The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "O"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

O.S.: Over Sea's

Ocker: Unsophisticated person [stereotyped uncultured Aussie male]

Off One's Face: Drunk [extremely drunk]

Off the Beaten Track: Away from the main stream of traffic, seldom used road/roads

Open Slather: Anything goes - a free-for-all

On for Young and Old: This is usually referring to a fight or an argument - involving everyone

On the Nose: Smells awful

Outback: Remote country - bush location

Out in the Sticks: In the bush, away from civilisation, or in a remote area

Outhouse: The toilet was in it's own little "house" in the back yard

Oz: Nick name for Australia

Now for something very Australian beginning with "O"

web photo - Yalgoo Shire

Outback!

The Outback is the vast, remote, arid interior of Australia. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush" which, colloquially, can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas.

Early European exploration of inland Australia was sporadic. More focus was on the more accessible and fertile coastal areas. The first party to successfully cross the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney was led by Gregory Blaxland in 1813, 25 years after the colony was established. 

The Overland Telegraph line was constructed in the 1870's along the route identified by John McDouall Stuart. While the early explorers used horses to cross the outback, the first woman to actually make the journey riding a horse was Anna Hingley, who rode from Broome to Cairns in 2006.

Other than agriculture and tourism, the main economic activity in this vast and sparsely settled area is mining. Owing to the complete absence of mountain building and glaciation since the Permian (in many areas since the Cambrian) ages, the outback is extremely rich in iron, aluminium, manganese and uranium ores, and also contains major deposits of gold, nickel, iron, lead and zinc ores. Because of its size, the value of grazing and mining is considerable. Major mines and mining areas in the outback include opals at Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs, metals at Broken Hill, Tennant Creek, Olympic Dam and the remote Challenger Mine. Oil and gas are extracted in the Cooper Basin around Moomba.

In Western Australia the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley is the world's biggest producer of natural diamonds (including the rare pink and red diamonds) and contributes approximately one-third of the world's natural supply. The Pilbara region's economy is dominated by mining and petroleum industries.  Most of Australia's iron ore is also mined in the Pilbara and it also has one of the world's major manganese mines.

I grew up in the Pilbara - my parents took us from the outback of South Australia to the outback of Western Australia in the late 1960's and I stayed there until I moved to the big smoke (ie the city - approx 1000 miles/1600 kms away!) in the early 1990's.

Web image

As an aside.... for those of you that buy Dinky Dyes threads... they have a red thread called Pilbara!  I love reading their thread names - they started their thread dyeing business while they lived here in Perth so there are quite a few West Australian names as well as Aussie names in their thread ranges :o)

So that's it for "O".... quick and simple!  Next month is "P" - I was going to doing something on the Pilbara but might rethink that one now!

Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "O".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "N"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Sorry another late post......

Aussie "N" words - well there's not a lot that I could find but here's a couple for you.

Never, never: the Outback of Australia
Nipper: young life saver
Noggin: head
No drama: no worries

When it comes to Aussie Icon foods that begin with "N" I must admit that I hit a rather large stumbling block there!  So then I thought about other icons and I remembered a most wonderful lady - Nancy-Bird Walton.

Web image
Nancy-Bird Walton in a Gipsy Moth at Kingsford-Smith Flying School (1933)

Nancy-Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ (16 October 1915 – 13 January 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviator, and was the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association. In the 1930s, defying the traditional role of females of her time, she became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19, and became the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence.

Born in Kew, New South Wales, Australia on 16 October 1915 as Nancy Bird, she wanted to fly almost as soon as she could walk. As a teenager during the Depression in Australia, Nancy Bird found herself in the same position as many other children of the time, leaving school at 13 to assist her family. In 1933, at the age of 18, her passion drove her to take flying lessons. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who was the first man to fly across the mid-Pacific, had just opened a pilots' school near Sydney, and she was among his first pupils. Most women learned to fly for recreation, but Nancy planned to fly for a living.

