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Bamboo creations …

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This week ended for me with splinters, sore fingers, a new found respect for bamboo artisans and a “not-so-private” privacy screen for my outside shower.

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Bello Bamboo’s property on the upper reaches of the Kalang River

I should explain … this week Bellingen hosted Camp Creative.  An annual event, now in its 27th year, which attracts over a thousand participants to the town. Courses on offer include – visual arts, writing, crafts, digital imaging, indigenous language and culture, music, singing and dance. Adults and children are catered for, and if you’ve always wanted to learn Indian Bellydance Fusion, African Drumming, The Joy of the Mighty Uke (elele) or how to Build a Canoe … then Camp Creative is for you.

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Don’t plant this one in your garden!

My chosen course, Bamboo Craft for an Eco-Future was over-subscribed, with one participant driving 1,528 kilometres from Phillip Island just to attend.  The course was run for the first time this year by the lovely people from the Bello Bamboo Company.  We harvested our bamboo from Kirsten and Rob’s property and then launched enthusiastically into building our chosen project.  I think it’s fair to say that we were all under skilled and overly ambitious, but everyone had a great time and went home with at least one creation.

Mine was a privacy screen for the outside shower – but to avoid shocking my neighbours, I think I’ll be growing a small creeper over it!

Inspiration – maybe next year !!
The screen – waiting for a creeper
Phyllostachys nigra – a running bamboo too vigorous to plant in my garden

One fewer cicada …

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I’m just back from ten days “respite” in Sydney and Adelaide, and my house is shielded from the worst of the noise, even so I am COMPLETELY OVER cicadas.

So you can imagine that this sight cheered me up no end …

Only 999,999 cicadas to go !!

Tortured by cicadas …

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Bottle Cicada

Another of the consequences of our recent rain has been the emergence of thousands of cicada nymphs from their seven-year hibernation underground, to shed their skins, mate, lay eggs and then die.  All this occurs in the space of a few weeks.

For some people these are the longest weeks of summer, as waves of ear-piercing calls roll through the bush, drowning out all other sounds and making conversation difficult if not impossible.  My friend Mary Ann who lives just out of Bellingen on a farm, is being driven slowly insane by 14 hours of non-stop noise every day.

I discovered that Australia has over 200 species of cicada.  Amongst them the colourfully named Black Prince, Floury Baker, Yellow Monday and Whisky Drinker (due to its red nose). Fortunately, it appears that only the Golden Drummer, Bottle, and Green Grocer have so far found my garden attractive.  Unfortunately though, the Green Grocer is said to be one of the loudest insects in the world!

They are quite an attractive insect, but this amazing and slightly creepy film on American cicadas will make you look at them in a new light!

Golden Drummer (deceased)
Green Grocer on my hand
Discarded exo-skeleton
Green Grocer

The Decoy Duck …

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Well, the Rain God gave us two days to mow and clean up before re-commencing daily thunderstorms.  I’m not complaining though.  The garden is fresh and green and full of birdlife – lorikeets, king parrots, catbirds, galahs, honeyeaters, bower birds and more. I’ve even had a few wild ducks wandering around looking for snails and slugs in the grass.  Which is why I nearly missed a big event …

Three nights ago I heard a quiet “quack quack” coming from somewhere in the garden.  Thinking it was a duck, I ignored it.  The second night, the same thing.  Then last night my curiosity got the better of me, and out I went with camera and torch to see what this duck was doing when it was supposed to be sleeping!

Strangely, no ducks, and for a while no “quacks” either.  So I sat down in the wet grass and waited … and after a few minutes, from the leaf litter behind me came a “quack quack”.  I turned to discover one of the frogs on my wish list, a Great Barred Frog.

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The Great Barred Frog is a cousin to the Giant Barred Frog which is endangered, although spotted in the lagoons in North Bellingen.  They both like the same habitat, and my pond doesn’t exactly fit the description, which is why I wasn’t expecting it to turn up.  That’s frog species number NINE !!

A Great Barred Frog
A Decoy Duck