20150523 Saturday

Använd Google översättning. Vi försöker skriva rätt så att översättningen blir åtminstone förståelig.

When someone drives by we go to the window to check like some boonie dummies. Todays entertainment: 5 bikies and one truck. Ok the truck was not entertainment since we knew them.
The shower that did not work yesterday started straight away today. WTH can it be? Airbubbles maybe. Some spider sitting on the ignition keeping it from lighting?

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The Yellow-Tailed Black-Cockatoos sat in the Macadamia and ate to their hearts desire this morning.

 

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Lucky we picked our sackful yesterday. They can have the rest.

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Mick sawed off a lot of branches from the Liquid Ambar and Jen went on with the garden squares. We divided the garden and spaces we use often into squares so we don´t go nuts.

The compostpiles are coming along really well. Warm steam comes out of them when lifting to put in the kitchen food scraps. We also emptied the mulch from the toilet.

Cracked two black walnuts with a sledge hammer on the old cast iron bridge thingies. They taste odd.

This first year is a year of learning and observing. The seasons are not like anywhere we have lived. Jen is trying to figure them out. Comparing to Athens in Greece, West Africa, Los Angeles, Sydney and other places. Living far from the coast makes the temperature and weather more uneven and differences a bit bigger. It´s very interesting all the time and we are slowly getting into some kind of rut. We have come so far as to wake up, go on the internet, have breakfast, decide on what to have for lunch and dinner and wash yesterdays dishes.

 

Lizards and monitors Lace monitor

Here is Bruce the Goanna. It is a Lace Monitor. They are very common in New South Wales. You see them everywhere. Often on campgrounds in the forest where people feed them eggs and meat and they forage for food scraps after humans.

Goanna (Lace Monitor) getting in to our gardenThey are not scared of you if you move slowly and they seem to have very bad eyesight. They might just mistake you for a tree if you scare them. Bruce comes along now and then. Since we don´t throw food around  I do not know what he finds.  Lace monitor

 

 

 

One day he followed the fence to the fence post, climbed up on it and up the Jacaranda over to the Mulberry and up into the sun and sat there basking.DSC01400

 

There a lots of stories about fierce goannas. They do have sharp claws and teeth but so far we have never been challenged by one.

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The little one we have no idea what it is. Some kind of skink. Maybe a Wood Mulch Slider (Lerista Muelleri). As you can see it has lost its tail at some time. Jen found in when digging up the veggie patch. She is adamant it moved but maybe it was wishful thinking. Dead as a doornail. Super cute though.

Frenchie the frog

 

Frenchie took refuge on a shelf

Frenchie and another frog lived for ever in our toolshed which was open to the winds and elements. One day he moved in on the shelf in the kitchen-to-be, also open to the elements of nature. At night they went out on their business and came back to sleep during the day. One day they were gone which was ok since we were raising the walls again on these rooms and blocking ourselves from living in a kind of symbiont with nature. Once it wanted to sleep in the living room and scared the heck out of us with it´s jumping (scared too we guess). You don´t want to happen to step on a frog by mistake inside a house.

We have no idea what kind frog it is.

20150518 Monday.

 

Last week we put up the inside fibro sheets on the side with the small window in the kitchen. We put up insulation on all the other new walls.

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We took out all the mats we brought with us and have spread out the red mats in the living room and the blue mat in the kitchen. The grey mat is still rolled up.

The last days we have had some rain showers and a light drizzle since yesterday. Before that it was clear and cold.

It looks like autumn now. A lot of leaves are turning yellow and falling off.

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We had problems with the shower. The flame would not light without 5 – 10 tries. We checked the manual for inspiration and decided to check the water supply to the pump. There could be something blocking it. Took off the hose and tried another hose one from a bowl. It worked. Carefully put on the regular hose again and it has lighted on the first try ever since.

We walked along the creek to the billabong in search of our lost pump but no pump there either.

We have watched DVDs in the guest room. Yesterday the old Fast and the Furious (1).

We tried both the oil filled heater and the heater fan to stay warm. The fan works best. On Thursday night we only had 2.4C! We had fires in the mornings and also in the evenings. Nice in front of the fire. We have the dining table in front of the fire and in the evening we put the armchairs in front of it. The rest of the house does not heat up much.

The mouse that lived in the sewing machine, we let out under the house, is frequently coming in at night. First it gnawed on wood or something up in a corner of the house and probably came in that way. Mick stuffed the hole with a piece of wood. No mouse for two nights. This morning the kookaburras woke Jen with a hard knocking. Could be someone at the door but it was the Kookas. Then she saw that the mousetrap was gone and heard some noise behind the big suitcase, moved it and there was the mouse trying to get hold of the cheese from behind in the closed mousetrap. Jen tried to squash it with the suitcase but then it fled out through a hole in the floor. Now that hole is also covered.

Mick put some bricks to make a better shelf for the boxes with the glasses.

Rain most of the day but some rays popped through.

Tried to re-borrow a book on internet that has to be returned tomorrow but to no avail.

We have to go in tomorrow. Yuck.

 

Spiders

Huntsman

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These are found pretty much everywhere in Australia. They do not weave webs, or I have never seen them do it. They hunt for smaller insects to eat. They are pretty big. Sometimes big as your hand with the legs. Well we usually put them out under the house because you do not want to step on one or happen to roll over on one when sleeping. Otherwise they are pretty handy I guess, eating other insects. Some say cockroaches are a favorite.

