POSTCARD N.22 - Australia
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 23rd June; received on the 4th August
Postcard image: Aerial View of Melbourne, Australia, at Dawn
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Thank you Melissa for the very nice postcard, and also for having gone through the trouble of mailling it in an envelope.

Melbourne, the capital of the Sate of Victoria, on the southeast coast of the Island continent. Australia, the land where once I thought I would go after finishing high school to star a living; the land where I had a pen friend when that actually meant handwriting and waiting a couple of months for the letter to arrive (even though it seems that nowadays things aren't much better judging by the 43 days Melissa's postcard took to reach my mailbox...).

Australia the land of all that exotic and dangerous fauna and of men who know the stars and the elements like no one else does, of the great barrier reef and the great red desert... it has always exerted an intense fascination on me and it still does... almost half way round the world... maybe one day... who knows...

Although sent in an envelope, Melissa's card  was also stamped with a 1.10AUD stamp which wasn't of course cancelled. It features a nice painting of a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), the state bird of New South Wales. It is part of a 6 equally priced set (1.10AUD) of stamps issued both in self-adhesive and normal versions on 21 APR2021,  dedicated to the state birds of Australia. out of curiosity, the other state birds are as follows: 

Queensland - Brolga (Grus rubicunda)

Western Australia - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)

Australian Capital Territory - Gang-Gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum)

Victoria - Helmeted Honeyeater - (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix)

Northern Territory - Wedge-Tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)