Sticky and gigantic

 

 

 

This one tree had two pairs of mating stick insects on it the other day in the Mooloolah River National Park. And I nearly walked straight past. They really are rather sticklike.

 

 

They're Titan Stick Insects (Acrophylla titan). She's the big one.

Mooloolah loop

The Mooloolah River National Park offers a nice little walk or two. It's pretty flat, and this is appealing also to cyclists I noticed.

I did an early morning exploration yesterday, starting and finishing at the eastern end of Claymore Rd.

It was very waterlogged when I first ventured in a few months back, but it's largely dried out now.

 

Right: Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora)

 

 

 The walking's easy

 

 

 

 

 

Below: I think these banksias are Banksia serrata, aka Red Honeysuckle, aka Old Man Banksia.

More garden spiders

 

 

It's peak spider season in our garden right now. Here's a Dome-Web Spider (Cyrtophora moluccensis), a type of tent-web spider.

And this one's a St Andrews Cross spider (Argiope keyserlingi)

 

 

Lots of Golden Orb Weavers (Nephila plumipes).

 

 A female on the left, a male below.

Murder

Murdering Creek runs into the southern part of Lake Weyba, just south of Noosa. It's one of the massacre sites marked on the Colonial Frontiers Massacre Map, produced recently by researchers at Newcastle University. See here: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php

I've been rather curious about this place for a while. One local history talk I'd attended seemed to suggest that all had been sweet on the Sunshine Coast between settlers and indigenous inhabitants. Another talk told me about this Murdering Creek episode. It was fairly well documented, and the name sort of gives the game away anyway.

Then I came across an article in Noosa Today: https://noosatoday.com.au/news/23-07-2022/murdering-creek-mystery/  which makes it all a bit muddier again.

 

I took myself in there this morning. It's a dark and spooky place, but beautiful too. As I'd been told, there's no official acknowledgement or educational plaque or monument or anything about what may have happened here. 

But I did find this very moving unofficial memorial. And it even hints at a reason for any push there might be to change the name: real estate values!

Lake Weyba, near Murdering Creek

Brisbane's hidden gems #1: Banks St Reserve

 

 

 

 

 

Banks St Reserve in Alderley, in Brisbane's inner north-west.

Reluctant swimmers

I've been working diligently on the pool. It's no longer the cloudy pond we inherited, with its chemistry all out of whack. It's pretty well perfect: chemistry spot on, and water clean and crystal clear. (And nice water temperatures too!)

Maybe that's why it's suddenly become attractive to uninvited guests! A heavily pregnant Blue-Tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides) fell in the other day. Don't think she was planning a water birth for her offspring. She had to be fished out, and lived to tell the tale. We saw the slimmed-down version a few days later, and the baby blue-tongue too!

 

 

 

Not such a happy ending though for the Brown Huntsman Spider (Heteropoda jugulans) who was at the bottom of the pool this morning. She was past resuscitation. I was a bit careful when handling this one. At first glance it could have been a Funnelweb. These are notorious for their underwater frolics, and are said to be able to survive in the water quite happily. Their venom is of course rather deadly. 

Yaroomba: beautiful boardwalks and scary snakes!

 

Yaroomba is the suburb between Mt Coolum and Coolum Beach. It's got a great network of bush tracks through beachside forest, often involving fabulously engineered boardwalks. It's got Clive Palmer's amazing resort too, with fine golf course but no longer with dinosaurs. Enough of Clive though.

 

 

It's also got the Yaroomba Bushland Park, with a lovely little circuit walk through a fine patch of bush. There's a surprise lurking though. Look  at this fellow I came across! It's clearly a Jungle Carpet Python! Could probably swallow me whole!

 

There again, a closer inspection reveals the cracks on his face. He's a wooden Jungle Carpet Python! How disappointing.

Here's Mount Coolum, from one of the Yaroomba boardwalks.

 

And here's the beach

The illusive Lake Weyba

 

Up towards Noosa there's a Lake called Weyba. It's a bit elusive, as in you don't tend to see it from any of the main roads, or even from the less main roads.

 

But as I confirmed the other day, it's definitely there, and there are a few ways in, mainly involving a little walk through bits of the Noosa National Park.

Christmas lights lit bright

This is one of the many Buderim houses that we didn't buy while house-hunting earlier this year. 

It was rather a good house. One of the reasons we didn't buy it was the knowledge that it came with its very own Christmas lights, and you'd be expected to put them up and be part of the show.

It turns out that Rainsford Place is one of Queensland's absolute preeminent Christmas Lights Streets! Checked it out the other night. Not at all sure whether the agent's enthusiastic mention of this was meant as an endorsement or a statutory warning! (It sold eventually, by the way, and for a good price.)

Stormy weather

 

We've had a year of very wet and stormy weather on the Sunshine Coast, and some forecasters are saying there's still another year or two to go!

 

 

Wednesday night and Thursday morning gave us  another good dose.

 

 

 

 

 

Mammatus clouds building up Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Thursday morning is bin morning, and the early morning storm did its best to disrupt that!

Mt Ngungun variations

 

 

 

 

It was Mt Ngungun again yesterday, this time with the Sunshine Coast Bushwalkers. 

It's probably the Glass House's most popular peak, and not a real big walk. I'd joined because of the promised exploratory off-track route, up the 'North Face', rather than the usual south side 'tourist route'.

Unfortunately the leader changed her mind, and the tourist route it was, after all.

All was not lost though. After a short break we spent half an hour or so exploring the upper reaches of the 'North Face'. 

And next time I've a feeling we'll actually do it properly. From the bottom upward, is the safety advice I've read.

 

Here's our view of the tourists congregated around the top. No doubt in awe of our rather minor off-track adventure.

Closed for beach business

 

 

 

 

From Coolum to Caloundra the beaches are closed. It's the start of summer, and the start of the holiday season, but the wild, wild weather and those red flags have put a stop to many of those holiday activities.

Orange garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the start of summer, but autumn colours come at any time round here.

Orange Town

A sizeable chunk of Caloundra town centre has been painted orange. This has become somewhat contentious, as nearby local businesses think it's not the right colour for a respectable neighbourhood, and it's been going on too long and lowering the tone!

The local paper reported that it was conceived as a publicity stunt for a soon-to-materialise redevelopment project. But planning and approval issues have delayed the promised demolition.

Appreciated (by some)

 

The U3A Classical Music Appreciation class I attend at Sippy Downs goes from strength to strength as the academic year draws to a close. We found ourselves watching an André Rieu session briefly. Not a huge amount of love in the room for the master showman, but I guess he's too big to ignore!