When she was awarded a commercial pilot's license at the age of 19, through a legacy of 200 pounds from a Great Aunt plus money loaned from her father, Nancy bought her first aircraft, a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. Soon after Nancy Bird and her friend Peggy McKillop took off on a barnstorming tour, dropping in on country fairs and giving joyrides to people who had never seen an aircraft before, let alone a female pilot. Whilst touring, Bird met Reverend Stanley Drummond. He wanted her to help set up a flying medical service in outback New South Wales. In 1935, she was hired to operate the service, named the Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme. Bird's own Gipsy Moth was used as an air ambulance. She bought a better-equipped aircraft, and began covering territory not yet reached by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

In 1936, Nancy Bird entered an air race from Adelaide to Brisbane, and won the Ladies' Trophy. After World War II broke out she began training women in skills needed to back up the men flying in the Royal Australian Air Force. She was 24 when she married an Englishman, Charles Walton, and had two children. He preferred to call her "Nancy-Bird" rather than "Nancy", and she became generally known as "Nancy-Bird Walton". In 1950, she founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association (AWPA), where she remained president for five years. She was the starting block for generations of female pilots.  The National Trust of Australia declared her an Australian Living Treasure in 1997.
(information obtained from Wiki and other web sources)




Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "N".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "M"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Maccas (pron. "mackers") : McDonald's (the hamburger place)
Mallee bull, as fit as a : very fit and strong. The Mallee is very arid beef country in Victoria/South Australia.
Mate : buddy, friend
Mate's rate, mate's discount : cheaper than usual for a "friend"
Matilda : swagman's bedding, sleeping roll
Metho : methylated spirits
Mickey Mouse : excellent, very good. Beware though - in some parts of Australia it means inconsequential, frivolous or not very good!
Middy : 285 ml beer glass in New South Wales
Milk bar : corner shop that sells takeaway food
Milko : milkman
Mob : group of people, not necessarily troublesome
Mob : family or group of kangaroos
Moolah : money
Mozzie : mosquito
Muddy : mud crab (a great delicacy)
Mug : friendly insult ("have a go, yer mug"), gullible person
Muster : round up sheep or cattle
Mystery bag : a sausage

"It's moments like these that you need Minties"

Minties is a brand of confectionery originating in Australia and manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand. They are a hard, white and chewy, square mint-flavoured lolly, which on chewing become so sticky that they are notorious for causing fillings to come out! Minties are wrapped in waxed paper with a cartoon underneath the logo with the common caption "It's moments like these you need Minties".  About 500 million are consumed each year.

Below is a Minties moment caption that I prepared earlier for you!!!

So that's it for my slightly late post of the Alphabet Club!



Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "M".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "L"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Lair/Lairy: a flashily dressed young man of brash and vulgar behaviour, to dress up in flashy clothes, to renovate or dress up something in bad taste (it's a bit lairy!)
Larrikin: a bloke who is always enjoying himself, harmless prankster
Lend of, to have a: to take advantage of somebody's gullibility, to have someone on ("he's having a lend of you") 
Lingo: language
Lizard drinking, flat out like a: flat out, busy
Lob, lob in: drop in to see someone ("the rellies have lobbed") 
Local rag: local newspaper
Lollies: sweets, candy
Longneck: 750ml bottle of beer in South Australia
Lucky Country, The: Australia, where else?

Now there is only one food that springs to mind when you think of Aussie foods beginning with "L" - Lamingtons!!!

These scrummy cakes are pieces of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut... plain and simple!  Although these days they are being changed to be red, green or yellow instead of chocolate and sometimes are cut in half and filled with jam and cream.  Nothing beats the classic plain lamington though.

There is some confusion about exactly how it was discovered but most of the stories tend to agree it was named for Lord Lamington (Governor of Queensland) and that it was invented either by accident, or design, by his chef or maidservant in the late 1890's/early 1900's.  It doesn't really matter... they taste just the same now matter how they came about!!

So that's it for my very late post of the Alphabet Club!

Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "L".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "K"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Oops.... I completely missed the first Saturday of June... but here I am with my post for the next letter of the alphabet... "K"

Below are a couple of Aussie "K" words... nothing too exciting I'm afraid!

Kangaroos loose in the top paddock: Intellectually inadequate ("he's got kangaroos loose in the top paddock")
Kelpie: Australian sheepdog originally bred from Scottish collie
Kero: kerosene
Kindie: kindergarten
Knock: to criticise
Knock back: refusal (noun), refuse (transitive verb)
Knocker: somebody who criticises

Two of our national animals start with a "K"..  Kangaroos and Koalas

web image

Both of these animals are well loved by Australians and both have featured in lots of TV shows and stories over the years.  I grew up with 2 iconic children's stories - "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" and "Blinky Bill".

web image

2016 marks the 50th Anniversary of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo on Australian Television.  The show ran from 1966 - 1970 in the first instance, however it was repeated for many years on Australian TV.

web image

Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala and children's fictional character created by author and illustrator Dorothy Wall and he first appeared in 1933.  The books are considered quintessential Australian children's classics, and have never been out of print in Australia.  There has also been an animated series on TV as well as a movie produced over the last few years.

