The Trip To Melbourne Part 1

Friday 15th

We left Perth around 3pm, having had to finish the last of the cleaning of Tiki's ex-house. I'm going to miss writing on that porch, but at least she's bringing the couch to Melbourne. I'll be able to lob around her place whenever I want and use it to write on.

And no, she has no say in that.

After leaving a special gift of potato chips and vitamin C on Simon Oxwell's letter box, we headed for Barna Mia, in the Dryandra Woodlands. Barna Mia has nighttime tours where they take you around with a big red torch and show you the nocturnal animals. We got there just in time for the tour to start and John, the guy doing the tour, gave a little talk about the sanctuary and what they're doing. The project they are part of has taken three animals off the endangered species list. Yay!

I didn't take my camera on the walk. It would have taken shots in the light of the red torch, but I was tired enough that I didn't trust myself to deactivate the flash properly. Some of the animals we saw were the bilby (native name dalgyte), western barred bandicoot (marl), the burrowing bettong (boodie), banded hare wallaby (mernine) and the rufous hare-wallaby (wurrup). We also got to see some possums (pests).( Read more... )

Trip to Melbourne Pictures

These all relate to the previous post. Ten large (800x600) pictures, all below the cut. ( Read more... )

The Trip to Melbourne Part 2

Sunday 17th

Sunday was a quiet day. Both Tiki and I were pretty tired from all the packing, cleaning and placing of bodies in tubs of acid that needed doing before she handed her keys in.

It occurs to me that I should take the chance to tell you a little about the farm. It grows stuff in an orchard. The variety of fruit is interesting, a lot of it is not your ordinary stuff - crabapples, amaranth, cherimoyas, etc. It has peacocks as well (this will soon be relevant). We stay in "The Tent", a large packing shed. It has no running water, no shower, and a composting worm toilet. To have a wash, you get under the hose. It's not as bad as it sounds, though the word bracing comes to mind. Tiki likes having a hose wash. There would be pictures in the next post, but she probably won't let me. However, check in here later for the URL for my new paysite - www.tikiwashes.com

After dropping off some avocados to a seller, we went down to Lowlands beach. Lovely spot, plenty of big rocks and waves. We spent a chunk of the day there, just enjoying the views. Piccies, etc. next post.

That night we slept out on the North balcony and listened to the night sounds of the area. The distant moos of cattle and the various calls of at least four distinct species of frog.

Monday 18th

Was the day we were going to hit Albany. However that didn't happen after some customers who had dropped by for avocados told us there was a peacock in the old well. Went and had a look and sure enough, there she was. We got her out and the poor thing was freezing. So our day changed direction and we took to looking after the peahen for a good chunk of it, trying to warm her up, keep her comfy, etc. We thought there was a good chance she'd die, but we did our best to prevent it. Pics - you know the drill.

At a later point in the day, when the peahen was resting soundly, Tiki and I went for a walk to The Rock. It's a large lichen covered piece of granite sitting in amongst some of the bushland. Great view from there. Pics etc.

Tiki's mum rocked up to do some work on the farm for a week or so, and like us ended up doting on the peahen somewhat. Towards the end of the night she was looking a bit healthier (the peahen, not Tiki's mum, who looked healthy to begin with) and started to move around a little. I've been around animals my whole life, so it's surviving the first night that I wait for. If they do that after a serious fright/shock/getting a letter from Reader's Digest, they usually manage to keep going.

I read a bit more of Simon Brown's Privateer before bed. It's a good read, I particularly like the society he built for the Calethar, it feels different but reasonably believeable.

Tuesday 19th (morning)

Woke up to a beautiful morning and a dead peahen. Oh well, we did our best.