Post #153 Thursday 12 March 2021 – March visit to Sydney
Thursday 12 March 2021
Dear friends, thanks to so many of you for understanding that I am just having to keep things low key for the foreseeable future. You are always welcome to get in touch any time though, I am not going anywhere 🙂
Meantime I have a visit booked for Sydney 24, 25 and 26 March. I am also still visiting Canberra and Wollongong, and locally in the Southern Highlands, on an ad hoc basis. While I am in Sydney at other times from time to time, it’s not for MG.
My last post had a photo of the black swan Harold looking all moody and elegant in the middle distance behind the bullrushes. I have great news: he finally flew away, it would have been about Valentine’s day. So his gammy foot did not hold him back. He has launched into his own life finally and will be somewhere out there finding swan friends.
So while going out with my kayak on the water is still as nice as ever I miss seeing Harold doing his thing. There are always other diversions though, such as blackberries (terrible pest but lovely fruit).
And also interesting flowering plants, including this small pink flannel flower which scrambles down the rock and hangs over the water in one place. I have never seen this flower before. My gf sent me an article saying that it is apparently not common and generally will only grow after bush fires in higher altitudes. It is exceptionally lovely.
And I have a new animal friend, a white goat. He’s very philosophical looking, perching calmly out on the high rocky outcrops in the day, or tucked away in a protected sunny spot early in the morning. I think he’s basically feral. And also something about him makes me think he could be a senior goat lol. I’ve been taking him carrots (when I remember), and leaving them at the same place I’ve seen him in the early mornings.
There are quite a few water dragons on the rocks too. I was paddling up the centre of the waterway and saw what I thought at first was a stick, but then it was moving, so I thought water dragon swimming from one side to the other. As I approached the reptilian head and neck, I swear in an instant it changed its’ body language expression from: “dum dee dum doo daah …(minding my own reptile business, swimming along delicate little head high up and out at an angle)”, to “crikey what’s that”, and then “yikes, I am outta here!” as it saw me, heaved to an urgent stop and lurched away. It was a red bellied black snake. The deep red showing up as it turned.
And all this story telling about creatures reminds me of the end of the book by Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals. It never gets old. I will find it and post a copy.
xx MG