For the first time since winter last year, the tanks are overflowing! The rain gauge has refilled and it doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
My next post may be about how to build an ark… altho my ark only needs to fit two people, one cat, 12 chickens and 2,000 books. (Maybe a guest room so I can pick up the neighbours on the way past – hey Cindy?? đ )
No really – despite the gloom I am delighted we are finally getting some good ground soaking rain.
It is also Lisa-soaking
It didn’t take long for my trakkie daks to get pretty soppy.
I was wearing a full length raincoat too! I had to get up the ladder and muck out the water tank sieve that had filled with leaves, sticks & possums.
(ok – I was kidding about the possums)
Seems like the only chooks that have any sense are the three younger new chickens. They stayed firmly in the coop all day, and were nice and fluffy dry. The rest were a pathetic bedraggled lot
Soggy chickens ready for bed
The rain has been blowing in too… so pretty much everything on the back veranda is saturated. Only the wood tucked in the very back corner seems reasonably dry (lucky)
We may have to put the outdoor plastic blinds back up this year… I don’t fancy rain coming in the back door
Pip’s attitude to the deafening rain today was simple. Enter sleeping bag & Do Not Leave.
Airing his feet
Apart from housework (blah) I did get around to sorting and packaging up a lot of the seeds I have been collecting.
I saved three cobs of corn, but I have no idea if they were hybrids or not (threw away original seed packet) plus I have never collected corn seeds before. Will be interesting to see if they sprout
I am pretty sure there are enough seeds there for next season!
I have not the patience or time to separate the teeny tiny basil seeds, so just took the pods off the stalks and bagged them up. The smell was divine!
Basil seeds
Chilli
I am not sure why I have a semi dried chilli…
A mountain of rainbow chard
The chickens are going to love me more next season when I grow this
The cos lettuce seed still needs a bit of drying out
I kept a sunflower – high hopes for a big pretty plot somewhere next season
Remember the tomato laterals I started? Looks like we have two successes and one fatality.
I still retain hopes for the remaining two.
Mind you… the self seeded tomatoes that popped up at Ruby’s that she gave me weeks and weeks ago are going along really nicely – despite the fact I haven’t bothered taking them out of their ice cream container yet!
Can I call that hydroponics??
These seem sturdy and fairly happy
I was out of potatoes, so I nicked over to the garage and grabbed a new box! We had such a good potato harvest this season. I’ll have to knock off a few sprouts, but they all look really good. (I think there are 4 more boxes to go!!)
Secret potato stash
For about 10 minutes, just before the sun went down, we got a little colour in the sky.
The day started sadly with a death in the family. Poor little Crook Chook went to chicken heaven last night. We palliated her the best we could – She got lots of cuddles yesterday and a cat box inside where it was warm.
Even though we love our chickens, taking a chook down to get a $70 vet bill, where it is unlikely to make a difference anyway, is just not a sensible option. Sometimes we nurse them back to health, and other times we fail.
I didn’t dig her plot today, so she is lying in state (in cat box) waiting for her burial tomorrow (Plus I had to check with Jeff to make sure that I wouldn’t be digging up previous chickens to bury this one!)
(and yes I cried!)
I was pretty boring today (not bored – just not doing anything really interesting!)
It really was a day that was full of gloom. It never really got properly daylight in my opinion.
Dark skies all day
Finally I figured I should toss myself outside and go for that walk. I took the camera in the hope something might cross my path that was interesting.
I like getting this far up the river when we kayak Its so peaceful
The river was at a higher tide level this time, which is a lot more aesthetically pleasing.
Curious Cows
I came across this bunch of funny cows, whose paddock flanks one side of the path as I start out. They ran away as I got closer, then in true stickybeak-cow style, they started sneaking up on me! I spent a hilarious 10 minutes making them chase me up the paddock – stopping suddenly to turn and look at them so they would stop in their tracks, only to start following me again! (I was hard up for entertainment today) đ
Random toadstool by the path
Following is the sample of some of the trees that came down in the storm the other day and a sound reason to not go walking when its windy! Wouldn’t be much fun getting clobbered by one of these
I heard several pademelons crashing through the bush – but only got one dodgy photo for you
I didn’t get so much as rained on as constantly sprinkled on today.
You can see where the high tide mark is quite easily
Often when walking this course, you see random items of clothing propped up in trees & on stumps. Kind citizens finding these objects display them better in the hopes the owners spot them and claim them.
