wrens hopping around too but the biggest surprise was a group of White-winged Choughs which I have never even heard around here let alone seen them. They are quite the noisiest most garrulous species and as they go round in large family groups how can you miss them. Unfortunately I had already counted most of them in the good old Bird of the Day so it fell to the Rufous Whistler shouting its head off.
Now for the BIG news Holly is going to France in August for a conference and I am coming along as chauffeur and bag carrier. We are meeting the nearly in laws for a week after the conference and I am taking an extra week to go to the UK. More details will follow but it is very exciting.