Category: Overheard

Overheard, Qld, Uncategorized5 Comments

Surround Sound

Itching for Hitching

There are six of us and we have a serious amount of chatting to do. We order pizzas because it is pizza night and meet in the camp kitchen. Sadly for us it is also movie night for the kids so we have a movie soundtrack in our left ears, the Saturday night singer in our right ears and some deaf old nomad behind us has turned the TV up to 11 behind us. How can anyone carry on a conversation in competition with Summer of 69, Madascar and AFL footy at the same time?   Advertisements Continue reading Surround Sound

CB Radios, Overheard5 Comments

Everybody’s talkin’ at me

Itching for Hitching

Tiny cotton bushes line the Kidman Way with healthy balls of cotton on them. We buy meat at Milnes Butchery in Hillston, NSW and the butcher is so proud of his caramelised onion sausages that he opens the bag wide for Elle to smell them. Back on the road it’s hard work being a navigator as our next camp isn’t easy to find. To make things worse there is a lot of chatter on the CB radio. There are warnings to give our mates behind of ‘roos and emus and carcasses on the road. Woody keeps asking where the turnoff … Continue reading Everybody’s talkin’ at me

Overheard1 Comment

Mallee Radio

Itching for Hitching

We tend to listen to the radio when we’re driving, ‘though I do find the morning ‘Shock Jocks’ who try to incite fear into their listeners a tad tiresome. The ABC is always a welcome source of knowledge and “Macca on a Sunday” must be the patron saint of Grey Nomads. Sometimes we fluke a local station as pass by and get a feel for life in that area. Recently we were driving through Victoria’s Mallee region which for those who don’t know it is part of a very large grain growing area. An advertisement came on the radio and … Continue reading Mallee Radio

Overheard23 Comments

Do ye ken? Pardon? What? Eh? Got the gist? Understanding the lingo

Itching for Hitching

When the recently deposed South Australian Premier referred to our Federal politicians as ‘knuckle draggers’ and an electricity generator as having ‘shat itself’ on television a few weeks ago, I thought it maybe worth a look at our own Australian version of English. The Australian vernacular is peppered with some peculiar expressions. When a nation is forged from the meeting of the world’s oldest surviving culture with a bunch of convict outcasts from an over-populated society, well things can only get interesting. Throw in two centuries of refugees and opportunists from another hundred or so countries and you’ll find not … Continue reading Do ye ken? Pardon? What? Eh? Got the gist? Understanding the lingo

Overheard3 Comments

A long drive huh?

Itching for Hitching

Mildura is in Victoria’s far north east. Quite possibly its most popular caravan park is the delightful Buronga Caravan Park across the Murray River in Buronga, New South Wales. The park has a laidback holiday feel. The paddle steamers toot toot back and forth all day laden with tourists and there are lovely views of the city of Mildura just across the river. Last winter up on the north coast we have a drink with our neighbours Don and G who are from Mildura and have a shiny new van. They tell us that they checked into nearby Buronga caravan … Continue reading A long drive huh?