The House(s) of Fran_mart

 I feel that the original post is getting a bit too long so have started a new one.  I, and several others on the Facebook group thought this was an eyass (or as some of them call it "a baby" 🤮🤮🤮) but those that claim to be able to recognise the individual birds say it was either a 'foreign' male or the eyass' male parent, taking a dive after beating up one of the chicks . This is the female parent - I refuse to call it 'Mum' 🤮etc - showing off the size of her talons.  I really wouldn't want them clasped around me. Here she is delivering a meal to the eyasses.  Note the raised wings as one rushes along the edge of the ledge. A food fight ensues! The adult departs. A little later three of the eyasses form a heap and seem to nuzzle one another!

 A few photos from around Canberra and on our trip back to Mallacoota. There seems to have been a bit of wind (and soft ground) around the area.  Glebe Park ... .. and Reid: we wondered about the yellow tape - perhaps people can't see the trees for the wood? We know there are parts of Reid with social housing (we used to see the cops visiting those areas when we looked North from our apartment) but were surprised to find subsistence farming on Euree St. Another bit of Glebe Park: I am unsure if these are Azaleas or Rhodedendrons. I went to the Kingston side of Jerrabomberra Wetlands, where the excitement was a Pied Cormorant. On the morning of the 5th (Guy Fawkes Day!) a pair of hot air balloons overflew Canberra.  The upper one was in QATAR livery: not surprisingly it was too high to land in Canberra. On the way back, a very pleasant drive with no flooding (and no rain)  we stopped to check out a damp area.  Lots of Thelionema . Our main target was Diuris punct...

 We had to get the car serviced and various other ACT chores so headed for Canberra on 1 November - the day of the Donkey Derby.  Whether related to that or not we didn't know but there was a lot of traffic on both the Princes Highway (to Cann River) and the Monaro/Snowy Mountains Highways the rest of the way.  We had expected a lot of rain, but that didn't happen.  Evidence of recent falls was in the amount of water in the Genoa River a little South of Bombala. The Bombala River, at the dunnies in Bombala, had a good flow but was well below flood level.  As there is a large catchment area upstream (to Brown Mountain, at least 40 km away) this can gather a lot of water quite quickly. No dramas on the drive to the apartment.  It was inteestnig that at one point we crossed with a convoy of about 6 original (ie BMC) Minis and a little later about 12 Porsches of various designs, again in a convoy. On the Wednesday Frances had some business so I took myself off ...