Bushfire !

We had been out all day; we were unpacking the shopping; it was a fine day with a gentle breeze; we were standing in the lounge that looks out into the treetops; then we looked at each other wondering why the air in the room looked 'yellow'. We both looked out across the balcony - FIRE !

A wall of fire was racing up the hill toward our house; fierce, crackling, roaring! I picked up the phone and Glenn ran down the steps with keys to vehicles parked under the house. "The Fire Service is already on its way!" I was told.

I grabbed the list I had made of things I would want to save if a fire was to come. Within minutes I had four boxes of photo albums, documents, etc in the car, with the dog and my bag. Then I grabbed my camera (as you do!). Glenn had gone to get his backhoe and join the fire crews now arriving.

My head kept saying, "No, this isn't real!" But the Victorian bushfires were still very vivid in mind and I could just imagine how those people must have thought just the same thing.

I took this photo looking from the side of the house and you can see the flames through the trees and the black smoke above. There were soon three helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft dumping water as fast as they could refill from a local dam. One of the fixed-wing planes took a dive only 50metres down the hill from the house dumping water in an effort to save the house, very successfully. It was like something out of World War II! The noise of the water bombers, their sirens as they were about to dump, the fire trucks, their radios, and the fire itself was frightening; I felt like I was on a movie set. Four fire units had arrived too and were finding their way around our firebreaks which encircle the 17acres of native bushland on which we live.

The police arrived at the house. They advised me to leave. I drove down our track to the road which was the opposite side to where the fire was raging. Woody and I sat there wondering what we would go back to.

Fortunately, the wind had dropped. Had it increased I may not be sitting at this desk right now - more likely sitting in the shed next to my swag!

About an hour later the policeman came by and said he was pretty sure our house would be ok so not to worry, but to wait. When I eventually drove back to the house I could see how lucky we had been. The fire crews had done a magnificent job, saving us and the house on top of the hill also.
That night when we looked from the balcony we could see numerous little spot fires burning around two sides of the house and the smell of smoke was still in the air. We could hear the odd tree falling; first a cracking noise and then the inevitable "CRASH!"

In the morning we took a walk to see the reality of it all.
Poor Woody knew something was very wrong during the fire; the noise, the panic, me rushing around and keeping him close. He wanted to bark at someone or something in an effort to join in and help in some way. So he barked at the helicopters. Bless... Above in this photo I see now that his ears were down as he looked around, wondering what the hell has gone on here?

This is what the grass trees (xanthorrea) should look like:

This is what the burned out half of our 17 acre block used to look like:

And now...

It's not politically correct to call these grass trees "Black Boys" as they used to be called - but it has to be said that they do look like little black people with their little top-knots left poking out their heads.

There is no doubt these wonderful beings will come back. Grass Trees can live for up to 600 years and they only grow 1-2cm a year. So this one in the photo above has to be about 180years old!

I was pleased to see that the heart of this Zamia Palm, the only one I could find, was still green. The only evidence of the numerous Zamias that used to grow throughout our bushland were short, scorched spikes sticking out of the blackened ground.

Unfortunately, the side of our property that has been burned was the most colourful side in Spring. The variety of Spring flowers that appeared from what seemed to be nowhere every September was magnificent. And the orchids... But I must not be morose and negative. The Australian bush is used to fire; it was built for it and it thrives on fire. It is a proven fact that the smoke causes seeds to germinate.

So now we have the pleasure of watching the regrowth and regeneration. All I need is patience! and some rain would be nice!

This fire was started by an arsonist, as was a fire in Kings Park in December 2008. I was so pleased to see tucked on to the end of the ABC main evening news just last week a report from Kings Park that new shoots were appearing. Considering we have had only a day or maybe two of rain since that fire, it just shows how resilient the Australian bush is.

This beautiful Shingleback Lizard however, was not so resilient. He cannot regrow. The crows had feasted on his innards. We did not, I'm glad to say, come across the burnt carcass of Eric (or Erica) our resident echidna though. So maybe he or she was out shopping at the time.

New tenants in the Penthouse

I have just met our new tenants (mud wasps) who appear to have built on top of the geode on the front deck. (Click on link to learn more.)

Having looked up the above link, I learn that it is the female that builds the nest. Well, no wonder it's built in such an excellent location... location... location. Not only has she chosen a position that has spectacular scenery but also a veritable lake only metres away.

I mean, how much should I charge for such a location? A "des. res." if ever there was one, don't you think? What a panoramic view! Nearby recreational area; plenty of 'supermarkets'; what more could a wasp want?

If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see her sitting next to her new home.

CSIRO advise that.. "They are part of Australia’s native fauna and should be left alone if possible. If a mud nest is considered unsightly it can be knocked off, which is probably best done when the owner of the nest is not around." How sweet.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning and our little tree is quite impressive!

Well, I think so anyway!

For $9 it did the trick for me - not only put me in the festive mood but gave me somewhere to place our presents!

Woody was in a quandry with his present.

It smelt good and he was dying to rip into it but his good manners didn't allow him to.

It smelt like a pig's ear but didn't look like one.


Shall I? Shan't I?

He needed some encouragement.

My sons would be mortified if they knew I dragged this out, yet again.

A primary school effort.

Three pine cones, wrapped with tinsel of various colours; stick a parrot on the side and Bob's yer uncle!

