2015-06-14 Sunday

(på svenska på slutet)

It was a nice and sunny day so we decided to hike in our rainforest. We have not seen much of it yet. We have been down to the little creek a couple of times with guests. Not the main creek but a little feeder. This time we aimed to cross the creek to another creek that we think we see on the map.

Before leaving we sat on our stairs and had a cuppa’ . While sitting there the days entertainment passed by. Two motorcyclists who did not attempt the creek but turned and passed us again.

On our way to the logger road we met them again and told them that the creek was very low. We parked the car on the logging road as usual.

Walked down the little creek and across and up the other side without looking around us much which we ought to have done since it had changed a lot due to the rains. Just as the 5 Day creek had. So up he next hill which we were told had a road. We looked for any signs of this but could not see any. We got good use of the machete.

On top of the ridge the ground was clear and there were old signs of there having been a road. We came to a fence with a gate to the neighbour one of the neighbours. There was a lot of cowpoo on our side. This made us wonder a bit if they let their cows pasture on our property of if there is an old common road or maybe we have our borders wrong. We had brought the iPad for map and it showed that we were still on our property. Could be some old common road anyway.

Had a sandwich lunch.

Then we decided to walk 30 minutes due east on the ridge along the road. We followed to the end. It ended pretty soon at some logs.

Then we descended down the side towards Postmans trail. Very steep but the ground was mostly clear until we came close to the bottom then the Lantana and other thorny vines took over the ground. Machete use again. Saw some big trees that we think are red Cedars.

We finally found the creek. It was deeper and narrower here. Very rough nature down there. Lots of vines and lantana to push through or walk in the water/ sand at times. We had the machete. There was water in the creek. Jens one boot was leaking.

We had the iPad with a map and GPS on with us so we could see where we were on the map but Postmans creek did not look familiar to us. Maybe the flooding had changed the look of it. We were not sure how far to the loggingroad it was but we needed to stick to the creek so as not to get lost. It started to get a bit dark, not good, so we pushed on along the creek in the rough terrain. In places it was almost overgrown with Lantana. Up in the trees grew the staghorn ferns and other ferns. On the ground vines to trip over.

We finally found the loggingroad up to the car so it was all good. We were hot and sweaty.

Took a hot shower when we came home. Found a leach on each of Ms legs. Chock full of his blood. One on the sock.

Smoko, dinner, watching a show and then to bed early.

Översätter inte ordagrant utan berättar bara. Tyvärr struntar jag i bilderna.

Så i viform.

Söndagsvädret var toppen så vi beslutade oss för att kolla in vår regnskog lite närmare.

Innan vi åkte så tog vi varsin kopp te och satt på vår trapp. Dagens underhållning passerade. Två motocrosshojare. Vi hörde att de tvekade nere vid 5Day-bäcken och vände och kom snart förbi oss igen.

Senare när vi körde mot skogsvägen där vi skulle börja vår tur mötte vi dem igen. Vi sa att 5Day-bäcken hade jättelågt vattenstånd.

Sen parkerade vi som vanligt på skogsvägen.

Vi hade gått ner till vår egen lilla bäck, Postisbäcken alltså, med gäster ett par gånger men nu tänkte vi oss uppför berget på andra sidan och fram till gränsen på den sidan.

Skogsvägen som är en gammal skogshuggarväg är jättegammal och tar slut efter ett tag och övergår i en stig. Båda börjar bli rättså överväxta. Förra ägarna sa att vägen forsätter uppför berget på andra sidan bäcken men vi såg inga spår efter någon väg alls.

På andra sidan bäcken fick vi verkligen hugga oss fram och brant var det men upp kom vi till slut. Däruppe var det en väg däremot. Vi följde den åt väster och hittade en alldeles ny grind och nydraget taggtrådsstängsel. Massa kobajs också. Så endera kanske vi inte var på vår äga längre eller också släpper någon ut kor på vår mark eller också kanske det är någon urgammal gemensam väg som användes på 20-40 talet någongång eller så. Det fanns iallafall inte mycket för en ko att äta där.

Så åt vi mackor som vi hade med oss.

Sen följde vi vägen åt andra hållet. Den tog slut snart och kobajset slutade också. Men den övergick till en stig som vi följde i 20 minuter till och sen måste vi hem innan det blev mörkt.

