Harvest time then heading home.

Just look at these beautiful Russian Red tomatoes

It has been a productive and enjoyable 3 months staying here and for the past few weeks we have enjoyed the fruits of our labours. The garden has flourished and I have had fresh vegetables from the garden every day. Beans by the bucket full, silverbeet, lettuce, radish, carrots, celery, zucchini and tomatoes. Lyn had planted 6 different varieties before we arrived and I have nurtured them and just look at these beauties. They are a variety called Russian Red and they are the most delicious tasting tomatoes I have ever eaten. They are juicy and thin-skinned and give a burst of rich tomatoe flavour. They taste like summer.

6 different types of tomatoes, can you spot them all?

Lyn and David arrived home from their adventures on the weekend and we have spent 3 delightful days swapping travel stories and sharing meals together, But now it is time to head home.

Matilda is packed and today we head south. It is going to be a slower journey than the trip here, the weather is hotter and we do not have a time frame so we will meander back 2000 kilometres and possibly take about 2 to 3 weeks depending on what discoveries we make on the way.

Internet connections will be sporadic so you may not hear from me for a while so until I reach home “Cheerio” to you all….

 

Timeout for Art : Goodbye Yungaburra

How time has flown, after 3 months house sitting at Malanda it is now almost time to gather together all our “stuff”, that has spread through the house, and find space to pack it back into Matilda. But before we go I must visit Yungaburra, my favourite village round here, get a hair cut and have a final cup of coffee at “The Whistle Stop”.

I also want to “take timeout for art”. Lisa from “Zeebra Designs and Destinations” is a very talented artist living and creating in Ecuador. She posts a weekly “timeout for art” challenge that inspired me, about 2 months ago, to take up pencil and rubber and begin sketching. It has become a passion and I try to produce a sketch most days. So today I wanted to try to sketch my favourite coffee shop.

My favourite coffee shop

Then, of course, I had to go inside for a cup of coffee and when we walked in we saw these gorgeous 8 week old puppies that belonged to the owner of the café. Jack just had to take their photos. I would like to pop them in my bag to take back home.

What a cuddly hand-full (photo by Jack)

What a hand-full of mischief…(photo by Jack)

 

 

Lingering Look at Windows : Devonshire tea with a view

The days are dwindling, there are only a few left before we head back south and home. Where has the time gone? I have enjoyed just being absorbed in this “good life”.

Before we leave there are a couple of places I want to revisit and one of those is Lake Barrine. It is only a short drive and the Tearoom has a reputation for its Devonshire teas with fresh-baked scones. So this week I will take you to visit this iconic wet tropics area. Maybe I will see a tree kangaroo.

Lake Barrine Tea House

 

It was not very busy

Most people were sitting out on the deck with the view of the Lake spread before them, but this young fellow is more interested in his phone…

 

It’s a warm day and the windows are open all round to catch the slightest breeze

 

Windows make the most of the view. What do you think of their colour scheme?

 

The scones were delicious but I thought a bit over priced at $15 for one and a half scone each and a cup of coffee. I think you pay extra for the view!

 

Pelicans float majestically by

 

 

Here is Jack admiring the view and the flower beds.

The day lilies are beautiful

 

On the shady side the orchids are flowering

 

We go for a short walk along the track around the Lake and find these huge Kauri trees

Looking way up into the canopy

 

 

 

Some information about this area

 

 

I didn’t see a tree kangaroo…

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Dawn from ” The day after” has a challenge to find windows and post them each week. I love these Word Press challenges they open your eyes to the world around you. I also enjoy looking through all the other interesting and varied windows from around the world. Go to Dawns link, you may have some windows you can show us.

 

 

 

 

 

Country monthly market.

With over 150 stalls displaying every thing you could imagine today my favourite village, Yungaburra, was holding its monthly market. It certainly lived up to its reputation as being the best markets on the Tablelands. Only drawback was every one started packing up at mid-day and we had only arrived at 11am so it was a hurried look around. The standard of produce and products was very high. I hope we get another chance to visit these markets before we head home.

Time to have a snack of local sausages in the shade of the gum tree

 

Proudly displaying all her own produce

Colourful display

Bright blue glass

Imaginative tea-cosies

 

The eyes have it…

 

 

These are just a few photos I managed to take. There was so much to look at.

When the market closed we went over to the local hall to browse around the hundreds of books at the annual book fair. I found two beauties about sketching and art, my passion at the moment. So I came home happy.

This is one very tall lady. Every one is happy.

