Nothing Like Australia.

Did you guys know this is post 86?

So. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say... but none of it came out right. It was all about my friend and how truly amazing he was. But somehow I feel like it's my job to hold his memories close, and not the blogging world's.

So here we have it.

Most Bloggers I've encountered come from America. And America is VERY different to Australia (one way to really insult an Australian is by calling them either British or American, because we're not either). I can't explain in words how incredibly proud it makes me to be part of this country, and here are some of the reasons.

1. Kangaroos.


Oh come on, you all saw that coming. Kangaroos. They aren't found ANYWHERE else in the world, not even in the zoo. These amazing creatures can jump over six feet and can hop at speeds of about seventy kilometers an hour. They can grow to be seven feet tall. There's the grey kangaroo (the kind that hops through my backyard) or the red kangaroo, that only lives out in the bush.

2. Our money.


We have animals and races on our coins, not the queen... not our prime minister (thank goodness, she's shocking), not famous philosophers. We lay our claim to fame on the Aboriginal man on the two dollar coin, the kangaroo on our one dollar coin, the platypus on our twenty cent coin, the Mallee fowl on the ten cent coin, and an echidna on our five cent coin. NO, AN ECHIDNA IS NOT THE SAME AS A PORCUPINE. Our fifty cent coin varies every year.

3. Our beautiful cities...


...That are so completely and clearly divided from the rest of the country. I mean, where I live, you have to drive at least four hours to get to anywhere worth going to.

4. Our diverse culture...


...Which has survived despite every early European attempt to wipe it out. When the British first came here, they attempted to "breed the black" out of the Aboriginal people by taking their children and forcing them to live with European families. It didn't work, needless to say, but the Aboriginals didn't get their apology until a few years ago. We don't walk out on our own people.

5. Our slang...


It's commonly known as "Strine" in the Northern Hemisphere. I mean seriously, people love us just because we're hicks. That's pretty cool. I found this picture pretty accurate, actually. I say "she'll be right" a lot, call every tourist "mate" and say "fair dinkum" a lot. Less common in the city, though. Mostly found in tiny hick outback towns where everyone knows everyone or at least knows OF everyone. By the way, a kangaroo loose in the top paddock? It's like saying something is missing up there. Haha.

6. The wildlife.


Which includes the Tasmanian Devil (mean little things), the kookaburra, the echidna, the platypus, the kangaroo, the dingo, wallabies, blue-tongued lizards and WOMBATS. Wombats are my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES. I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this... BUT THEY'RE SO INCREDIBLY CUTE AND ADORABLE. Until they dig up your sprinklers. That sucks.

7. Melbourne Cup Day.


A day off to watch horses race and place bets. I win almost every year :D Look at those beautiful animals.

But there are other things to be proud of too. We are a country risen from Britain's ashes. We are the descendants of the people they exiled. We built our own world on our own foundations with nothing except wood and mud. We fought for our land when the Japanese invaded our ports AND WE WON. We went to Gallipoli with the British and the people of New Zealand even though it wasn't our war and we fought as hard as we could until the last siren was called.

We are the people that took the Aboriginal people's land away from them - AND THEN GAVE IT BACK. We are the ones that built our cities with the prospect of freedom on the horizon. We are the ones that cultivated the land, worked in the mines and helped America in Afghanistan. We are the ones that lost hundreds in flash flooding in Queensland and still sent relief teams to Japan in their crisis.

We're the ones who live out on the farms and know how to ride a horse before we can walk. We can identify seven kinds of snakes and know how to treat poison. We'd rather walk than take a bus or car, and when the time comes, we can all work together. We have never had a civil war.

When we were settled as a penal colony in the 1800's, none of the British ever saw us becoming such a beautiful country. Now, this is our land, a beautiful country with snow-capped mountains, red-soiled plains and deserts, tropical rainforests, outback farms and huge, glittering cities filled with lights. We have the second longest life expectancy in the world, we have the best medical care system in the world, and our education system is to be reckoned with.

For all those reasons, I will ALWAYS live here. This country is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of places. I've seen New Zealand, America, Rarotonga, parts of Greece. And I have never seen anywhere as beautiful as here. Compared to the rest of the countries in the world, we're very young. When the Americans and British were fighting for dominion of the USA, the Aboriginals were still writing prophecies and living at one with nature. And that's what makes it beautiful. Because we have so far yet to catch up. And I can't wait to see where it gets us.

[I came from the dream time, from the dust 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've been... the first 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 came upon the prison ship, bound 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'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, and I 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 winds 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.]

-A Solitary Blue.