As you have seen over the last couple of posts I started back stitching on my ABC Chats during the Stitch MAYnia challenge.  My kitties now look like this:

So while I may have now started D, E, F & G.... I am still behind...

That's it for my "K" post.... see you again soon with another stitching update and a couple of finishes.



Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "K".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "J"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Well, it's that time of the month again... the first Saturday of May has now arrived which means that it is time to head for detention and do up a post for the next letter of the alphabet... "J"

There really isn't a lot of "J" words that are unique to Australia... and to be honest I think I am taking a couple liberties with the list below... but here goes!

Jackaroo: a male trainee station manager or station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property)
Jelly: a flavoured water based gelatin desert (jell-o) - Aeroplane Jelly is the best!!
Jiffy: a very short time eg: I'll be back in a jiffy
Jillaroo: a female trainee station manager or station hand
Joe Bloggs: an average person in the street
Joey: baby kangaroo
Journo: journalist
Jumbuck: sheep (as mentioned in the song "Waltzing Matilda")

I must admit that I struggled this month trying to find something iconic to talk about for "J".. but I did come up with Jaffas!

Jaffas is an Australian registered trademark for a small round sweet consisting of a soft chocolate centre with a hard covering of orange flavoured, red coloured confectionery. The name derives from the Jaffa orange. The sweet is part of both Australiana and Kiwiana.  Through association with this sweet, Jaffa is sometimes used to describe a chocolate-orange flavour.

James Stedman-Henderson's Sweets Ltd released Jaffas onto the Australian and New Zealand markets in 1931.  The confectionery is currently made in Australia by Allen's lollies, a division of Nestlé and in New Zealand by Cadbury. The Cadbury Jaffas are also exported to Australia.

I haven't had a Jaffa since I was a kid... but I do have fond memories of them, especially when we were at the drive-in movies as they were great to throw at the people sitting in front of you!! :o)

Now I am pretty sure that other countries also have Jaffas or something similar.. but I couldn't think of anything else that started with a "J" except Aeroplane Jelly and that's a real stretch for a J word!!

As you have seen over the last couple of posts I have started back stitching on my ABC Chats.  With a bit of luck I will soon have another one to show on the Alphabet posts!

So that's all for today.... it's back to my Stitch Maynia starts now!



Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "I".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "I"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Did you notice I am on time this month.... Lets see if I can amaze you with an "I" post!

Icebergs: people who swim in winter regardless of weather and water temperature
Icky: a difficult situation or predicament; or unpleasant surroundings or environment
Icy pole, ice block: frozen popsicle, lollypop
Iffy: dodgy
It's gone walkabout: it's lost, can't be found
Idiot box: Television
In like Flynn: a person who is enthusiastic, lively or swift in deeds, actions, or dealings with others
Ironbark: extremely tough hardwood lumber
Ironman: a muscular, healthy life saver; or one who competes in triathlon events
Iron Underpants: girdles, figure controlling underwear

Iced VoVo
Today's Aussie food institution item is a biscuit that I grew up with... and I loved so much I could devour a whole packet on my own!  Today unfortunately they are bit too sweet for me... and I swear they are not quite the same as they were in the 1970's!

web image

An Iced VoVo is a wheat flour biscuit topped with a strip of pink fondant on either side of a strip of raspberry jam and sprinkled with coconut.

It's made by biscuit company Arnott’s, an Australian food institution itself and now a subsidiary of U.S.-based Campbell Soup Company. Previously known as Iced Vo-Vo biscuits, the brand was first registered in 1906.

On 24 November 2007, the Australian Prime Minister at the time, Kevin Rudd, made a light-hearted mention of Iced VoVos in his election victory speech, jokingly urging his team to have a strong cup of tea with an Iced VoVo before getting to work. This reportedly led to skyrocketing Iced VoVo sales, prompting Arnott's to send a shipping pallet of the biscuits to the Prime Minister's office in Canberra's New Parliament House.