Today before finding the little beanie, I also saw a child’s sock. Seems like some kid was slowly shedding clothes on the way around!
Quite a nice little beanie too! I bet there is an annoyed mother out there!
I came home and went to give the girls another feed and was missing three… found that the three youngsters put themselves to bed early! I know a few mothers that would wish their kids would do this!! đ
Ready for bed
At least they have gotten the hang of the new coop and roost, so we don’t have to go relocating chickens in the dark anymore. They learn quickly!
And lastly – getting the refresher on my limited crochet skills from Margie has been great – I am zooming around my rug and can now cover both legs!!
Best place in the evening, in front of a movie, fire and making something!
We haven’t taken time to do the lawns etc for a while… and with the rain, Jeff would have only bogged the mower… So things were looking a bit scruffy.
Jeff in his happy place
The front lawn isn’t much trouble – just the rest of the weed-laden yard!
Pip is the resident snoopervisor.
Mostly he sits at the end of the lead and howls for me!!
And the chickens are the inspection crew!
The girls are thrilled to have a day out – being let up this side of the yard is a treat.
There are still tomatoes hanging on in there despite the cooling down of the days and nights.
Small treasures
Not bad pickings for May – cucumber plant still going strong!
More salad!
I think I need to add some broccolini to dinner tomorrow night. (and maybe do some more thinning??)
Its all action under the vegie netting
I planted some wheat (Stolen from the chicken feed) to act as green manure in a couple of the recently dug up areas in the main vegetable garden. Was pleased to see the green shoots poking through.
I’ll wait until this is about 6 inches tall then dig it all back into the ground.
I still have a mass of parsley!
I can garnish anything!! (and everything)
Seems like I am always picking up windfall apples! Most were ok, but the few that had been chewed on were bringing out the European wasps. Trying to keep them off the ground as the less of these we have around the better.
Free wasp foodThese guys will be so fat that its unlikely they will be able to fly fast!
I finally got onto a much needed job – the one of sorting out the kindling box!! My pet hate is having it full of rubbish and non-kindling sized bits of wood/branches!!
I mean – what the hell is a soccer ball doing in there??
We bought the crate from the tip shop for $10 and its a really good big crate to fill with plenty of kindling/pine cones. I like not having to go out hunting daily for something to start the fire with – especially when its pouring rain, dark and cold.
This will make my life easier!
We have a few ‘dead’ pallets that I will get onto and cut into kindling as well. I pick up pine cones from local plantations and from the paddocks behind us. You can buy kindling, but when you can source it free and have the time, well… our money is definitely better spent elsewhere!
Was nice that the forecast rain never eventuated – it was really good to get out and into these jobs today.
During our last trip to Japan we travelled up not so far from Tokyo to explore the famous shrines at Nikko.
This area more than earns its World Heritage title
We spent three days there and could easily have spent a lot longer. Even though I had lived in Japan for a number of years previously, this was one delight I had missed out on until our last trip.
We stayed in an awesome little guest house – The Nikkorisou Backpackers – which was located at the top of the town near the famous Shinkyo Bridge and an easy walk to all the shrines
We totally enjoyed our time at the quirky Nikkorisou Backpackers
The manager, Hiro, was such a great guy. Since we were the only guests at that time, he spent an afternoon driving us up around the mountains to see the sights!
Me (masquerading as a Canadian) with Hiro
He is also a fabulous artist, and some of his work decorated this cool and quirky guest house
Very cool design, by Hiro – on a random wall in the guesthouse!
More on our time with Hiro in another post.
It completely poured on our first day in Nikko – but it really didn’t take away from the splendour of the area
A glimpse of people in traditional clothes – I think this was a weddingStill grand in the rain
Mostly on our first day we wandered a bit aimlessly to get a feel for the area (a bit of a damp feel, but it was still an adventure)
Moss covered stone lantern
We hit the right time for the superb autumn colours (indeed that whole trip we seemed to follow the prime viewing times)
Magnificent redBright yellowsFabulous green & purple combo
The rain was intense the first day (we felt right at home really! đ ) The rain chains off the shrines were working overtime.
Rain chain
If it wasn’t so important for us to catch our rain water I would have these on our home!
