This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 36-year-old bookmark (give or take a few years) and I proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).
Today’s travel notes
A couple of weeks ago, this worm visited the little town of Kurri Kurri. It’s an intriguing place, springing from a history of coal mining and now re-imagining itself as an artists haven.
If you’re anything like the TC, bless her cotton socks, you’ll be asking, “Why two words?” Why is the town not called just “Kurri”? Towns and cities in Australia often have names that repeat the same word twice. The pattern comes from the Aboriginal languages that repeat a word to emphasize or strengthen the meaning of the word. In the local Minyung language, “kurri-kurri” means “the beginning” or “the first”.
The book I’m in
The Ones We Choose, by Julie Clark. A tale of genetics, romance, and tangled lives. Highly recommended.
The photos
Me with the Kurri Kurri Kookaburra:
This Kookaburra is huge. If it were alive, I’d be taking shelter rather than posing in full view of that eye and that beak. Instead, I was happy to let the bird photo bomb me, as it’s a sculpture.
In fact, this bird is a little like myself in that the representation is more magnificent than the original form.
Here’s another view of the Kurri Kurri Kookaburra. The artist is one Chris Fussell. The sculpture was erected in 2009:
Not far away from the big bird is the Kurri Kurri hotel, first opened in 1904. It’s a typical Australian hotel, in that its primary business is as a pub and restaurant, not accommodation. (The word “hotel” traps many a weary, unwary traveller just arrived in Oz.) It’s a lovely old building, with wrap-around verandas and frilly cast-iron railings:
On a wall to the right of the hotel in the above picture is one of the murals that the town has recently become known for.
More paintings liven up a utilitarian building in the town centre:
The next mural fits right in with the business whose wall it adorns:
If you look closely at the above mural (the one on the right), you’ll spot a Kookaburra on a pile of tyres. There are more than 60 murals in and around Kurri Kurri. Rumour has it that every mural includes a Kookaburra somewhere.
Some of the wall decorations are of a bleaker nature, though still artistically and historically interesting:
That’s all for today, folks.
Travelling Worm 
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