Not so Galore!

I think I should have perhaps named this blog 'Mosquito Galore!' I have the itchy lumps to prove it.However just tonight we heard a thump on the back verandah roof and then some scratching. Will went to investigate and it was indeed....(Fanfare sounds)...this blog's first....Possum! It was a Brushtail Possum.I went to peek and could see it silhouetted against the sky. I rushed to get my camera but by the time I got out again it had gone, so sadly no photographic evidence as yet.While I am here, again, sharing creatures, Dulcie said tonight that while we had been away she had been down under the house and sprayed 'Baygon' ( other cockroach killers are available!) into every nook and cranny. She said she went downstairs this morning to check. She asked us to guess how many she found dead, but told us before we could answer..."None!"Heck! I was shocked! I have seen at least three down there. There was one just before we left for Frogknot that I went at with a hammer...as quietly as possible because Dulcie was in bed! It was sat on top of the door into the man-cave. I missed it. It was a quick beggar!Anyway, I went down later to fetch something and only noticed a cockroach lying on its back with its little legs weakly waving in the air. I assumed it was succumbing to 'Baygon' (other....etc). I got some paper and bent down to pick it up when the flippin' thing leapt up and started running off. (I suspect Rambo put him up to it!) I got him anyway and dumped him in the recycling bin!That was when I noticed the other cockroach on top of the door...again! I bet it was the same one from the failed hammer attack! I went at it with another handful of paper but, remember this one is the quick beggar, and he got away... again.That is not the end of this tale...oh no! I had to go down again to fetch Will's camera sometime later and just checked the top of the door again as I passed. There he was like King Muck! I opened the recycling bin and reached in for the empty 'Baygon' can (you know that other...etc). I figured there might be some still left in the can. There was!I aimed carefully, but just my luck, as I pressed only air came out at first and blew him off the door before a little 'Baygon' shot out and sprayed all over the wall. Damn!I found him again though and aimed and sprayed at him. I swear he flew directly at me into the spray, bounced off me and flew down onto the floor and crawled out under the closed door into the night. I think I got him. I hope I got him....or  did I?Time will tell.

Back to Brisbane – A Long Way...and an amazing discovery!

Rambo was about again last night playing tricks with my mind. After quite a loud clatter I got up to see what it was but could find no evidence. I reckon he’s taken to banging pan lids with a wooden spoon, running and hiding and then giggling from some hidden crevice as I stagger out with my head torch. Yeah? Well, time is running out Boyo! I got back in bed and googled rat traps!I woke again at 3.30am and heard rustling from over by the door away from the kitchen. I felt around silently in the dark for my specs and slipped them on, then grasped the head torch and silently sat up, my finger poised on its switch then flicked it on! I saw him scurry back towards the kitchen in shame!I didn’t hear him again.Will was up early trying to quietly fill the kettle...but my ears are Rambo trained...nothing get past them not even the tiny trickle of dam water into a kettle. I was up before 8...on a Saturday!“What’s in that bag by the door?” I asked him.It was the garlic shallots he had removed from the garden to take back to plant in Brisbane.“There’s plenty left outside, why didn’t the silly rat eat those?” He said.This is Rambo though. He has his motives.I made bacon butties while Will skyped Phoebe, his 5 year old daughter, in Canberra. The connection was really good to say we were in the bush. She played the ukulele and sang for him and then they went, via Skype, to her bedroom and he ‘helped’ her choose her outfit for the day, which was topped off with a dragonfly fascinator in her hair.

Will and Phoebe                                      Will sings with Phoebe - 'This Old Man'.

When the Skype was over Will got out his angle- grinder, as you do. Yikes! What a scary and noisy thing it is! He cut some strips off a corrugated iron sheet with sparks flying everywhere, seemingly unconcerned as to the possibility of starting a bush fire. He used the strips to patch the roof where we had noticed rain water dripping through the other day. We then untangled a long passionfruit vine and fastened it to the verandah roof poles.

After a quick tidy we headed off back to Brisbane. Driving down the track we could see that Dave had been back and had done even more clearing of the track. What a star! Will rang him and thanked him and then we carried on. It was 11.45 am.Will wanted to go back a different way down The Range via Killarney and Queen Mary Falls. From Stanthorpe we headed out through Liston on the Mount Lindsay Road. Much of it was dirt track like yesterday and can be quite slippy but Roxy coped well.

We stopped at Queen Mary Falls. I noticed a chap walk past in the car park and his back was covered with flies! It didn’t take long to realise why, they were everywhere and very annoying. Luckily the walk to the falls was not far and just at the start I found a large white cockatoo feather lying on the path. I picked it up and used it to swat flies away from my face, much like Queen Mary would have done when she first discovered these waterfalls! ( I joke of course, no Queen Mary would ever be found dead in such a place.)[gallery ids="622,623,630,624"]Despite the flies, it was worth it. The falls were quite magnificent but because of the flies we did not hang around too long and headed back to the car.  It was amusing back at the car park to see people near and far all twitching and swatting at flies. We swiped at our backs before we got into Roxy and carried on. Somehow two flies had joined us but as we headed down off The Range into the coastal heat I hoped they would bake and it would serve then right.It was not a major road and there were a few ‘odd’ road signs. A couple promised a view point ahead and would count down the kilometres to it. Anticipation grew only to be shattered when you got there...there was hardly a view...perhaps trees had grown and blocked it out. We did find a stunning view at Carrs Lookout, though, that looked across to Wilson’s Peak.

