Over the past couple of months I have seen a lot of things in my new work role, and have met a lot of strange people and visited a lot of strange places in the course of my travels. This is just one of those occasions when those three elements collide in a rather unusual life of such kind of way...

Here I was, driving through a rural area in North West Sydney, when I started seeing signs for local business, all peddling their various wares... from antiques to metal oil drums, fresh flowers and fruits from the orchards, to fresh manure and fresh rabbits. Fresh rabbits? Huh? Rabbits?

Now don't get me wrong, I think rabbits are cute. My favourite nintendo Wii game at the moment is Raymans Raving Rabbids. Really, I love rabbits. I especially love the sound they make when you hit them with a shovel or bathroom plunger. Awesome.

Oh, and I loved them in real life too... as a kid at least. I used to have some as pets. Unfortunately, Betty and Mavis turned out to be Bob and Mavis, and doing what rabbits do, pretty soon we were being over run with little white rabbits. And can I say, nothing is more condusive to the love of rabbits than having your yard overrun with little white baby rabbits.

In fact, after a couple of months, my dad loved them so much that he used his bare hands to put the bunnies to sleep. And then he used the fur from those cute little bunnies to make some motorcycle gloves to keep his bare hands warm. Of course, my dad being dad, he only got half way through his project, and we ended up having a few rabbit skins hanging on coathangers in his garden shed. That and a few little frozen rabbits in our deep freezer.

Which leads me on to my next point... rabbit is not the most well known meat around. You go to McDonalds and order a 'Mc Chicken', 'Fillet of Fish' or a 'Homestyle Beef burger', but you don't walk in and order a 'McRabbit burger' or a six pack of 'Bunny nuggets'. It just isn't a mainstream meat. In fact, I don't think I have ever eaten rabbit meat in my life.

I have eaten Hare though... (for the record, a Hare is a big ass rabbit the size of a pony). Some friends and I were out at our old farm out in western NSW when we shot one, and decided to give it to my sister and her friend to make a pie out of it. Of course, we were joking about the whole thing, but they had unfortunately taken us seriously so when we came back to the farmhouse that evening we were presented with two oversized hare pies. And I must say, they were freaking great. Even knowing that we had shot that hare (about 10 times - those things just take so much punishment) didn't turn me off the taste. It was reallygood.

...after a couple of months, my dad loved them so much that he used his bare hands to put the bunnies to sleep.

But even that foray into the bouncy rabbit creature food world was limited and rather accidental. I don't think I would actually go down to Woolworths and try and buy some rabbit. Fortunately if you tried, you couldn't do it because Woolworths don't sell rabbit meat. For the record, they don't sell dog, cat or possum meat either. But in typical Australian redneck fashion, if you look hard enough you can find anything your heart desires. Including rabbit meat.

You see, those signs started innocent enough... You can almost just picture the wonderful car conversations between a mother and her young 8 year old daughter sparked by these loving rabbit signs...

SIGN: "BABY RABBITS"
Mummy... can I play with the baby rabbits?

Of course dear...

SIGN: "RABBITS FOR SALE"
Oh can we buy one of the baby rabbits Mummy? Please? I always wanted a rabbit!

Ok, if it is your birthday present... you can have one"

SIGN: "MEAT RABBITS FOR SALE"

Mummy? *child goes pale* What is a meat rabbit?

Um... uh... it's a... uh... lets go to the pet store shall we?

MUMMY! *child begins hyperventilating* WHY do they have meat rabbits?

Oh look child dearest... a cow *car speeds up*

MUMMY!! *Child begins to vomit uncontrollably*

"Meat Rabbits" - proving rednecks live in Australia and not just in Alabama, USA since 1932...