The next day dawned unbelievably differently from the first (yup! right at home with that changing weather thing)
Entrance to the Shinkyo Bridge
We got up fairly early to go up and see the main shrines & avoid the crowds
The shrines are rich with details and carvings
Incredible detail
There are some famous carvings here, like the three wise monkeys and the sleeping cat
Toshogu Shrine is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.
The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists of more than a dozen buildings set in a beautiful forest. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan, where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrines.
Main shrineDetailsBeautiful ornate shrines are around every corner
The eternal guardians – scary looking fellows
And then you run across some cuteness!
The screwed up nose is perfect!
There is a short walk up the hillside through the forest to the actual tomb of Ieyasu.
Back down the mountain, to the beautiful Shinkyo Bridge
The water colour was pretty amazingI slipped back up on our final night to get some night shots of the bridge
And at the end of the day, nothing like a good soak in the traditional little tub at the backpackers! Bliss
I love Japanese baths!
There is a lot more to this area – but will save for another day.
Hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into a stunningly beautiful area. If you get to Japan – do NOT miss this!
Well… just to let you know, its not all Beaches & Sunshine around Norwich House. Behind the scenes I am getting on with a few tasks as well as acting Chicken Wrangler – gently introducing the new girls to the old.
I finally got around to making some pickled beetroot
Beetroot grow really easily around here
I had some vague instructions from Ruby, so I just went for it
I adore the colour of beetroot
To be perfectly honest, it tastes bloody awful, so I put the whole thing, pot and all, in the fridge and thought I had better ask Margie for a proper written recipe. The lovely lady handed that over today, so I will be able to hopefully rescue it in the next day or two.
I picked and roasted the rest of my beetroot to make chutney
I had to cut the biggest in half to roast
I’ll add the recipe for this at the end of the post, for those that are interested.
The recipe calls for three Granny Smith apples, but there is no way I was going to especially buy apples when I am still snowed under with our own!!
I did forget about getting some orange juice… happily I remembered I made some orange juice icy poles a while back, so I saved myself a few bucks there!
Handy icy poles!
I had to scrape together a hodgepodge of jars and lids to finish the job as the order I made a couple of weeks ago seemed to have been lost in the ether…
Beetroot relish – a delight mixed in cream cheese as a dip
Naturally five minutes later I find a bunch of boxes on the back porch full of jars, bottles and lids!!
I like the fat long chillies as they are less fiddly to cut, so I saved a bunch of seeds to hopefully restart next season
Preparing for next season
The rest of the scraps I put in one of the Origami bins as they can wrap and compost easily, with less chances of the chickens getting into them. I am not sure if they are bad for chooks, but I can only imagine laying an egg is tough enough without the burning sensation of overdoing it on chillies!
Handy box
I managed to get 9 bottles out of this batch, Mana is getting one to take to Melbourne with her as apparently it “is the best tasting sauce in the whole world” (I am not sure I embellished much đ )
So here we are at 10.30pm finishing up making sauce!
I had to open a window! This was eye-watering!Done!
Chickens
Not too many arguments yet
I’ve been slowly introducing the new girls into the old girls company. So far so good… the biggest of our new girls doesn’t take any guff from anyone, so that’s good. The three younger ones are a bit more timid, but they can hang out together. Tonight I transported them all into the main coop – they are sharing two to a nest. (They look cute cuddled up together)
These girls are silky soft to cuddle – altho I had to wait until they were asleep to pick them up
Tomorrow I will pop them up on the roost so they get used to that. Some wing clipping will be in order too… they fly up and over fences too easily and I am not keen to go racing about the paddocks with the cows and electric fences to get them back! (the last time I went near an electric fence I got zapped on the backside – VERY undignified!)
We also have a crook chook – she has had a bad leg for a while. At the moment she is pretty listless with not much appetite. We have her inside at night in the cat carrier and in the hothouse by day where she is warm and sheltered but not too cooped up.
Hothouse chook
Dunno if she will survive, but she will get every chance.
Pretty scraps
I am also attempting at the moment to make some cider vinegar
Tonight for the first time I got it out of the cupboard to stir it up
Fizzing up!
I was quite pleased how it fizzed up. That’s a good sign right???
Its back in the cupboard, but it smells pretty good. I’ll have to find the recipe again to check what I have to do and when. Since its only scrap apple, water and a bit of sugar, its not much of an investment if I get it wrong.
Of course I am still putting apples through the dehydrator. I suspect Jeff is eating them almost as fast as I make them!!
