Some pics of new stuff in the garden

Moving interstate or even further

Our life here in the tropics is pretty good. Even if we can't afford much we definitely wont freeze to death!  Its hard leaving everything behind and moving interstate. I cant even imagine what its like for those how move to a new country, where they don't speak the language! or even if you did.

When it comes down to it we are still in Australia but sometimes I have days where I feel like I might as well have moved to China, and today was one of those days!
Its also hard for Sam because he puts up with me.
We have a nice home and the weather has been kind to us, although it is a little wet still but that will pass. The suburbs of Cairns are all new, which is strange being a Melbourne girl where a lot of the houses are Victorian terraces, none of those up here, and I do miss them.

We have plenty of wildlife around the place too, particularly birds, and as I mentioned the other day Rats, which are apparently seasonal.

I am trying to keep positive and keep myself busy, although this week have struggled somewhat. I have taken up piano lessons which I enjoy and am getting the garden together. I do miss the seasons, in Melbourne, but not the cold, and I miss my friends. I love Melbourne but now Cairns is my home. I am still inspired to revamp the garden and make use of the vast indoor space we have, making an income up here isn't as easy as down south, but we wont starve. At worst we can grow lots of yummy stuff in the garden.

Watch this space!

Cats and Rats!

We have been living here  in Cairns for just over 5 months. The weather has been kind and the people too! Our family has changed somewhat. We still have Polly our Cairn terrier, and she has settled well and is not so keen to run away anymore. I'm not sure if that is because she is getting a bit long in the tooth or perhaps because the weather is so warm and she's a bit lazier! Unfortunately our cat Chibbie died shortly after we brought her up so now we have two new additions to the family, as many of you will know from my facebook page. They are Felix and Misty, a couple of Burmese kittens, who are brother and sister, different litters but the same dad.

We live on a main road up here so they are indoor cats although they are able to run around in the garage where we are going to set up a teenage retreat and a bit of a cat playground. It also means they wont be hunting native birds in the garden, or cane toads for that matter!

This was Felix and Sam when we first brought him home. He was such a scrawny little thing !

This is Felix now a hansom little cat!

Felix is a red Burmese, but like our Border collie Bruce, is more of a blonde, and a very hansom cat with a lot of charisma. Misty is a lilac  Burmese, and is very sweet natured she's a little bit on the shy side but can give as good as she gets from Felix. They are  very personable cats and very adventurous, they even play with the dog.

Misty the day we brought her home

Happy cats

I've been accused of being a mad cat lady! And I think maybe its true , but there are worse things i could be!
Anyway, back to the garden and the house which are coming along splendidly.The garden perhaps, more than the house! We got rid of the enormous cockroaches ....thank goodness, now I'm told come the rats, as its cane cutting season. Shouldnt be a problem, I hear you say, especially with 2 cats, hah!
May I remind you ...these are Queensland rats, they look like possums!
Ugghhhhh!
Its a pity rats don't eat cane toads! But I'm sure we'll sort something out.

A Grey Day in Cairns

When we first moved in January.

Here in the far north its been a grey day with a sprinkling of rain here and there . Its still quite warm with a nice breeze blowing. We've been lucky enough to have a wwoofer staying with us, who is from France and he has been doing a great job helping me get the garden organized.

The front garden now with one of the "mounds" at the far end! We had heaps of cardboard boxes left over from moving so I'm using them as weed mat. Now I need sugar cane mulch and compost to put on top.

There was not much too it but golden canes and lawn when we moved in but since then we have made a bit of headway, and now thanks to Pierre we are really getting on with it!
He has moved rocks and dug up lawn, trimmed some of the canes, which are surprisingly messy, and helped out hugely where I either didn't have the time, strength or just couldn't reach!

So now our garden looks a bit different. we have two mounds of waist sitting on the lawns which I am going to allow to break down and then add some compost and soil and plant more plants there. As most of my regular readers might know I'm not a big fan of lawn and would much rather have plants and trees.

Its much greener now as we've had some rain although not as much as would normally be expected i'm told. That's the other mound, both now have plastic secured over them with large rocks, which I found buried all over the garden and they are really nice rocks.

Back in December

 

Its coming together now I will take some close ups of the plants when they are a bit settled and something to look at!

While we have been here we 've also made a few changes round the place and found a few treasures too. I managed to pick up a BBQ for a song and get it delivered and we now have a lemon tree, and a black Sapote. Still no chooks but all in good time!

Before Christmas I was honoured to be asked to contribute to a couple of publications put out by Earth Garden Publications. The first was for their publication on backyard chooks called "Even More Chook Wisdom"

 and then another article in there Backyard Farmer publication. They have some great publications and heaps of ideas at their website here: http://www.earthgarden.com.au/index.html
Its well worth a visit!

And just up the road we have the mountains and rainforest!

What to do with a wet Garden!

Well this is quite a change. Here in Cairns, its the rainy season, nothing too dramatic about that except we have rain pretty much on a daily basis. Coming from Melbourne where its sooo dry this time of year rain is a novelty and flooding is always in the back of my mind. Cairns is after all built on a flood plain.

So I'm sitting on my verandah watching the rain literally bucket out of the sky, Some of our guttering has huge holes in it which will need to be fixed, but thats fine. Our roof is not great either but will keep us dry for now.

