Our great southern migration

  Miss Muffet gets top billing but we all know it is really about the spider. This gorgeous one is a St. Andrews Cross spider. I saw it when coming back from my run one day. [I see things better after a run since I walk REALLY slowly coming up our steep drive when returning.]  A couple of days later, the web looked like this Hence the name. Per the latest ( link worth reading ), the cross reflects ultraviolet light, attracting insects. I think this one caught a moth.  This guy was not so pretty IMHO. A wolf spider . Two were hanging out in the back yard when I was moving stuff around. Not aggressive toward humans but actively hunt their prey (insects) vs waiting for prey to get stuck in a web. Someplace in that head are 8 eyes arranged in 3 rows.  The one below was also spied on a return up the drive.  We have seen several red-backs in the garage and around the house. Those suckers are dangerous so usually go for insect killer vs camera. This image is from wik...

  Black Joak Morris was a wandering troupe at the Cobargo Folk Festival. There were not too many like them! We got tickets to the Festival when we knew we were settling here (back in Dec, I think). We thought it would be a great way to meet village folk. It was way too big for that. Generally there were about 5 performance venues going simultaneously (besides the wandering troupe) along with the Renaissance festival type food and knickknack booths.  The bands ranged from relatively local to ones from Canada and Spain. The event was much much bigger than we anticipated. It started with a busking competition at the Cobargo Motel/Hotel/Pub/ Laundry/RV park on Thursday night. This overflowed into the street and had a bus to drive folks to and from local areas. We were off doing more rural fire service training so saw it but avoided it. [We went drafting instead-practice pulling water from a dam to reload trucks.]  We did hear some amazing singers and instrumentalists. We also...

  We put earnest money down on this property at 184 Barbaroo Rd in Cobargo, New South Wales .  This was after having driven up and down the south coast of New South Wales most of Tuesday. This drive  included a bit of moving in and out of the rolling hills near Brown Mountain. We looked at three properties with a realtor (Hayden did a lovely job) and liked all three and were ready to research the pros/cons of riverfront that is owned by the crown. [Crown lease is a new term for me; property held by the government but you can have full or partial rights to use it, depending.] The property we looked at with the crown lease was gorgeous and had riverfront that was used in the past for a kayaking company. The owners had also invested in "hip camping" sites. We were not in love with that bit. It was also above our comfort level in price and more than we needed. But absolutely gorgeous. We fell in love with the one we saw this morning though. This one is close to Scott's folks ...