Yesterday I was attacked by a peacock on the Pacific Highway at Ulmarra (NSW North Coast) while listening to an update on Mark Latham's pancreatitis

It's great to be back home in Australia!

It seems like every day, something quirky and unexpected happens. You only have to get out and about amongst it and before long you get a bizarre situation like the one above.

I'm certainly not the only one to love this sunburnt country. I was driving between Brisbane and Sydney and have never seen that part of the country looking drier. I could have flown but I wanted to drive and reconnect with my homeland. Dorothea Mackellar juxtaposed many images of Australia in 'My Country'. She wrote of the beauty and the terror of this place.

The juxtaposed images and situations this country has a habit of dishing up have always meant that more than anything you have to respect it. The blue ringed octopus may be pretty, but don't pick it up.

John Howard may have thought unthrown children was over and done with. He learnt this week it isn't. Mark Latham may have thought he was fighting fit. This week we can all feel for him as he is taken out by ill health. Tampa wasn't expected and very few big political events are. Pundits make a living out of predicting things that rarely come to pass. The reason is that Tampa sails in, a pancreas becomes inflamed or an otherwise docile peacock goes on a rampage in a quiet town.

You'd be a mug to take this country or its people for granted. Expect the unexpected. Expect the beauty and the terror. Beware the peacocks and stay tuned for the next pancreatitis update!