Flowers, fruit and feathers.

We have spent some more time at Mount Victoria lately. The garden is very dry and its a miracle that the plants are still alive. The grass is all brown and the dams are low.

The only colour in the garden comes from the agapanthas that we planted about 12 months ago. They are very hardy and make a nice display in a garden that was previously overgrown with vines. I know some people hate them but they do put on a good show.

Also struggling along is a peach tree which dutifully produces fruit every year. Unfortunately, the peaches never have a chance to ripen because the birds always get to them first.

The garden was previously very productive and my brother did a lot of preserving back in the 90's. All the equipment is still there in the brake van and some of the preserves are still there too!

I'm thinking these peaches, rhubarb and ? (not sure what the other jar holds) are potentially about 20 years old! I'm planning on having a go at preserving one day.

Back home, this lovely girl has been visiting our house every afternoon for about 2 weeks now. She comes at around 4 to 5pm and hangs around for an hour or two. She is very tame and is not bothered by humans at all. She flies up onto the roof and sometimes into the big tree at the back of the house or she wanders along the patio and looks in the loungeroom windows!

A beautiful hoya has started flowering out the back. It was about 3" tall when we planted it and now it has climbed all the way up the verandah pole with lovely green foliage and these pretty pink flowers.

We made a quick trip to Tassie last week. We visited a few places we had not been to before on the north east coast. You can see a lot of Tassie in a few days as everything is relatively close together. My favourite spot was the Bridestowe Lavender Farm near Scottsdale. Fortunately, the lavender was in bloom. The views were spectacular!

Coincidentally we came across another peahen when we stopped to take pictures of the Batman Bridge. I thought this quite amazing as I have never seen one in the wild before let alone two!

She was very inquisitive and came right up to the car to see if I had any food for her.

The north coast has some very isolated and rugged spots. It is sparsely populated and some of the settlements are pretty much deserted, even in summer.

This couple were gutting some fish they had caught.

The weather ranged from raining and 12 degrees to hot and sunny and 33 degrees in the space of 3 days. We were in Bridport on the hotest day and the beach was crowded with holiday makers from the nearby camping area. The old jetty was right near the beach and reminded me of another one we saw in Eucla in WA on our last trip.

Back to reality now.  I have started my last two weeks of work. One day back and it feels like I have never been away!