 

Outside 2 country and western singers entertained

Hundreds of books to choose from. Can you see the title? It is “Managing your emotions”…

 

In the back ground a harpist played relaxing and harmonious melodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does the garden grow?

Our own private rainforest

We are custodian/house-sitters of a 2.5 acre tropical North Queensland property. It is lush and green and has a small stand of tropical rainforest surrounding it. So far I have not seen any snakes or tree kangaroos lurking in the bush or up in the canopy, but I love to wander through it. Though first of all I smother my skin with tick repellent to prevent those insidious little nasties latching on to me.

Come with me for a look at part of my backyard…

Crunch through the leaves and watch for that vine

Wind your way through the trees

It is cooler under the trees

Can you see the red flower?

It is a powder puff lilly pilly

Nearly out of the rainforest

Does anyone know the name of this creeper?

Just look at this gorgeous flower. It is a vine and twines its way through the trees. I do not know what it is called. Here is another unusual tropical climbing vine.

Thank you Deanna Tennant Masterson for identifying the plants for me.

The yellow flower is: Thunbergia mysorensis (Wight) T.Anderson Common name(s): clock vine, lady’s slipper vine, dolls’ shoes, brick and butter vine.

The red flower is: Scientific name: Passiflora racemosa Brot. Common name(s): red passion flower

I wonder if anyone can tell me the name of this unusual flower.

Here is a closer look.

Meanwhile over in the vegetable patch every thing is flourishing. despite the up hill battle against slugs and snails, caterpillars and a sneaky little bandicoot. He finds the smallest gaps in the fence to push his way in. He does not eat plants or seedlings but digs down to find a feed of worms and in the process up-roots any thing in his way. At the moment I am winning the battle against the bandicoot after Jack reinforced the bottom of the fence. Pyrethrum, derris dust and a dish of beer seems to be helping keep the numbers of slugs, bugs and insects down.

Gardening is a challenge, but a pleasure to see the plants growing. Nothing tastes better than home-grown produce straight from the garden to the plate.

Part of the vegetable patch

Courgettes and sweet corn

The tomatoes will soon be ready, but who will get to them first the bugs, birds or me

In search of the elusive tree kangaroo

Tree kangaroo

 

A few years ago I caught a glimpse of this tree kangaroo at Fleays Wildlife Sanctuary on the Goldcoast. I only managed to catch a quick, rather blurred shot of him before he disappeared back into his pen.  They are elusive and secretive creatures and are on the endangered species list. One of the last remaining habitats for them is in the rainforest that surrounds Malanda, my house sitting home. So last weekend we went on a mission to see if we could spot one. They come out to feed in the late afternoon so we wandered slowly through the rainforest with necks craned searching the canopy for signs of a dangling tail.

They are strange creatures related to both the kangaroo and the possum. Their tail is only used for balance and unlike other tree dwellers it cannot wrap around branches. They are the closest Australia has to a monkey.

“The ancestor of the kangaroos and their kind was possum-like  and descended from the trees to spawn a large and diverse fauna of browsers and  grazers. Curiously one group the Tree-kangaroos ascended the trees again to  exploit the large foliovore (leaf-eating) niche in the tropics of Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) occupied by primates like Proboscis Monkeys in nearby Indonesia. Thus the Tree-kangaroos are in many respects the closest animals we have to monkeys in the Australo-Papuan region. Unfortunately for Tree-kangaroos their meat is  tasty (hence the genus Dendrolagus or tree-hare given by the Dutch) and hunting along with habitat destruction and climate change are significant threats. Thus the majority of species are threatened or vulnerable under IUCN Red List classification” For more information click here.

Needless to say we did not see one but had a pleasant walk/stroll/wander through the rainforest.

Late afternoon searching for the tree kangaroo

Malanda rainforest gazing into the canopy

 

Malanda rainforest

Malanda rainforest

There are a couple of other places near here that these strange creatures hang out. So we will try again to spot them.

We have 5 more weeks left before the home owners come back. How quickly the time has passed

 

 

 

Lingering Look at Windows : Atherton Catholic Church

I noticed the Atherton Catholic Church, St Josephs, was being given a face-lift. A team of painters had almost finished transforming inside and out with a pristine. sparkling coat of white paint. So I went inside for a look and to take window photos…

Painters hard at work

Dawn from ” The day after” has a challenge to find windows and post them each week. I love these Word Press challenges they open your eyes to the world around you. I also enjoy looking through all the other interesting and varied windows from around the world. Go to Dawns link, you may have some windows you can show us.

Lingering Look at Windows : Tolga

After a week of very welcome rain, the sun is back and the temperatures are soaring, more like summer than early spring. Records are falling all over the state. So time for a country drive to explore another area.

