It's Australia Day today 26th January and our small community celebrates it with a community breakfast in the local park. The Lions Club cooks the breakfast of sausages, eggs, toast etc and we sing the anthem which goes like this:

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR

Australians all let us rejoice, For we are young and free; We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea; Our land abounds in nature's gifts Of beauty rich and rare; In history's page, let every stage Advance Australia Fair. In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross We'll toil with hearts and hands; To make this Commonwealth of ours Renowned of all the lands; For those who've come across the seas We've boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine To Advance Australia Fair. In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair.

Of course the cities put on large firework displays at night which make for a great family outing but here it's nice to see the kids running around with their aussie flag stickers on their faces along with the caps and t shirts and generally enjoying themselves.

We have the cricket and today it is between us and the old foe the "Poms" again, how they would love to beat us on Australia day!!
We shall see, it starts in an hour. (Latest scores)

An Australian diver has had a miraculous escape after a great white shark grabbed his head.

The 41-year-old man was attacked in waters south of Sydney. Eric Nerhus is almost certainly Australia's luckiest man. He was diving for abalone off Cape Howe south of Sydney when a 3-meter great white shark attacked. It clamped its jaws down on his head, crushing his face mask and breaking his nose.

Nerhus initially managed to escape after gouging his fingers into the predator's eyes. As he struggled to get away the shark attacked him again, this time grabbing him by the body and inflicting deep cuts.In a remarkable act of survival, he again managed to free himself and was hauled back aboard his boat by his son, Mark Nerhus.

"He come up to the surface and he was going 'Oh! Help, help! There's a shark, there's a shark!' and I went over there and there was a big pool of red blood and I pulled him out of the water," the son said. The diver was airlifted to a hospital, where he is in a serious but stable condition, suffering from blood loss and shock.

Fellow divers say several great hite sharks, also known as white pointers, had been spotted in the area recently due to unusually cold waters.
They think the victim was probably mistaken for a seal and said the attack was unusual.

Sharks have killed 10 people in Australia since 2000.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-01-23-voa19.cfm

I lied when I said my ramblings about cricket had come to an end, no sooner had the tears stopped flowing for Shane and Glenn when along came Ben, wow, he is going to be the new hottie for the young female fans. Not a bad bowler either! A brickie from Tassie and as fit as a fiddle, hopefully he will be around for awhile. He made his appearance with the national team for the 20/20 match against England and may yet feature in the World Cup. A link to a story by another impressed female who also never tires at watching Australia beat anyone at anything.

Well there we go, it's all over rover, and I am a happy chappy. England was certainly gracious in defeat and will no doubt use the loss as a spur for bigger and better things in 2009, when it all starts again.....
Now I can finally knuckle down to work and start thinking of making my travel plans for this year. I have to say though I am now looking forward to the one day cricket which starts with the 20/20 match on Tuesday.

Well I guess this will be the last blog on the cricket, a sigh of relief, do I detect? I have retired my soap box along with Shane Warne, (bowled Warnie) Glenn McGrath (oooh aaah) and the little sandgroper (West Australian) Justin Langer but only until the next Ashes test!

Have just been reading the windups from the Barmy Army blogs, and this is my all time favourite..http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/cr/ashes/barmy-army/
"Don't you just love it when a plan comes together! England's ploy to allow the Aussies a 5-0 win so all their best players retire has been executed with surgical accuracy. Well done to all involved."

I have to agree, perfectly executed..lol