Reptile park

A while back I decided to take Claire up to the reptile park. She really liked the playground and was interested in the animals but dissapointed she could not get in the pool with the crocodile as it was rather warm.


A very bored kangaroo.






Could have just stayed at home and played with the parrots.


A orchid in the bush near the house, my guess is Dipodium punctatum but I may be wrong.

Garden critters

Heck I am nearly as far behind on my blog as Allan. Not much of great excitement has been happening as I have mostly just being kept busy in the garden or working on the house. The garden is slowly getting there and I have done reasonably well with the garlic, tomatoes, pumpkins and brocoli. The brussel sprots were a miserable failure though and my rhubarb keeps getting eaten by the possums.


Some corn, leeks and tomatoes.


A connoisseur of fine tomatoes.


A green grocer cicada Cyclochila australasiae




Getting bigger.

Going slowly

It is about time I posted something although I have not gone anywhere interesting for a while. Here are a few photos from a recent foray into the bush behind my house.


Frog


Australian Brush-Turkey (Alectura lathami)


Bossiaea obcordata a very elegant member of Fabaceae.


Thelymitra ixioides

In non-wildlife related matters the garden is progressing despite the weather's and the wildlife's best efforts to exterminate it, and already managed to produce some corn leeks and tomatoes.

Family visit

Back in September my sister and her family came to visit.


Claire teaching her cousin to read.

Since we had some time to kill, it was decided (not by me) that we would go for a harbour cruise to look at the navy 100 year review. It was rather crowded in sydney but we eventually made it to the wharf after a quick stop in the museum of contemporary art to see some dirt in large steel containers and what every else passes for art these days. I guess you get what you pay for and the museum is free. After that it was just an hour and a half of chaotic queing in the hot sand and we were off on the cruise just a mere hour after it was meant to leave.


Hoards of peasant teaming on the steps.


Rusty boat


One of Australia's many non-operational underwater tubes.


Unimpressed


Way more impressed with some seaweed.

Wandering in the trees

Claire and I went for another walk/picnic along the Benowie walking track.

As always there was plenty to see, both flora and fauna.




Isopogon anethifolius


Lewin's Honeyeater


White-naped Honeyeater

Getting fatter

A much enlarged baby at 2 and a bit months old. Thought I would try out the tripod I got for my birthday as well, the photo is still blurry though showing that tripods don't help that much when the subject is moving.

Froggy

This little bloke was hopping across the lawn the other day. There are also some tiny brown frogs around from time to time but I have not managed to get a decent photo of them yet. The blue tongue has also been back a few times which is nice, and sadly so has the possum to eat my vegetables which is not so good.


Litoria phyllochroa

Disgusting creatures

A friend of the family chainsawed up the stump of the tree that was remaining. That just left some rather large sections to be split up. One of the sections was comprised of two trunks which had become fused together as the tree grew. When I split this it was strangely full of massive leeches that were hibernating there. At the time I thought I had managed to dodge all of the vile creatures but one of them must have been attached to my shoe and when I put it on again a few days later and then spent a day gardening I did not notice it. However later that night I was reading a book to Claire and lying on top of her bed and when I got off there was a monstrous leech that was bloated with my blood.


Technique leaves a little to be desired.


It was at least as long as your forearm if my memory of the horrid thing remains intact.

Alexander

Another financial burden has appeared.

This one was a little heavier at least but still over 1.5 kg lighter than his cousin whom is nearly a month younger.

Animals in the garden

The garden is slowly getting better and the weeds are being eradicated although it will be along time until they are all gone. There is plenty of wildlife still but I need to get some more bushy shrubs into provide some more habitat now that most of the weeds that were the previous groundcover has been eradicated.


A Kookaburra on a Acacia implexa.


A pretty good sized huntsman on some Livistona australis.


A blue-tongue in some weeds.