Over the river and through the woods

 

I was going to use this title for the Barrabaroo Landcare meeting as we did go over the river but could have gone through the woods behind our place. The Landcare group encompasses both sides of Barrabaroo Creek/ Narira creek. We live on the east side and have the creek as a border on about 1/2 of the property. We attended a pizza party on the other side of the creek and over the hill behind our place. Mostly still wild scrub but it does have a fence line and power lines. Scott has been spending a lot of time back there watching for the elusive lyrebird (see previous post). 

This time we stopped on our way back from Potato Point. We are hoping to buy an EV car relatively soon and there was an EV expo at the weekly market in Moruya. We went to the Potato Point house last night. I went for a walk in the old stomping grounds while Scott made a lovely lamb roast dinner. We spent the night and then went to the expo today. There are many more manufacturers here than I am used to; within the manufacturer, the car models are also widely different. 

There were dealers at the expo, but also locals with EV cars that they brought to the show.  All owners were universally happy with their current cars but probably some selection bias going on!

We found more models to like than expected. I can foresee some test driving in our future. 

While at the market, I also snagged a ficus to help green up the living room. We tried the nursery for climbing roses but no luck yet. 

On the way back (with leftovers and a newer model sewing machine in tow), we stopped at the Bodalla forest rainforest walk. Lovely, green and dark. Hard to get the cameras to reproduce it well. The big camera went dark (dark images) while my phone tried to lighten everything up. I tried to do some post-processing to get the real feel:

There was an ancient appearing tree fern that really added to the ambiance

Scott was mesmerized for a minute or two

He did manage to capture a few shots of the satin bowerbirds that were dropping nuts down on the path and chattering like mad hens- they were very high up in the canopy so hard to spot through all the greenery. 

This one isn't showing the classic colors of dark purple/blue. Here is one we found near the Potato Point house

The females and juveniles are green with the speckled belly; we have seen those here. We believe them to be strawberry thieves.

After our hike, we stayed on the "scenic" trail and took the long way back to the Prince's Highway.  We followed the Wagonga river and crossed it several times. Not a bad route at all! It was better graded than our road and was wide enough for a bike and a car. This was unlike the road we tried that goes behind our neighbors house and ends up at Bermagui. That one requires chain saw in vehicle for all the down trees and parts of trees. 

We now have solar! More on that in a later post along with our attempts to prune the fruit trees. 

Here is a taste to hold you!

Finally, another stop on the house tour. This is the view from the front door. The monstera (gift from a neighbor) is pretty happy there. 

The tripod is to encourage me to play with it for improved shots (it is usually in tthe room to the left).

The print is of a 1889 painting by Frederick McCubbin - "Down on his luck". For me, the house is a reprieve after any long days and this guy really needs a place to land - just like we found.