Category: Wildlife
Yabbies
Here’s one for Lyn from Lynz Real Cooking. And thanks to her question I’ve had a wonderful morning learning about the habits of Australian freshwater crustaceans and I now live in fear that a colony of Western Australian Marron that … Continue reading Yabbies
Tranquility
A Good Paint Job
2015 Up on the Irwin River lookout at Dongara, WA we stare at the ti trees on the opposite bank and wonder why they are white. What does that sign say? Oh, a cormorant rookery. Continue reading A Good Paint Job
Thunderboxes
March 2015 It is a warm morning in Pildappa, South Australia and I’m sitting in a National Park long drop trying hard not to breathe until the day’s work is completed, when an ant bites me! Ouch!! Translation note: Thunderbox = unsewered outdoor toilet, hence ‘long drop’. Campers sometimes remark on how well the rangers have dug the hole as they often listen for the deposit to reach the bottom. Continue reading Thunderboxes
Bugs
Winter 2015 Beasley River WA, a lone bird sings us awake. The inside of the van is a sea of dead bodies, a film of tiny black dots and bits of wings. It must have been a bugger of a … Continue reading Bugs
Hello Freddo
Winter 2015 Woody visits the semi open air toilet block in the Barn Hill,WA camp ground and thinks that one of the kids has stuck a plastic frog on the wall. Next morning there are four and he’s starting to think that someone has far too much time on their hands, until one starts to move and then another and another. Continue reading Hello Freddo
Bum Breathing Turtles
Winter 2014 The Dawson River near Moura, Qld is home to pelicans and bum breathing turtles (Rheodytes Leukops). Yep, the sign at the boat ramp says that they have oxygen extracting organs in their bums allowing them to stay under water for weeks. The things that you learn out here. Continue reading Bum Breathing Turtles
Jet the Truffle Dog
Spring 2014 Our friends are growing truffles in the NSW Southern Highlands and are yet to harvest their first crop. They have been told by the experts that truffles can only be found by strictly trained truffle dogs. These are hard living working dogs, not pampered house pets and must be treated as such. Yet a neighbour in the next valley has produced Australia’s second largest truffle and it was unearthed by their fat overfed blue heeler Jet. Jet the truffle dog. Good dog Jet. Continue reading Jet the Truffle Dog
One Hump or Two?
In our wanderings about the countryside ducking and weaving to avoid kangaroos, emus and feral pigs we have often complained that we are yet to see a camel in the wild. We know that they’re out there, thousands of ’em. Descendants of camel trains that worked the outback now roaming freely in the whoop whoop (desert/bush/mulga or scrub whatever you prefer to call our less populated inland). Imagine our surprise to find a herd of very civilised and inquisitive milking camels in the dairying district of Kyabram in Victoria. And if we were surprised imagine how the cows must feel? Continue reading One Hump or Two?
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