Boiling in Brisbane!...

...Actually it is less like boiling and more like steaming.We went to the cinema last night to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty....it was very good...but we were lulled into a false sense of comfort by the air conditioning in the cinema. As we walked out into the street at midnight we were met by a wave of fuggy heat and gasped for breath.We had a fan blowing on us all night as it was 26 degrees at 1.00 am under the house. I managed to get to sleep despite the whirring and switched it off about 5.00 am. I immediately wished I hadn't because the room heated up again quickly. It was 30 degrees by 9.00.It got to about 36 degrees today but the forecast said it felt like 38. It was hot. I am already in my third shirt of the day.Will drove Dulcie to the doctors while I waited at home in case the engineer for the air con rang...he didn't.We are off down the coast to our friends Trace and Jen at Ashby, by the Clarence River tomorrow. Dulcie is supposed to be coming down with us to stay with Shirley who lives nearby in Maclean for a few days. It is still uncertain she is going. We will have to wait and see.Will and I went off to Sunnybank to the air conditioned comfort of its mall. Dulcie stayed at home sat under the ceiling fan with another floor fan just in front of her. We wandered the asian supermarkets looking at their weird and wonderful delights before heading home.The inevitable storm rolled in about 4.00 pm. It was the best one yet. As it passed over the sky did not stop flashing and one clap of thunder was overlapped by others all around. Looking north from one end of the front verandah the clouds were moving west but looking south the clouds were moving east. We were in the centre of the storm cell. Twice the thunder made my insides jiggle and my legs wobble...it was that close! It poured down and we had to shut up all the windows and doors which are usually constantly open. I reckon about 15 mm fell in about 30 mins. It is still raining now thought the thunder is very distant and there is finally a cool and welcome breeze blowing into the man cave.Dulcie said "The frog was right." She heard it yesterday croaking in the down pipe. "...And the ants," she added.The ants have definitely been more noticeable in the house and downstairs. It seems they too know when rain is coming and seek higher ground...It's a bad move! They get squashed by me and Dulcie when we see them. 

A Map of Australia

I had forgotten about this...Thanks Toni!

The 'Gurko' and the comb.

Yesterday it was 43 degrees here in Brisbane. Today it only got to 33 but tomorrow threatens 37 degrees.It was 36 degrees at Frogknot but without the humidity. Here you just constantly sweat...and the air con is broken.Dulcie and Danny arrived not long after we got back to Celtis St and watched England finally lose the last Ashes test match.It seems that the air con broke because a gecko short circuited it. Dulcie calls them 'Dirty Gurkos.' When she had it serviced about 18 months ago they found 5 'gurkos' dead in it then. It is safe to say she is not fond of 'gurkos.'After tea we were sat at the table and Will's eyes were drawn to something at the window. I looked up and saw a gecko on the mesh screen...it was on the inside! It was a pale colour and about 6 inches long with black eyes."What are you both looking at?" said Dulcie looking up. She saw it. "A dirty gurko!" She got up. "I'll spray it with 'Baygon'"'Baygon' is the cockroach spray Dulcie uses.Will pleaded for the geckos life and she relented. I  said I would try and catch it. I failed miserably. I hardly got close with the plastic container before it leapt 5 feet to the floor with a loud thud and scuttled off under the furniture. Will and Dulcie appeared not to notice as they were concentrating on something on the Ipad."Did you catch it?" she asked a little later. I admitted defeat.I don't know where it went...but I don't rate its chances if Dulcie sees it again.She got up for a drink of water and I noticed a large comb stuck in her hair at the back of her head.I whispered to Will. "Your mum has a comb stuck in her hair."We both thought she must have been combing her hair and been distracted and forgotten it was there.She sat down at the table and Will said "Mum, did you know you have a comb in your hair?""I know dear." She said.She said she had lost it and had finally came across it in her bag and stuck it in her hair until she got to her bedroom."Did you think I was losing my mind?" I had to admit I thought she had forgotten it was there.She just looked at me and shook her head disapprovingly. I should have known better!

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NEWSFLASH

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I just spotted the dirty 'gurko' climbing up the wall again so I carefully opened the back door, crept round behind it and chased it out. I just saved its life!

