Richmond Ramble 5 - Finale

In response to my last post in this series, Richmond Ramble 4 - at the gymkhana with a dash of India, my Indian blogging friend Ramana pointed me to another Indian link, the Australian feral camel. Here I found that the imported camels included the Bikaneri war camel from Rajasthan as a riding camel.

Now in the way that these meanders go, that led me to another coincidence if not connection, the story of the Bikaner Camel Corps. This photo shows the Corps in Egypt during the First World War. Pretty savage looking camels aren't they, but camels are not known for their friendly disposition. My impression is that they are grumpy and inclined to spit!

In the last post I included a photo of the Australian Light Horse mounted on the Waler breed. Now this is where part of the connection comes in. At the Battle of Beersheba in October 1917, stormed the Turkish trenches in a famous cavalry charge. Now it turns out that in 1915 at the Battle of Suez, the Bikaner's routed the opposing Turkish forces in a camel cavalry charge. So cavalry in all directions!

Leaving the Gymkhana, we ventured into Richmond to buy some food for lunch. I have a long picnic tradition begun in childhood and carried through to today. I enjoy BBQ's, but with picnics the cooker (usually me) has more chance to relax. So we bought a chook, some salad, etc. I already had the picnic basket with me.

That done, we went for a wander around the older parts of Richmond. We didn't spend a lot of time, we were hungry, but I loved the older building and some of the traditional gardens. From there, we drove down the road a little to the lagoon to have our picnic.

It had begun to cloud over and the wind had come up a little. Still, it was a pleasant spot and we sat there and yarned. The par around the lagoon was full of birds, some of whom had clearly been fed.

My first reaction when I saw this one was that he was clearly a male, strutting around to attract attention from the nearby female.

I am not a bird person, at least not of the avian variety! But I do enjoy watching.

Lunch finished, we drove back to my friend's place for coffee and to look at some of the artwork. This is one example. 

This a very different one.

I was allowed to select two sketches of my choosing and then set out on the long journey home. It had been an interesting adventure,