I was hunting around for Easter eggs and discovered a very well known chocolate company here (Haigh) sell chocolate Bilbies at Easter time to raise money and awareness for their conservation. These are lovely little creatures, not the chocolate ones, which have suffered badly from the introduction of European mammals like foxes, rabbits and cats.
Sadly there were two species, one is now extinct and the other is endangered. So you see they had to be supported! I fell in love with these little creatures when I saw a documentary on their conservation.... when they go to sleep they fold their ears over their eye's. They also don't like being woken up much and can get very grumpy!
Friday and some of Saturday was spent helping level Deb and Roberts back yard in preparation for a new carport. Loads of beautiful top soil was moved to either our block or Peter's (Robert's brother) place. Our future veggies/plants will be thrilled I think it will take a while to get our sandy soil in such good condition. No matter it will be easy to grow straight carrots, parsnips and leeks.... every cloud.....
On one of our trips to the block Deb and I spotted a couple of tables and a large sign saying Free Stuff help yourself. Hurtling to a halt we wondered over for a look, luckily we were both after different tables. But both were very heavy having been made out of solid steel, we couldn't lift them so asked if the boy's could come back later and collect them. Robert obliged and returned not only with the two tables but also a fridge, which was made in England in the same year I was!
This is my new kitchen on the block 
Deb introduced me to one of our neighbours, a very lovely lady who has green thumbs (as they say here), her garden is amazing, full of quite corners, different views and loads of native plants. She had grown 17 Jacaranda trees from seeds and has very kindly offered to nurture a couple for our block. She has also very kindly offered me advice in the future, I've a feeling I will be spending quite a bit of time talking to her... a mine of information.
Meanwhile Rick and I found a lovely nursery which had a tree sale on, we couldn't resist and had to give this beautiful Golden Elm tree a home. These have the most gorgeous almost lime green leaves, which eventually turn the Autumn shades I'm used to seeing. Being deciduous it is ideal for the north side of the house. North side being the hottest as that's equator side, like south is in the Northern Hemisphere.... that took me a while to get my head around
 |
| Me digging the hole, Robert advising |
Robert, Rick and I wrestling the root cover off and then finally planting the tree. Robert did a sterling job carrying loads of buckets of rain water for it.
We are very lucky to have a couple of Peppercorn trees on the block. The trees bear small pink berries in the Autumn which look like peppercorns but aren't, the leaves of the tree give off a beautiful peppery smell when they're crushed. The tree itself is very elegant and almost willow like with drooping fern like leaves. Ours don't look like the one below just yet but hopefully with a bit of TLC they will.
Easter Sunday arrived and Deb and I took the Webber BBQ, all the veg, leg of lamb, microwave, plates, etc., to the block to cook lunch for 6 of us. Deb showed me how to set up the Webber so it cooked everything perfectly.
Rick got stuck into sorting out Dora's oil leaks while lunch was cooking. Then after a quick read of the papers it was all action again. Robert, Peter, Deb and Fred (the dog) got stuck into digging a narrow trench for the water pipe so we could run water to our Dunny.
That's all for now.........
Love the easter bilby's!they look like chinchillas. sooo cute! H x
ReplyDelete