14^th November 2014,

The weather has decided to either be hot or rain with thunder and lightening. Its the start of the wet season . The temperatures are between 25 and early 30s during the day and even at night around 28 degs. Over a two day period parts of Malanda had 4 ½ inches of rain and very much welcome . The ground has been very dry. Sadly the rain and thunder seems to have happened when the young birds are hatching around the paddocks and close to the house. The babies cannot survive with all the rain as most of the young ones are hatched on the ground especially the Curlews, Plovers and Rails.

                                                                      

    
 Curlews protecting eggs on the grass very difficult to see the eggs as the parents take you away from where the eggs are.
                                                                        

                                                              
 A curlew sitting on one egg  with a baby chick under her left wing, sad to say both babies did not survive due to a storm at night.

Chris and Mary-Anne Cooke friends of ours from Paraparaumu NZ visited us today out at the farm.

We had a wonderful day showing them around the Atherton Tableland. Especially the waterfalls at Millaa Millaa which are world renown and Malanda Falls. Waterfalls in Australia are very popular visiting places as most have beautiful walkways to get to them and are easily accessible.

For the evening meal we went to the Tolga Hotel. A great friendly pub and wow plenty of food on your plate . (doggy bags available if required).

 

Marg, John, Maryanne and Chris Cooke Millaa Millaa Falls  

 

      
                                           Millaa Millaa Falls Atherton Tableland                                                         

                                                  Malanda Falls (Johns hometown)

  

                                                                      
                          

                                                                          

                                              Comfort stop Millaa Millaa cemetery

I have started going to the markets that are every Saturday or Sunday in the area. Selling our personalised key-rings, motorbike jewellery we make and the fridge hand towels I crochet. Pleased to say they are all selling well. I love seeing all the different crafts and meeting people especially those that travel around aussie in the motorhomes etc. It sure gives me lots of ideas to keep me busy in the evening watching TV or just sitting outside the van at happy hour. I'm still learning folk art and having a lot of fun doing it. Below are the latest pieces I have just finished.

                                                                            

Christmas decorations

                                                              

Christmas decoration

Tray we are using in the caravan great for Happy Hour

                                                                         

Anne and Glen have finally had a holiday away together after 12 years. They went south to Rockhampton and beyond. With working on the farm, getting time off is very hard especially when you cannot get anyone to do the milking and look after the cows etc. John did the milking and I did the washing out. The time went very quick. Anne brought back a sausage tree seed to show us. We had never seen one before. The weight of it is 1.445g . I sure would not like to be underneath it when it decided to drop off. I took a photo of it against my croc shoe. The size of my foot is 28.5 cm .

Anne was telling us that she has a couple of these trees planted on the property but they are only young still. I must remember not to park our car under it.

                                                                               

                                                                                  

                                                                                        

        

                                                 Once a milker always a milker John
                                                                                

 

                                                                             

 

                                                                               

                                                                             
                              Rooster getting settled for the night in the cow shed

 

 

John and Glen have finally started building the calf shelter that we came over from NZ to help him build. It has taken nearly 2 years to get to it. But I must say they have built many other sheds and shelters around the farm. This shelter will have 4 paddocks off it so that the calves can get shelter in what ever paddock they are in from the sun.

                                                                              

Here are some random photos that we have taken around the farm.

We came across a curlew that decided to lay her eggs on the lawn. I tired to get some photos of them but the parents get very protective of the eggs and hence the display of wings .

          

With Christmas not far away now I hope you have all completed your shopping and it was not too stressful.

John and I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great New year and may you all be safe on the road in this crazy time of the year. We will have  a family gathering at Glen and Anne’s farm in Malanda for Christmas day. We look forward to more travels in the New Year and hope that you find the blog interesting on our travels etc.

                                                                                

We were hoping to get the blog updated before 2014 sorry that did not happen. Happy New year.

John and I decided to have a few days away in the caravan. Innot Hot springs here we come. It is only 1 ½ hours from Malanda. We left on boxing day and had two days relaxing in the hot and cool pools. We were very surprised that there was only 3 tents and a caravan at the camping ground, especially with it being the school holidays etc. From here we went to Kuranda to Anne and Pauls (Johns sister) farm for 5 days. The temperatures were will in the mid 30's to late 30's during the day and at night late 20s very hot. We ate lots of lovely strawberry Mango's and watermelon.

While we were there we were introduced to a champagne watermelon. The flesh colour is between lemon and apricot and very sweet. (See photo)

                                                                                 
                                                                      

There was a little excitement which caused the fire-bridge to come out. A neighbour close to Paul and Anne’s place had a car delivered and between getting it off the truck and parking it the grass caught fire and spread to the trees which were very dry. 3 fire engines and a rural fire truck went to the fire. Surrounding this area is a reserve which concerned many neighbours. Lucky for us there was a river between us but with the wind that came up we watched for embers that jumped the river. Thankfully this did not happen with the whole area very dry and the dams very low of water it was a concern.

 

                                                                                 

                                        The kiwi flag and Aussie flag flying at Anne and Pauls Kuranda

                                                                          

                                     John relaxing at Kuranda next to Anne and Pauls cottage   

 

 

                                Looking out over the farm from the cottage at Kuranda

 

                         Smoke  seen from Kuranda farm just across the river with the reserve on fire.

 

 

                                                                              

                                                                     Bindy
                       

 

                                                 Bobby the pup annoying Bindy

 

 

We went to Cairns for a few hours shopping . A clothing store named Rivers had a 50% sale on everything. A good time to get some work clothes for John. Especially with that discount. He now had plenty of work clothes for the next 6 months.

When we left Malanda, we did not know it but a frog had decided to come on holiday with us. It got up in the air conditioning unit and its crocking time was late afternoon when we heard it. Surprisingly it managed to survive the round trip with the heat. We tried to see if we could get it out but it was in hiding. Hopefully it will manage to get out now we are back at the farm.

                                                                              

                                                                   Outside pool 38 degs

 

                      Top pool 40 degs    bottom left pool  cold, right pool  44  to 46 degs

 

  

                                                        A baby  butcher bird having a cool drink            

 

 

On Sunday the19th January 2014  we decided to have a day off from farm working and go to Palm Cove and visit a few other beaches North of Cairns. We Took Johns parents with us for a drive. Left at 8.30am and went to Kuranda for a cuppa at Anne and Pauls then onto Trinity Beach , Palm Cove and then drove up to Mount Malloy and got back to Malanda at 5.00. The weather was lovely with a little cloud around jus to make the driving pleasant . 

 

                                                                         


Trinity Beach

Rex Lookout

Formation in a tree

 

 

Our next weekend away will be at Granite Rock where there are a lot of rock wallabies and bush walks. Watch this space.