Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
We’re going on a swan hunt!
So…last weekend we set off to hunt black swans.
Will has an art exhibition coming up in Wagga Wagga in August and one of his audio pieces is about the ‘swan hoppers’ in that area. The poet and writer Mary Gilmore, who grew up in Wagga Wagga in the 1860’s and 1870’s wrote of the ‘swan hoppers’:
Their work was to hop the swans off the nests in the breeding-season, and smash the eggs. It was filthy work; they reeked of the half-hatched and the addled, and their trousers grew stiffer and stiffer, and filthier and filthier, as the yolks and the whites of the smashed eggs set in the material of which they were made. The old cattle town of Wagga Wagga once had its swan-hoppers on all the stations round about; and the more they stank the prouder they were
They did this because graziers in the area thought the birds were a nuisance, polluting water ways and some of their cattle died from ingesting feathers trapped in the grass. The ‘swan hoppers’ ignored and defied the local indigenous people’s, the Wiradjuri, sanctuary regulations.
We headed off first to Brisbane and then the Gold Coast to find black swans and hopefully to get some recordings from them.
On our first day we explored lakes around Sandgate but saw nothing and spotted our first distant swan at the Kedron Brook Wetlands reserve. After that we found nothing at the Minnippi Parklands so headed on down to the Gold Coast. We stayed near Danger Point in Burleigh and late in the afternoon headed off to Lake Orr at Varsity Lakes to see what we could find there and got lucky! We found a pair of black swans with six cygnets that were used to being surrounded by people and will was able to get some good recordings. We went back again the next morning and found them again for more recordings. We called in at HOTA (Home of the Arts) to look at some exhibitions there and then on our way home stopped off at Pacific Pines Central Park and found another nesting pair of black swans for more recordings. Hopefully Will has all he needs now for his soundscape.
Persistent possums!
So… we are still battling to keep the possums out of the roof. We keep getting the advantage but they always seem to find some way to get back in a few days later. Our problem is the complicated structure of our house and the shape and curvature of the roof which has made it difficult for us to seal it properly and the eaves are currently covered with waterproof shade cloth which is not that indestructible. The present incumbent got in last night and we have no idea how but need to watch later to see where it gets out. It’s tiring but we will win in the end.
City fix!
So…last weekend we were in Brisbane. We went to the markets at Rocklea and went to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, ‘Presence’ at GOMA on Saturday. On Sunday Tessa took us out for lunch and then we had a walk by the river and over the new Kangaroo Point Bridge. In the evening we went to Tenerife (not the Spanish one!) for a Japanese meal at Hikari. On Monday we returned home via IKEA.
We are still here!
So…orry! I have been so lax in posting on here since our return. Must try harder!
Well, so what has been happening here? We have had very few weekends to ourselves with visitors or trips away. Last weekend we were in Brisbane for a ‘city fix’ and I’ll post some pictures from that later.
Here at home, Will is loving his new job and when not working has been tidying, mulching and planting in the garden. I have been building some new possum boxes, from sections of hollow tree trunks, as potential homes for the possums we want to evict from the roof. We did evict them a few weeks ago. We had to wait until after dark and after they exited for their nightly shenanigans before Will could get up on the roof and block up all their entry points. It worked and we enjoyed a few peaceful nights of no scrabbling on the ceiling and window frames or thumps on the roof from exiting beasts. None of these evictees, despite a tempting carrot deposit, took up residence in my newly crafted homes sadly but it is early days yet. All seemed well, however after we came back from our weekend away in Brisbane they had been busy in our absence and had regained entry. They are such annoyingly persistent creatures and we should have realised from experience that it was not going to be a problem solved first time!
Last night we tried again to shore up our defences after dark and two tried to gain entry between 3.30 and 4.30 am but were thwarted and retreated elsewhere, one to the old possum box on the deck, the other who knows where. We can expect further attempts over the coming days for they do not give up that easily.
We have finally had some rain. In the last fortnight there have been two wet periods, the first giving us 33 mms and the second giving us 50 mms. Things are greening up a bit and the levels in the tanks have risen but none are totally full as they were when we arrived back. It hasn’t broken the drought we are having and it is too late to save some of the trees hereabouts which have already given up the ghost and their leaves have turned brown. The downside of dull wet days means the solar batteries get depleted and we have had to have the generator going for long periods to boost our power and it is noisy and smelly and I don’t like it disturbing my peace.
I have had my wildlife cameras out recording and recently noted a new large black feral pig, a boar I think, which has since been digging up and turning over large areas in the bush and down the hill near the apple orchard. A doe with two fawns is knocking about and I think there are three different foxes that regularly patrol about. We have seen Eastern Grey Kangaroos up near the house as well as the usual walleroos and swampys. The black cat is still wandering about and I must get my act together and set the trap for that. I have had to rearrange the walleroos feeding station and have split the troughs up into three different sections to allow space between the feeding guests to avoid conflict and arguments and invasions of personal space. A swamp wallaby had been visiting a few times but had been chased off by greedy walleroos but the new system seems a bit better, however there is still one dominant female who tries to guzzle the lot!
The hens have settled in and yesterday for the first time we had two eggs. Will has named them all after Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses but it’s all Greek to me.
The girls are back…and a boy too!
So…we have ‘chooks’ again. We got four hens, a rooster and three chicks back from our neighbours. They are the offspring of the hens we used to have. Very sadly one of the chicks died the first night, perhaps it was the stress of the move. The rooster looks like the one we left with our neighbours, he was very aggressive, but he died protecting the hens from a fox attack. Thankfully our new rooster is not as aggressive as his dad. We haven’t named any of them yet.