Confronting addiction

I have a confession to make.

I have spent approximately 168 hours over the last few years watching all 224 episodes of McLeod’s Daughters. That’s only … seven days, right? That’s a week. A vacation. Moms don’t get vacations from their kids (at least not this one) so over the past five years or so, I’ve stolen mini retreats in 45-minute bursts.

Have you seen the show? Heard of it? It’s sort of a soap opera drama-type show from Australia. The first couple of seasons aired on the Women’s Entertainment (WE) channel.

I used to watch it. Then I became addicted. Then the main character died and THEN the people at WE took it off the air. American fans mourning a death were left hanging.

But I had a plan.

I went to my trusty source for just about anything—ebay—and began purchasing the seasonal boxed sets from Australia. It’s taken me several years to acquire all eight seasons. It’s also taken a bit of Internet hankie pankie, but I found the “secret code” that made my DVD player zone-free. And then I began watching my stories.

Basically, McLeod’s Daughters is about a bunch of wild and crazy, brave and brazen, hard-working and compassionate women who run a cattle station [ranch] in Australia. It’s hard work. Perils abound. Tragedy strikes at every turn. It’s riveting. Lots of horses … sheep shearing … general farm work. I laugh, I cry, I sit on the edge of my seat. It makes me want to hop on my trusty stock steed and drove sheep across the Outback.

Interested? The first few seasons of the series are now available at Amazon—in the correct zone for U.S. DVD players. It’ll take you a few episodes to “learn the language”—the accents can be a little tricky. I had to look up a few Aussie terms … but it’s awesome.

If you need a new addiction, I highly recommend you get to know the ladies of Drover’s Run. Oh … there are some extremely appealing jackaroos, too.