Della and I are just back from a four day backpacking exploration of one of our greatest alpine wildernesses, the Mt Darling Snowy Bluff Wilderness created in 1983. This is a trackless mountain vastness suitable only for the most experienced outdoor adventurers. We return ‘bowed but unbroken’ Forbidden Wilderness: (Well they might as well be) […]
Della: ‘This evening’s harvest of Golden Queen peaches and apricots: How beautifully they glow in the early evening light! The wet spring and summer has given us bountiful fruit this year.The blood plums were ready over Christmas and New Year, and the bulk of that crop had either fallen or been eaten by the cockies
Nature Finds a Way. The Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo (which is what it turned out to be – first mentioned in this post) in our garden has at last attracted a mate with the calling which we were unable to identify for some weeks (al la Edward Thomas’ poem) – and here they both are. The
I was just doing some work clearing our new walking path in the bush up the creek behind our house yesterday (and again today) when this big guy suddenly turned up on my arm. I had been lopping some small branches with the machete and he must have been on one. Gave me quite a
This post is an accompaniment to my recent post Small Game. It is not so hard to supplement your hiking rations with some tasty protein after all. A couple of hundred grams of protein will meet your daily requirements, whilst 500+ grams will be nearly enough for your total daily food needs. This is just
(Della) Our sweet cherry tree bears lovely fruit, but the local birds of all varieties have it well marked on their seasonal tour map. Each year they strip the tree earlier and earlier. This morning’s raucous visit by a flock of cockatoos is probably the earliest I have witnessed, being only 2 weeks or so
(Della) Leeks are now into the harvest phase and tonight’s asparagus pick was ample. We did justice to both in tonight’s tea of an omelette with leek, garlic, asparagus, ham and cheese. The lilac is a special triumph for me. I planted it about 7 (?) years ago and have been disappointed by it’s refusal
I know I can so if this had been one you would not be reading this! When we were at the coast the other day I found a mysterious small oblong block of what we both took to be marble at the time but it was surprisingly heavy. We popped it into the superlight daypack
‘Seize the Day’. There are only a certain number of them. No-one knows how many or ever will. ‘Some days are diamonds‘ as the song says – and in my (fortunate) experience, most are. Anyway one where you keep on breathing in and out has to be a good one. It was a beautiful spring
Due to the Covid lock down none of our children could visit us but Della and I could still go for a drive together. Such freedom. That’s what we all fought for! We headed down to a secret place along the Gippsland coast where we thought we might be able to scramble down the cliffs