Sååå går vi nerför till bäcken igen eller följer vi vägen tillbaka mot grinden och sen nerför?

Vi valde att gå ner direkt och följa bäcken tillbaks till skogsstigen/vägen till bilen. Först var det rätt så lätt med bara ormbunkar men ju längre ner vi kom ju snårigare blev det med lantana och snår och lianväxter. Några fantastiska röd-cederträd också. De kanske kan vara värda något i en framtid men hur får man upp dem ur den djupa bäckskrevan? Vi följde bäcken fram till stigen sedan men ett tag visste vi faktiskt inte var vi var trots att vi hade med oss en ipad med karta. Bäcken slingrade och vi högg oss fram ibland och ibland kunde vi gå på sand eller sten i bäcken. Vi kände oss verkligen som nybyggare.

Det är så vackert därnere med älghornsbräken i träden så att man måste titta uppåt hela tiden men i gengäld så snubblar man över lianer och snår istället.

Sen började solen gå ner och vi blev lite nervösa. Den stora 5-Day-creek-bäcken har ju ändrat utseende efter det senaste stora regnet och det hade vår lilla bäck också gjort. Vi kände inte igen oss förrän vi var vid stigen. Den finns vid en jättestubbe med sådana där hack i som man gjorde förr och satte en bräda i som man kunde stå på när man skulle såga ner trädet. Men vi fann flera sådana stubbar utmed bäcken och varje gång trodde vi att nu minsann.

I alla fall kom vi fram till slut och gick upp till bilen och åkte hem, ähum, tillbaks till huset. Vi var genomsvettiga fast det inte var någon särskilt varm dag.

Väl hemma duschade vi och plötsligt låg där en fet uschlig igel på brädgolvet. Vems var den? Michael hade ett blödande sår på fotleden. Sen hade han ett blödande sår på andra benet också men var var den skyldige till det? Letade i hans byxor, skor och sockor och där satt den på sockan och undrade vart maten tagit vägen. Den försökte förtvivlat suga blodet på sockan.

Och det var det lilla äventyret.

Today is baking day.

We aim to bake bread for breakfast, banana nut cake and cinnamon buns.

Since it is cold and there is nowhere to let the bread rise we will use the wood fired stove. It is not a stove per se but for heating the room.

So first bake the bread and let it yeast on said stove. It worked out pretty well.

Meanwhile that went on we baked banana nut bread from the old Lynnewood School (Havertown) cookbook. It always comes out yummy. Mick is honing his baking talents on it.
While all that went on we also made lunch.
After lunch was time to bake the cinnamon buns. More fire in the stove but this time nothing happened in the yeasting process. Next time we will try with double the yeast packages.

The dough just would not rise! So we made the buns and let them rise in the gas oven. That is not usually a good place when it is cold. This because there is such a big opening in the back to let air in for some reason. We inherited the gas stove with the house. We cannot find anything on it on the internet either. Anyway the butter melted out of them but we just went on. Half rised and baked and they tasted good. Phew!

Baking in the summer is much easier than in winter. In the other houses/apartments that we have lived in there is often a place that is warmer than the rest of the house, like a bathroom or where all the music apparatus sits or the boiler room but not here. Nothing of the sort. But we will not give up!

It was supposed to be showers today so baking would be totally apropriate but not a drop of rain! Just some dark clouds over Nulla Nulla. A bit of sun at 15:30.

There was no mouse in any of the traps this morning. One had closed though. Jen heard it at night. Early in the morning there were three animals climbing up the outside bedroom wall and in under the roof. So there are three mice or rats left or something else. Two big and one small.

Mick did some wood chopping.

Wet season ought to be over but it is still too wet to burn off along the roads.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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.

 

Red Bellied Black Snake

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

Checking our the crevices under the house before leaving.

Good 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.

They are so beautiful and quite big.

 

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

Eclectus

Scarlet Honeyeater.

Satin Bowerbrid

Green Catbird

Galahs

Kookaburra

Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Macropygia amboinensis

Wednesday 2015-05-06

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

So we covered Atlas.

Our garden looked like a minor lake.

 

The 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.

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.

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.

 

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.

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.