Earth Hour

It rained again on Friday morning early and I missed out on tennis but I was able to tackle life and weeds with renewed vigour. I rebuilt the new green house with shade cloth, after my poor plants sweated to death over easter under the plastic.
We even got ourselves together to celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday night with a campfire on our paddock. The sunset was fairly ordinary after a spectacular one on Friday night and the stars came out nicely in a clear sky.
There was an impressive blaze across the valley to the north; I doubt if they noticed our small effort. We were burning Buddleia stumps which I had stored under a callistemon.
There was no dramatic dimming of lights on the surrounding hills, but we imagined that perhaps there were a few less than normal.

At the end of the tether

It was incredibly dry when we got home. It had been quite a hot day and it all looked pretty challenging after several days away in more favoured climes. I seemed to get straight from the car and 2½ hours driving, to filling watering cans and providing respite to parched vegies.
During the night I thought I heard some reasonable rain, but it could have been a disturbed mind.
Around 6.30 am a sound, which was quite familiar in our Innisfail days, arose, and we got an early morning downpour of real wetting rain. We even got some thunder to herald the event.
O joy and what a relief.
And then there was more at 8.30.
And our tank is nearly full.
And I must get some of it onto the fruit trees in case we get more tonight.
Am I greedy?

On tour

Em and I stayed on with Mum on Monday night then headed south, towing the camper. We called in on our friend and honorary granny, Margaret, in Lismore and enjoyed an hour of catching up, which was not nearly enough, then headed down to Grafton via Casino for lunch with Janet and Dick in their new house. It was a good drive with the area looking well after good rain.
After lunch we headed up the Clarence River through the Gibraltar Range and Washpool National Parks to the New England tableland and on to Girraween where we selected the same camping spot where we stayed in February with Liz.
Yesterday we climbed Castle Rock then walked out to the Sphinx and Turtle Rock, then back to the Pyramid, with food stops during the morning. We then cooled off in a pool in the creek before lunch and packing up for the drive home.

Easter

I had expected wet weather on the coast but we had perfect sunny weather. Andrew and Stephen were also at Mullum, making a house party of 8. We ate very well and drank a lot of home brew as well as wine. We also enjoyed the surf which was rough and dumpy, swam in the river and pool, and played some good tennis. Dick and Jim also played golf.

March madness

March has been a busy month for many years. Last week we had a birthday and an anniversary, then it was Easter, and another birthday this week. It has been quite a family time with Emily home from Wales for a short break. Lee surprised us by turning up early - planning to meet Em at the airport except that Em turned up two days early due to airline cancellation of her Tokyo stopover.
I had a big cook-up last Thursday for Easter, with fruit bread and buns, seafood tarte and fruit mince pie and also making a second batch of Lilly Pilly Jelly. Lee and Em travelled down to Mullumbimby with Jim and Dick and I arrived mid-afternoon with our camper.

Sunny Boy

Sunny Boy passed 400 kWh on 13 March, three months after launch. He continues to come up with the goods even on overcast drizzly days like yesterday.

In the garden

Today we have recorded the first rain for the month. Things have been pretty dismal lately and I have grown tired of watering with no end in sight, so it was a relief to have a cool drizzly day yesterday and 9mm in the gauge. Things have continued to grow, with new growth continuing on gums and wattles and the small recent plantings are going ahead well. We also continue to pick beans, lettuce, zucchini and ruby chard and I hope the corn has had enough water to yield a crop.
Our hakea is flowering nicely and I bought an olive tree on Sunday. Yesterday we picked the first lime. The camellias are also flowering.

The shed

The rest of Saturday was spent tidying the shed. On Friday we bought another set of shelves for my garden corner. I have reduced by one shelf and Dick has taken my older ones for his workshop end. I have washed all the pots and we have hung the tools.

We also renovated the lounge suite last week, washing the covers and fixing the straps. That might do it for another ten years.
Tennis on Sunday was well fought and I was beaten 4-6 although my partner strained his back trying hard.

Council elections

This past weekend started with the elections for the new regional council. It has been interesting discussing candidates over the past few weeks, and comparing notes and recommendations. We do not get the local paper so we relied on the internet for profiles and it was good to find a useful site and be able to email candidates with questions which were promptly responded to. I also found some other sites which gave some other perspectives. On Saturday morning I was able to construct a fairly well researched how-to-vote card to take to the polling booth. We now await the results.

Upper Perseverance

Tuesday's walk was back in our Grapetree creek area. The bush is looking good with fresh growth and some soil moisture and odd pools in the creek. The lantana has also grown in places. There is a nice rocky gorge area on Grapetree creek. This plant Acronychia laevis was a highlight.

Ravensbourne Falls

Sunday 9th was our walk to Ravensbourne Falls. As leaders, Ann and I had to consider adverse conditions when planning this walk, but on the day it was almost perfect with a good group of 19, a cool day and the creeks had subsided so we were able to navigate along them easily. So we arrived at the falls an hour earlier than on the reccy, leaving time for some to explore a route below the falls while others swam in the rock pool and lay on the rocks in the sun over lunch time. On the way back we were able to stop for smoko on rocks in the creek without being overly bothered by mosquitos. As usual Ann set a cracking pace back up the hill at the end of the day and I tried to keep up, leaving me quite tired in ensuing days.

Circa

We really enjoyed the Circa performance. by the light of the stars that are no longer ...Three men and a woman performed on stage with good lighting effects and soundtrack. I could relate to the format which explores a space between dance and acrobatics. The kids were doing a simple form of developing a sequence of moves in their workshops in 1989. There was also a strong reminder of Marcel Marceau in Chelsea McGuffin's performance.

Time flies

Two weeks have passed since the last post. We walked at Queen Mab near Crows Nest on Tuesday 4th. Things were greener and grassier than in the past.
On Wednesday we had the first performance of our Empire Theatre subscription. What a nice surprise to find that Circa started in 1987 as RocknRoll Circus. They came to Innisfail in 1989 for workshops which we participated in, forming the Rain Rats Circus.

Tennis

The rats did not play tennis last weekend as it was wet, but we have been out both mornings this weekend. Scores were 0-6, 6-2 yesterday and 6-5 today. The format is 10 games, first to 6, or 9.
We are having clear, cool sunny weather.
I am making another pot of Welsh cawl for St David's Day and looking forward to the cricket this afternoon.

Report for February

Summer is over and we managed 105 mm of rain on 14 days in February, which is just below the 11 year average for the airport. It has been a good growing season although perhaps slower than it might be with more soil moisture. Sunny Boy has now produced 332 kWh and we will record our power generation monthly.
I did not walk last Tuesday due to rain.