Archive for the ‘Australian animals’ Category

Hot, lazy and start-up after holiday

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

February was hot. The heat kept us from doing many activities. Just a simple walk during the day gets you totally wet from sweating. On average it is several degrees above 30 degrees Celsius and humidity is high as usual for a subtropical area. There were also some warnings to be careful because snakes were very active and present in large numbers. 

However, it is always good to have a BBQ, so we had several “barbies” with others at their or our home. To be honest not many people here are quick with letting you in their private environment. Several migrants told us that the Australians are very nice, but it stops at the front door. Nevertheless we have met many people and some of them we consider already as our friends.

The school holidays have ended at the end of January so the children had to go to school again. Both Jorick and Nicole were looking forward to start in their new class. Nicole is now going to year 2 (primary) and Jorick to the preparatory year. After two weeks they got used to the new rhythm and sometimes preferred to stay at home. Nicole continued her tennis lessons and started guitar lessons. Both Jorick and Nicole continued swimming lessons. Jorick had already two show&tell presentations. One about a favorite toy (Lianne the giraffe) and one about a favorite photo (his birthday party in Bosch en Duin with candles on the cake).

Also for Anita and Jan the normal daily life continued again. Anita started to work in a new project from Geriatrics/General Medicine to help develop a new service called Home Based Acute (Hospital) Care. Besides his consultancy work Jan started an MBA in the UK to refresh his knowledge and to get it formally recognized with a certificate as well.

Flattening the area for the playground. Watching the bobcat. Delayed, but finally the first contours of the playground.

After we bought a large trampoline already half a year ago we decided to create a playground in the bush garden. However first we had to remove many trees and to flatten an area with a machine (bobcat). This plan was delayed by a broken chainsaw and other activities. Anyhow this finally happened so now the kids have their trampoline and the swing. Perhaps we will also extend the area with a sitting area and a BBQ.

Flying Foxes in the evening visiting our BBQ. In the evenings suddenly crowds of Flying Foxes showed up. It seemed that several trees have blossoms they like to eat. Besides already all loud noises in the evening these foxes added another flavor.

Visiting the Samford Historical Museum we saw how the first settlers here started their community. 150 years ago the land was sold and in 1872 the first school was build. Al lot of old equipment some houses and a school are shown with some explanation on things developed.

The old Samford School started in 1872. Old equipment store. Milking and caring for mother and daughter.

Grass Hopper on the Pajero. It’s a bit weird that differences between summer and winter are limited. Nevertheless different animals show up during the year depending on the time of the year. During a party at the Sweeney Reserve some parrots showed up.

Also Grass Hopper are everywhere and sometimes real big ones show up like this one on the car. And of course they like a good concert as well.

Brush Turkey suffering from the heat next to our patio. The breeding season of the Brush Turkey is over and we didn’t see any chuckling. Though the Lace Monitors had a good time eating all the eggs that were laid inside. To end the game we have decided to clean up the messy mound also  being a breeding stove for many insects as well. So here we go.

 

Kind regards from us all.



Daily life in Brisbane goes on.

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Temperature in Brisbane is rising so this was a good reason to go the Cove Lagoon in Redcliff (north east of Brisbane). It’s a controlled safe area close to sea/ocean.

Settlement Cove Lagoon in Redcliff   A play in Cove Lagoon. 

Especially Nicole is still fascinated by the Wallum Sedge frogs in the frog pont. She likes to catch them and became quite good in it.

A look at the frog pont.Caths the frogs. Wallum Sedge frogs Blowing his balloon.

Jorick enjoyes school more each day. The teacher asked him to watch over her dog Kenny during the weekend. He also had to put all the experiences with Kenny in her diary with additional pictures. So he took Kenny with him to a Birthday on Saturday and a Dutch Playground Party on Sunday. The Pictures tell it all. On Grandparents day at school Jan and Anita played the role of grandparent and we also found a lovely older lady as a “stand-in”. The children love her.

  With Kenny to a Birthday Party.   Kenny in Dutch costume.        The Artist.   Grand Parents day.

Continuously (for us) new animals show up. 

Beetle.       Our Ducks in the Frog Pont.       Spider in the park.

Since we have the Brush Turkey building his mound close to our house and female turkeys put their eggs in it, the Lace monitor continuously shows up. He is watching for his chance to eat the eggs (we think). Several times we saw the male Turkey defend his mould and picking the head of the Lace Monitor when he came to close.

 LaceMonitor hiding behind the tree.          Waiting for opportunity to escape.          If I'm quite you don't see me (I hope)

At night the Possums become active and can make a lot of noise. Also the Cane Toads, considered to be a pest, show up and we already have killed many of them. They are non-native and don’t have natural enemies, so they are very reproductive and eat a lot. In effect other frog species don’t survive. Also snakes, birds, crocodiles and other animals trying to eat a Cane Toads get killed by their venom (excreted by their parotic glands). During daytime we can enjoy watching kookaburras eating termites.

Possum visiting at night. Cane Toad. Kookaburras eating termites.

Cheers,

Jan, Anita, Nicole and Jorick