The House(s) of Fran_mart

 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 ...

 We are in Canberra getting various medical things fixed up.  We expect to be here for a bit over a week and then do a few trips - depending on doctors scheduling - for the rest of the year. I can see Black Mountain Tower from my desk and just before sunrise on the morning of the 18th it looked interesting with a skirt of cloud. The sun came up - a surprising distance along the horizon. On our previous visit I was annoyed that Commonwealth Park is still fenced off as the National Capital Authority returf the area after Floriade.  After a complaint to the Leader of the Opposition in House of Assembly (NCA) I was told the fence would be cleared by 17th November.  Sorry that is a fail.  My guess is that there is still at least a week more work needed.  It is astounding that the NCA is allowed to waste this amount of money each year. As we walked back to the apartment I was struck by the design (by "Olivia" aged 11) on a recycling truck. Later in the morning I ...

At times I feel that the Bush Capital has been completely done away with, by the efforts of the development lobby and the habitat reduction burners.  And then I visit a couple of sites  - admittedly both constructed rather than natural - and feel a little more "glass half-full". The first locale was the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG).  It was a lovely Spring day (24.7 o C) with light cloud beginning to roll in in front of a change. As we set off a large bus arrived with kids on a trip from Broome.  (I asked a teacher, and they had flown down, not come in the bus.)  While their warm-up jackets were about the loudest I have seen, the kids were much quieter than the usual rioting horde in ANBG.  A family of Australian Wood Ducks were feeding in front of the cafe.  These art works were part of a competition in which kids made art works on threatened species. It was organised by the Humane Society International who seem to have a...

On Saturday morning's dog walk we saw a woman peering into a tree with a pair of binoculars.  So of course I asked her what she had got: the answer was Yellow-faced Honeyeater, which isn't greatly exciting.  She then said that there was a Nankeen Night Heron in the Foreshore Caravan Park (FCP) which is greatly exciting. On getting home I took myself off to the FCP to look for the Heron and to find the water depth gauge.  Alas I found neither. I was told that the Heron is usually around the boat moorings early in the morning so took myself off there on Sunday morning at about 0615.  Nice try but no cigar. Back home and I found an interesting source of data about the local Wildlife as detailed in my wildlife blog .   I then put this to use in identifying the most common local skinks as    Lampropholis guichenoti  .  This one has obviously regrown its tail: to reverse the quote of Eric Morecambe "You can see the join!"  W...