Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Nest building.
We have decided that we are going to move into the room under the house. We will have more space down there.Today we looked on Gumtree (an internet misc ads...where we also found our car) for a cheap bed. We spotted one ($170) quite quickly and sent a text to the advertiser but soon heard back that it had been snapped up. We saw another ($300...but we were happy to spend a bit more for something decent) and sent a text about that. It was still available and we asked if we could go view it in the afternoon. The advertiser said they would text us when they would be home. In the meantime I found another that had only been listed on the website for only 9 minutes ($120). So we headed across to the northern suburbs, about 30 mins away and bought it.We couldn't fit the mattress in Roxy and had not brought ropes to tie it on the roof so we brought the frame home and went back with ropes to get the mattress.
We were pretty pleased with how securely we tied it on and got it home safely through the city traffic.
It is a 'Queen' bed (naturellement!) with a lovely solid wood frame and the mattress is great!
We put it together this evening and Will was ready to move down there tonight...but I am not ready for that yet. There needs to be a little bit of painting, tidying and sorting out first before I will be happy enough to sleep down there.
Jumpy!
So...in the interests of tidiness I notice something small and dark lying on the carpet, perhaps a small piece of bark and I go to pick it up. As I bend down I realise that it is in fact a small beetle but obviously dead so I go ahead and pick it up anyway. It rolls into the palm of my hand and I look at it more closely...when suddenly it jumps up with an audible 'click', out of my hand, back onto the floor and gives me such a fright.
It is a Click Beetle!Â
Is it any wonder I move around here like a timid deer, ears pricked, ready to bolt?!
30 of the deadliest animals in Australia
Thanks for this to australiangeographic.com.(So...I have been worried about a creature that comes in at number 13 on this list! There are a dozen more I should have been looking out for...and Fire Ants don't even get a mention!)This list was developed by the Australian Museum in Sydney. Museum staff rated animals out of 10 based on the threat they pose, combined with the likelihood of encountering one.Danger rating: 10/101. Box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri)Danger rating: 9/102. Honey bee (Apis mellifera)3. Irukandji (Carukia barnesi) JellyfishDanger rating: 8/104. Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)5. Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis)6. Saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)7. Sydney funnel web spider (Atrax robustus)Danger rating: 7/108. Blue-ringed octopus (Genus Hapalochlaena)9. Coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) 10.Common death adder (Acanthopis antarticus)11. Cone shells (Conus sp.) 12. Dugite or spotted brown snake (Pseudonaja affinis)13. Mulga snake or king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) 14. Red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus)15. Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) 16. Tiger snake (Notechis scutatus)17. Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)18. Yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platurus)Danger rating: 6/1019. Bluebottle (Physalia physalis) 20. Common lionfish (Pterois volitans)21. Collett’s snake (Pseudechis colletti)22. Highland copperhead (Austrelaps ramsayi)23. Inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) 24. Redback spider (Lactodectus hasselti) 25. Reef stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa) 26. Smooth toadfish (Tetractenos glaber)27. Blue-bellied black snake (Pseudechis guttatus)Danger rating: 5/1028. Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus)29. Bull ant (Myrmercia pilosula) 30. Giant centipede (Ethmostigmus rubripes)
Fire Ants!
Apparently, as any good warmonger will tell you, it is good to get to know your enemy.I have been researching Fire Ants and have ‘happily’ discovered I am presently residing in a High Risk Area!They are called Fire Ants because the sting, apparently, feels akin to being burned.It is highly likely, though not known for certain, that these ants arrived in Australia in a container ship sometime in early 2001. Originally from South America they have slowly spread from the Brisbane dock area out across the Brisbane suburbs. The Australian Government has spent millions of dollars on the battle to eradicate these pests with some success but they are still here.The helicopter I had seen the other day was part of this ongoing battle. It was somehow using infrared technology to scour the land below for Fire Ant nests.It would also appear that Fire Ants are not the only problem here. The information website also had information on Electric Ants! They arrived, like the Fire Ants, unwanted from South America and are on the march in Northern Queensland...far away from here but worrying nonetheless.It does not end there...I have not mentioned the Yellow Crazy Ant! I joke not!Yellow Crazy Ants, so called because of their ‘erratic walking style and frantic movements’ are also an unwelcome (accidental) import. Again first discovered in Cairns in 2001 (...a great year for ant tourism, not so good for Australia) their spread has been so great that eradication of this pest is now no longer considered feasible. Infestations have been treated in Brisbane suburbs quite near where we are. This delightful creature sprays formic acid and has caused havoc on Christmas Island amongst its red crab population.The Yellow Crazy Ant webpage also contained a full list of animals that are considered pests here in Australia.I was surprised to see that the Blackbird is one of them! What?! It’s true!How did it get here?...Most probably in a pie sent before a king...(brown)Have they become vampiric? Are all the lovely yellow beaks of the common blackbird forever stained here, with the blood of their victims?I was relieved to see that they are not a problem here in Brisbane but then alarmed to discover that they have been seen around Stanthorpe...near where Frogknot is!It was bad enough expecting a date with a King Brown when we get to Frogknot, let alone fending off giant spiders...but now I can expect blackbirds too!I made a note of the number for the Blackbird Hotline...(I kid you not...there really is one!) It might come in handy.
