The Slightly Damp Tropics

After the last two days a period of daylight with only a couple of brief sprinkles was very welcome.

We again opted for a fairly quiet day, especially Frances as I had to take Tammy to the vet to get a suture removed.  They had given us a blade to do the job but we couldn't keep her head still, and as the stitch was near her eye we didn't have confidence.  Needless to say, Vet Mat held her head and snip it was gone.  He could see my shock at his easy technique and commented that he did it every day!

I then went to the tip to try to get a piece of wood to put under the jockey wheel of the camper, when it is on muddy ground..  Around Canberra this would be tricky since such reusing would be seen as scavenging, which is very offensive to the companies which make an extortionate buck out of recycling (and their mates in the Councils).  In Atherton it is very much approved of and I came away with a suitable piece of wood, which I will try out on the way home.

Let us get into a few photos.

On my way through Atherton I noticed a lot of colour and movement in a large eucalypt .  Here are a couple of the 30 or so Rainbow Lorikeets  which were up there.

Back in Yungaburra I found 2 Forest Kingfishers hunting off power lines.  I know I have put other pix of them in this series, but I invoke the spiffy image rule to use this one.

The Emerald Dove came back and posed, this time sitting in the door of the shed in which the bantams are kept.

One of the bantams appears to have done a runner which is annoying.  Hopefully it will come back, but we can't find anywhere nearby.  Update: she's gone broody and was jammed down the side of the shed out of (obvious) sight - I only found her 'cos another fowl was sitting on top of her.

After the tip I swung by the part of Hasties Swamp outside the National Socialist Park.  I could see that there were still a huge number of ducks and geese in there.

Just outside the Park I met some international visitors who were photographing everything in sight.   Their leader said he and his mate came from Texas and the other two were from Argentina - which he then modified to say they were actually Chileans.  He said it was a slight insult to say they were from the adjoining country.  I didn't say that in 47 of the lower 48 it was an insult to say someone was from Texas but did reflect on:

• a tee shirt in Denver saying "If God had meant Texans to ski He'd have made bullshit white."
• graffiti in New York "Texans are living proof that the first settlers screwed buffalo."

As a result of the dampness a mass of fungi were on our lawn yesterday.  Many of them had gone this morning but these were left.

 In the afternoon we walked out to the Tinnaroo boat ramp and noticed these planters entitled "The Last Resort" and "St Elsewhere".

 Finally, on the way back we noticed Tinnaroo Man, undertaking his tribal Lorn Mo'ing.

A friend who leads birding tours through said he had seen Barking Owls perched on the street signs in Yungaburra.  So tonight I did an after dark tour and found  no owls or Frogmouths, but did hear a bunch of Bush Stone Curlews.  Here are some images.

Phone poles - nothing.

 Street, with signs - nada.

 Centre of the village.  Zip

• Bird of the day: Forest Kingfisher.  About 20 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos at Hasties get the flock award.
• Vegetation of the day:  Various Grevilleas around Yungaburra
• Memorable moment:  Meeting the Texans: they really did seem to be get every bird and take lots of photos of them types.
• Comment of the day: The very convivial guy on the gate at the tip said "NSW plates.  Hmm.  Are you lost?"  To which I was able to say "Not sure.  Is this Melbourne?"
• Pie of the day: Quincan steak and veg.  Similar to the plain version.  About 8/10.
• Troppo moment of the day. Tinnaroo Man wins the day award and could be a Whole of Trip contender!  Frances thought a better contender was the friendly senior in the market park who had had a Quincan pie collapse and, not having a spoon, asked if he could offer it to Tammy.  As she had just cleaned up my remnants we felt not, so he was wondering where he could acquire a spoon.  He agreed the pie was very tasty.

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