Last Stop

 The last place we visited on this trip was 

 

View behind the place we stayed:
 

We had some very nice Indian food from a nearby restaurant with interesting decorations:

 

The next day we went for a couple of walks, admiring the scenery 

 and searching for tiny wildflowers like this orchid which is only a couple of centimetres across:
 

After another night, we packed up the car and headed home to collect our dogs as fast as we could!

Steam Trip

Today involved a bit of travel back and forwards, including taking a bus from this old station 

to meet this train which had travelled from Melbourne.

We boarded the train and travelled back to the the station where we had left our car.

We didn't wait around to see the engine turned on the turntable:

Because our accommodation for the night was back in the town where we had boarded the train.

It was a fun thing to do, and good timing that it happened just when we would be in the area.

Last thing at night we had a good view of a fireworks display in the town where we are staying, so that was another lucky coincidence. 

Along the Murray

The start of a delightful walk of about 4.5kms through Kings Billabong Wildlife Reserve:

Sign which is slightly hard to read, but the walk we did was the loop track from "You are here" to the bird hide which looks out over the water in roughly the middle of the sign: 

It was a very pleasant day for it, not too hot and sunny, or too cold.

 

Have you ever seen a pedestrian crossing where pedestrians don't have right-of-way? 

 

I wonder why even have a crossing point?

 

 

In the afternoon we took a slow trip up the river on this paddle boat: 

The trip took just over 2 hours, and it was relaxing to watch the world go by. We sat outside to enjoy the sights, but this is the carpet inside:

Cute!

Now we head south towards home. 

Being Flexible

We had a private tour booked for today, to take us to Lake Mungo. Unfortunately our tour guide had an accident which left him with broken ribs and stuck in Melbourne unable to drive. So we had to come up with plan B.

We are in Balranald, a small town of around 1,000 people. Apparently there are a lot of frogs.

Frog themed climbing frame.

We visited a few interesting spots around the town. The Yanga National Park is nearby, so we explored there. This is the Murrumbidgee River:

Finding new species that don't occur in our region has been interesting. Check out these grasshoppers I saw in the national park:

 

Heading North

 This morning we had a tour of a privately-owned wetland restoration project. It  was very interesting but I only realised later that I took almost no photos. This was the start of the path through the wetland:

And the rest you will have to imagine!

We then continued on the next part of our journey, which took us further north into apparently dangerous country:

 

Here's the view from the balcony of the lakeside cabin where we are spending tonight:

They weren't lying about it being lake-side!
 

Weekend in Castlemaine

 This weekend I am at a conference not a long way from home. Here is a sweet vase of native flowers on our table at the Friday night dinner:

Saturday involved a couple of walks in the local bushland.

Mostly on small tracks, looking at wildflowers, but this was just heading back to the cars at the end of the morning exploration. 

Also a quick visit to Castlemaine Botanic Gardens between the bush walks.

Their wisteria is at its peak. Ours at home is just starting.
 

Bits and Pieces

I took a few photos of spring happening around the garden, then my camera battery went flat, and then when I tried to get to my blog I got an error message that I didn't have time to resolve.

So here are a few random things!

A cockatoo starting to have a nibble of a high window frame early one morning. I don't want to encourage that behaviour! 

It flew off when it noticed me.

We had quite a lot of rain last week. Over 70mm at our place. So we went to see how Lal Lal Falls was looking:

 This is a pot near the front door, with a forest of Ajuga in flower:

And this is a miniature iris:

And the only shot I managed of orchids in the greenhouse:

Then my camera told me the battery was exhausted!

 

Happy October!

 This morning I found that the quince tree has started flowering:

 

Then as I was having my breakfast I checked in on the peregrine falcons nesting in Collins St in the city, and saw that the first egg has hatched:

And not long after the first chick was also eating its breakfast:

 

Fighting Inertia

A week has gone by, and I've taken a few photos, but not got round to writing blog posts. That's how it happens! So here is an effort to overcome my inertia.

Firstly, the "sandpaper" wattle flowered:

 

The flowers are like big golden fuzzy caterpillars. They are very soft to touch. The leaves on the other hand, are covered in hard little bumps, and do feel like sandpaper: 

 

Here's some cherry blossom from a couple of days later, with a touch of early morning light rain:

My weeping redbud is bursting into flower:

And today I finished the last batch of 28, to give me a total of 360 little half-square triangles for my Rajah Revisited quilt:

Tulip

 This tulip was a nice surprise today:

 

On Sunday the temperature reached 26 (far too high for this time of year) and my tulips all drooped. They stood up again after I gave them a good drink, but I didn't expect any flowers to survive that treatment. But here is one, and there may be another few to come.

This afternoon we went for a walk down a road we haven't walked for a few years, and saw these kangaroos grazing peacefully in a paddock.

 

Strawberry Parfait

 Today I gave my little greenhouse a spring clean and was delighted by these delicious-looking flowers:

The plant is a "Strawberry Parfait" vireya.

 

Repeats

 I'm still working on my half-square triangles, but they don't make interesting blog posts.

 

I have about 100 to go.

 

I'm not going anywhere much at present because of the cost of petrol. It almost feels like lockdowns did; staying home and only going out for grocery shopping when necessary. It is the one down-side of living in the country. Nothing is within walking distance, and there is no public transport.

  

Last night was a bit warmer, and I put out my moth light again. I was very happy to find this one just as I was about to pack it away again: 

 

 

It's a shame I didn't put anything beside it for scale. It is a Helena Gum Moth, and it is about 150mm, or 6", across. I don't see them often so am always happy when I do.

 

The blossom in the orchard still delights me every morning when I let the chooks out: 

 Anyway, that's life here. Lots to enjoy, but not much variety in the blog posts!

Morning Surprises

This guy hopped across in front of me early this morning when I let the chooks out:

I'm not sure which of was more startled! 

In the orchard this slime mould was an interesting sight:

It is probably Dog Vomit Slime Mould.
 

Little Things

I lost track of recording things to be happy about this week. I was concentrating too much on the bleakness. But there were good things along the way.

Some nice blossom on Tuesday morning:

On Thursday I spotted an echidna beside the road and stopped to photograph it before it disappeared into the vegetation: 

On Friday the evening temperature was high enough (7 degrees, not very high!) for me to put out my moth light and see if any moths turned up. Several did.

I've spent a bit of time this week sorting out my walk-in wardrobe - rearranging the shelves, throwing out stuff, and boxing up stuff to send to the op-shop. At the moment it is still more chaos than organisation, as not everything that I pulled off the shelves has found its new place yet. Give it a few more days...

On Saturday I was glad I have another camera when my main one decided I needed more arty photos: 

That is two baby magpies in a tree. Not quite the result I wanted! The poor camera seems to have had it.
 

So here is some more new blossom this morning, taken with a different camera:

 Hope your week has been full of little drops of happiness.