The 139th Millicent show

Cockpit of the Royal Flying Doctors replica plane

Native beauty - Spring at Lake McIntyre

Graffiti

My place in time #31

***bad language warning***

This made me angry last week. Several little bastards went on a graffiti rampage around town. Apparently the mayor had a few colourful words to say, and when I saw it, I did too.

I hope they catch the little f*&^ers.

It seems as I have got older I have gained more pride for the wonderful town and area I live in. I don't like seeing it being vandalised. 

We have been pretty lucky up until last week that our community buildings haven't been subjected to this sort of thing. It is very disappointing.

An InLinkz Link-up

Lake Mac in Autumn

My place in time #19

Something that was here 20 years ago.

One of the best local places to take kids to get out of the house for a walk around in nature. This is Lake McIntyre situated just on the outskirts of town.

It used to be a council sandstone quarry used for building the saleyards and local roads and streets. In 1991 a committee was formed to create this wonderful wetland.The water comes from the natural water table which rises and falls with the seasons.

The lake is home to, at one time or other, to around 80 different resident and migratory birds. Other animals you might see are tortoises, frogs, swamp rats, echidnas, possums, owls as well as snakes. This is why we don't go for walks around in the height of summer.  

I've been coming here with my kids for the past 20 years. It has become a beautiful place with the work of tireless volunteers in conjunction with the Wattle Range Council. We are so lucky, for such a small community to have such fantastic places like this, for us and tourists to visit.

We found a patch of muntrie berries, I took some home and used them in hot cross buns. This  native berry can be substituted for sultanas in cooking and salads.

So much birdlife around right now, these I think, are straw-necked Ibis. I only know
this from the birdwatching pamphlets at the information bay at the lake.

A busy intersection

My place in time #44

I am still plodding along taking photos for the My place in time project.

This roundabout is one of the busiest intersections in town. Just about every visitor that comes through town would come across it, whether on their way to or from Adelaide, or a trip to the beach. You'll find it at the end of our main street.

It's the essential pivot point when attempting to do a double mainie(you know, when you do a drive by of the main shopping hub of town, just to be seen and see who's about). It seems the mainie isn't so popular when you get of a certain age, but I fanged around this roundabout many a time in my youth.

Years later I found myself the mother of a learner driver. Every short trip to the shops included a couple of mainies. As you approach, the drivers window goes down and the volume on the stereo gets turned up. 

That learner driver is 21 now, and he was driving my car a few weeks ago, bugger me dead if he didn't do it again. I could tell by the smirk on his face, he was stirring the pot and knew how much it gave me the shits five years ago. I turned the stereo down and he laughed, I smiled big.

The roundabout is flanked by parklands and the Wattle Range Council chambers. There used to be an old tall palm tree smack bang in the middle of it way back when, but a revamp saw it moved(dunno why or where it went) and was replaced by carpet roses by the Millicent Community Builders, a volunteer group that go about doing beautifying projects around the town.