Ice Cream Been

We've got rid of the big jacaranda and ice-cream bean trees by the back verandah - there will be sunny winter afternoons, hopefully also involving hot tea and buttered choc-chip muffins. Currently it's rainy season, so we only venture onto the deck to dry clothes really.
In an unexpected twist, clearing these trees away has allowed some Telstra signal into our back garden, so I can now get 1 bar on my phone, and can tweet without having to be within WiFi range.
We've also suddenly got about 300 bananas to eat (and give away!) now that the banana trees are getting sunlight and they're all ripening at once. The birds only seem to go for the top fruit, and they seem to have ripened pretty well without being bagged up or otherwise assisted - my favourite kind of crop.

Last week was a long week at work, and also involved plenty more chainsawing, breeze-block laying, and trench digging. I ended up staying up till midnight to get the crossword in for the local paper, and I was very pleased that I'd decided to take a break from doing an IT article each edition as well. C has been equally busy - as well as finishing off a commission for logos and artwork for a local business (Subject to the usual 300% bloat on the original requirements) she has also taken over responsibility for the monthly Nimbin events calendar, which is distributed to thousands of local homes, and keeps the village abreast of all the upcoming events and functions... I'm expecting to be on the inside track for any local gossip.
Despite the rush-rush, there has also been a sense of respite - it was also our first week with K in daycare all day Thursday and Friday - she seems to love it, and gets home pretty tired, which is, frankly, quite wonderful.

I've noticed that there are lots of flowers in mid Autumn here, almost like a second spring. I'm pretty ignorant about such things, but I'm guessing a lot of the plants here hedge their bets by flowering a second time for the migratory birds heading North, which are also very abundant around the autumnal equinox.

Our friend Amanda's 30th more or less coincided with my birthday this week, so we made her party the focus of the weekend - She and her partner John have a lovely place up at the Tuntable intentional community, and they threw an impressive bash complete with DJ. We usually seem to visit Tuntable at night - must get up there when it's light to check out the gardens and the views.

With the heavy rains, all the tree-stumps of the recently cut trees in our garden are sprouting little mushroom patches. When we turned the lights off for earth hour they seemed to glow white in the starlight.




Andale, andale.

The Idles of March

There's nothing remarkable about these two views across Nimbin valley, But anyone who's visited our place in the past may be surprised to learn they were taken from the lounge window - the solid curtain of green is gone. There are a few more trees still to go in the front garden, but we're nearly done. All that will be left are seven or eight bangalow palms, two jacarandas, one large cocos palm, two eucalypts, an orange tree, a macadamia tree, an avocado tree, a mango tree, two frangipanis, two tree ferns, a (huge) japanese plum tree, two bamboo-like palms I can't name, and a few native shrubs. Once our tiny pond has been filled, there will be some small pond plants too. Frustratnigly, the branches stacked up from this week's chopping and sawing have re-filled the empty spot left after last week's wood-chipping session. Sisyphean.
Today has been a very long day. We got to the Channon market so early that we were the first customers at the Repentance Creek coffee stall. We hunted down the good fruit and veggies (and the best blackberry jam in New South Wales) and then caught up with Jonas and Tanya, who are back from an extended stay in Sydney, where they have family to care for Otto. Lucky buggers.
Otto is way bigger and looks (a) like a proper little bloke, and (b) scarily like Jonas. From The Channon we drove East to the Firewheel plant nursery, where they were holding an open day to talk about their rainforest regeneration projects - which are quite impressive considering they are only a side-project from their day job running the tree-nursery: They are clearing a length of creek on both sides, removing all the invasive trees and replanting with native trees and shrubs - already they have breeding koalas, platypodes and echidnas on the property, and the area around the creek will soon feel like the invaders were never there.
I have finally finished digging the seemingly endless drainage trench - now there's only block-laying, mortaring, back-filling and gravel-laying to do, and the rear wall of the downstairs will be dry even in the heaviest rains.
I have also spent a few hours up on the roof cleaning away twigs, leaves and debris - this has finally felt worthwhile, now that most of the overhanging trees are gone. C has continued the run of fixer-upper wooden furnishings as well; this week she sanded back and varnished up a battered old trestle-style blackboard, and it has taken pride of place in K's room alongside colourful chalks and crayons.
A note on the weather to wrap up this blog post: The contrast between the 8 week period from mid January to mid March in 2009, when compared to 2008, could hardly be more extreme. 2008's severe la Niña left us with over 700mm of rain in that period, whereas this year we've had a respectable 200mm. The latter makes for healthy plants and a pleasant summer, the former makes for plans to sell up and move elsewhere.

