Cassowary joins the fruit tasting

A young male cassowary with full colours headed directly for the group of fruit tasters on the orchard tour yesterday, stopped 5 metres away, veered to the left and then turned and came back towards the group a second time.

We think he was on a regular fruit patrol in the orchard to check the Soursop trees and was following his routine path. It just so happened that 20 people were blocking his route, and he took a while to work out how to go around them. Pete was the guide and positioned himself between the tasters and the bird, and stood on tiptoes to make himself look taller. Telling the story later he said "I figured that I was getting paid and they weren't, and it was my job to be in the frontline."

Night temperatures drop to 13 celsius

A cold snap has swept the country, and Cape Trib residents have experienced extremely cold temperatures once the sun drops behind the mountain at around 4 pm. Our max\min thermometer has recorded 13 degrees overnight, and snuggling under doonas is such a novelty for us.

Two dead chickens as the Goshawk arrives for lunch

Fresh eggs laid by happy chooks(Australian for chicken)- this is what we aspire to serving our B&B guests for breakfast: Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs, Eggs Benedict etc etc. Our old chooks were no longer producing enough eggs for us so we decided to get some little chicks.

They arrived at Easter and were freshly hatched. They lived in a cage in our living room for the first month and then were upgraded to the chook house with the retirees, who regally allowed them to join their accommodation.

Now at 8 weeks old they have been allowed out on their own to forage in the afternoon, and this is where the Goshawk comes in. It only took him two days to find them and exploding from a nearby tree he grabs a chook with his talons, pecks its eyes out and then eats the brain. The rest was left behind. Enter Kimmy, our three year old Rottweiler who is currently being trained not to chase, annoy, or eat chickens. She gets caught up in the excitement, chooks fly everywhere and she grabs one. It probably died of shock. Now Kimmy is in the doghouse. So we started with 21 babies and the score today is 19 alive and terrified, 1 dead - goshawk, 1 dead - Kimmy.

Frog arrives home after 4 months in the creek.  

The Green Tree Frogs are back

After four months with a bathroom free of muddy frog prints, the green tree frogs have returned. Ensconsed on top of the shower ledge where they always sat - I assume it is the same one who has returned. It must be drying off outside and the bathroom is suddenly the best spot to be. This means a return to guided tours of my bathroom by our B&B guests. I suppose I will get used to it!