Australia Trusted Brands 2025

SMART ANIMALS ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: SHUTTERSTOCK/AI Just love to have fun Cockatoos’ Fun Fair JANE M. One quiet morning, a screech from the sky heralded the arrival of a flock of cockatoos. The noisy intruders settled on the roof of my house and were rather taken by the Whirlybird roof vent, which the wind was causing to spin around. One curious bird decided to sit on the Whirlybird and was spun around and around to the cackle of the other birds watching. When it was finally flung off, the flock erupted into hoots and hollering – what could only be interpreted as cockatoo laughter. But that wasn’t the most amusing part of the morning. Another bird flew on the Whirlybird and was spun around until it, too, was flung off to raucous cheers from the onlookers. The birds stayed on the roof, waiting their turn for a spin and laughing their heads off, until the last bird had its joy ride. An Artful Steed E. TULLY Horses are flight animals, but Blue – our rescue horse – was a fighter, unafraid to kick and whine at strangers. He’d also grab anything his mouth could reach: hoses, brooms, lead ropes, clothes. Since he already picked everything up with his mouth, one day I taped a carrot to a paintbrush to see if he would spread paint across the canvas I was holding. He kindly obliged, and we were off. Soon he was waving and bowing his head to paint with little prompting. When he finished painting, the carrot was detached and given as a reward. He’s completed 14 paintings, many of which I display in my shop, alongside my own art. Two of his paintings have sold, which I guess makes Blue a professional artist. READER’S DIGEST 2 June/July 2025