A few weeks ago (I can’t even remember when it was), nearly all Australians wound their kitchen clock and their body clock forward one hour to mark the start of Spring and day light saving. Not so the Northern Territory, Western Australia and where I live Queensland. It annoys me and takes some getting used to. You see, just after 4.30am, the birds start waking up (more about them in a sec) which in turn wakes us human folk up and so the day begins at 5 o’clock or there abouts.
I lie there ignoring the light at the edges of my eyes and listen to the birds waking. We live a short distance from Government House, surrounded by beautiful gardens and woodland which of course is a haven for our little feathered friends.
Firstly and quite often when it’s still dark I can hear the Kookaburras having the first laugh (rather than the last) of the day. This is closely followed by Crows and I’m not a fan – they need to find someone else to annoy. The common Australian Magpie is next – he mostly has a little warble and a chatter which is rather nice. Last up is the Butcherbird and every time I hear their beautiful song, it puts a smile on my face no matter how early it is. I think it’s the Pied Butcherbird and he sings his little heart out every morning.
If I can stir myself early enough, I’ll slip my trainers on and head out for a thirty minute walk. It’s a good time to live in the moment and concentrate on what’s going on around me in the here and now; the sound my shoes make on the footpath, the birds (again!) and noises of our neighbourhood starting their day. It’s a great time to be out and about. As a result of this, I’m eating breakfast at 7am and come 11 o’clock am hanging out for lunch!
Another drawback of not observing daylight savings – it’s virtually dark at 6 – 6:30pm. I do miss the long Summer evenings we enjoyed in Adelaide, but what we’re finding is the evenings seem to slow right down and when we think it’s 10 o’clock and we’re ready for bed, it is in fact only 8 o’clock – a day lasts forever in Queensland! We may be a couple of hours later than our feathered friends when it comes to bedtime, but Chief and I are practically on their clock now. In fact, it’s coming up to 5.30pm and the sun is going down – our little friend the Pied Butcherbird has come to sing before bed time and it’s coming up to our dinner time. Goodnight everyone!
Waking the Wombat 
4 replies on “I’m Growing Feathers”
Interesting, I never realized that part of Australia never changed the clocks for daylight saving. I love it and my body actually starts getting ready for daylight saving before it arrives so when it does I don’t even notice it. Love the long evenings.
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Yes I used to be ready for it too. Hopefully it might happen one day.
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Love your post Lucy. Another thing about this ridiculous lack of daylight savings is that the time difference from WA is now 3 hours to Canberra and 2 1/2 to Adelaide which makes it quite difficult when you’re trying to make those calls to family. And the other thing is, I find the time difference actually gives me jetlag when I travel from one side of the country to the other! Oh yes, and do you know why butcherbirds have that name? You might not like them quite as much when you do…
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I’ve been told a couple of reasons but the one I like best is because they hang their kill in the fork of branches and it resembles a butchers shop 😊
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