For those readers, like Tami, who aren't familiar with Australian terminology, this is a 'billy', made famous in our song 'Waltzing Matilda" when the swagman camped by a billabong (waterhole) and 'waited till his billy boiled.'



It is simply a metal container with a loop handle, and is a vital component of any camping trip. This is a milk billy so it has a lid, but that's not essential.



When Keryn and I were in our teens we spent a lot of time camping with our brother in the northern Flinders area, wild and lonely in those days before tourism tamed it a bit. We were all tea soaks, and boiling the billy was the first thing to do after we'd set up the camp. Some romantics will tell you that it's traditional to throw a gum leaf in with the tea and let it stand-the resulting brew smells like horse liniment and spoils a good cuppa.



Our brother did indulge in 'swinging the billy' though, a hair-raising manouvre of grasping the billy full of scalding tea and swinging it round and round like a ferris wheel. Apparently the centrifugal force pushes all the loose tea leaves to the bottom of the billy so they don't end up in your cup, but if you don't do it fast enough it could end in disaster!



I'd love to visit that area again, but I'm long past sleeping on the ground and piddling behind a bush, I want some creature comforts in the wilderness these days!!

And as requested by Melinda, here are some close-ups of the fabrics in the last top...

That black floral in the centre was a real 'killer', but in such small pieces it can be overlooked..

The blah pink floral is from the '70's, and the shop that we bought it from still has some left on the roll! It's dull, dull, dull.

Ugly colours in that paisley, the apricot is very loosely woven and the red elephant strip, a leftover from a backing of Keryn's, is so full of polyester it shrinks at the sight of an iron. Should have thrown it out, but it reminds me of her quilt. And the pale green next to it just will not DIE, I found another quarter metre of it yesterday. ARGGGH!!! The almond blossom is covering a hillside at Bowman's Park, the blowflies are starting to invade the kitchen, the air is warm enough to think of the coming Spring......


and yep, Mac's sitting in his waterbowl again.