House guests

As you know we've not been getting out and about too much but in Australia you can generally sit back and let the wildlife come to you.

Sydney Funnel-web

The house has still not been breached by spiders but a few weeks back we did have our first encounter with a Sydney Funnel-web just outside the front door. It was incredibly aggressive rearing up and showing off it's impressive fangs but the funnel-web is slow and can't jump or climb smooth surfaces and so it's easy enough to catch them in a Tupperware box. You still need to be careful though as they can apparently bite through the plastic and at the end of the day they can kill you. The local hospitals accept live specimens to milk for anti-venom but I'm ashamed to admit that they don't stay alive for too long round my place.

Golden-crowned Snake

Although the spiders haven't entered the house yet, the snakes have! The Tupperware box was out again when we came across a Golden-crowned Snake behind a chest-of-drawers in the downstairs bedroom. It was only a young one maybe 25-30cm long and so it wasn't too much of a problem to catch it and put it safely outside. They are mildly venomous and so despite being pretty placid I'm glad it wasn't a fully grown adult at 70-80cm.

Jack on his perch

Jack's back! After several months of absence Emily was working in her office when Jack the magpie casually strolled in through the open door sporting his new adult plumage. He'd come in through his window and then searched the house to find Emily. Of course he was rewarded with some kangaroo mince. Nice to see he still remembers us.

Queensland

Well we did manage to make it up to Queensland for a week in late January to visit Emily's brother and family and remarkably we also remain Covid-free. Sadly though it seems that we're still trapped in lockdown habits and apart from that one trip north there's not been much going on.

Koala

I didn't have high hopes of adding to my list around Brisbane but I gave it a good go. At least for two days anyway. I spent a first day tramping kilometres through woodland and forest hoping for a glimpse of the White-eared Monarch. No joy but some small consolation in the more exotic locals such as Red-backed Fairy-wren, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove and a Koala.

A hot day in the mangroves

A change of tack on the second day saw me head to the coast in search of mangrove specialities. I'm not normally a big fan of mangrove boardwalks but the one at Nudgee Beach is pretty special winding for a couple of kilometres through some really nice mangrove forest and getting out into fairly deep water. This meant that the fish-spotting was almost as good as the bird-watching.

Short-eared Brushtail Possum

Still no ticks though. I probably had the Mangrove Honeyeater but probably isn't definitely and so that one remains off the list for now. I was surprised to stumble across a possum out in the water but apparently the Short-eared Brushtail Possum doesn't mind getting it's feet wet. Despite being covered head-to-toe in insect repellent, the mosquitoes and extreme heat had the final say in my birding adventures. I awoke on the third day covered in a terrible rash and that was that.

Coff's Harbour jetty

On the way back south we stopped for a couple of nights at Coff's Harbour where the turtles were swarming around the pier as usual. This time I also had my fishing gear and so we had a great evening session fishing into the night. Emily kicked things off with a nice Pufferfish before we had a couple of Stout Whiting and a Flathead before I hooked a Shovelnose Ray. A bizarre half-ray-half-shark this thing was pushing a metre long which is a problem when you're standing on top of a pier with light gear. Emily started hauling it up hand over hand as a crowd gathered but about two thirds of the way up it gave a kick and my 12lb line broke to the disappointment of all. I rounded out the night with a solid Estuary Catfish which did make it up to the top of the pier. Sadly no pictures as it was too dark but a top evening and the best part of the trip!

A good Cane Toad is a flattened one!