From Melbourne To Adelaide

I'd packed my tent in the gray dawn of the morning and put it in the car booth ready for the road The kookaburra laughed on the black wattle and cock bantam in a backyard nearby crowed Seven to eight hours driving through the outback before I'd reach the hills near Adelaide And from there an hour at least to the inner suburbs in suburban traffic expect to be delayed Australians say that Adelaide from Melbourne is after all not all that far away And 800 K's is not that long a distance some of them even have been known to say But to one from a small and distant Country a nine hour journey in a motor car Would be a task he or she would not relish if they had never driven half that far. From Melbourne to Adelaide in Summer from 8 a.m. 'til dusk the sun blaze in the sky And from Dimboola to Nhill the flat and open Mallee from months of drought is looking brown and dry And for miles on either side of the South Australian border the sunburnt paddocks looking very bare And in the shadows of lone gum the sheep assembled their only respite from the sun is there. The cock bantam in the yard nearby was crowing and kookaburra laughed on wattle tree And grey shrike thrush was singing on the Blackwood the plain looking bird has the sweetest melody As I packed my tent for the highway to Adelaide 800 K's or maybe more away And 800 K's is not such a long distance at least that's what you hear some Aussies say.