One in the Bush: January 2009

Australia Day

Monday was my first Australia Day as an Australian citizen but I wasn't really celebrating. It commemorates the day in 1788 when the First Fleet showed up in Australia but these days its just an excuse for overly nationalistic nonsense and everyone goes about wrapped in the flag and shouting lots. We're also in the middle of something of a heat-wave right now so spending any time outside is pretty uncomfortable.

Australia Day kangaroos

As a result, I ran away for a couple of days to Emily's folks' place in the Blue Mountains where its a few degrees cooler and there aren't quite so many Australians. A very pleasant weekend was had up there and the South Africans managed to beat the Aussies at cricket as well. Lovely.

Pacific Baza

Audley, Royal NP

Remarkably I got a new bird for the list at the weekend and even more remarkably it was just down the road in the Royal NP. It was all down to another internet tip-off reporting the location of a nest containing three fledglings with regular feeding visits by the two parents. After arriving at the right spot, it took Jarrod, Paul and me about a minute to locate the nest with the babies flapping about and another minute before one of the adult birds came by. One of the more easy ticks with a pleasingly low b.p.b. (bucks per bird) - Pacific Baza (formerly the Crested Hawk) #385.

Pacific Baza

We had a bit of a wander and the bird-watching was pretty good with good views of three species of kingfisher, Rufous Whistler and Crested Shrike-tit. You don't see these around Sydney every day.

Camping with the leeches

Last weekend I attended a random 60th birthday party with Emily and her brother Will. It entailed a bit of camping up in the bush near Dungog on the south side of the Barrington Tops. It should have been a pretty straightforward excursion but things took a strange turn early doors. That's to say we took a strange turn off the main road following what the TomTom sat nav said. The road soon turned into a track which turned into a walking trail which turned into a river which then just stopped. Although we were in Will's 4x4 Hilux, there was no way back due to crazy hills we'd come down and a crazy river we'd crossed and the crazy jungle was tight on both sides anyway meaning we couldn't turn round even if we'd wanted. We ended up driving across a couple of fields before finding the road we should have been on. TomTom meant well but the shortest route is not always the best one.

Wonga Pigeon

We set up camp on the property where the party was held only to discover that the place was crawling with leeches and funnel-web spiders. Emily was attacked by both but I managed to avoid them luckily. It was then that the deadly snake arrived but unfortunately for it, it had decided to stay in a hole under the camp fire and so when it emerged the poor thing was cooked. Nice party though and a load of Wonga Pigeons about which was super good.

Brush Turkey

Christmas in the mountains

Scorls

I've just returned to Sydney after spending a very pleasant week up in the Blue Mountains at Emily's parents' place. And very nice it was too if a little warm during the day. Their property is right out in the bush and backs onto a forested gully and so I spent most of my time just relaxing on the veranda with a cold beer and watching the birds go by. The Glossy Black-Cockatoos still manage to evade me but I'll have them before too long.

Monster!

The only downside involved my poor old car which is beginning to feel its age I think. We had to call out the roadside assistance twice but luckily we had mobile reception on both occasions. If you're going to break down then I guess its best to do it at a picturesque lookout. The car now has a new alternator and struggles on. She was almost put out of her misery by a falling tree though. Luckily we were outside the house and heard a crack come from a large gum overhanging the driveway. We moved the cars and that very night the whole thing came down right where all the cars had been parked! If we hadn't heard that cracking noise earlier we would have had at least two very flat vehicles on our hands. A close one!

Around the garden

Yabby hunting

Yabby!

Much of my time up in the mountains was spent doing absolutely nothing except relaxing but we did get out into the bush on a few occasions to hunt down the mighty yabby. Yabbies are a freshwater crustacean which frequent all of the streams and waterholes up in the Blue Mountains.

To catch a yabby, one must fill a stocking with the most rotten foul-smelling offal that you can find, tie on a rock to sink the evil mixture and attach a piece of string. The whole lot is then lobbed into a pool near a likely looking crevice or overhang. Before long the yabby will emerge and grab onto the gift and if you're really slow in pulling on the string, he won't let go and you'll be able to slip a net under him and you'll have yourself an angry little creature waving his claws at you.