Several people mentioned the village of Tolga as a must see. The Tolga Woodworks Gallery, I had been told, is outstanding.

In a country of such vast distances between attractions the Tablelands are an exception. A pleasure to explore as so many places are within an hours drive in all directions from Malanda.

We were not misinformed about Tolga. The Gallery featured a stunning display of craft and art by North Queensland’s finest artisans. Many of the pieces are crafted in an adjoining studio and the workmanship is truly outstanding.

This particular piece of art, crafted in wood had a story that touched my soul. I read the accompanying script and as I stood there I felt I had become part of the audience that witnessed this magic moment.

Making music with what you have left

I wonder if you felt as I did as you read that moving story, then looked at the sculpture of the violin with the broken string. Sometimes you come across a work of art that will stay with you forever.

Then I noticed a large painting of lorikeets in all their vibrant glory, unmistakably done by William Cooper. Take a look at the gallery web page, this Gallery in this small town deserves the description as ” a most prestigious woodworking centre showcasing a superb collection of woodwork and craft.”

Time for lunch and the Gallery Café served a delicious array of meals using the freshest local produce with flair and imagination. Then I remembered it was Thursday, windows day. I noticed the louvered window at the far end of the café balcony area framed a perfect Banksia. Lit by the sun it became a work of art, a sculpture created by nature.

Banksia

After lunch we went for a walk along the short main street and look what we found…

On the way home we drove past Tinaroo Dam, a large man-made lake that was built between 1953 and 1958 for the irrigation of the fertile Tablelands farming areas

It was the first large dam in Queensland built primarily for irrigation. Its construction opened up new areas to farming and allowed different crops to be trialled.

Tinaroo Lake

Lake Tinaroo

These huge irrigation machines (is that the correct name?) are everywhere

Signs of spring growth is every where

This post is inspired by the challenge from Dawn of “the day after” to show off windows we have found on our travels. Visit her post to see more windows bloggers from round the world have found to show us

Voting, windows and exquisite art work

Atherton is the commercial hub for the southern Tablelands. Unlike our small village of Malanda, Atherton has Woolworth’s, Big W, Target, all the banks, many other shops along its main street, 3 pubs, and of course MacDonald’s.

Saturday was election day here in Australia and because this is not our home electorate we went earlier, last Thursday, to register a postal vote at the courthouse. As we went in to vote I just had to take a photo of the courthouse windows. The challenge from Dawn of “the day after”  to show windows we have seen keeps me always on the look out for different or unusual windows. So just one this week.

Windows of Atherton courthouse

On the way home we stopped at the Art Gallery to look at the latest exhibition. It was amazing. It is only a small gallery next to the library but we were astounded by the quality of the art on display. “Portraits of birds by William T Cooper”. They were world-class. So perfect in every detail, I almost expected them to fly away as we approached for a closer look at the exquisite detail, the colours, the feathers even the bark, moss and lichen on the trees vibrant and flawless.

“Sir David Attenborough believes Bill Cooper is “Australia’s greatest living scientific painter of birds, he is possibly the best in the world.” Sir David made a film about Bill in 1993 called, “Portrait Painter to the Birds” and it showed around the world. In Australia it was released as a Video after its TV debut. His bird paintings are scientifically exact, no wonder they end up in so many publications in collaboration with leading ornithologists such as Joseph M Forshaw.

Bill now lives and paints from his studio in the tropical rainforest of North Queensland. His resume is the stuff of dreams. He has worked with Sir David Attenborough. The Australian National Library and Papua New Guinea Government have purchased entire collections of his work. He has designed two sets of postage stamps for the PNG Government.

William T Coopers Originals and Limited Edition Prints of beach scenes, eagles, cockatoos, riflebirds, cassowary and kangaroos have to be seen to be believed. They are simply awe-inspiring.”

This reproduction cannot come any were near to the beauty you see when standing in front of the actual work of art. Bill Cooper is self-taught and has painted for over 50 years. I consider it a real privilege to have seen these paintings. Click here to see more images of his art.

The cats, of course had a very busy day while we were out…

Mungo

 

Good friends

 

 

 

 

Lingering Look at Windows : Home Sweet Home

 

The rose in the previous post is the one in the centre of this photo. Can you see all the new buds just forming? As spring gently wakes the waiting flowers this will be a beautiful picture. I love the old-fashioned rustic look of the trellis shutter

This post is inspired by the challenge from Dawn of “the day after” to show off windows we have found on our travels. Visit her post to see more windows bloggers from round the world have found to show us