Yet another batch of apple
Despite the rain and cold weather there are still a few pretties in the garden – photographed a few in between rainfalls
Since Mana is catching a plane tomorrow, we dropped in to say goodbye to Margie & Ruby. (Not least Macca!)Â Of course there was cake. (A sponge from Margie!! Yummo)
Until next time…
I am now going to sit for a few minutes with my rediscovered crochet skills before bed!
Cheers!
I had been knitting so much I had forgotten how to crochet.. Went to see Margie for a refresher course! đ
Beetroot Chutney
INGREDIENTS
5 beetroots
3 brown onions
3 granny smith apples (or whatever you have)
500ml balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup orange juice
2&1/2 cups raw sugar
½ teaspoon ground cloves
METHOD
Bake beetroot (Approx 2 hours) then dice
chop apples and onion
Put all ingredients in pot and simmer 1 hour
I love this on top of cheese & biscuits (crackers). Also mixed into some cream cheese with a squidge of lemon juice makes a wonderful dip!
Since Mana is heading off Friday, we decided to chance the on & off again rain and take a short hike over to Anniversary Bay
Beautiful aqua waters today
I am kinda liking how the rain stops every time I go out for a walk!! Must have done something to please the Rain Gods. đ
Damp underfootA moment of proper sunshine
We walked up the hills on the west side of Sisters Beach, past the wet cave… great views all around really.
Mana enjoying the sun and viewsOur destination lies below!
Its a reasonably steep walk down
Rocks form part of the path
No real path on this bit
Once down to sea level you are greeted with rugged rocky shores
Weather still deciding what to doAll part of Rocky Cape National Park
Not far along you start running into fine white sandy beach areas
Soft underfoot
Time for a few tourist photos đ
ManaMana avoiding the incoming waves
Every now and again it would get really intensely sunny!
Sunglasses time
Fabulous stretches of beach along here, and because of its slight remote nature, its never full of people… in fact, seeing one or two is unusual.
You can keep walking west all the way to the lighthouse at Rocky Cape if you are keen
The going gets a lot more rugged as you go west – but great areas to fossick for shells
Generally if we are going to do that, we start at Rocky Cape – someone drops us off and we walk back to Sisters Beach where we will have left our car. We take a picnic, lots to drink and take our time. (usually around 6 hours!!)
I must say the climb back up the cliff was invigorating!!
Finishing up & looking back (not panting TOO much!!)
Bass Straight
Pretty much ready for bed now – Its still raining off and on. Would be nice for Mana’s last day tomorrow to be sunny and gorgeous – will have to wait and see.
I love turning up five minutes after Ruby & Margie have had a baking afternoon!! Poor Ruby. I didn’t let her cut that beautiful cake until I had gotten the photo I wanted so I could share it here đ
The weather has been continually filthy. Although I won’t complain about the rain – we needed it badly. We woke to no power for a few hours this morning – so I went on my walk. It must have been a wild and woolly night as there were branches and bark strewn everywhere and I counted 16 trees down across the pathway, or nearby.
Jeff was sleeping off a nightshift, and Mana & I mostly knitted. In the end we decided to pop over and see Ruby & Margie, have a cuppa, hear some stories and brush up on our crocheting skills.
Hasty photo – I wanted cake!!
While Margie taught Mana the basics of crochet, I sat with Ruby on the couch and asked about her early life in Natone – about 10 miles from Burnie, the ‘major’ town.
First crochet efforts
Even though your nearest neighbours were a mile away, people helped one another. If someone did a beast, all would often share. Meat that wasn’t consumed within a certain time had to be salted or kept in brine. It was better if people took turns to provide fresh meat.
The post was delivered to the shop about a mile from the house. Whoever went up to the shop collected all the post and left it in a box that was set up outside Ruby’s family farm. It saved a lot of people a long walk in a hilly area. Not many used bikes, the horses were mainly work horses & there were no cars.
Ruby’s father was the first to own a car in that district.
He had a large wagon (they called it a truck) a big flat affair that was about 5mt in length. He would load it up with produce (usually potatoes) and drive the horses into Burnie, where the produce would be put on the ship and sent to the mainland.
It was an all day trip – he mostly walked to spare the 3 or 4 horses that pulled the load.