The Fire Escape.

We now have a cleared pathway to the property next door should a bush fire block our normal entry and exit. Good job done!

Now it's time to head back to Brisbane.

Heat and flies!

I think I am getting some understanding of what it must be like for a turkey resting in an oven though, I hasten to add, I have not been stuffed!It was very warm last night and I was a bit disappointed because the nights are supposed to be cooler up here on the Granite Belt. I suppose I should be thankful for up here at least the heat is dry whereas in Brisbane the humidity makes it so much worse.I don't know if it was the heat but something certainly caused far more insects than normal to invade Frogknot. They were buzzing round the lights and getting to close and dying and falling onto the table beneath...cooked. There were three bull ants, that I sent back to the great anthill in the sky, and a couple of nippy spiders and just hundreds of flies of all sizes.When we got into bed under our net, which I have never been more grateful of, we saw a frog hopping up on the outside of it too! I think it was attracted by all the flies in the house.I managed some sleep despite the heat.It was already 30 degrees outside at 9.00 am this morning. We opened all the windows that still work and the flies that had joined us the previous evening must have sent out invitations to all their friends because lots more came in. They didn't buzz about or anything. They just lazed about. It was too hot even for flies to fly except when you walked past them and they rose into the air out of necessity.We decided to clear some more cassinia...yes there is still lots left! Our project is to clear a roadway over to our neighbours property as an extra escape route in case of bush fire. There is an old track there but it has just become overgrown in the years Will has been away.We started about 10.30 but gave up at 11.30 as it was just far too hot. I even had a cold shower! I never have a cold shower...although I must admit the water from the dam was not exactly cold but it was lovely and refreshing.We stayed inside with the flies. I went to Middle Earth to remind myself of what really happened to the Hobbit. We saw the second film the other day and I did not recognise anything of the story I knew!Will did some knitting and then I did a bit of tidying up. There was a large dragonfly hanging under one of our lamps...a gate crasher!

A lot of the flies were resting near the 'Pit of Despair'.Have I mentioned the 'Pit of Despair?'It is a corner of the house that has not yet been 'Nickified'. There is a bed up above and underneath, behind a flimsy curtain and an old ABBA wall hanging, are cupboards and a hanging rail for all Will's old clothes. Heaven knows what else lurks there...I have seen him bring out a box of encyclopaedias that had become a termite mansion and I suspect that when Rambo was around he was quite at home in the 'Pit of Despair.' Perhaps that's why there are so many flies...Rambo is decomposing in there!

Sorting out the 'Pit of Despair' is on our list of jobs to do. The idea is to remove everything from under the bed and lower it back to a more normal altitude that I may be happy to sleep in...as long as it is still netted!We headed off about 3.00pm to Girraween, a nearby National Park. It is about 20 minutes drive. We parked up and wandered down to the creek for a swim. Lots of other people had had the same idea but it was not too crowded. We swam for awhile in the lovely cool water before going in search of a more secluded swim spot. There were a few kangaroos about.

We found another pool off the beaten track and had another quieter dip. We could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance and suddenly there was a rushing sound which got closer and a strong wind passed over and around us and then it started to rain a little. The rain was warm.We headed back to the car but found another spot for one more swim before we headed back home. We stopped on the way for an ice cream and when we got back to Glen Aplin were pleased to see that while we had been away there had been a heavy rain shower. The rain gauge said there had been 2mm...better than nothing.It was much cooler now so we headed out to attack the cassinia again. Will had a phone call from Wendi. They had been unable to fix the air con at Dulcie's, something to do with the parts they needed and couldn't do it until next week. Dulcie had gone to stay at Danny's houseI was stung by a paper wasp which had made a nest on one of the bushes. It was really sore but by the time I had walked back to the house for my trusty paw-paw ointment the pain was going away. We worked until about 7.00pm and then had another cold shower.It is too hot to light the fire to heat water.I think it is cooler than last night, there are still flies about. I just realised I had put my drink on the table in the wrong place...directly under the light...and just picked it up and found a moth and two flies having a pool party in my cordial and soda water!