Hakea laurina (Pin-cushion Hakea)

On a drive in the Adelaide Hills last week I came across this pretty bright tree,
Hakea laurina (Pin-cushion Hakea)
See this link to the Gardening Australia fact sheet.

Its not a mouse! It is Notomys or Native Hopping Mice

I got a closeup view of these attractive native rodents of the Notomys family


It sad that we have lost a lot of the subspecies to introduced animals like cats etc.

Birthday on the estate

I went to Barbara's brothers house at the other end of the Coat estate to attend her nieces birthday party.

40 years since aborigines were counted as citizens

I went to see briefly the ceremony to start National Reconciliation Week in Adelaide's Victoria Square to celebrate 40 years ago since an overwhelming number of Australians voted in a referendum to recognise Aboriginal people as citizens.

Trip To Belair National Park

We enjoyed a trip to the Belair National Park where Max rode his bicycle and we fed the birds.

The Game

I went to see Barbara's Max play Australian Rules Football in the under 8's against Mt Barker. We were joined by his grandparents Dan and Margaret.


Chloe enjoyed the extra company

Two versions of caring?

My sister-in-law Joey and my brother Tony are part of the Fauna Rescue Network and are caring for these two baby kangaroos or "joeys."

Clearly other people in society are living without a care for the feelings of others. I came across this late model sedan similar to my own burnt out in the suburbs a petrol can in the back seat.

Chloe enjoying a swing in the sun

Chloe enjoyed a sunny morning on the swing.

Some time with the Coats

I visited the Coat family on Sunday and enjoyed a walk in the paddocks with Barbara's niece Bec as she checked the new born calves.


The next morning there was a great sunrise over the trees.

Chloe had to be dressed as warm as a bunny rabbit in her suit!

Tasmania

I had a good break in Tasmania whilst waiting to hear about new employment.Ken shares my passion for photography although a little more serious,he is quite active in competitions and has joined the Devonport Camera Club.

Ken and Sue were visited by Richard (his brother-in-law) and Big Ron from Adelaide who were on their way to pick up a trail bike for Richard.
We met them when they came off the Spirit of Tasmania

I left on Saturday morning for the mainland

Sues roses

The last of Sues roses in bloom in her front garden, an old favourite "Just Joey"

Our time in the Tamar Valley

On Tuesday Ken and I drove to the Tamar Valley seeing some pretty sites, although sadly much of area was still covered with smoke from burn offs.

No wonder so many people do not want their lovely
more polluted than it already is.

This was the sky on Saturday mid afternoon as we drove back from Hobart
and the smoke was still sitting over the valley on Tuesday.






We had morning tea in Beaconsfield.

Cradle Mountain

This was a pleasant spot to visit as it is one of the top two Tasmanian tourist places to visit, according to Wonder Tours Director Ken.






We were joined in the car park at Dove Lake by currawongs.

I had to share my afternonn tea with them,the lamington cake not the cola.

Trip to Cradle Mountain

Ken and I spent Monday driving to Cradle Mountain. On the way we stopped by the roadside when we noticed that the paddocks were filled with what we thought looked like spiders webs and they were!



It's a phenomena called spider web ballooning.[click the link for some information] The local paper was also reporting it on the weekend in another area. Reading elsewhere on the Internet I read about gossamer thread from the Old English "Goose summer"



We made a later stop when we saw some interesting toadstools.