On one of these trips in about 1924, Ruby’s Dad met a car salesman. The salesman offered him a car, and Ruby’s Dad said, I would buy one if I could drive it! The reply was “I’ll have you driving by this afternoon”
Would you believe it, he was! Got his licence that afternoon as well from the police station and drove it home!! Ruby, who was 8 at the time, said they couldn’t believe their eyes!! She can’t remember who brought the horses and wagon home!
Don’t you love the slipper booties???
Despite Ruby’s almost total lack of sight, she continues to knit. Bright colours on grey needles help.
Current projects
The cooler, darker (& decidedly wetter)Â weather will prevent a lot of time in her beloved garden, so she really needs something to be doing. She is not going to let a little lack of vision stand in her way!
Ruby is not happy ‘sitting around being a useless old woman’ Creating something, growing something, helping someone. It keeps her young!
These strips, Margie will sew into rugs when done, and very smartly, Ruby has three on the go at once. So that way if she makes a mistake on one, it can be put aside for Margie to sort out in the morning, and another one picked up to continue knitting!
A fun afternoon
Mana leaves us in a couple of days, so its nice to have some family snaps (& cake) before she heads off to the Big Smoke (er – Melbourne)
Making memories
And the cake was good – better than good. I was so engrossed in eating it, writing stories & relearning my crochet that I forgot to get the recipe! I will have to make Note To Self and post it at a later date (it had a pound of apples in it!!!!)
I had a request on what the pattern was on my cozy cuffs – so if you are a knitter you can DIY – I am not a very experienced knitter, so forgive the way I will deliver my “How To” đ
I use 4.5mm needles (US7) and cast on 32 stitches.
If I am using a cheaper acrylic I double the yarn to make it nice and thick. I only use a single if its pure wool or some other fancy soft wool.
I find this a good all round size, and you can adjust up or down for larger hands or kids.
Cuff detail
I have two ways of knitting the wrist and finger part… for starters I will concentrate on the ribbed pattern (Above right)
Row 1: (Knit 2, Purl 2) repeat until end of row (2×2 rib stitch is this called??)
Repeat Row 1 for a total of 25 rows
Row 26: Knit
Row 27: Purl
I believe this is called stocking stitch and you do that for 20 rows! đ
Completed – rib stitches at either end and stocking stitch in the middle
To finish, do another 9 rows of K2, P2 rib stitch & cast off.
You will have this shape when done. (altho pictured is my new pattern)
Ready for stitching up
Simply sew up the sides and leave a gap for your thumb
Simple, yet handy đ
That slightly fancier stitch is pretty easy – you just have to concentrate where you are up to… I have been using it both with the cuffs & with cotton and small needles to make face washers.
I make my face-washers long so you can easily grab each end behind your back to scrub it! Practical !!
Cast on a divisible of 10, plus two extra. (So for the cozy cuffs again its 32)
finish up with 9 rows of above pattern. Cast off, sew up.
I am quite a fan of this pattern.
Please send a message if I haven’t explained something right! Will be happy to try again.
I am teaching Mana to knit right now… she is doing great for a beginner! Her aim is to make a bunch of squares and sew them all together to make a blanket for her mothers birthday next April! I have five more days to act as teacher before she leaves us! đ
I failed to capture the seriousness of the wind today!Debris
Oh it was a feral day out there!! The wind was dislodging all kinds of gum tree bits that bounced off the roof all day!
The rain didn’t fall either, it hurled itself down with such vigour that it created an upward spray off the shed roof!!
Would have been soooooo easy to not go for a walk. But it was the first day of my new years resolution in May and I felt like such a slacker woosing out first up because of a bit of weather!! So I put on the walking gear, said see ya to Jeff and Mana – who both suddenly decided to join me in my madness. (Actually Jeff said I wasn’t allowed to hog all the idiot points) đ
I was all prepared to take a selfie when we got home of me totally soaking wet and cold and miserable (and another 8kms skinnier) when, Tasmania, being Tasmania, the sun came out and shined for the whole hour and ten minutes!!
Pretty new bird!
We took delivery of four gorgeous new hens this morning!! I will have to ask the lady when I see her next what they are again. (I’ll write it down)
We put them in the smaller portable chook run (that we borrowed off cousins ages ago and haven’t got it back to them quite yet!)(Its ok… apparently they don’t need it at the moment)
Stacks on in the hen house!
We fished them out late in the afternoon for a run about in the yard
Checking out their new homeI love their collars
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence… I have started making warm mash late in the afternoon for the girls. Happy chooks, warm bellies, more eggs.
