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Monday, January 26, 2009

Have a Ripper Aussie Day Mates



Beaut. And if you catch one, don't overcook it.

In the early days of living in Australia I used to really like Rolf Harris after watching him through my childhood. I could not see how many Australians cringed when he came on and failed to enjoy the obvious self parody. Now that I have been here for a while I am much more likely to listen to Paul Kelly and unfortunately something my daughter chooses.

Just spent a couple of days on the road returning from Canberra along the River Murray. What a great drive and what a beautiful country, driving through parts many Australians don't get to see. If you could just arrange to get rid of some of the Truckies on the Hume Highway, that would be great. We saw kangaroos and Emus, went to the Pioneer Settlement at Swan Reach, which had a scottish pipe band timed for Burns Night, a three wheeled Glasgow Tractor from the early 1900s (who knew), passed through lots of communities with funny names and met some friendly Aussies. We got to see the bizarre looking Scottish submarine at Otaway, the Huge Murray Cod at Swan Reach and the Big Orange at Berri. How Aussie is that.

Coming over the hill from Swan Reach to Mannum was one of the greatest drives I have taken as the sun set over the rolling brown hills and then there was the free ferry at Mannum. The change in the character of the Murray as we drove along was stunning. Sometimes a wide channel, sometimes almost non existent, some interesting bridges and then the scale at Swan Reach and Mannum. I hope the politicians can work something out and that it rains a bit.

Thanks for having me Australia. I like it here.

And I still like Rolf Harris, although I don't tell many people.

6 comments:

Lilly said...

Happy Australia Day to you. Well I kind of like Rolf Harris now though. I think I must be getting old. But he is a really talented Australian. I used to work for a guy that looked exactly like him. When he went to the UK he had to wear a Tshirt that said No, I am not Rolf Harris because people thought he was.

Become an Aussie citizen, go on. You seem more Australian then a lot of Australians and have a great sense of humour that we need to cultivate a bit mroe here. We are getting too serious! You still keep your British citizenship dont you? My sister and family just had to get British citizenship - they have been there 9 years but coming home in August. Their son wants to stay and go to uni there. The joys of it all.

Have a great one! Oh and Happy Burns Day I added it to my post. I completely forgot - thanks for the reminder.

Frances said...

Happy Australia Day.
It's a pleasure having you here.

Jayne said...

Belated Happy Oz Day back at ya, Colin :)
Used to like Rolf, then went through the cringe factor-period but now I appreciate him as a musician and artist again.

Colin Campbell said...

We loved the wobble board and huge improvised paintings on television when we were kids.

River said...

Those huge paintings were the best part of the Rolf Harris show for me. Buckets of paint, a few dabs here, a few dabs there, an entire scene made in a minute or two. Then he'd pick up the wobble board and sing a song that went with the painting. Does he still do that?

Colin Campbell said...

I have not seen him recently. I was surprised not to see a portrait of him last week at the National Portrait Gallery. I must have missed it. Surely there must be a portrait of Rolf?