My bauble; gift from the Blood Bank!

Critter comes to Stay

This may appear to you to be a dog.

It isn't.

She's A PERSON!

She's the first dog I've come across who doesn't like liver treats.

That's because liver treats are for dogs - and she ISN'T A DOG.

When she goes to bed she nestles into her covers until she has her head out one end and her feet out the other. Like I said, she's a PERSON!

She tried her best to manipulate the 'man of the house' (our dog) but to no avail. (Although he did allow her to share a 'clean up'; see below.)

He had back up as they say in The Bill.

Three attempted mountings and three reprimands from ME later, she gave up.

She didn't give up, however, on trying to join us on the lounge suite and bed.
"But that's where PEOPLE sit!" she cried.

"You're A DOG!" I said.



She thought wearing nail varnish would impress.

It didn't!

Trip to the Eastern States

What a great place to have lunch!

The train ride from Sydney to Orange is wonderful.

First you go through the city with its colourful graffiti and spectacular Jacarandas in bloom.

Then you climb up into the Blue Mountains where the views are spectacular.

Below is Orange; a large town in the Central Tablelands District of New South Wales. Orange is nine hundred feet above sea level. Originally known as Blackman's Swamp 'Orange' was so named by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell in honour of the Prince of Orange, who later became the King of Holland.

November and the next morning we woke to snow! Two days later it was warm and sunny.











I don't think I have ever seen so many lovely gardens in one town. No one seem to have any problem creating a colourful and healthy garden but this may be due to the soil. Twelve kilometres west of Orange is Mount Canobolas and millions of years ago this was a volcano; hence the good soil for hundreds of miles around Orange.

I haven't seen holly growing in Australia before!






Orange has a couple of dams for its water supply but is on strict water restrictions.

We went up to the top of Mount Canobolas and found some remains of the snow that had fallen two days previously. Not enough to make a snowman, unfortunately.

This is the picnic table at the top of the Mount and it was covered in lichen. I've only seen lichen growing in a temperature rainforest.

We went for an hour's bush walk and would have gone further except it was getting dark.

We spent a day in Canowindra (said: Canoundra) which is about 25mins drive from Orange. Back in the mid-fifties a chance discovery during road building revealed an extensive fossil bed dating back 360million years ago.

"From 12th to 22 July 1993 the original Canowindra fish site was excavated using the same Caboone Council excavator and driver. The project received full support of the Canowindra community - business people, farmers, truck drivers, teachers, students and local residents etc.
Results exceeded expectations! Some 70 tonnes of fossil slabs were recovered, some weighing more than 2 tonnes. The slabs, now stored in Canowindra on 100 pallets, contain over 3000 fish specimens. Almost all are complete and represent at least 6 specimens, some new to science."

"The recovery of these remarkable fossils is only part of the link of in a unique chain of events which began 360 million years ago when a large lake or river, with tens of thousands of fish living in it, dried up during a severe drought.
The fish tightly concentrated in a small area were rapidly but gently covered with sediment soon after death and before their bony scales and plates fell apart.
Buried deep underground, the sediment turned to rock until some 360 million years later, this unique record of mass-mortality event was brought to the surface again by natural erosion. This happened where a country road intersected the fossil layer, it was pushed aside by the bulldozer driver and then its significance recognised and reported by a sharp eyed apiarist.
One wonders how many other such finds are never seen or reported and are lost to science!"

We visited the "Age of Fishes" museum to see these wonderful plates.

Orange has some lovely parks, one of which was "Cook Park" dating back to the 1880's. They planted Sequoias and Oak which now tower above the park.

Are these really Buttercups?

And a beautiful old Oak Tree!!

From Sydney I flew to Melbourne to see Matt and his new house.

A proud man!

Walkies

When are we going walkies? Lucky old Woody is getting quite a few walks at the moment.

Not only are there still a huge amount of wild flowers blooming but there are orchids too.

Above - Cottonheads

Quite a few "bob tail lizards" about too.

Above - Looks reptilian but is in fact the remains of a grass tree (Xanthorea)

I still can't stop taking photos of these beautiful flowers!

Click on the images to see them up close.

Above - Coral Vine

Below - Little Pink Fairy Orchids

Below - Scented Sun Orchid
(Thelymitra Macrophylla)
These Sun Orchids are the reason Woody is getting extra walks.
We usually walk mornings and evenings and the Sun Orchids always seemed to be closed. So we went to look at them in the heat of the day and lo and behold the flowers were fully open. (Hence the name dummy!)


And this one is called Blue Lady Orchid
(Thelymitra Crinita)
We thought all the Cowslip orchids had finished but came across these.

Oh, and Woody made a couple of new friends. But he won't be seeing much of them. They are living at the bottom of the pond now.

They are gilgies, freshwater crayfish.

We'd gone looking for some tadpoles and came back with these.

(We haven't named them yet but one suggestion came up... Gill and Mike?)

Not sure how to attract frogs to our pond but had this idea.
We're going to put a sign up down at the local creek:

Come and view this beautifully landscaped pond:

• alfresco dining;


• multiple lilly pads provide extensive games area;


• three storey reeds with valley views;


• five small fish and two gilgies leasing at present but willing to share...

Be quick! Don't miss out on this one!