There's Always Time for the Beach

We've made another two trips to the beaches around Byron - our main discovery being that of the beaches in Byron proper, The Pass (which we spent an afternoon at with Louis and Mbweda) is good for family beach fun - uncrowded, plenty of rock pools and shallow water, shade from trees that run down to the edge of the sand, and a sheltered aspect from the prevailing winds because the point with the lighthouse offers protection.
Our other trip was to Wooyung - a much more remote beach, without any facilities except for a lonely campsite, and no lifeguards or flags indicating safety - and rips certainly were visible from shore. There is access to Pottsville's shops and cafes by road ten minutes to the North, and the place feels extremely quiet and secluded given its closeness to the madness that is Surfers Paradise just a 30 minute drive North. We met up with Rod and Cherdina and their boisterous labradors (who certainly were loving the endless empty sand) and made a slow day of it. Leaving in time to drive home before dark, we took a small country road we hadn't tried before - it cuts in from Byron Bay through the Mount Jerusalem National Park ( huge staghorn plants, a lazy carpet snake we had to wait for on the road, and a few kilometres of unpaved windings before Uki), ad still made it home for dusk.
That Sunday preceded Australia Day, so we celebrated with an extremely civilised dinner (and a decent red wine) at Richard and Lynne's (neighbours up the street).
I have also (finally) got some serious chainsawing done with Rob's help - we even untangled two large trees that were wrapped around our mains power cable and threatening to rip out the phone line as well. The frangipani trees near the front gate can't figure out what is going on now they're getting some light at last, and they have burst into bloom 4 moths late, which has confused our neighbours.
I've also glimpsed (but not yet photographed) two more animals in the garden that I haven't seen before - a black cockatoo and a bush turkey. Bush turkeys are common in these parts, but their presence in our garden is nonetheless a good sign in terms of the regeneration of the local bush.
This shot of several rainbow lorikeets feeding on a cocos palm in our front garden is (again) courtesy of Alex's dad's zoom lens.
The rest of our time has been filled with tasks of extreme mundanity - paving a new path down the Eastern side of the house, helping the roofing guy install roof insulation (which will be almost free after government rebate - and it makes such a difference to the temperature sat out on the back verandah; I am typing this at 2:45pm, with only a desk fan behind me, and I'm quite comfortable, despite a forecast high today of 41 degrees). Other news: I have signed up for a creative writing class, C is in week 3 of an art class, K is about to start daycare "visits" (where you don't leave, they just get used to the people and the place). In short, we're having a busy Summer, but there's always time for the beach.

Picnics, Markets...Almost Springtime

The new look 2oz is here. The only content addition is my list of recently read books (by the amazing LibraryThing) under the clock in the left-hand column - everything else is as it was before (the archive at the bottom right has changed to the drop-down style, but all the previous posts are accessible as before). The three columns are pretty much full up already, and the idea, when I have time, is to keep the current look and feel but add a fourth column for links, photos, feeds and other content. By the way, I would love to hear from any regular readers (whether I know you or not) - the stats are showing several loyal readers in parts of the world that I have certainly never been to, and in which I don't think I know anyone - flick me a comment if you are one of those readers, especially if you have a blog of your own, and even better if you live somewhere more obscure than Nimbin!

Another long week, the second of four with 10 hours overtime. We headed over to Dunoon on August the second, and had a picnic lunch at Jonas and Tanya's. Their lawn is much less "bush" than ours, and the experience of sitting on a picnic blanket in the shade on a sunny day tucking into yummy food made me realise, that we don't really use a garden as we should.

We made it into Lismore on Tuesday, and went for our first skin cancer checkup. Australians have their skin checked like Europeans have their teeth checked - every 12 months is recommended, and sensible people go back to their skin specialist if ever they notice anything unusual. While in Lismore, we also finally got around to joining the library. They have a great scheme where the little ones get a free party-pack with book, DVD, and learning materials at at 4, 12 and 24 months, to make sure that they get the reading bug.

I have also, finally, started wielding the chainsaw to do more than just cut logs. With C's help, I cut down, and then cut up (" bucked" - see, I'm learning the lingo) two fair-sized trees that were blocking a lot of light to the raised beds in the garden. While digging over the raised beds in preparation for spring planting, we also dug up the potatoes that we planted a few months ago. It was hardly a bumper harvest - just enough for two portions of fried potatoes... but it was our first attempt and I'm confident we'll get 10 times as good a crop next year.

