Category: Posts

Rosella bath time …

Published on by FJB4 Comments

Midway through a phone conversation with my mother nearly two thousand kilometres away in Adelaide I was “forced” to put her on hold, whilst I dived for my camera.

I had just seen something quite interesting in the garden …

Crimson Rosellas from my balcony
Rosella bath time

A family of Crimson Rosellas was enthusiastically bathing in my pond. Now, crimson and royal blue are not normally colours anyone would wear (except perhaps on a football vest) but somehow, when nature puts them together it looks wonderful.

Parading around the pond

They are not an uncommon bird on the East Coast of Australia, but this is the first time that I’ve noticed them in my garden, so I was quite excited. They hung around just long enough for me to finish my call to Mum and record a short video.

Keep an eye out for the smallest Rosella bravely performing a couple of spurts of freestyle across the pond!

Visiting Bat Island …

Published on by FJB4 Comments

In the whole twelve years I have lived here, I have never been to Bellingen Island. It’s known by the locals as Bat Island, and I had been told that it was smelly and tick and leech infested.  Which it probably is at the height of summer, but winter seemed like a perfect time to venture in to take a look at the bats (aka Flying Foxes) and the wonderful rehabilitation work being done by Landcare volunteers.

The island is only 30 metres from a suburban street in a pocket of remnant rainforest , and the first thing you notice on approaching the island is the noise. Not from the traffic, but from the bats. You would think that having been out all night searching for food, the bats would be sleeping peacefully in the trees, but no, most of them seem to be spitting, and screeching and fighting …

While others hang nearby, their Dracula capes wrapped around them trying to sleep …

Trying to sleep
Trying to sleep
Hanging in their Dracula capes
Hanging in their Dracula capes

Or yawning, stretching their wings and scrabbling along the branches, sometimes appearing to look directly down at you …

Branch full of bats

Fascinating and sweet faced creatures they may be, but I’m still not happy when I hear them at night fighting over the flowers on my mango tree.

And here’s a tip – If you go down to visit the bats, make sure you gawp and look upwards with your mouth firmly shut.  You never know what might fall out of the sky !!

Branch full of bats
Branch full of bats

What do Water Dragons want … ?

Published on by FJB2 Comments

Eastern Water dragons are not uncommon  around here, so I was pleased but not surprised to see one in my garden shortly after I moved in.   Unfortunately the noise and stress of my renovation was probably too much for this reptile and it wasn’t long before it disappeared.

Over the years I have added no fewer than five ponds and bird baths to my garden, and I have to admit to being a bit miffed that none of them seemed to appeal to Water dragons.   I realise that I might be a bit biased but they look pretty appealing to me.

So it’s a little ironic that yesterday I discovered a baby dragon living under the mat in the empty bath on my side deck. Not a water plant or even a drop of water in sight.
IMG_4960 (960x1280)
That shows you how much I know about creating aquatic wildlife habitat!

What I do know is that babies don’t arrive by themselves so that means that the parents are probably somewhere in the garden.  And I’m going to start looking at the point furthest from water of course …

Share the sweetness …

Published on by FJB2 Comments

If you ask me whether I prefer sweet or savoury food, I always reply with “Oh savoury, definitely”. I don’t eat biscuits and I rarely eat cake. But something strange comes over me when I go away on holiday.

This time it started in Adelaide at Lenzerheide Restaurant …

Baileys & honey crème brulee with Ferrero Rocher ice cream
Baileys & honey crème brulee with Ferrero Rocher ice cream
Chocolate plate - aero mint mousse, bounty chocolate tart, cherry ripe ice cream & snickers tart
Chocolate plate – aero mint mousse, bounty chocolate tart, cherry ripe ice cream & snickers tart

and it continued at Stamps Restaurant …

Ricotta dumplings with roasted quince, rosewater honey & Turkish yoghurt
Chocolate soufflé with expresso ice cream
Lemon Verbena and passionfruit panna cotta

then culminated at the Bridgewater Mill  in the Adelaide Hills …

Lime parfait with mandarin & meringue
Chocolate mess with coconut ice cream and sour cherries

After which, I moved on to Sydney and the landmark Asian restaurant Longrain …
(And I ask you, how do they expect one to take food photos under a dim yellow light ??)

Taro pudding with sweet coconut sauce & praline cashew nut ice cream
Sago pearls, black sticky rice, pineapple sorbet & pandan foam

I swear on a foodie bible that I shared every single dish, nevertheless I am now back in Bellingen eating soup and brown rice cakes.  I’m so lucky I don’t have a sweet tooth !

Oh Well ...