It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. In the middle of the afternoon, Peggy and I were riding home, passing by the cemetery and she asked if I'd like a brief tour. A tour of a cemetery? But I said yes.
Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park is unlike any cemetery I've seen before. From the web site: Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park is widely considered to be the most environmentally responsible cemetery in Australia. The park, which had its first burial in 1978, has been developed and maintained as a natural bushland cemetery, planted with native species only, with flat bronze plaques to mark graves. No monuments are permitted.
So it's not really like walking around a cemetery at all, which is why it's a great place to run the dogs in the morning. This afternoon, however, we were without the dogs. One reason you go to the cemetery is to visit the final resting place of a loved one. One reason why you might go to this cemetery is because the dearly departed share the place with the kangaroos. A nice bit of life that is guaranteed to bring a smile to any face.
We got out with our cameras and stalked the not-so-wild roos who were sunning themselves among the grave markers. (My friend Shelly asked when seeing a roo in the wild is going to be a "ho hum..another roo" event, but judging by Peggy's interest in taking photos, after living here for 20 years, I suspect "never" is the answer to that question!)
We sat on a bench within about 8-10 feet of a group of roos, some of whom were lying down, others of whom were sitting up, and a couple of whom where munching grave flowers.
Suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of breaking wind. The kangaroo from whose direction the sound came had this "Oh? Was that me?" look on his face and then leaned over in the direction of the sound and began fanning the air underneath him, as if to get rid of the odor.
Even kangaroos are apparently embarrassed by farts!
Today was scheduled to be "getting ready to leave tomorrow" day, but we kept getting side tracked. Monty came in the morning to leave us his laptop computer so we'll have access while we're on the road and to take Peggy's computer home with him to work on. He suggested that we all go down to the beach to have a coffee, so when the works was finished here, we went to pick up his wife Carolynn and go down to Burns Beach.
I don't know if the Indian Ocean is more blue than the Pacific or the Atlantic or if it's because the air is so clean here, but this ocean is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I just loved standing there watching the waves. (I was remembering Judy Garland in The Pirate getting her first view of the Caribbean.)
We walked along the ocean for a bit while Carolynn told me about native plants and I oohed and ahhed over the beauty of the beach itself. She tells me that one reason the beaches in Australia are so beautiful is that there is a volunteer society which makes certain that garbage doesn't get left on the beach, that native plants flourish, and erosion is minimized by proper use of plantings.
We also enjoyed the antics of a lot of birds along the beach, this gallah in particular.
We stopped at a cafe for coffee and a treat. I had an apple and berry tart with a dollop of whipped cream (picture posted on fotolog). Then we left and came home via the supermarket, so Peggy could get veggies to finish her next batch of "dog soup."
We needed to drop the lawn mower off at Janne and Chris's house, so we drove over there. Chris has just made fresh scones, which were delicious. We're taking comments, though, as to what they look like. Feel free to check out the photo on fotolog and record your answer in the guestbook either here or there!
There was still lots to do--more washing to get done, the house to clean, ironing, packing, etc. And Peggy is not feeling up to par, so we've put off leaving on our trip for a day and will do all that last minute stuff tomorrow.
