Kiwikoala: Tania's visit to Malanda December 2016

The 22 nd December

Tania arrived today at midday for 10 days holiday up at the farm. She sure did feel the heat when we got out of Cairns airport , her comment was this white chick is going to melt here lol.

We took Tania to the crystal caves , this is a place to visit when in Atherton. The crystal colours are amazing.

Christmas Day we went to Kuranda to Anne and Pauls farm ( John's sisters ) and spent a lovely day with the Drury and McCorry family.

Drury and McCorry family's Christmas Day at Kuranda

Tania and Paul feeding the horses bread on Christmas Day

Boxing Day was a shopping day in Cairns , great day for Tania to buy some work clothes on special. Anne and I were lucky enough to get some cheap Christmas decorations to add to our collections. The temperature was 35 and yes it was hot .

The Kuranda Butterfly house Tania loved . Sadly there were no Ulysses butterflies there, they seem to

be on the decline, and they are unsure why .

Butterfly on Marg's head

The fig tree in Yungaburra Tania thought was amazing .It is the largest one in northern Australia I believe.

Malanda Falls have a fabulous area for visitors to see the turtles in there natural home and bush turkeys and Wallabies roaming in a walking bush area. Tania also saw her first snake going across the walking path much to her surprise . A small brown snake .

Malanda falls has a very popular swimming hole there also. When John was at primary school many moons ago this is where the swimming sports day was held for primary and secondary school.

Malanda Falls

Turtles at Malanda falls

John had a couple of days off from the farm and we went out to Millstream Falls for lunch then onto the Millaa Millaa falls . There was not a lot of water in them but still very nice to see.

Dad and Tania at Millstream Falls

Millstream waterfalls

Tania at Millaa Millaa Falls

After the rain had cleaned the brown water away

Mount Hypipamee National Park crater Tania found interesting especially when you threw a few stones into it . It sure is a long way down and the noise it makes once rocks hit the water sure is loud.

Tania looking down into the Crater

Swimming hole near the crater

The Chinese gardens we were lucky to see the bearded water dragons sun bathing on a few logs .

Another day we went to Palm cove for lunch then drove up the coast to Port Douglas then onto Mossman. A beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 30s

View of Port Douglas from the look out

Granite Gorge was a good excerise day . Here Tania saw Rock Wallabies and babies.

Peek a boo

As most days were very hot, Tania and I decided to go to Lake Eachcam for a swim one day . It was very refreshing.

John milked cows on Friday pm at his mate Ross Chapmans farm . It was a good opportunity for Tania to have a go at milking and feeding calves, as she lives in the city. It was wonderful to see the smile on her face when she milked with her Dad and Ross introduced her to the calves. All city children should experience this .

Tania feeding calves on Ross's farm

Father showing daughter how to milk

Ross has some rainforest trees down the back of his farm and took Tania down there to see a Tree Kangaroo which lives there . Not many Australians are lucky enough to even see one of these kangaroos, so Tania was very fortunate to see one.

Tree Kangaroo

Saturday morning Tania, John, Glen, Anne , Kathryn and Marg went out to Lake Barrine for breakfast and met Ross and Wendy there . A great way to pass a few hours away with friends away from the farm.

New Year's Eve we had a quiet day at home so Tania could pack up her bag and chill out on the farm .

New Year's Day 2017

We left at 7.30am for Cairns so we weren't rushing to get to the airport by 11.30 . Had another walk around Cairns central shopping mall and a relaxing coffee opposite the esplanade and watched people enjoying a swim in the local pool on the foreshore where it was safe . Yes no crocodiles or blue bottle .

Marg and Tania selfie

14th Janurary the sky's turned very dark. Yes we were in for a storm. . Around 3.30 in the afternoon the heavens broke lose and let it rain. Both John and I had to hold an end of the annex each to stop it from getting any damage to it from the strong wind or blown away. We had a tarp over the caravan due to a small leak in the roof. That got ripped off with the wind , this we found once the wind and rain had eased. A few tree branches were on the ground around the farm and a roof off a small shed ended up in the calf paddock and damaged a small part of roof on the milking shed .

We waited until Sunday morning and put a larger tarp over the caravan again with more stays this time, until we get a chance to fix the leak when it is sunny for a few days. This time of the year is now the storm and wet season.

All protected again hopefully until the end of cyclone season

The boys are busy also on the farm with calving in full swing and getting paddocks resowed with food for the cows etc.

Here are a few odd photos that we have taken recently.

Waterfall on the Gillies Range after the rain

Waterfall on the side of the Gillies range going down

Time to make some silage whilst it's fine 44 bales

John bringing bales down getting ready for wrapping

Cloud formation at dusk while doing silage

Glen and John bailing silage at dusk last run

Guinea fowls roosting in tree for the night

April 15th wow where has the time gone Easter weekend is now with us. As usual time on the farm just seems to go fast. Glen and John been busy demolishing their parents bathroom and levelling up all the walls and floor ready for the tiler to come in on Tuesday. It will be wonderful for them to have a new bathroom. Sadly both their health is not has good as it should be . They now need extra help to keep them in there home .

Trying to remove toilet without breaking it . John and Glen . Yes there was asbestos in the walls hence the face marks .

Paul pointing at the toilet (brother in law) ,Kathryn waiting to throw rubbish into back of ute .

Empty bathroom waiting for boys to pull floor up

Margaret's been painting to fill in time whilst looking for a job. I am doing voluntary work at the Salavation Army store in Atherton once a week and loving it.