"Home"

Being of no fixed address, "home" needs inverted commas... especially since Dad and Mum have moved and are no longer able to cater for our caravan! Fortunately, many of our former neighbours have lots of open space and are very welcoming of occasional campers. We had a lovely few months back in our old community catching up with family and friends and helping out various people. We also really enjoyed the beauty of Ravensbourne.

This family of deer were just along a friends' driveway.

One night Dazz noticed an odd light out the kitchen window. When he went out to investigate he found a glow-in-the-dark mushroom!

We had clear skies for the lunar eclipse.

Dazz also managed to find some time for birdwatching.

Grey Fantail

Variegated Fairy-wrens

Bar-shouldered Dove

Grey Goshawk

Green Catbird

Wompoo Fruit-Dove

Scarlet Honeyeater (male & female)

Golden-headed Cisticola

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Silvereye

Red-browed Finch

Pale-headed Rosella

Paradise Riflebird (female)

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Golden Whistler (male & female)

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

White-necked Heron

Lewin's Honeyeater

Black-faced Monarch

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

Sacred Kingfisher

Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove

Tawny Grassbird

Sydney to "home"

This is the catch-up from January...

We spent a few days in Sydney seeing friends, and explored an area on the North Shore we hadn't been to before.

We also had a couple of days at Swansea and fit in some walks along the lake.

Our final night was at the showgrounds at Woodenbong, where we watched the storms roll in. There was a good light show, but no good photos, and we also missed the rain.

Gundagai

We were heading towards a conference in Wollongong, so didn't have an option to avoid the heatwave. We had one night at the Albury Showgrounds and saw the smoke from one of the Victorian fires to the east as we left in the morning. The three nights in Gundagai were made a little more pleasant because we were mostly under the shade of the massive plane trees, but it was still in the 40s each day. We are so thankful for air conditioning!

We ventured out for walks early in the morning when it was still in the mid to high-20s and then spent the rest of the day inside.

The old sign was subsumed by the tree.

The caravan park was in a great location on the river and we'd love to come back and explore when it's not over 40 degrees.

Frankston

We knew Melbourne had laneway murals, but when we had a couple of spare hours in Frankston while the car was at the mechanic we discovered some around the station and shopping centre.

Sale

After finding Sale to be fairly quiet last Christmas we decided to book the caravan park for longer this time - from Christmas Eve to 2 January. It didn't disappoint... this was us camping with all our friends on Christmas Eve!

We enjoyed regular walks around the lakes and wetlands (and the supermarkets for marked down specials!). The water was quite dirty from the carp and all the birds (even though it's blue in the town mural), but there were some good photo opportunities as the birds all had their breeding plumage and colours.

Intermediate Egrets

Cattle Egrets

Australian White Ibis

Satin Bowerbird

Dusky Moorhens

Great Cormorant

Straw-necked Ibis

Pelican - The pelicans all looked rather shabby from the muddy water.

Royal Spoonbills