January 2013 - Part Three

With the mercury high and rising, (as you can see by the melted candles we have in the kitchen…)

 We decided to invest in a pool, but needed a slab for it. So, "sitôt dit, sitôt fait"  (French for no sooner said than done) that's how I describe Svenne… form work went up. But we needed some fill, so  we went to the…. Tip and collected 2 loads of rocks in the ever so useful van.

When it was time for the concreting to start, we discovered this spider, living in the concrete mixer, quite big and a bit scary.

There must be a few living around as I almost walked through this one, one night,

when we went toads hunting.

At last the slab was poured and cured 

And we could set up the pool.

Ahhh! What a relief from the heat…

BUS FOR SALE - SOLD!

Since we've been living in Yungaburra," Kvinna" (the bus) hasn't been moving except for short trips every couple of weeks to keep her in good nick.

For the last 10 years, we had such good times  with this motor home. Went places (Sydney, Cooktown, Tasmania, Tinaroo, to name a few) to escape the hustle and bustle of Cairns. Our favourite place was Kauri Creek (Tinaroo Lake), where we'd go camping…  every couple of months.

She was very comfortable thanks to Svenne who has done a lot of work inside... and always reliable.

But what's the use of having a motor home if you don't use it? Let's face it. We don't need to go anywhere any more in order to relax. This is the place!

So we came to the conclusion that it was better to sell her. And it didn't take long for somebody to grab a good deal!

This is how she looked.

  

It was hard to let her go and say goodbye, but she still has some guts in her and deserved to go places.

Her new owners are Roel and Luke, and we wished them all the best in their travels around Australia.

 Who knows… we might still see her again one day, as they said they would come past when they come back to Cairns. …

Goodbye Kvinna and Have fun!

January 2013 - Part Two

The rain also helped the Surinam cherries to plump up and ripen. We've had so many falling on the ground and it was Freja's delight to gobble them up.

Then she helped her full belly to digest by lying in the sun. Her favourite spot and position…

I managed to finally make some jam and jelly from all the collected fruits . But Oh!  What a job! Spending a good hour to take the pips out of them before I could cook them...

They turned out good but I was a bit disappointed with the loss of the very definite taste that you get when you eat them raw.

I don't think I will try that again  as it is so time consuming. But who knows. Maybe next year I will change my mind.

We celebrated Australia Day with a good Aussie dinner (snags, baked potato smothered with sour cream, creamed corn, beetroot, mint peas and of course… fried onions). And last but not least a nice cold VB.

Freja paid reverence to the Aussie Flag, lying on the landing of the "look out".

I couldn't resist to put this picture of fungi that look so much like a miniature  parasol.

And the moon (as always) was stunning.

To be continued...

January 2013 - Part One

All up in January we had 372 ml of rain (only). But we're not complaining as it has contributed to the greening up of the grass  and are keeping the cows happy.

It also helped the lake water to come up a little bit and have these spoonbills and birds contented for now.

On one of our trips to Cairns, we saw the Pyramid flowing again with water.

I've never seen this pot plant flowering  and it looks stunning just looking at the formation of the flowers before they bloom.

And then blooming and attracting the honey eater with their sweet nectar.

The snakes have been particularly active this year, like this python... (Sorry quick picture and... I was running away...   ☺ )

So are the frogs (this one looks very different from the front,  probably to deter predators.)

And of course the bugs by the millions at night  and this not so humble moth.

To be continued…

New year 2013

We should be in the Wet season by now. But unfortunately the monsoon hasn't come yet! The only green patches we can see are where the farmer has been irrigating for the cows. Everywhere else is brown and dry looking…

But we were very lucky to have this beautiful moon for company on New Year’s Eve,

It was a very quiet affair with only the “three” of us. We were supposed to get company from a few friends, but they decided not to come after all. We still had a very good time though.
While I was cooking, Svenne and Freja waited patiently but looking at me  with a look that said: “Is it ready yet?…When are we eating?…”

But it was worth waiting for. For entrée we had grilled oysters with butter and sherry.

Yuuummmy!

Main was chicken medallion. No pictures as by now patience had gone walk about… It was delicious though…
Dessert was a new idea of mine… “Tropical Tiramisu”. Instead of coffee flavour I decided to go with  banana liqueur, banana slices, hazelnuts, caramel syrup and Cadbury Flake chocolate. It worked awesomely (even if I say so myself) .  I will definitely do it again.

All in all our little "Réveillon” was a success and we had to snap a family photo.

We adjourned on the veranda to look at the moon and the stars and celebrated 2013 with a Bang!  Virtually… as we joined in with the other distant properties who were firing gun shots in the air right on midnight.
We then sat back and enjoyed a glass… or two of champagne with ABBA’s company in the background.

It was a Good Night.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family