More exploring!

We went for a drive around Malanda and came by  the Nerada  tea plantation. We were amazed at the extensive area covered with tea bushes. We kind of drove around it and also came by a bamboo plantation, which seemed to have been abandoned.

 We followed the road that  brought us to Wooroonooran National Park, where walking tracks are everywhere.

While driving around Russell River,

 we came up to this lovely pony. I felt like taking  him home !

I found this fence decoration very interesting, as it was in the mountains…

 We finally came up to Lamins Hill lookout and the view was just magnificent. Hills and valleys on one side

and Mount Bartle Frere on the other, which is the highest Queensland Peek (1,622 m).

You have to take you hat off to the earlier pioneers who explored this area and made tracks through the dense rain forests.

Wild dogs are unfortunately everywhere and they have to put poison baits to control them.

This letter box I thought was very original…

Back in Yungaburra, in a little street that we hadn't gone through yet, we saw this huge tree, which I guess the people who planted it, years ago, didn't think it would outgrow its pot!

Finally back home we are waiting for the wet season with impatience, as the lake is going down. We need a lot of rain this year to refill it the way we're accustomed to.

Spring is for...

This spring has been as usual a beautiful time for the garden. Everything  has been growing  almost overnight, including weeds…

So I've been busy  weeding and mulching - which is not that easy when the winds are blowing. Yes it has been incredibly windy this year! And a lot of our baby macadamia nuts have been hurled to the ground. Also affected was our persimmon tree unfortunately!

However, our Surinam (Brazilian) cherry bush has produced an insane amount of fruits.  I wonder if all the ash from our wood stove during winter and discarded at the base of the bush has anything to do with it?

We picked these two bags of fruits in just one day. Another two bags are already waiting in the freezer to become jam. I dare say I'm going to be busy cooking soon…

And I've stopped competing with the birds that come and feed on the cherries now.

 Amazingly  things that you don't want to grow have a mind of their own… As the stake I made of a mulberry branch  for my cherry tomatoes. Well… the tomatoes didn't do that well but the stake is growing even after lying in the sun for over a month!

 So did these cassava discarded branches cut over 3 months ago which I used to consolidate my pot man!

This cricket came to visit one day. Who said crickets look boring and unattractive?

 Our macadamia tree is again host for this fabulous bird's nest. Every year a new nest is built, always around the same location. I've never seen the bird around but the nest is quite fascinating. So much work into it.

 Of course caterpillars are everywhere munching away on all my herbs. But this one was having a feast on my desert roses. I wondered why they looked like they were dying. He does look very nice but has a ferocious appetite. But hang on where is the front or back?

 Oh! Now I can see…!

Spring is such a lovely time. Temperatures are ideal and I wish it would last longer.

Gillies Lookout

A couple of weeks ago we went for a drive around Tinaroo lake on a Sunday.

As usual there were lots of campers at all of the sites. The water was going down, but it didn't stop the boats towing skiers around and the noise was all about.

We used to love going camping at Kauri Creek when we were living in Cairns, just to get out of the rat race. Now that we live practically on the lake we thought it didn't have the same appeal to be surrounded by all these people. We  have our own little place in the bush… Only the cows come and visit occasionally and  the birds calls is the only noise we can hear.

On our way back, we decided to go to the Gillies lookout. Sven had previously gone there and told me the view was something to see.

After  about 4 km of rugged dirt road, (which at some time I thought our little Subaru wouldn't make it through), and going up and down through the dense rain forest, we finally made it to the top.

We couldn't believe our eyes… Cars were everywhere parked on the side of the narrow road. And between the cars, some people had small tents erected. Sleeping in tents, and cars these were hang gliders waiting for the strong winds to abate so they could take the leap! It felt like we dropped in  a hippy commune!

It was a bit off-putting as rubbish was everywhere and loud music was blaring as entertainment.

 Not our kind of music though. That boom boom boom kind of music was quite disturbing. Bits of toilet paper were flying around on the path and I was careful were I was walking...

We tried to ignore  the disconcerting  back ground and WOW! that view was indeed extraordinary.

We could see all the way from Goldsborough Valley on the left to the Gillies highway on the right.

 It definitely is something to see, but if we were to take visitors to witness this magnificent sight we would go on a week day, as I'm told these hang gliders "hang" around every week end.

And I just hope they picked up their rubbish before they left…

We were quite happy to come home and appreciate nature to its best without any distractions . The next morning I woke up to this beautiful sun rise.

A few days later we witnessed this amazing full moon rising from behind the hills.

 And later again this storm brewing over our place.

What a beautiful world we live in!

Day trip to Koombooloomba

We've been invited by friends to go camping to Koombooloomba Lake. Having heard about this dam from a few people but didn't know where it was exactly, we decided to investigate it on a day trip before we committed ourselves to accept the invitation.

It is situated about 60km south of Yungaburra, near Ravenshoe which incidentally is the highest town in Queensland at 930m elevation. Of course it has the highest pub in Queensland and the highest railway.

It took us close to 1hour 30m to get there. We went past the Windy Hill Wind farm. Combined with the Koombooloomba dam hydro electric dams, it generates enough electricity to power several towns.

We were somewhat disappointed with the Koombooloomba lake. Even though the water looks more attractive than Tinaroo lake (being blue in colour) it is surrounded by rocks and dirt, not much grass and the vegetation looks totally different (dry, dusty  and unattractive). The wildlife? I don't know, we didn't see any around apart from the March flies...

The camping sites are very rough and uncomfortable, no place to really enjoy the view, that is if there was a view worth watching… I guess we've been spoilt with Tinaroo lake which is close to tropical and pine forests.

We then went to Tully Falls Gorge, not far from there, 700m elevation with a 293m drop. Unfortunately  there hasn't been any rain lately and the water wasn't flowing down. We thought we could have lunch there, but after being attacked by hundreds of March flies, we decided to push on. The idea of having to swat ourselves continuously to stop these nasty, vicious creatures from biting us when trying to enjoy our food, somehow didn't appeal to us!

So we came back to Ravenshoe and stopped in a small park. Ravenshoe has 12 different species of possums, hence this sculpture (which Sven thought looked more like a pig!...)

All in all it was a nice day but we came to the conclusion that it is not worth for us to go camping there when we have this beautiful spot right here on our doorstep! Did I mention we're spoilt???

And a woman needs a garden bed…

Yes, I wanted a garden bed in front of the fence for a long time. But just the thought of digging that soil to make it, let me  very doubtful it would ever happen.

Then when the pile of freshly excavated dirt kept growing during the making of The Shed, I started making plans and  finally went into action.

After three days and 34 wheelbarrows (only 20 {woman} shovel full at a time though) of  rich and heavy soil  (wet with the showers) going up the driveway, I finally had the start of my garden bed…

I won my bet with Svenne who said I would only need a third of it and I used over half of it...

Planting all the cuttings I had made previously  was much easier and hopefully will grow better. (I call it "Determination"...

We bought 2 large bales of hay mulch, which fitted snugly and perfectly in the trailer.

And after spreading it generously  around the plants it now looks like a real garden bed. The rain we've had recently is helping them  and (as a bonus), I've noticed a few nasturtium plants starting to shoot (from the seeds that were in the relocated soil from the shed).

My next project is to weed out the rest of the place  and spread mulch. I swear weeds start growing back as soon as you turn your back on them. Hopefully the mulch will slow them down a bit, ...for a while at least.

Meanwhile, the bananas are getting bigger,  (when will they ripen???)

The passion fruits, chokoes, oranges, custard apples and  lemons  are producing more than we can eat.

Free lemons anyone??? 

A man needs a shed…

When we moved to our new home, a little over two years now, this place only had one garden shed, which became quite quickly  chockablock  with paint, tools and other things, not to mention the ride on.

So the quickest way to have more storage, was to erect a second garden shed, next to the first one.

Then, this one became very similarly jammed with all sorts of things.

One day, in March, Svenne decided he wanted "A" shed, "A" real shed, "A" man's shed!

And so began the making of this little beauty. All made with recycled material (apart from the roof).

You have to understand that this is a hobby job… Something he 's working at in between other jobs and rain showers which have been with us almost every day. We're not complaining though, as we needed it after a very dry summer.

Here is the step by step development of the "Grand Shed'.

First the digging and erecting the posts...

Then came the roof...

First wall...

The relocation of the first shed and concreting...

Second wall... and window...

More digging and removing tree roots and concreting...

Making the drain...

Third wall and door...

The relocation of the second shed and concreting...

Fourth wall, window and double doors...

It's taking shape all right. 

However, there's still more digging to do… and concreting… and flashing... and connecting electricity... and shelving… and finding a place for everything ...and putting everything in its place!  

And after a good coat of paint it will become "Svenne's Grand Shed"