Big Red Bike Tour Stage 1: Chilling With Chooks

Chooks and geegees played an unexpectedly pleasant role as the Big Red Bike Tour Stage 1 got underway.

Unsure where to go and uneasy to leave the ailing Dino the rosy faced lovebird alone for too long, I decided to enlist the aid of Mrs. Kangaeroo.

Mrs. Kangaeroo is a great horse rider and had a session planned.

Back in the day I often used to ride by Gocoo Horse Village, the corral where she rides frequently, but I haven’t been there for many years. Nestled in the mountains, Gocoo was a cool option to beat the heat.

Leaving almost an hour after Mrs. Kangaeroo, I was surprised to arrive well ahead of her at the village well upstream on the Tama River.

That afforded me time to watch the free-range chooks wandering around the farm. I also got to delight in the chabo, or Japanese bantams, at the farm.

I was sorely tempted to get some bantams running around the garden at home as these little fellers were absolutely adorable.

But then I started thinking, as a kangae-roo is supposed to, and realized the neighbors would be horrified, and even more horrible would be the likeliood of condemning the poor birds to a torturous death if keeping them outside considering our home is shared by creatures such as rats and masked palm civets who would gladly feast on them.

That only left time for this jiji, the Japanese word for old man pronounced geegee, to enjoy the geegees that the farm is famous for. Gocoo provides trained horses for film and television, and its steeds were a delight to be around. But my steed also did a fine job on the first stage of her redefined tour.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Crust

    In Strine, your crust is your livelihood, or what you do for a living. For example, “Davo works hard to earn his crust.” ストラインには、「crust」が生活費を稼ぐ方法の意味がある。（英語では、皮やパンなどの耳という意味もある）。例えば、「デーボーはクラストを得るため一生懸命仕事しています」という風に表現する。

  • Final Blossoming

    Cherry blossoms are about to end their blooming season in Tokyo and I was luck enough to cop a few shots of them on my morning’s ride. The photos I took this morning were of yaezakura, the late-blooming, multi-layered blossoms whose appearance follows the peak of the hanami flower-viewing period symbolized by the someiyoshino flowers for which Japan is perhaps best known. Now I am waiting for more blooms in Kangaeroo Corner. I can see that we should get some azalea in the next few days. And I am absolutely thrilled at the way the bottlebrush is shaping up with dozens of branches looking likely to bloom. Our ever-concerning banksia…

  • Full “Boar” Straya!

    A Strayan woman is causing waves for “deep-throating” a dead joey (baby kangaroo). 　豪州（ストラヤー）女性が子カンガルーの死体を飲みこみ、「奥まで入れた」として世間を騒がせている。 Pig hunter Natalie Cepeniuk is being attacked online for posting online a photo of her sticking a dead kangaroo’s head in her mouth with the caption that she “may have deep throated a joeys neck.” 　イノシシ狩りのナタリー・セペンユックさんがネット上でカンガルーの死体を飲みこむ写真投稿し、「ジョイ＜子カンガルーのこと＞を＜奥まで入れたかも＞」と写真説明を付けた。 Cepeniuk, who admits to being no angel following a spate of criminal charges last year, calls her critics “greenies and haters,” and defends her actions. 　昨年、数件の容疑で刑事裁判があったセペンユックさんが自称「天使じゃないよ」といい、批判している人々を「グリーニー＜環境保護主義者の砕けた言い方＞とヘイター＜憎む奴＞」と呼び、自分の行動を正当化している。 She may actually be supported by the Australian Government, which advises that there are cases where the humane euthanizing of joeys whose mothers have been killed is the painless option. 　オーストラリア政府もセペンユックさんも賛同するかもしれない。母カンガルーが死んだ場合、その子カンガルーを安楽死させることが思いやりある選択と助言する。 Related Stories ‘If…

  • | |

    Timeworn Tinnies A Sign Of The Times

    I’ve lived in Japan far longer than I spent in my native Australia. I love my adopted homeland to the bottom of my heart and cannot go close to expressing the gratitude this land has given me for a life I would never have dreamed possible. Yet, in the nearly four decades I have dwelled in Japan, my nostalgia for Australia has never waned. In fact, the further I move from my departure, the stronger the sentiment becomes, admittedly warped and unrealistic. But the yearning has been assuaged by, of all things, tin signs. Thanks to Temu.com, I’ve been able to find all sorts of signs that allow me to…

  • | |

    豪キャブラリー： Kindie

    オーストラリアではオージー英語らしくいうと、littliesがschooliesになる前にkindieに通う子供が多い。要するに、小さい子供たちが小学校に入学する前に幼稚園（kindergarten）に通う。ということはkindieの意味が簡単にわかるだろう？そうだ、、、その通り。Kindieはkindergartenの省略、オージー英語らしく省略言葉だ。ちなみに、厳密に言えばschooliesは高校を課程終了後・卒業する前の間に行う大規模なパーティであり、各地で行い近年では大きな観光ビジネスにもなっている。