Betrisher
Well-known member
- Jun 3, 2013
- 4,253
- 177
- Parrots
- Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
The questions were fair and easy enough. I was able to finish pretty quickly and left the room early, marching merrily out to a beautiful spring afternoon filled with swallows and house martens and the odd kaarking raven. There was no sign of my Hunn in the car park, so I walked along the racetrack toward the exit (we have our exams at Newcastle Harness Racing Club - a trotting track). As I walked, I had the delightful experience of being strafed by swallows! They buzzed right past my ears, presumably going after gnatty things in the air. It was exhilarating, so I kept on walking until I reached the outer gate. There, I sat on a stone and waited for Hunn to pick me up.
We motored out to Hexham, picked up our usual Macca's (McDonald's) and retreated to our favourite spot near the river on Ash Island. We hadn't been there five minutes when a couple drove up in a tiny hatchback car. They parked in front of us on the sea side of the car park, alighted and let their large Merino ram out of the back hatch!!!
Yes. That's right. They were travelling about the world in a hatchback with a bloody-great SHEEP in the back! He was a prodigious sheep! He still had his entire tail (they're usually removed from the lambs to prevent blowfly strike) and clearly hadn't been shorn for years. The little trio walked through the bush to find the picnic area and toilets. The ram, not confined in any way trotted happily along behind the couple, pausing at intervals to crop bits of grass and shrubbery. Hunn and I just looked at each other and marvelled!
While we sat there chatting and lunching, a family of Pied Butcherbirds came down to the fence. They enjoyed sharing our Macca's and encouraged a baby Magpie to join in. He was tame enough to sit on our bonnet and eat bits of cheese from my hand. That was nice. Finally, I saw a Red-browed Finch zooming across the road from bulrushes to bulrushes. All in all, it was a nice arvo. To top it all off, though, on our way off the island we saw our good friend, the Swamp Harrier (raptor), who lives on the main road. He was mobbed away by Magpies, though, and didn't stop to speak...
Just before we left, the couple with the ram left too. The husband opened the back hatch, snapped his fingers and the ginormous sheep hopped neatly into the back of the car. They closed him carefully in and, after supplying him with an armful of greenery, drove off. Our last view of him was of his prodigious bottom looking coyly at us through the rear window.
I'd love to know why a young couple would be motoring about the world with a ram in the back on a fine Mond'y arvo. S'pose I'll never know...
We motored out to Hexham, picked up our usual Macca's (McDonald's) and retreated to our favourite spot near the river on Ash Island. We hadn't been there five minutes when a couple drove up in a tiny hatchback car. They parked in front of us on the sea side of the car park, alighted and let their large Merino ram out of the back hatch!!!
Yes. That's right. They were travelling about the world in a hatchback with a bloody-great SHEEP in the back! He was a prodigious sheep! He still had his entire tail (they're usually removed from the lambs to prevent blowfly strike) and clearly hadn't been shorn for years. The little trio walked through the bush to find the picnic area and toilets. The ram, not confined in any way trotted happily along behind the couple, pausing at intervals to crop bits of grass and shrubbery. Hunn and I just looked at each other and marvelled!
While we sat there chatting and lunching, a family of Pied Butcherbirds came down to the fence. They enjoyed sharing our Macca's and encouraged a baby Magpie to join in. He was tame enough to sit on our bonnet and eat bits of cheese from my hand. That was nice. Finally, I saw a Red-browed Finch zooming across the road from bulrushes to bulrushes. All in all, it was a nice arvo. To top it all off, though, on our way off the island we saw our good friend, the Swamp Harrier (raptor), who lives on the main road. He was mobbed away by Magpies, though, and didn't stop to speak...
Just before we left, the couple with the ram left too. The husband opened the back hatch, snapped his fingers and the ginormous sheep hopped neatly into the back of the car. They closed him carefully in and, after supplying him with an armful of greenery, drove off. Our last view of him was of his prodigious bottom looking coyly at us through the rear window.
I'd love to know why a young couple would be motoring about the world with a ram in the back on a fine Mond'y arvo. S'pose I'll never know...
Last edited:
