Last Updated on March 23, 2015 by Red Nomad OZ
It’s amazing how easy – and fun – it is to compose doggerel a new stanza for my favourite RED Aussie things!
AND what better way to celebrate this fabulous Australia Day with some new RED OZ stuff!!
I’m a loud and proud Aussie – so of course I’m going to show off all the OZ good bits to inspire you to travel downunder to, and/or explore Australia!! My recent post ‘H is for Holiday’ showcased some amazing Aussie holiday spots Pilchard and I have visited over the last ~21 years. But I’m sure there are amazing spots in YOUR country too. So my REAL message is – don’t put off finding the world’s wondrous and fantastic places – wherever they are! Get out and explore – then show the rest of the world what you’ve found! Wherever you are, cheap holidays are within everyone’s grasp – work out what you want to do and make it happen!!
But in the meantime, whether you’re an armchair traveller, or just looking for some downunder entertainment and escapism, sit back and enjoy the Australia Day edition of My FavouRED OZ Things! For the full as-Red-Nomad-OZ-intended experience, sing the words to the tune of ‘My Favourite Things’* I can’t guarantee it’ll sound better (it doesn’t when I sing!!), but YOU’LL feel great! And that’s what counts!!
Happy Australia Day!!
RED Aussie wildflowers.
RED Outback landscapes that go on for hours;
RED rusting old buildings;
RED-tailed black cockatoo;
RED HOT gidgee coals for our camp-oven stew!
Footprints in RED sand; and
Giant RED rock stacks.
RED OZ kangaroos; and
Long RED camel race-tracks!
(insert picture of yourself here!)
These FavouREDOZ Things fill my heart with delight!
When in DANGER;
When the tree stings;
When the roads are bad …
I’m so lucky to have all my FavouREDOZ Things,
And all those good times I’ve had!
Want MORE?
* Apologies, as always, to Rodgers & Hammerstein for shamelessly exploiting paying homage to their ‘My Favourite Things’ from ‘The Sound of Music’
** Photos by Pilchard
What ya gonna to do when you run out of red things?
Be a bit Blue… bum bum.
I bet you wish you had a dollar for every time someone said that.
Your photos make me green… keep road trippin’ and finding that red stuff.
@River – The countryside is kind of unmistakeable! But still amazing it looked familiar after all that time! Or maybe it wasn’t that long and you’re only pretending to be your age 🙂
@Betty – If you’re not an Aussie on Australia Day, all I can say is it sucks to be you!!!
@JM – Well … make it happen!! It probably won’t be THAT hard to out-do my photos!!
@foottrackerluvya – Hey, never thought of it like that – but you’re right!!!
@Raphael & Yvonne – Maybe one day I’ll show some other colours! But there’s still plenty of red to go!
@Angela – Are you serious? Yvonne is your daughter?? Maybe you all should plan a family trip downunder!
@Suzy – They’re pretty hard to beat! But don’t take my word for it – come on down & see for yourself!
@Tracey – Hahaha!! The red stuff is still pouring in … won’t be running out any time soon!!
I haven’t been to Australia to experience all of these glorious red things, but I would bet the red skies would end up being my favorite just based off of that one picture of yours. Gorgeous!
I see, my daughter Yvonne have you written.
So wonderful landscape. I like it.
Greetings, Angela
Great post!
Very interesting to see the red side of Australia!
Many greetings and have a nice rest of the week!
Yvonne & Raphael
Red! Perfect since past week was the Lunar New Year too!
That red sky photo is amazing! The color looks like an volcano eruption!
Hope I will post on my adventures in Australia some day. 🙂 Great shots.
australia sure is a paradise!
what an abundant of flora and fauna there.
your country is really fascinating!
i hope you’ve had a great australia day!
big hugs!
I’ve just found Island Lagoon on my SA map, it’s very close to the station I was on. No wonder that bit of country looks so familiar.
I wasn’t as far north as Coober Pedy, I was a little way west off the Stuart Highway, a little more than halfway between Port Augusta and Woomera. I might dredge the memory and see if I can remember more about it. I was only 15-16 at the time.
Beautiful RED captures! Those Sturt Desert Peas are magnificent!
@EGWow – Thanx! It’s amazing just how much red I notice now that I’m looking for it! And NOTHING beats an Aussie Outback campfire!!
@NixBlog – Thank you! It’s such a thrill to see them flowering in the wild!
@Al – Great! Let’s talk!!
@Rinkly Rimes – You’re welcome! I keep hinting to Tourism OZ that I should be – but so far they’ve not taken the bait!
@Mrs Tuna – Ah yes. Is that a reward? Or a punishment??!! Only kidding, you’re very kind. But I’ve read your post, so the jury’s out!!
