Christmas in Canberra

I finished work at 2pm Christmas Day and Glenn took me straight to the airport. I arrived in Sydney at 10.15pm and got a taxi to Doug's place. Their cottage is looking really good, especially as it's Christmas.
Next morning we had breakfast nextdoor with Jonathon and then left for Canberra. We left about 7am and must have got there about 10ish I think. Micky was there to greet us in his new hat. I can't believe I didn't take any photos of Mechant. He's always the centre of attention.

We went for a walk and a coffee at Lake Burley Griffin and as you can see Doug was still "post op". And kept reminding us constantly. Especially when there were chores to be done.

Glenda and Andrew's house is so homely. It's right next to a park so great for doggy walking. Renee is laying the table in this photo. You walk out these doors on to a partly enclosed deck where they have a large dining table. The roof is covered in creeper, there are numerous plants in pots and there is a water feature on the wall of huge jugs pouring water into a large bowl.

As you can see (below) Matt bought Renee some underwear for Christmas. And wanted to try it on for size!

Doug decided that the ribbon from the Christmas wrapping would be good for pigtails on his mother! The red box is something Matt made me for Christmas. Good thing I brought a large suitcase this time. Inside the box was a digital photo frame they also gave me and I'm looking forward to loading it.


Next day we decided to go to the lake again. The boys hired the bike and Renee and I walked. Unfortunately, we did not heed the weatherman's warning and we'd only been going about 20minutes when a storm broke right overhead. The four of us clambered aboard the bike and pedalled like mad back to the bike shed. But we might just as well have stood out in the rain because the four of us were soaked to the skin. Hilarious!

The following day, however, was glorious and we all went to the botanical gardens.

There was wildlife everywhere. Not just these delightful ducks but huge lizards and lots of birdlife.


OK... Here are some archived photos of Mechant. How could I possibly leave this "person" out of this blog?
And here he is, all dressed up for a bbq.

The Young Ones

We can't believe these vegetable seedlings were only planted four weeks ago!

They were literally only a couple of inches high. If I remember to keep the gate shut so the wildlife can't get at them and insects don't get them what on earth am I going to do with it all?

Woody's biggest problem in life at the moment is

how can he get into the compost? He circles it like a vulture!

Since we revamped the pond there seems to be more birdlife about.
I saw a small flock of birds all busy around the pond, sitting on

the rocks and popping in and out of the water.

Another morning I saw a bird that looked like a kingfisher taking dives

into the pond, purely for the bathing or the fun of it. We have no

fish in there yet. I can't remember seeing so many birds around the pond last year so I think the birds feel safer with this slightly bigger

and more natural looking pond.

This magpie took his time having a drink from the nearby bird bath and I was able to get a snap.

Yesterday, the young kookaburra that we have been watching since he left the nest near the house came and sat on the balcony. We've seen him flying about with his parents never far away but he's quite brave now and sat there watching us through the glass door.
He has the cutest fluffy head. He sat there for ages while we talked to him

and took photos. Woody needed a lot of persuasion not to chase him and

sat nicely, staring back at him.

It wasn't long before the parent came to a nearby tree to keep an eye

on the young one. If you click on the image and enlarge it you can see

mum or dad behind "Kevin" to his right.

(Hey, how do we know he's a boy?)

Gardening

We've been busy! Tree felling, gardening and wildlife watching. The last one you can't help but do on this property. It's wonderful. But first of all this tree had to go as it was leaning over the house. Glenn's felled a few trees in his time but bringing down a tree this size still gets the ol' adrenalin running!
Then we decided to rip up the lawn (that wasn't a lawn) with a view to transforming it into a garden of some sort. As my friend said, "Eeeee, what ye can do with a back'oe!" Beats the garden fork, especially when it's rock hard clay as this is!

The other evening we'd let Woody out to do what he had to do and when I went to see where he was, he was laying on the front deck looking up. Can you see a tail hanging over the cross beam there?
Isn't he absolutely gorgeous? A brush tail possum, I believe!

While I was away Glenn had been watching a pair of kookaburras tending a nest in a tree hollow near the house. As the back balcony is on the same level as the tree tops we have a good view of the birds. A few days after I got back the baby was out and learning to fly. We watched the parents feeding him (or her).

Once, while Glenn was watching, the parent landed on a branch next to the baby with something wriggling in its mouth. The baby was facing the other way. The parent waited for a couple of minutes, gave up, flew away and came back facing the same way as the baby and fed it the food.
They often come down to the pond and bird bath. The other strange thing they do, or one of them anyway, is crash into the windows and glass doors. I've pulled blinds but it makes no difference. And often, between 5 and 6am we hear the crash at the glass sliding door to the balcony, and this is followed by banging. Glenn got up once to see the kookaburrra actually sitting on the deck by the door banging on the glass??
This (above) is what the pond used to look like. It sprung a leak, unfortunately, or perhaps it was fortunately because we decided to make a new one!!! (Again the backhoe comes in handy!)

The surrounding rocks are Mookaite and a few Dragonstone over the back.
And today we transplanted some native plants over the back.