 

We set off again with the road signs saying ‘ the road ahead was NOT SUITABLE for buses, trucks, caravans and trailers’ and then around the corner was another sign that read ‘ buses, trucks, caravans and trailers MUST USE LOW GEAR!’ Why waste the money on the first sign if no one pays attention to it?The road twisted down through the rain forest and then suddenly there was another sign that read ‘Road Ahead Closed’ with yet another pointing right which read ‘DETOUR.’ What a flippin’ detour it was! We headed off on a dirt track through Koreelah National Park and ended up driving all around Wilson’s Peak. It must have taken an hour to get to the road that we would have eventually come out on had the road not been closed. There were some lovely views of The Great Dividing Range though so we didn’t mind too much.

We headed back to Brisbane via Boonah and Ipswich and got back about 4.00pm.My mosquito bites started to itch so I put on some ‘Stingose’ (other itch relief creams are also available!). It is a clear gel but turns white after a few minutes. I bet I looked a sight when we went out later to get the fish and chips for tea that Dulcie wanted, covered all over in white blotches.While we were waiting for them to cook our order at the Fish and Chip shop we wandered next door into an Indian supermarket we had noticed and had been meaning to visit. That is where I made the amazing discovery! At first I couldn’t believe my eyes but there it was on the shelf!

(How spooky is that Catherine?)

So what if it was nearly £5 a bottle I had to have it! (As it turns out it is a huge favourite in Saudi Arabia! Who would have thought? It tastes slightly different and seems much darker in colour but it is the same company...and here it is just up the road from me in Acacia Ridge!)Will got some Virgin Pink Himalayan Salt for the bargain price of $1.50!  (90p) Bargain! He couldn’t believe it!

He also picked up some rice pancakes but when we got to the till the shop keeper shook his head and said; “They are past their sell by date.”I went to get some more from the pile on the shelf but he called after me,“No, they are all past their sell by date.”Why keep a shelf full then?What a wonderfully, expensive but cheap odd shop!

Frogknot at night and the bath on the rock.

I can't believe my camera takes pictures like this without a tripod!

Gadding and Gardening.

Will went to bed before me last night. I just wasn't tired and I would only have laid awake while he snored.I suppose it was about 30 minutes after he went to bed and while I was still sat at the table, with the light on, that I heard the first rustle from the kitchen.The cheeky beggar! I jumped up to catch it but saw nothing...and then the lights went out! For a brief second I thought it might have been a rat trick! Well, if it can knock a lid off a bin it might be able to flick a switch!Luckily I had my head torch in my hand ready to shine it into dark places otherwise I would have been in a pickle, feeling around in the pitch black for a tiny head torch. I came to my senses and realised that we had used up all the solar power in the battery...there was nothing for it, I had to go to bed. Weirdly, I heard nothing more from 'Rambo', (for it is he) for the rest of the night.After a lovely cooked breakfast, where the gas did not run out on our eggs, we headed off for a day out to Boonoo Boonoo national Park (pronounced 'Buna Bunoo' by those in the know.) Will said there were some lovely pools for swimming in and it was the perfect day...clear blue sky!We got to the bottom of the drive and saw Dave, the neighbour, coming towards us in his Bobcat. He drove straight through the  scrub and pulled up at the side of Roxy like he was in some kind of Transformer. He lowered the front shovel, switched off the engine, pulled off his ear defenders, grinned and said 'G'day!'He had very kindly offered to push some of the bushes away from the sides of the track up to Frogknot with his 'transformer'. We said we were off to Boonoo Boonoo...it felt a bit wrong leaving him to clear our road while we went off for a swim...but we did anyway.The Boonoo Boonoo National Park was about 45 minutes drive from Glen Aplin, via Tenterfield and is in New South Wales, a completely different State. We filled up with petrol in Queensland because it is more expensive in New South Wales!From the highway to the Boonoo Boonoo Falls, we had to travel along 17kms of gravel road. Not all roads have tarmac here! They tarmac the roads which have the most traffic but quieter rural roads are just gravel. When we got to the falls picnic area we had it to ourselves. We dutifully paid the $7 visitors fee though I doubt anyone would have come to check on us. It was worth it. There were toilets,  two free gas barbeques and lots of picnic tables around. I am sure that if we had places like this in the UK they would have just been vandalised which is such a shame!We walked to the lookout. I was startled by a two foot long lizard that suddenly jumped up from beside the path and ran off on its back legs with its front legs up in the air. Despite the recent rain there was not that much water going over the falls but the view into the gorge was stunning. We walked back up to the rock pools above the falls and explored the different pools. We found one that had a small gravelly beach for swimming from. Will jumped straight in while I huffed and gasped but once in it was lovely and warm.We went back to the car and had lunch in the shade and then headed back to Stanthorpe. Will needed mulch for the garden which we picked up and headed home. Dave had been busy and the road was much clearer at the bottom. He arrived, just after we got back, on a mini -motorbike with little Nate sat in front of him. We thanked him for clearing the road and he asked about our day at Boonoo Boonoo. When he'd gone Will went off to his garden and I found more dust.

We had a lovely Pork Rendang Curry for tea. We don't eat so bad for the bush! We are going to end the day with a bath on the rock.What better way to end the day than with a lovely hot bath under the Milky Way?!

Boonoo Boonoo.