@Dina – Why pick just one favourite? Enjoy them all!!
@Diane – Haha! Now THERE’S a scary thought …
@TMWH – They’re both spectacular, but in different ways! But the black cockies are a personal favourite – don’t often see that many in one spot!
@PDP – Haha! What do you expect after months on the road far, far away from hairdressing facilities??!! But thanx for pointing it out anyway …
@SFlaGuy – Haha! OR ‘mis’-interpretation as the case may be!
@George – I sure did! Glad you enjoyed my celebrations!!
@Glen – Oh, OK. Now you’re splitting hairs. But my question to you is: What’s the base colour of burgundy? HHMMmm??
@Gemma – That’s a magnificent way of putting it – fragments of eternity! I feel a new blog post coming on …
Lots of great red photos here – the sunset is spectacular, the sign is scary, and I’ve never seen stinging trees before (although I remember stinging nettles from when I grew up). I’d love to be a Red Alert guest at some point, I’ve got some much better photos of Garden of the Gods which highlight the reds, so maybe when I put those up? Thanks.
Wow! Red is all around you! I’d love to be sitting in front of a campfire right now. 🙂
As lovely as always! I especially love the shade of red on those desert peas, but the cockatoos have excellent tail feathers too.
Fabulous! I can’t wait for the musical!!!
I love your red photos. I’m trying to decide on my favorite….maybe the trees and/or the cockatoos.
Amazing!
If I wasn’t here already your blog would get me packing my bags!!!! What patriotism and great photography. That Eungella Plateau looks delectable. I can see myself in that chair with a long cold drink! Thanks for following. Mine is not basically a pro-Oz blog, but, sometimes, I lapse into superlatives. And I’m in Newcastle, which hasn’t got a great photographic reputation. You should take it in sometime. By the way, are you employed by the Tourist Bureau?
Award time for you…because I’m crafty like that.
http://workingwomansguidetodinner.blogspot.com/2012/01/winner-winner-chicken-dinner.html
I hope you had a wonderful Australia Day. Your photos show just how much you have to celebrate in your beautiful and fascinating country.
Love the sense of vast space you have captured here – as if our world of Australia shares fragments of eternity for those who seek a glimpse! Stunning variety of red icons! The red eucalypt flower is always a summer joy!
Those wildflowers look more burgendy to me – you are cheating Red 🙂
Love the sign. Not a lot of room for interpretation.
I think you might have left something out in the campfire scene Red…. Red’s red hair!! I’m just saying…Another great post, if there’s anything red in Oz you’re going to find it..btw happy belated Australia Day Red.
@River – Working on a sheep station? You’re one up on me! These pix are en route to Coober Pedy – is that near where you were?
@Beach Bum – I guess you can be an honorary Aussie for the day!! HAppy OZ day to you too, mate!
@Sallie – The Outback sunsets ARE incredible! But I now realise they’re not completely unique!!
@SaucyKod – SNOW!!! Unimaginable!! We’ve had our 11th day in a row over 30 (most 35+)!!!
@Adrianne – Yes, if the colour is RED!!!
@Windsmoke – And to you, my friend!
@Magda – Why, thank you!! So great to get your wonderful comments – it’s always fabulous to know my ‘work’ isn’t dropping into a black hole somewhere! You’re right about EVERYTHING!!
@Mary – SO many wild and untamed places I’ve visited downunder; so many more yet to be seen!!
@Wendy – The worst thing about stinging trees? The leaves are a perfect shape to double as loo paper if you’ve run out!! Luckily, I haven’t fallen for THAT one yet!
@Marshall Stacks – Hey, welcome back! I’d forgotton all about that show!!!
@My Journey with Candida – And at risk of sounding egotistical, so do I!!
@Riet – Amazing that while our countries are so different, we both have wonderful RED trees and magnificent RED sunsets!
@Courtney – It’s always a thrill to see a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo – but lots altogether? Priceless! Hope you make it downunder one day!!
@Jane & Lance – Ah, survival without a bathroom … All I can say is the benefits outweigh the inconveniences (so to speak)! And as for your ‘Ocker’ (that’s Aussie) slang? You’re a bonza sheila, and a top bloke for giving it a red hot go!! Email for translation if that doesn’t make sense …
@Andrew – no need for shame … Gidgee is a type of tree that makes the BEST firewood!! We’d never heard of it either until we went Outback!!
@Joan Elizabeth – And it looks like we’re BOTH amongst friends!
@FruitCake – Hahaha! Didn’t think anyone would notice the sock/thong dynamic duo!! What can I say? At least you didn’t comment on the trakky daks …
@diane b – Maybe we should get together and form a tuneless choir??!! See above response re socks & thongs …
@Flea – Thanx! And look out for plenty more RED to come!