So there you go... That's it from me for this month's Alphabet Club post... I am now going to have a strong cup of tea (the only way to drink tea!) and a Iced VoVo to celebrate it being Saturday and I managed to get to Detention on time for a change!!


Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "I".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "H"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Detention is so not my thing lately.... I always was a goodie two-shoes at school so it was very rare that I had to spend any time in Detention... which is probably why yet again I am late with my Detention post!!!

This month we are looking at the letter "H".  Again this is a letter that doesn't have a lot of spectacular or typical Aussie slang words/sayings attached to it but I have found a few...

Hack it: to tolerate something or to keep up (can't hack it means to give up)
Hair of the dog: an alcoholic drink taken to relieve a hangover (I suspect this isn't a typical Aussie thing these days!)
Half your luck: an expression often indicating envy of one's goodwill can also be a congratulatory remark or best wishes blessing
Hard yacka: hard work
Hassle: to give problems, complications or aggravations
Have a yarn: have a chat with someone
He’s got tickets on himself: person who thinks he is the greatest
He played a Barry: he did shockingly badly (Barry is short for Barry Crocker and rhymes with shocker. Crocker sang the theme tune for the Australian soap Neighbours)
Homestead: main residence on a sheep or cattle station (ranch or farm)
Hoon: idiot, hooligan (generally some idiot that likes to drive way too fast or do burn outs in their cars!)
Hooroo: goodbye

So now onto food.... and we can't have the letter H with mentioning the Hamburger with the lot!!

So what is a hamburger with the lot?  Well....  it must be said upfront that I am not talking about the burgers that are sold via the Golden Arches or HJ's... I am talking about the burger with “the lot” that is only available at pubs, restaurants and take-away or fish and chip shops throughout Oz. Our version of the hamburger must include the following toppings between the bread buns to be truly a burger with the lot:

- Beef patty
- Cheese
- Onion (generally cooked but can be raw)
- Beetroot
· Pineapple slice
- Fried egg (with soft yolk)
- Bacon
- Tomato slice
- Lettuce
- Tomato sauce (or BBQ sauce... I am purest so it's tom sauce only for me!)
- Optional mayo and/or mustard

NB: the burger is traditionally eaten with thick cut hot chips (french fries)!

(Do you know how hard it was to find a picture of a traditional hamburger with the lot? There are so many gourmet versions these days but the pic below is pretty close)

Doesn't that look good enough to eat!!

Our style of burger is so much a part of our culture that the Golden Arches has a burger in Australia called the "McOz" and HJ's has one called the "Aussie Burger".  Neither taste like a real takeaway shop burger but they will do when one is desperate!! :o)

That's it from me for this month's Alphabet Club post...



Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "H".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "G"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

I must hang my head in shame.... not only am I really late for Detention Posting... but yet again I have no update on the ABC Chats - they still look like this.....

Oh well, that what happens when life and crazy challenges get in the way!

I spent some time the other day doing some research on "G" words and you know what - there isn't an awful lot of "G" words in our slang that I can post here.... but I did find a couple!

G'day: good day; standard Australian greeting; hello
Galah: a loudmouthed idiot; someone easily duped
Goat: a fool
Grouse: something good
Gi-normous: huge (gigantic/enormous).
Grundies: undies, underwear (from Reg Grundy, a television person)
Goog: another name for a chicken egg (as in "googgie egg") but strangely we also have a saying "full as a goog" which has nothing to do with eggs!!
The “G": short for the MCG (Melbourne) - hallowed turf for AFL and cricket supporters!
Gabba: Woolongabba Cricket Ground (Brisbane)

I could not find any typically Aussie foods that begin with "G" so I thought I would leave you with a picture of a pink and grey Galah!

web image
In the wild these guys can live for 25 years... but in captivity they can live for up to 50 years!

When I was growing up we had one of these lovely birds as a pet - his name was Sport and he was given to me by an old couple because I used to go and visit him all the time!  (I am not sure why they did that - maybe they were going travelling.... I was only 5 so can't remember that far back!!)  

Anyway I digress!  Sport travelled with us from South Australia to the far flung reaches of Western Australia (Flinders to the Pilbara) and he lived to a ripe old age.  Because his previous owners had clipped his wing he couldn't fly so he didn't have to stay in his cage all the time - he would go wandering around inside the house and around the garden and would follow us kids and the dog around like a shadow.  As he got older though he got quite cantankerous and would hide by the back door and nip your ankles when you came out!

