Birds and Such

Well, I'm back, in a fashion. 

Did you miss me?

 This isn't quite the blog post I was going to write but with a broken computer, which is housing the photos I took while away for a week, this is what I am bringing to you.

P.S I hope the colours on the photos are okay because this computer has weird colouring.

As I said, I've been away for a week, or should I say, we've been away for a week. It was a pretty full week too which is why you didn't get any of my mind blowing posts to read (insert sarcasm as needed). And then the laptop packed it in. Exciting stuff.

As per usual the holiday was too short and having to go back to work Monday night wasn't high on my list of priorities. Well, I did enjoy it for about the first half of my shift, catching up etc. but then the energy ran out and I decided I was in need of a holiday again. 

I don't think anything happened while we were away, what can happen when you are gone for only a week.

Although the trees around the corner are definitely in full flower now and the Rainbow Lorikeets out in full force.

So are the bees, out in full force that is.

It was about the time that kids are heading to school that I was looking to the tree tops, craning my neck.

When I was about ready to head back in and was doing my camera upwards pose a young kid stopped beside me and looked up too. I am sure he was wondering what the silly lady was looking at. So I asked him if he could see the Rainbow Lorikeet. He got just a bit excited when he could and as the rest of his companions (mother as well) caught up he pointed it out to them as well. So now you can picture this, me with a tribe of kids close by all staring up at a tree. Pretty funny from the outside.

Then they had to trot off to school, reluctantly, and I really needed to get out of the sun.

How can you forget how burny the sun gets between seasons?

Anyway I am sure you'll get to see even more pics of Rainbow Lorikeets with heads buried in flowers soon enough. I just can't help myself when it comes to wanting to get a decent photo of these fidgety, noisy birds.

And as to my holiday, I'll get back to that later.

What has been happening in your neck of the woods?

 

G'day Poss!

Have you ever read that book Possum Magic by Mem Fox?

If not, I am telling you, you should. Even if it means sneaking into the kids section at your local library to find it. It will be there or if it isn't it will because someone has taken it home to eagerly read over and over again. It is a gorgeous book.

Not last weekend, the weekend before, I had a little possum magic of my own. No invisibility and Aussie food eating to become visible again (that would have been exciting and possibly very strange) but there was a possum.

You see Mr Sparky was climbing a tree to mark it for cutting, so they (the person cutting the branches from the top) didn't cut the part he wanted, and well he nearly got peed on by a possum. A bit of a hullabaloo happened up that tree when that occurred but the possum was a smart one and headed for higher ground, deciding peeing on the monkey like tree climber was not the best course of action.

Anyway, Poss watched us from above. Me, the weird one with the camera pointing skyward, going round and round the tree, playing peek-a-boo, while trying to get a clearer shot. I must have made Poss a bit dizzy I think. And then there was Mr Sparky, the monkey up the tree.

I spy a furry butt ...

I spy a furry, curly tail ...

I spy a cute furry, wide eyed, whiskery face.

Hello Poss.

So you as you can imagine Poss and I had a nice one sided chat going with our little I spy game.

Poss was a bit of a cutie but I am sure that Poss also gets up to plenty of night time mischief as possums like to do. Things like playing cricket on the roof tops (well that is what it sounds like), finding snug places to hide inside roofs, looking for tasty treats in the rubbish, peeing everywhere, eating people's gardens, fighting with other possums and so on. But still, Poss, I think you are cute.

Now a possum isn't usually something you see during the day. You see they are a bit of a night time party animal, needing a nice long day time sleep to get ready for the next night of partying.

I am pretty sure the rude awaking by our monkey man/ Mr Sparky was not on its agenda.

But I am also pretty sure the appearance of each other was a equal shock to both parties.

Ah well, at least trying to get photos of Poss kept me occupied, that and having to get tape from the car so Mr Sparky didn't have to get down. It was a happy surprise for me, I've only seen possums at night before.

I am pretty sure that Poss was glad to see the back of us and get back to day time snoozing.

Actually, I have to say I am feeling a little possum like in my sleeping needs. When 9:30 hit, after a sunrise trip, some exercise on my new buddy the exercise bike (which needs a name I think), making a tasty breaky, putting the washing on and making the mistake of sitting still for too long, I drooped. 

So now I am considering nap time, actually forget considering, I am going to try and have nap time.

Then I'll be just like Poss.

By the way the tree is still standing at this point and I am sure Poss will find a very nice home nearby when it does come down. Being close to buildings it probably isn't in the best place, especially with the cyclonic weather that likes to hit these parts. Mr Sparky although thinks it is a nice tree that should stay (strange for him to say that, although there may have been a comment about 'for another 10 years when it will be a really nice tree, to cut down') but it is someone else's tree and we are just helping with removal and in repayment we'll get more timber to add to the one day stash. 

