Wot a bunch of wallies..

Yesterday I took the camera along when I took Hamish to Scouts. The current Scout Hall is actually the Polocross Hall as the proper site is in the process of being repaired after vandals and termites and asbestos got in  - more on that over the weekend as there is a Working Bee on Sunday to help finish the clean up.
The fields around the hut are exceedingly popular with an iconic Australian animal -the Agile Wallaby

There were one or two using the field - although the light was very poor as it was dusk and my camera does not have a high enough ISO setting to do them justice.
A couple came closer offering slightly better photo opportunities

The adult was slightly less impressed than the Joey who would I think have hung around for longer but had to push it to catch up with Mum again

There were also big numbers of Ibis flying over to a roost that is about 1 mile away

Its NOT the weekend anymore...

Its amazing how quickly time goes at the moment!
I picked up  Hamish from Scout Camp on Sunday and its safe to say he had a great time - run around all day, swam in the river (absolutely freezing), cooked tea, stayed up late etc all the normal things. To say he was tired would be an understatement so a relaxing afternoon was called for whilst I got on with the washing and Tish slept having had to drug herself up to the eyeballs as she has a tooth abcess - OUCH!!!!
The rest of the week so far has been quite quiet, school for the children and night shifts for Tish, although she was not able to go in on Sunday due to severe tooth ache - I am pleased to report the abcess has burst and all is settling down again.
Few opportunities to get out and about this week as have been busy so here are a few shots from the garden and the street outside

Black Knight Dragonfly

unknown Spider - kids though it was really cute

Bordered Rustic

and finally trying to hide behind a twig.....

stupid bird!!

This weekend Tish is off and on Saturday is the Festival of the Knob which very conveniently is held at the end of our street!!
Sunday is repair the old Scout Hut day so we shall see how it goes....

Its the weekend...

...and Tish is back on nights again; another four in a row having already done four last week.
This morning having dropped Tish off to help at a sausage sizzle to raise funds for Hamish's Scout Group I dropped him off for his first weekend camp. Having been packed off to camp myself numerous times as both cub / scout and scout leader it was with very different emotions that we got Hamish ready

Sorry for picture quality taken with my phone not the camera.
I am sure he will have a great time but have to say am exceedingly nervous for him.
With Tish asleep this afternoon I took Xanthe and Cameron on to the beach to fly his kite.
Whilst as the phrase goes size isn't everything there was definately a case of feeling slightly inadequate..

as Xanthe said, ours was a bit puny!
Nevermind we had a ball

Cameron found it a bit hard to hold on as the wind picked up so a bit of tandem flying was called for

Sitting down was an option that was tried as well

When he wasn't flying he was attempting to jump on its shadow

I am not sure about Camerons sanity!

After a couple of hours the cord came loose so we had to call a halt and come home to repair it but we will be back!

Sunbird Special

In between all the routine chores today - housework (hoovering and washing floors in 29 degree heat is not fun); hanging out four loads of washing (sheets and towels) and printing various bits and bobs out I have been watching one of our local pairs of Olive backed Sunbirds.
We have seen the pair hanging around for several days now, constantly checking out our wind chimes

but not taking it any further.
This morning though the female was far more intent than normal

and spent a fair bit of time hovering.
On closer inspection when she was not around I could see some spiders web woven into the spring

As the afternoon progressed the male would re-appear and keep checking the area and me out

Later n the afternoon the pair returned with a couple of pieces of grass

This grass was woven into the spring as well

With luck we will get a beautifully formed nest like this created as we watch

The only problem being the light conditions which make taking decent pictures quite tricky!

Birthday Weekend

This weekend has been Tish's birthday weekend. Now a gentleman never gives away a ladies age but hey I never said I was a gentleman...
Anyway we had looked for an appropriately worded banner to mark this occasion but they were also so DULL we decided to edit one that was more appropriate in celebrating the inner child...

The children also decided to be creative with the balloons - did you know that marker pens and blown up balloons don't mix, in fact when used in combination it can sound as if WWIII has broken out

and of course polite cards have been the order of the day

We gave Tish a full breakfast in bed - bacon butties, grapefruit, fruit juice and tea, although in the interests of a clean and crumb free bed she opted to get up and eat it in the lounge.
After a relaxing late morning and early afternoon we then met up with Lara for a picnic at Muddys Playpark along the esplanade. It was great the children had several distinct areas to go loopy in - including several wet play areas.
Whilst the children ran around like headless chickens we sat and had our picnic, with occasional visits from hot and thirsty children

It was rounded off with various flavoured ice creams the most revolting looking were undoubtedly these

The view from our picnic bench was quite impressive
Looking towards the lagoon

and looking north towards Yorkeys

We hadn't been to Muddys before as the webpage made it look rather unappealing but given the great views and extensive play areas we will be back.
Today (Sunday) we all got up and went to Church with Tish, and we have been relaxing this afternoon before having a BBQ this evening.
Tish is on nine nights this next fortnight so.....