Happy Australia Day!

I've been rather busy lately, but I just couldn't pass this day without sharing something about this special day... which is very much like the 4th of July in America!

I'm writing this at the end of the day. It's been lovely! Very hot and humid, but great! We enjoyed a picnic bbq lunch with friends at Wellington Point, a lovely park by the bay. Played music and sang and just basically got burnt to a crisp!  A typical Australia Day out! Though I could've done without the last bit...

Wellington Point, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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I found this beautiful version for our national anthem: 'Advance Australia Fair'

The following is an oft forgotten verse...understandably so, I suppose but it is very special and I sing it prayerfully with faith and hope for the future! Nothing is too hard for God! 

(*oh, by the way, I think you'd enjoy listening to link above for the anthem. It's a lovely, sweet version*).

With Christ our Head and Cornerstone, 

We'll build our Nation's might, 

Whose way and truth and light alone, 

Can guide our path aright. 

Our lives, a sacrifice of love, 

Reflect our Master's care

With faces turned to heaven above, 

Advance Australia Fair

In joyful strains then let us sing, 

Advance Australia Fair.

Here is also one of my favourite Aussie songs...a bit dated, I think, and probably not so well known...it's by Ted Egan, 'This Land Australia'. However, I just love the way it describes the variousness and vastness that is Australia...Would just love to explore more one day! 

This Land Australia 

by 

Ted Eagan

Chorus: 

Try to understand

This land Australia 

Take her as she is, her moods, her mysteries

Mother of us all

Beneath the Southern Cross

In her frame of peaceful seas. 

(1) The shimmer of the midday haze 

Un-endless inland plains 

The busy city's bustling pace

The drenching life-filled rains. 

(Chorus)

Uluru - Ayer's Rock, Australia
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Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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(2) The lustre of the Barrier Reef 

The snow-clad Alps on high 

The fires, the floods, the searing droughts

Just love her don't ask why!

(Chorus)

The Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
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Snow gums in the Snowy Mountains, Australia
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Mt. Buller, Victorian Alps, Australia
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Searing Droughts and Burning Fires
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Floods!
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(3) The tribal stories ages old

The deeds of pioneers

The way of life we proudly hold 

The triumphs and the tears! 

(Chorus x3)

Indigenous Australia, 'The First Australians'
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Pioneers
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This was just a tinsy-winsy sample of the so many contrasts of this beautiful land...this land I call home...I'm so blessed to live here. I pray that God would bless this land. May He visit us and truly make it ''Terra Australis Espirito Santo', The Great South Land of the Holy Spirit'! Amen! 

Extra Bonus!!! Just a couple of my favourite Aussie Movie Classics...