Belated Happy Australia Day Red! Your pix are fabulous; thank you for sharing…. the one of you by the campfire just looks so inviting…
The red sunrise/sunset? looks like here — I could have dedicated by most recent Skywatch to you.
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
We r getting snowed UNDER this day. Really bad and warm n snuggly in house.
Loved this post, especially the cockatoo and red photos, loved your campfire and Red’s red hair.
Take care kiddo and keep em coming, eh !
Happy Australia day!
Great pictures!
The outback track near the Island Lagoon and the Sturts Desert Peas bring back memories. I lived and worked on a sheep station in the outback for several months as a teenager, the surrounding countryside was exactly like that.
wonderful photos thank you for the kanga tracks, sturts desert peas and those black cairns cockies.
Australia – you’re standing in it.
Happy Australia Day!! Loved the post and I thought our prickly pear cactus was bad, it sounds like the stinging trees are worse, ekk…
Hello,
Thank you so much for commenting on my blog the other day, I did get the email alert about the comment, but didn’t get to my blog until now to read and visit.
I love your RED for the day, Happy Australia day!!
I was mentioning to a friend the other day that “I don’t want to tame everything around me into landscaping.” This is an excellent example of NOT doing that.
~Mary
Actually Red, I could hear the song arise in my mind as I travelled the scenes… I think your Celebrating Australia Day in Red is a lovely way to sing ‘My Favourite Things’ to.
The Eucalypt I feel is one of the most beautiful Trees on this Earth, and seeing the Sturts Desert Peas in their natural surroundings is awesome.
Has me desire to create such a landscape patch in my own garden if I had one, just to enjoy a beautiful vase created by Nature.
The more I learn about Australia, the more I am humbled and awed by its way of expressing vastness, and physically showing the meaning of infinity.
Seeing old structures that were once inhabited, and knowing the kind of climates Australia enjoys having in grand variety, I feel thorough admiration for the stoic courage early Settlers would have had to build in themselves to live and thrive in such buildings.
The photo you achieved with the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos is well, absolutely wonderful.
The Kangaroo footprints are beautiful… Emu’s look rather deadly. Seeing them side-by-side has me experience what it means to read the Story they tell.
The DANGER sign… spooky
and the OUCH sign… itchy pain
Beautiful Post…
but with your exuberance involved, all your Posts have wonderful Stories to tell and inspire seeing.
Thanks
Bonza photos. Happy Australia Day Cobber :-).
Hello Red:
Happy Oz Day to you,mate!!!
[We are trying to get the hang of the Australian way of saying things, do you think that this is the correct way to address a local on Australia Day?]
We have loved the red highlights, our favourite being the camel track as that brought back such happy memories of your post and the sheer craziness of camel racing in Australia.
Having seen the picture of you round your camp fire, we have to say that we are in awe of your outdoor skills. We have only camped once in our lives and ever since vowed that we could not go anywhere that did not have a proper bathroom. How would we survive?
Red, my favorite pics were the black birds with the red (what a great photo you caught of them!) and the sunset. Stunning! I mean, don’t get me wrong. All the photos were awesome. Those just happened to be my faves. THX for sharing your wonderful land for all to see. Australia is someplace I’ve wanted to go for 30 years now. One day I will make it there. I always seem to meet Aussies wherever I go. Them and Canucks are my favorite “breeds”. (For lack of a better word.) We always seem to meet up with awesome Canadians or Aussies on our travels and it tells me that their lands make good people!
HI Red.
THose red trees are the same as those here I believe. And you have a lot of beautiful reds. THat sunset is stunning.
Riet
Look at all your RED’S. Beautiful, I love the red tailed black cockatoo and your sunset and your campfire and….. etc…. I guess I like them all.
I sang along but i”m glad no one was listening. A good Aussie version. I love the socks and thongs in front of the camp fire. The number of Sturt’s Desert Peas is amazing.
The only sound of music moment I have ever appreciated:
Love your lyrics, love the photos, love your Amazing Australian Adventures.
Gidgee coals are living proof that you are alive and free in the best place on earth. [Love the matching socks and thongs, BTW].
Happy Oz Day and so lovely to see your favourite things … which of course also match my favourite things.
Google is not being helpful and I am feeling very un-Australian for not knowing what gidjee coal is? That is quite a sunset. Better than Mindil Beach.
@Magsx2 – Same to you! And yes, I believe he knew we were watching!
Hi,
Happy Australia Day.
Great photos, I love the photo of the black cockatoo, that is brilliant, it’s as if he spread his tail just for you. 🙂