Bull ants and the rain.

It was looking pretty dire here until last weeks massive rain storm rolled through.  A week on and the ground is starting to look almost 50% green.  It’s incredible how quickly the germination has rooted and begun to bring more sustenance to these hard working mums!

This is the shell of a woman who’s not slept deeply in two years… worth it though! Wesley is the happiest little person I’ve ever known and I’m feeling so grateful to be his mum.These are some pea flowers that were open a couple of weeks ago.  The road is starting to awaken and it’s looking like the rains are going to keep coming… hurray!!Found these two lovers this afternoon – they are bull ants and god I’m horrified by the fact that they can also fly.  The male is clinging to the females back here.Here is evidence of some of the rain we’ve had recently.This is on the road just south of Amboseli.  It was here that frogs could be heard calling to one another – a sign that winter has finally arrived!

Silly memories.

The past few weeks there have been a number of special little moments that have made me smile and laugh with Wesley around the home and beyond.  Here are a few of them:

1. He loves crabs and sharks and well basically all sea creatures.  I was cooking dinner when I felt a little hand sort of pluck the material on my pants.  I looked down to see Wesley wearing the red oven mitt.  He looked up at me and said “craaaaab” which was adorable and so funny.  He loves the mean crab from moana and sort of sings along with the song whenever it gets the part where he says “shineeeey”.
2. I saw he was about to play with our heater, when I called for him to stop he held a rag at the wall and pretended he was washing the wall instead.
3. We’ve discovered an area in the woods that has a really cool dirt hill (almost like a bmx set up) and so were scrambling around on it yesterday.  When we were just about to walk back to the car I nearly stepped on this blue mouse spider (related to the dreaded Sydney funnel web!).  Gingerly I tucked it into an envelope and brought it home for identification and photographs.  The experts are looking at it right now and will be back with more info soon!  The blue colouring is exquisite.
4. We’ve joined a playgroup in Jurien bay which is about 45 minutes away – there are so many kids.  It’s been awesome meeting new people.
5. Wesley is ever adventurous but there have been a few moments in the past week when he comes back and seeks cuddles.  He’s also given a few kisses (of free will) and that just melts my heart.
6. We read an illustrated compendium of the sea and he’s nearly memorised the names of all the sea creatures.  He’s really that into the ocean!
7. It was wee mans first ever time out in the rain to splash in puddles and he took to it so quickly!  We were both soaked by the end!  It was so much fun.
8. The freaky looking (and ugly) mantis creature is actually not a mantis at all.  Crazy right?  After some investigating and eventually emailing a scientist friend – it was discovered that this thing is called a mantis fly.
9. Wesley loved running naked in the garden beds after his bath a couple of weeks ago as the full moon was rising.  It was such a warm night so we all sat in the grass enjoying the view.  Tom was with us again for the night too!

Thorny Devil, Western Australia

Here is a thorny devil that was found about 15km away from the farm.

Not too sure what the issue is, but I’m having issues posting a 7 second short clip of the this thorny devil walking.  I’ll keep at it (few days now!) and hopefully will have a little video to share with you soon.

This post also features a Lesser Wanderer Butterfly, a jumping spider that mimic ants and some of the dry landscape.

At the moment we’re hosting Mike’s cousin Tom who’s going to be headed inland shortly to work for our old boss seeding in Coorow.  And while we have had him here we took him to the few coastal communities here and found a sea lion looking rather tuckered out.  The local fisheries and ocean officer told us she’d come out and make sure it was ok.

The sea lions generally aren’t found on mainland unless they are tired or injured.  It’s the first time we have seen one here.

Around the yard.

It has been a week of nature discovery here around the farm house.  Wesley and I found a baby snake at the back step of the house, which is currently unidentified.  If you know anything about Australian snakes please feel free to leave a comment with your guess/species name.

The little jumping spider was also found at the back step this morning.  I was walking outside to hang up laundry when I spotted a little speck.  Moving slowly I peered closely and discovered it was a beautiful basking jumping spider.  Pretty cool colours on it!

The lizard is actually a very small baby dragon lizard.  It was in the grass at the back of the lawn that is growing up the fence.  Thankfully I saw it or I might have accidentally killed it with the scissors I was using to trim the grass by hand.

Butterflies have been flitting around the yard drinking the water that remains on the grass from it’s sprinkler system.

Wesley and I were also exploring the yard and Japanese pepper trees today as they were just alive with the sound of bees darting too and from.

I feel really bad about this hair cut and I’m hoping it grows quick.  Sorry my sweet little boy – if you see this image one day I never intended for it to be this shoddy!

You never know what’s going to pop up around the house – a lot of these things are a first for me.  Wesley is so lucky to get to see all of this right here!

Help Ban Fracking in Western Australia

It’s been such a beautiful week.  We are so lucky to live in an area incredibly rich in outdoor activities.  We spent time at the beach, swimming at the pool, enjoying a picnic with a friend and ran amok in the yard as the sun began to set each night.

That being said – beyond our personal activities; today is an important day for the region.  The Inquiry into Fracking has now closed it’s scientific submission period.

I’ve written a personal submission and also helped local group P.O.W.E.R Eneabba with their group submission as well.  Many other concerned citizens across the region have also picked up pens, and participated in Lock the Gate workshops to prepare and submit for themselves.  It’s encouraging to see people have hope and passion to keep on protecting this special place.  A statement in the press claimed there were approximately 8,500 individual submissions received by the panel.

The loosely regulated gas industry has been causing disruption in the community since 2012 and are well poised to roll out the invasive gas wells across the region in as near as 2020.

Things are now coming to a head.

We now wait with baited breath to see what the results will be.

Here’s hoping that there are advocates for farmers, the environment and water rights amongst the policy makers sitting in office.

One way you can still help influence positive change, is to sign this petition/.

It calls on the government to impose a full ban on fracking to protect all citizens in the State of West Australia from the risks of water contamination, disruption to the local commerce, agriculture and ecology.

Can you help?