Catching
up - From New Years to Easter 2006 |
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 Aren't they gorgeous |
 Little Princess and Spiderman |
 Brendan is a champion first grade reader, Emily is four & loves ballet |
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Hiking midsummer..
And just after heavy rain |
These buggers really hurt when they bite ! We had the misfortune of parking our tent a metre away from their nest and then went to the river for a bath. Meanwhile the heavens had been turning nasty with flashes in the distance followed by a rumbling down our valley. In or out? The tent, surrounded by trees, seemed a more likely target. Plus it was so very hot & already raining, so in the river seemed a good place to watch the upcoming storm. And it was, for the first hour. But by then we were very cold and tired of cuddling in the shallows while buckets rained down and big bolts kept hitting the surrounding hilltops. That's when one of those bolts sent a zap through the river that raced thru me, jumped to Jude making our muscles twitch. |
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| So we bolted, stark naked,
and ran, wet clothes in hand, over the sand and onto the grasses of
the flats, jumping over a log & up a slope, unzipped both screens
and slithered onto the bare rubber floor, sliding together. No longer
being pelted, but in a hell of a din, and that's when those little
red devils found us. Seems Jack had trod on their nest when making
the dash. Very soon, and then very persistently their scouts tracked
up and down our side nets. And by using great eyesight or some perception
they vigoursly reared up to attack if any part of our body got close. As the rain continued into the night, we stayed put and got comfortable after drying what we could and making up our beds. But it was while we slept that these devils attacked. An arm casually laid against the mesh soon brought agony that lasted days. |
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  The morning after getting zapped and bitten - and yes, we've moved the tent.. |
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 The view as you drive off the ferry, |
 Mad Professor Dave, a 100% practical nerd |
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 Jase attaching the stays |
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The young Swamp Bloodwood near our drive coming into flower
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| Please meet our friend LaVonne from San Franciso via
Antartica after her stint at McMurdo. We met Lavonne in Hawaii nearly thirty years ago when she and her man were also travelling on a yacht. |
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 This is Mark, another timber lover |
 We were picking up a beautiful lump of timber destined to be a 3.3m long desk and stayed for tea and stories |
 Mark's into everything |
 He lives on top a ridge, ex dairy land that he planted with trees about 25 years ago. |