You should add a garnish of parsley. That way your chickens know you truly care.
Within seconds I have to step back as a LOT of this gets flicked all over the place during their enthusiastic scoffing.
All in!
I had to pick up another bucket of windfall apples of course, fetch more wood and a few other outdoorsy things. It was so great coming back into the house – enveloped in a cocoon of warm. So nice I went outside several times to get cold so I could enjoy walking back inside to the fire. (yeah probably weird but little things like that make me happy)
Kept dinner simple tonight – roasted some pumpkins to make up some soup…
So far my few pumpkins have all been delicious
And I also baked a loaf of garlic/herb bread – most of which is now gone….
Fresh herbs, fresh garlic, toasty warm bread!!
Nice to finish the day in front of the fire, a movie and getting my Knitting Nanna persona happening!
Nearly doneHalf way though a yellow pair – should match my minion beanie nicely!!!
Enjoy what is left of your weekend.
Cheers
PS you can see what we get at the end of our rainbows via Facebook
We finally started getting some decent rain yesterday! It got pretty wild there for a while!
Trees getting a drinkPretty in the rain
I had planned on going to the market tomorrow so I picked what was left of my beetroot to make into chutney
Last of the season
Sadly the weather forecast is rain and wind – so I am staying home. Its not that I am a sook about getting up at 6am to stand about in the wind and rain – (well actually, I am) – but on days like those no-one much comes out to buy stuff (sensibly so).
Good sized!
I decided to roast up the beetroot anyway, I just didn’t make up the chutney yet
Big Beetroot – I am giving credit to my kelp juice
The girls won the leafy bits
Green treats
I love the colour!!
I peeked under my vegie netting to find my broccolini taking shape!!
Spot the grub
I also found a few leftover grubs!! I have to squash them myself because our spoiled chickens turn their beaks up at them!!!
They eat so much for a small grub!
I had to get onto clearing up the windfall apples as the European wasps were getting too plentiful.
Problem wasps
Lucky the cows have been moooved (haha right??) closer and were happy to munch up the dodgy apples
They won’t take it from my hand – yet
Best coloured apples! đ
Snow White Moment
Got a decent haul of windfalls – into the dehydrator they go
Well, I finally came up with a goal for this year. Every day during May, I am to walk the 8km circuit around the Inglis River. I have a number of spare kilo’s that I’d be happier without, so…
Start of our circuit begins at the bridge not far down from our house
The fluffy cattails line the river banks – you can use the roots to make something similar to flour-Jeff collected & processed some roots and today made a cake/blob/biscuit from them.
End of the season for the cattailsIts really soft
I would say this is kinda like a damper… the taste wasn’t bad. It would stick with you for a looooong time I suspect. It was also somewhat gritty, so I am going to recommend he wash the roots out more!!! đ
Still – its fun to try bizarre new things.
(Jeff’s photo)
Anyway, back to the walk… Its pretty easy – a few ups and downs, but not too punishing
Track by the river
I like the paper like bark on these trees
The tide was pretty low as we set out. the muddy banks aren’t as pretty, but they are a hive of activity as you see little crabs scuttling about everywhere
You get to walk through a mini rainforest –
Pretty pathways
The first real excitement of the day was seeing a Tiger Snake!
Hardly saw a snake all summer – I was surprised to see this one.
Dodgy photo – Snake was in a hurry to hide!
I enjoy how the path changes along the way with the vegetation
A bit scorched in this area
Little bits of interest…
HeartLichenRandom AgapanthusBunch of Fungi
But the most exciting part of the day was at the close of our walk when we came across a platypus!! It’s so rare to see one in the wild – and this one was practically doing cartwheels for us!! (They are supposed to be shy!)
Platypus surfaced almost at my feet!!!
If you are not familiar with this animal, it is classed as a Monotreme. That is an egg laying mammal – a class that also includes the Echidna. Its a lonely group – they are the only two animals that belong in it!! Platypus are the oddest looking creatures with their duck bills and beaver-like tails. It really looks like they were put together in a hurry. Cute they may be, but in keeping with the good traditions of Australian animals that want to kill you, they are equipped with venomous spurs – so not a good idea to cuddle them. Apparently the pain from a scratch is pretty bad, and also impervious to normal painkillers, even morphine. And it lasts for months.
So hard to photograph – they blend so well with the water!
Well – off to bed for me. We have some new arrivals tomorrow morning.
