Rural Life
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Australian Native Wildlife On Our Property
A couple of nights ago Michelangelo spied an echidna in the bush. He rushed back inside for the camera. Thought it timely to showcase some other wildlife on our property, I’ve shared most of these shots before but bringing them all together. 1. Echidna 2. Kangaroos 3. Koala 4. Kookaburra 5. Micro Bat 6. Possum 7. Eastern Rosella 8. Australian Wood Ducks
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Treehouse Masterpiece
Last week the children announced that their treehouse masterpiece was ready for viewing and they wanted me to come down to the bush to see their progress. For several days the children had been heading into the bush with ‘seconds’ of the decking timber, to refurbish the old treehouse, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. Certainly not this beauty! Masterpiece built by Michelangelo (13) and Princess (11)!! Many, many happy hours are spent playing down at the treehouse. Creating childhood memories. Enjoying life in the bush. Well done Michelangelo and Princess, a masterpiece indeed!!
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Largest Flood in Recorded History
Recently our region was threatened with a flood of massive proportions. The city itself was spared at the ‘eleventh hour’, unlike Bundaberg, though many families in surrounding areas lost their homes:( It was frightening just how close the flood waters were to pouring over the levee wall. *All photos are credit of Princess (11) taken from a moving vehicle as we drove around town. ** Visit my friend K for some incredible flood pics!! and Missy had water in her house! Snapped as we drove onto the bridge, the flood waters spread far out past the banks of the River. The River itself, swiftly moving. The River rose rapidly in a matter of hours, a flood of epic proportions,…
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A Pool For Christmas
This Christmas we rather ambitiously decided to buy a pool, due to budget constraints it was decided that a 2nd hand above ground find from ebay would be the more prudent option. After laying out and marking for size, we hired a dingo digger to take off the topsoil, however a malfunction with the digger decided us on the course of digging it all by hand! What back breaking hard labour and whilst all had a turn of helping, the majority of the work was undertaken by Einstein, you’re awesome son!! With Carpenter coming in as second backstop! After the soil was removed it was time to add, spread and…
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Koala Sighting!
Huge excitement at our house this afternoon, Princess discovered a Koala in a gum tree!!! only 25 metres (82 feet) from the house. Investigating extremely loud grunting noises, she was rewarded with the rare sighting of one of our Australian mammals. Koalas are ‘vulnerable‘ in NSW, I certainly haven’t sighted one since a child over 30 years ago. Memorable moment!!
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Nature Walk (2)
Joining Elisa Loves in a Nature Walk Early one morning at dawn Through the lenses I finally capture a kookaburra, a shy bird my success was only due to shooting through the glass door, he flew away as soon as I ventured out.
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The Adams Family
We have a resident bat, occasionally he annoys me when he swoops up the hall and startles me, or when he swoops too low over my bed. Then I take to petitioning St Francis to take pity on me and evict Batty, all to no avail. Other family members plead his case, he is a great mosquito hunter, this mollifys me somewhat. This time however the bat goes too far. This season I have totally lost my sang-froid. Batty seems to have lost all sense of healthy boundaries and is flying TOO CLOSE, right up in our faces. Entering the house at all odd times, flying into every room of the house.…
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Body Surfing in the Rain
We had an immense downpour recently and water from the dam’s overflow was pouring out. Normally this area is a road that meanders along through our property, which makes it totally safe to body surf on when there is a deluge. As soon as the rain lessened a little the body boards were gathered and we all headed down to the bush for a surf. Hours of fun ‘riding the waves’ and damming the current (PC’s idea he should have been an engineer), playing until dark when the mosquitoes chased us home. *Collage credit to GreatFun4Kids
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A Tree Goes to Town
Twenty-two months ago we had many trees on our property logged. Ironbark poles were put aside for our use and we began the laborious process of milling it ourselves. We stacked the timber to air dry for six months, prior to being taken to the mill to be finished (dressed). Twenty-two months later we returned to the job. Over the last few weekends we began sorting each stack of timber onto new pallets, grading by length, cutting off split ends as we went. We had five tall piles of timber to re-stack. A long, hot and tiring job. One that necessitated ‘all hands on deck’. A couple of piles included all the bearers and joists. All…