The weather in Northern Rivers has continued its run of perfect blue sky outdoorsy days (I am relatively confident that the end of this perfect run will coincide with the end of my overtime at work). This kind of weather makes it easy to dig the garden and cut down trees and sit on the deck drinking tea and coffee, but much harder to do indoor stuff - and by Friday, it is making desk work seem like torture. I will be gutted if the weather switches to cold and rainy just when the outdoor swimming pool opens in September.

Today we went to Channon market again, but much later in the day than we have in the past. The market stalls set up quite early in the morning, and pack away shortly after lunchtime. However, early afternoon is, in some ways, when things begin - drummers and dancers assemble around the chai tent, and by three o'clock the circle of drummers is 20 feet in diameter and there are a hundred dancers and spectators - it's an energising atmosphere, and something we should really turn up to every month. Maybe it's the trance-head in me coming out, but I still find that there is nothing as effective as an hour of repetitive beats to blow the cobwebs away and leave me ready to face the week.

Mardi Grass 2008

Last year, we partied for two days and then went to the doof after mardi grass. This year, we fed the baby and went to sleep.
The carnival parade was better than in '07 or '06 though, and overall the event feels more successful than those previous years in merging the political with the personal. On this note, I was amazed to hear that Albert Hoffmann had died. I saw no obits anywhere - it's as if he'd never existed. Maybe it's just in Murdoch-land, but the lack of any media reaction to his passing seems downright creepy to me.

There were several reasons making this one a big mardi grass - it was the 35th anniversary of the Nimbin Aquarius Festival, and one of the Nimbin's Icon's, the Plantem, died recently, and his image adorned the publicity for the festival. As usual, the town was packed for a week leading up to mardi grass, and as usual, most everyone was smiley, happy, and having a great time.
We finally got around to checking out the Bush Theatre, which reopened a couple of weeks back - it's got a great little auditorium and a rocking sound-system, so there should be some mashup events there if they use the venue right. It's such a perfect space, nestled over the bridge by the river, half in and half out of town - it seems impossible it was ever closed, yet also impossible to see how it can be truly profitable; I hope very much that either I'm proved wrong, or the community finds away to keep it open without it having to make a (monetary) profit.
On the home front we've been making steady progress back to normality in the aftermath of the chaos caused by the tree-felling and termite treatments: We have developed a low-tech system for maneuvering the tree stumps around the garden - I roll them a few inches at a time, and C follows up immediately with a chock to prevent them rolling back. It's slow and annoying, but it works. I've been swiftly chainsawing up the piles of older wood, and it seems to multiply as you chop - I've been chuffed to realise we actually have more than enough fuel for the wood-fire to keep us snug all winter!
Our cacti and capsicum plants have both produced babies, which we've potted out. I'm going to have to find some capsicum recipes for the spring, or we'll be overwhelmed! We also have a few kilos of tangerines coming along, a couple of kilos of lemons, and probably a fair few bananas - the lesson for next year is, if it doesn't rain heavily in February and March, water the bloody trees!
Ah, yeah, and I got my Wii hooked up.

Termites!

The good news is... I'm moving on from my Brisbane job. I'll be upping the hours on my home-based contract, and cutting out the weekly 6-hour round trip. Expect more sanity, more feedback, and more photos on the blog.
This has been a particularly busy week, and has really brought home how much I need to cut back my hours - I've been up late this evening doing the crossword for the local paper, I was up late yesterday proofreading a friend's thesis, the night before that I got up at 2:45am to catch the train to Brisbane - what I really hate is that I'm starting to let people down because I'm too tired to concentrate on the things I need to get right.
The bad news is... we have a termite infestation in our house. The buggers are eating our bedroom floor. A professional will be coming along in March sometime to inject arsenic into the wood along with some other toxic stuff I don't want to think about. Embarrassingly, it's the same guy who did our house inspection 18 months ago - and have I done all the termite-risk minimisation work on the garden he advised me to do? Have I hell.
Fran has got our garden pond to within a few hours' work of finished - we drove together up Gungas road to collect large stones to cement around the edge, and Fran re-pointed the bottom of the pond itself - we should be filling it with water and seeing how it goes within a week or two - expect excited posting of boring fish when that happens. The gardening energy levels were fairly sustained all week - herbs were planted, pots were purchased, weeds were pulled up, and trees were earmarked for destruction. I'm excited about how much we'll be able to get done this coming winter when things grow a bit slower and we can get ahead of the bush. We even (finally) made a call and called the tree guy to confirm we wanted his team to come in and chainsaw down our five "problem" trees - that will be a manic and exhausting two days, probably in April some time.
I was tired from driving to Bangalow and back for the market, so I took the train to Brisbane this week - now I'm here I'm realising that I'm gonna miss the little city pied-a-terre. Onwards and upwards.