 

Sexy Tractors

I little while back I went looking for a sugar cane sunrise, which I found and blogged about.

While I was out, I had seen a harvester on the move, and having nothing useful (okay, housework doesn't count) to do I decided to head out again, after I ate breakfast of cause, and see whether I could find someone harvesting some sugar bush.

By the way, sugar bush is a nickname for sugar cane. Mind you nickname might not be the right word for it, it has the same number of letters after all. But then again, my nicknames all seem to be longer than my real name. But hang on, that's right, I have a short name.

  

Anyway, back to cane harvesting. I enjoy watching it, seeing the machines going backwards and forwards and the amount of sugar cane decreasing, watching the pattern and rhythm of it all. Maybe that has something to do with having a rural background or maybe it is just because of those big machines.

Do you know that song "She thinks my tractor's sexy"? Maybe I just like a bit of tractor in my life.

So, most of the time when they are cutting cane there is one harvester and two haulout drivers. The haulout drivers are the ones in the tractors with bins (trailers) on the back. When one bin is full tractors usually swap places, but in this case the full one tipped the load into the other one, before taking it to the cane train carriages parked on the railway line, past the next paddock.

What happens when watching them harvest is reasonably predictable and if there are wheel tracks that seem well used, that is where you steer clear of, because more than likely that is where the haulout driver will be tearing through. This particular harvest I was watching was a bit different to what I have seen in the past, a lot slower. That was probably a bit to do with how they were hauling and a fair bit to do with the fact that they had a team there that seemed to be collecting samples on every run (every time the harvester cut a row of cane). Seeing markers on the ground was something different too but I think that was to do with labeling where the samples came from in the paddock.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the harvest with the local bird life coming out to see what was on offer for lunch.

I left when they seemed to stop harvesting and those collecting samples headed off. 

Tractors sitting still doing nothing are nowhere near as sexy as ones flexing their muscles at work.

Just saying ... Well, that is unless they are an old one with lots of character to photograph.

  Do you like watching machinery at work?

Rundown of last week

Last week hit me for six. It knocked the stuffing out of me.

That saying fits it perfectly as it was a six day working week.

So here is a run down ...

Day1

Morning: Our first English lessons at Nova with the group of junior high school and high school students. 

Afternoon: A three hour walking tour of Cairns including shops and shopping time, the Esplanade and Lagoon along with some local wildlife.

Night: Supermarket night fill for four hours until 11pm

On display in Cairns Central

Day 2

Morning: Pre sunrise wake up. Early morning washing. Lessons about direction or my lack of it and learning the names of some native animals with a lesson in how to play hangman included.

Afternoon: Animal shows, stamp collecting and Koala cuddling at the Cairns Wildlife Dome followed by some souvenir shopping time.

Night: Five hours of nightfill where I was the only person from our three person team that changes specials who was there. Talk about stressing out about something I had no need to stress out about because it just wasn't my issue to deal with, other than doing my actual job. Wanting to cry and tiredness involved.

Day 3:

Morning: Yet another pre sunrise wake up followed by yet another load of washing so I had work clothes for the night job. Lessons about shopping and an animal guessing game.

Afternoon: An hour bus trip there and back to Palm Cove where we enjoyed the sun, breeze, sand and sea together with some shopping time and icecream eating. Mmmm homemade macadamia and white chocolate ice cream. Lots of nodding heads on the return trip and possible napping on my part.

Night: Dragged feet to night fill with more wanting to sit in the aisle and bawl my eyes out. Tiredness and unreasonable thinking had taken a firm hold. Note to self, call in sick when you feel like this next time.

Day 4

Morning: Dragging self out of bed. Lessons about something or other, maybe booking a tour and pretending to book tours. Also pretend practice shopping as a reminder or what to say.

Afternoon: Back to the Cairns Wildlife Dome but this time for Zoom. Took part in some high ropes fun and then watched the kids do more levels including the power jump (controlled free fall) and zip line over Goliath the crocodile. Reminded of my lack of balance but of how fun this stuff is anyway. Some free shopping time for the kids.

Night: SLEEP

Day 5

Morning: Wake up before sunrise but for a change don't feel like the living dead. Washing. Lessons about ordering food and practice in our very own Nova McDonalds with cheap burgers and expensive sauces as the kids came up with the prices themselves. 

Afternoon: BBQ tim at the Lagoon. Yummy cooking smells followed by a tasty lunch. Swimming for the kids who thought the water was freezing (it was a bit) but who kept getting back in anyway. Some final souvenir shopping time.

Night: Night fill again but in a more mentally stable state. A 100% no was given to working an extra shift on Saturday night.

Saturday

Well you will have to wait and see what happened that day on the next post.