Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Rain!
A storm passed over this afternoon with lightning and claps of thunder that seemed to jolt the air all around you and made your insides shudder. We later heard on the news that a bolt of lightning struck a tree a few kilometres away in Sunnybank (sic). The tree exploded, damaging cars, knocking down fences and shattering windows of nearby houses! Amazingly no one was hurt!
Ghost Moth!
So...you are doing the washing up and sense you are being watched!There, peering in through the window, is this!
Manly Munchies!
It was too nice to stay in.I wanted to see the sea. I’ve been here a week and not had a sniff of a beach! Will suggested a trip to Manly and it sounded right up my street!It took us about 40 minutes and then there it was, blue and green and flecked with white.Moreton Bay.There was quite a breeze blowing. It was a warm wind. I imagine it was very much like being blown with a hair dryer...but I have no experience of that.Will went off in search of fish and chips for lunch. Dulcie and I sat on a bench, shaded slightly by a Moreton Bay Pine and watched a lad flying his stunt kite. The wind seemed to pick up a bit and Dulcie moved downwind of me to the other side, sheltered by my commodious bulk!When Will came back with lunch we decided to drive on a bit further and find somewhere a bit more sheltered. We found a table by a playground that was surrounded by trees and it was much more sheltered.We had our lunch. Will and I both had barramundi and shared some calamari. Dulcie had whiting. They were all piled together in a bag with a mountain of chips.It turned out however that Will ended up eating the whiting and Dulcie, his barramundi. Well, they all looked the same.Just as in the UK, the sight of people eating fish and chips attracts feathered friends...only here it wasn’t seagulls.
The Australian White Ibis
Imagine the damage it could do to you with that beak! Heck! It could even peck out internal organs with a beak like that!I wandered off a little from the table, being very careful where I was putting my feet. It looked like ‘king brown’ country to me and you can’t be too careful when ‘king browns’ are about, well any ‘king snake for that matter. I was quite ‘king nervous!I wandered down to the edge of a mangrove swamp...Snakes ville!
Something black scuttled quickly away near my feet...I ‘king jumped! It was a black mud crab!
It looked deadly to me and would probably give you a poisonous nip if given a chance.I took a picture of the bay...
Ok, so the tide was out, but you can just see the sea! I hurried back to Will and Dulcie.Every day here is turning out to be a fight for survival...just like that!
Home help?...I think not!
Today we had a visit from Bluecare.
It is a home help service for the elderly here in Australia
Will’s mum’s Bluecare worker is called Julie. She comes every fortnight and does some cleaning jobs and hoovering for Will’s mum. Will’s mum warned her not to go into our room as we had lots of stuff out...(Remember those 6 cases we lugged through Edinburgh?)...I did say that if she looked in, my side of the room was the tidiest. She went in the bathroom and cried out;
“Oh No! Boy’s things! There are boy’s things in the bathroom!”
She mopped some floors and hovered around a bit and then sat down for a chat. She had to stay for an hour. Will and I both thought she was on a cushy number with the amount of actual cleaning she did while she was there but for Will’s mum the company was just as important. Julie said we would not believe the state of some of the houses she visits.
She was interested in us two and asked lots of questions. It turned out she and her husband, a truckie, had 125 acres further south. They had some cattle but they were more like pets. She said she could never send them away to the abbatoir.
She then started to tell us of the trouble she was having with snakes at the moment. My ears pricked up! She said there was a ‘King Brown’ around her property that was really aggressive and she had not been able to get rid of it and as such was having to keep her dogs inside. She said when she had let them out to pee the other night she shone the torch on the step and there was another brown snake on the step! The dogs had run over it. She said she spent ages after that checking them over for bites. She got her mobile phone out and showed us a picture of 2 pythons that she found in a mating knot on the beam over her car in the garage! She was very amused by my reaction to all this.
Will’s mum helpfully told her I was more worried by spiders! Thanks Dulcie!
Julie was not a spider fan either. She said she turned over her chopping board once and there was a big bird eating spider as big as her hand on the back! Will was rolling his eyes and said ‘You are not helping Julie!’
At last she had to leave. She said she could not wait to come back and find out how we get on up at Frogknot!
“Yes,” I said, “Hopefully I will still be alive!”