As the rain falls pools gather around the garden. We have a bull nose verandah so the water just flows off that onto the lawn below and has driven a bit of a gutter into the lawn . I suspect if there were plants and mulch there instead of just lawn there wouldnt be so many pools around the place. Although our garden is only small it would be great to create our own tiny jungle. Where the frogs can sing, the doves can coo and we can create a small peice of paradise here in suburbia.

There's not much to it at the moment but we do have a beautiful climate on our side. Coming from Melbourne its a little bit surreal to be living now in a place where everything is so green and lush. Now I will have to plan what to do with a garden that can very possibly be sodden at certain times of the year.

I'm looking at beautiful species and plants with amazing foliage. Sadly I dont have the room for bigt trees but can manage a few small ones for sure. Crepe Myrtles up here are amazing, and of course you cant go past the Frangipanis, and Hybiscus - native or hawaiian. Some of the understorey plants are gorgeous and some of the palms are quite nice, if a bit weedy. The heliconias come in all shapes and sizes as do the bromelliades, which of course the frogs love?

 By the way these are pictures i took up on the tablelands , sadly only two of these are actually at my place, but my imagination is running wild. So much to choose from and so many colours!!!! My head is just swimming!

We had a bromelliad in a pot in the garage and a small green tree frog came and lived there for a while. I didnt have the heart to plant it in the garden until he moved on!

our visiting green tree frog

Our New Garden

 
Here we are finally settled into our new- to us -  home in the far North Queensland town of Cairns.
Its a beautiful city right up on the the top of the eastern coast of Australia.

Bit of a sea change from Victoria, and a radical climate change! Here we are living in the tropics, there are two seasons here Wet and dry, and at the moment its meant to be the wet season although this year has been pretty dry. Queensland is also prone to Cyclones which are kind of the Australian equivalent of Hurricanes, so we need to be prepared for them in the wet season.

We drove up here in my car via Cowra NSW, Goodiwindi Qld, Rockhampton Qld, and Airlie beach. We took our time and stopped overnight in those towns spending a weekend in Rockhampton for a bit of a breather. We left on 10/1 and arrived in Cairns on 15/1  which considering I was driving my i30 Hyundai wasnt bad timing, and my son did a great job of navigating.

3000km's we  drove in fact a bit more. Good experience but dont think I would want to make a habit of it! We live in an amazing country and its really interesting to drive through all those climate zones, from cool temperate Victoria through the arid back blocks of NSW and Qld, then into the tropics. You see how nature adjusts to cope with the climate. We were lucky not to encounter any bushfires as we drove, as the temperature outside soared to the high 40's. Thank goodness for aircon in the car!

It was a long drive but quite a great experience, and out of all those towns we stayed in the nicest motel was probably in Goondiwindi. Which is pretty much right on the NSW /Qld border but about a third of the way to SA. So it is in the outback.  But  lovely people and great accomodation.

So we arrived in Cairns safe and sound and picked up the keys to our new house and here we are. The garden is much smaller, and sadly I dont have any chooks but we brought the dog up and have a new kitten who is sleeping happily on a towel next to the computer here. His name is Felix and he is quite a little personality.

Our old cat Gina who is nearly 20 stayed in Melbourne at our old house along with the border collie, Bruce. We did bring our beautiful black cat Chibby up here but sadly she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after arriving and is no longer with us.We have planted a small tree in her honour.

We have been here just over a month and now I can start making it a home and planning the garden. Here are some pictures, oh and a pic of Felix and Sam!

Also for those interested recently I was honored to be  asked to contribute to a publication on keeping chickens put out by the publishers of Earth Garden. Its called Even More Chook Wisdom and is full of lots of tips and info about keeping chickens in your backyard. Its available online here from the Good life bookshop :http://www.goodlifebookclub.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1160

A Fresh Start.

Its been quite some time since I wrote a post on my blog and i'm sure a lot of my readers got sick of checking if anything new was happening.

Much has happened since November not the least being my son Sam and I moving to Cairns, in far north Queensland. After seperating from my partner I decided it was time I invested in property of my own, and as some of you are more than aware house prices in Victoria arent exactly cheap, so decided to take a look in Cairns. We  have been here 3 times on holiday and always loved it. The climate is lovely, the people are nice, and the pace is a little more civilised, than down south. In early Dec I came up to look at a list of houses I had found for sale, then after finding something great,with a small garden, huge lock up garage and all the mod cons, took the plunge.

My son was nervous but keen on the idea and he has started year 11 up here. We have left a lot behind, in Melbourne, not the least being loved ones and friends, along with pets who will be adored still and will stay where they belong. Sam and I brought one of our cats and one of the dogs, with us. Sadly Chibbie our beautiful cat was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put to sleep, a kinder option than suffering from renal failure.

So here we are in the rainy season, in the tropics!

We drove up just prior to the bushfiresin NSW and cyclone which has inundated a lot of southern Queensland. A long drive but quite an experience.We watched the changes in the environment go from the blue hills of Victoria, through the Riverina, and into NSW , up through Cowra and then through the rough dry cattle country of mid wester NSW to Goondiwindi on the Qld border, then to Rockhampton, the Whitsunday passage, and through to Cairns. We took our time and had a break in Rockhampton. But it was a great trip.

My darling chickens have stayed in Melbourne with Graham, but are now a little bit famous thanks to   
Earth Gardens "Even More Chook Wisdom", as I was asked to write an article, and my chickens got their 15mins of fame!!

So its a Fresh start and a new life, I will post pics as soon as I can.