We have photos of him doing silly things like hanging off my baby sister's nappy and pulling it off her backside... and climbing inside the dog food tin to eat the jelly that stuck to the sides (his favourite thing to do!).  He also used to put his head inside the dog's mouth... goodness knows why! They were very close.... :o)

I have no idea how old he was when we got him (over 10 years old anyway) and we estimated that when he finally passed away he must have been well over 30 years (maybe older!).

So that's it for my very late "G" post..... hope you enjoyed my galah tale!

If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "G".  Posting is normally the first Saturday of the month.

See you next time... Happy stitching



Cheerio for now!
Hugs xx

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "F"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

2016 is here..... and I missed Saturday's Detention!  Oops!! 

But as the old saying goes - better late than never!  So here goes, it's time for

"The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

I must hang my head in shame.... no update on the ABC Chats again this month..... so they still look the same as they did last month.... I am now 3 letters behind in my stitching on this one (ooh... 3 new starts for the January challenge!!)

So.... "F".... what did I find that we Aussies like to say beginning with "F"?

Fair dinkum: true, genuine
Fair crack of the whip: ease up; don't be too hard on someone - give them a fair go
Fair suck of the sav!: exclamation of wonder, awe, disbelief ("sav" is also slang for a savaloy - type of hot dog sausage) 
Fairy floss: candy floss, cotton candy
Flake: shark's flesh (sold in fish & chips shops)
Flake out: fall asleep, tired
Flat out like a lizard drinking / Flat chat / Flat out: extremely busy or travelling very fast
Footy: Australian Rules football
Fremantle (Freo) Doctor: the cooling afternoon breeze that arrives in Perth from the direction of Freo (we Perth-ites call the Freo Doctor our saving grace on a hot summer's day)
Freo: short for Fremantle in Western Australia (best place for coffee and fish & chips by the beach!) and the adopted home of AC/DC's Bon Scott!! (his grave and memorial statue are located in Freo)
Fruit loop: fool, silly...
Full as a goog (or boot): full of food after a big meal or drunk (boot)

Food beginning with "F"... well on this occasion I just can't go past one of my favourite lollies:

It's the tales for movie fans that make it famous.

Fantales - a favourite Australian food, the delectable bite-sized treat is made up of chewy caramel coated in milk chocolate.  It's renowned for it's yellow and blue wrapping scribed with movie trivia, a marketing move that has endeared the treat to DVD groupies and movie goers over the years.  I grew up with these... and I still love them! Yummy :o)

If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "F".

I will be back over the next couple of days with a January stitching update.... happy stitching



Cheerio for now!
Hugs xx

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "E

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

Yesterday was the first Saturday in December.... 

which means it is time to post for

"The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Sorry but it would appear that I am late for detention this month... and I have failed in my homework over the last month as I haven't managed to start stitching on Kitty "D" or even "E".  For those of you that haven't seen the kitties so far I have managed to finish the first three in the entirety now...

When doing my research for the "E" post I discovered we actually don't have a lot of slang starting with "E", but I do have two for you.  Both are probably not just Aussie words... but we do use them alot...

Earbashing: nagging, non-stop chatter
Esky: large insulated food/drink container for picnics, barbecues etc.

So seeing as I can't give you lots of "E" words how about some strange Aussie animals starting with "E"?

Echidna - sometimes known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. Their diet consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas. Echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea.

Echidnas evidently evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme.  This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to being terrestrial so they could live life on land.

The echidnas are named after Echidna, a creature from Greek mythology who was half-woman, half-snake, as the animal was perceived to have qualities of both mammals and reptiles.

Emu - the second-largest living bird in the world by height after its relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird.

Emus are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and legs, and can reach up to 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in height. Emus can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 50 km/h (30 mph); they forage for a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating. They drink infrequently, but take in copious amounts of water when the opportunity arises.

While I have never seen an Echidna in the wild I have seen plenty of emus!  In the Pilbara town that I grew up in we had a very friendly emu named "Hookey" who used to come to visit us in the early 70's. One of our favourites things to do was put a biscuit on our heads and Hookey would then take the biscuit off our head ever so gently!  Unfortunately as the town grew and more people arrived dear old Hookey was taken away as the new people that came from town were frightened of him.

So that's it for the "E' post.... short and sweet!  Next month hopefully I will have an update on my ABC Chats for you to see.

If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "E".



Cheerio for now!
Hugs xx