 

Water spider

Spitz the Spyder is pregnant  and made herself a cavity under the stone

These guys live down by the creek. In a dark space like under a stone. One lived under our tiny raft for a long time. But finally thought the better and moved to under one of Jens stones for stepping out of the creek. We named it Spitz. After a short while Spitz was a mother. Then she disappeared. Some of her spiderlings took over but soon there was only one. They swim pretty well but not too far. More like walking on the water. We scare them from the raft or stone or whatever and then they hide in our clothes while we take a dip. Always have to shake your stuff. They fall out easily and cannot grab hold so that´s ok.

Red Bellied Black Snake

Red Bellied Black Snake

Red bell

This is quite a common snake. The Red Bellied Black Snake. She comes around now and then. We have seen her twice. The former owners have seen her a couple of times and once saved her life when she got stuck in som chicken wire. That is why we know it is a female.

We have to watch out during warm summer evenings so she doesn´t slither into the house. We do not want her there. These guys are very very poisonous but also very shy and also territorial. They tend to use the same spots over and over. They ´d rather flee than fight but if it feels challenged it will strike back. We followed one once in thelue Mountains to take pictures and when it had enough it turned on us. We backed away and it went on it´s way. Lucky for us. That was our first encounter with a Red Belly.

 

Here she comes

Red bellied black snake

Checking our the crevices under the house before leaving.

Redbell RedGood climber

We have seen one more snake but did not have the camera with us so we have no idea what snake it is. Jen was walking first down to the beach and on the path crossed this slim little brown snake right in front of her feet. She stopped and warned Mick, the snake stopped and looked around and when nothing happened it just lithered on and disappeared in the underbrush. We went on and took our daily dip in the creek.

One of our neighbours have told us stories of when he was a kid and he and his siblings and friends were chased down the path by brown snakes. Scary thought huh!

Often we see Diamon Pythons lying on the road basking in last rays of the setting sun and we stop and shoo them off the road.

DSC00758They are so beautiful and quite big.

 

Critters, Birds

The birds, like the insects, come when there is food. These photos are only of some of the birds we have in the garden or close to it. Most of them keep to the tree tops. Among those who fly up above so we have not had a chance to take any photos are the black cockatoos and the sulphur crested ones. Some birds are very shy like the white headed doves (or whatever) so no pictures of them.

Our two Kookaburras live around here most of the time. We will try to start feeding them a little soon so they become more tame. They seem to want to sit under the veranda roof when it rains but dare not stay when we come out. They laugh in the morning and evening.

We also have two resident Magpies, Mr & Mrs Magpie. She is shy and stays outside the fence but he will come up close to the house and pick the ground free from larvae and grubs. He is very good at finding them although they are underground.

The former owners left a book on birds and they have ticked off several. So far we are just ticking off the ones close to the house since we are working on it so much we have not ventured through all of the property for birds and animals yet.

Bar Shouldered Dove, Geopelia Humeralis Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Macropygia amboinensisBar Shouldered Dove, Geopelia Humeralis

EclectusEclectus

Scarlet Honeyeater Scarlet Honeyeater againScarlet Honeyeater.

Satin Bowerbird again Satin BowerbridSatin Bowerbrid

Green CatbirdGreen Catbird

Galah birds GalahsGalahs

Kooka KookaburraKookaburra

Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Macropygia amboinensisBrown Cuckoo-Dove, Macropygia amboinensis

Moderate flood

Wednesday 2015-05-06

We had hard rain coming down for two days about three days ago.
It started with a hailwarning.

It started with a hail warningSo we covered Atlas.

Almost a lake in the sloping gardenOur garden looked like a minor lake.

 

This is the path to the beach. The road goes along the trees to the leftThe creek rose about two metres or more.

This is the path to the beach. To the left between the grass and the trees is the road to the beach.

Our measuring sticks disappeared.

Our pump was washed away. We found our hoses though and it´s little metal roof down the creek.

We can now walk easily along the creek almost as if it was a sidewalk.

Most plants lying down

All plants and growth is lying down and most leaves are gone from them. Only the really big trees are still there. All the river oak seedlings are lying flat along the stream direction.

The new beach

Our somewhat stony beach is now a very sandy beach. Everything has almost totally changed. But since the rain stopped the water is steadily subsiding. From being totally brown it is now clearing up.
Good thing we had just filled the water tank.

 

Drinking water

When it has cleared we hope to find the pump. The engine is probably too damaged but we could put the pump part on the old engine that we still have and is working. This flash flood gives you a little more respect for water and our handling of it.

 

We got our hot water shower up and running at the last minute. We could not have taken a dip in the strong current in the creek which had swelled into a small river.

 

Today was a brilliant day. Just warm enough, clear and sunny. Lots of birds chirped around in the garden.

This is the road to the beach  a day after the rain stopped

Here is the road to the beach between the grass and the trees. The water is receding quickly.

We are working on the bathroom. We have laid the floor. We have put insulation and fibro-cement sheets on the new wall replacing the one that was termite eaten.

Now we are experimenting with the placement of the shower and washbasin. Our shower will be just plain outback style in corrugated sheets. We are also figuring on a good stand for the hot water heater and pump. It will be good to shower inside.

Nights are getting colder by the day. The days are still nice though, 20 degrees or more.