It seems to be my time for seeing unpleasant beasties at the moment. First there was the gigantic brown snake a couple of weeks ago and now this worryingly large spider was in one of the loos at our local swimming pool. I am telling myself it must have been a Huntsman (huge but harmless) and not a Funnel Web (deadly). Funnel Web spiders are attracted to swimming pools but on the plus side, you don't hear much talk about verrucas in Australia. I suppose this must be because most pools are outdoor and not the breeding ground for germs an indoor pool can be so - Funnel Webs or verrucas, I'm not sure which I would prefer! 

We are back to swimming most days now as the weather is nice and warm. Some sturdy folk swim all year round but although we were full of resolve to do this, we discovered that we are fair weather swimmers and chickened out during the winter even though the pool is heated.

Hibiscus

 Just to make you feel better about our lovely, warm climate I have included a couple of pictures of a walk we attended last weekend in support of the Greens who are trying to raise awareness about a local area of wetlands the council is selling off to developers little by little.  Although it was bucketing down the day was really well attended and began with various speakers telling us about the area and its flora and fauna then we all sploshed off through the woods with guides to look at the birds and try to spot koalas. It was quite interesting seeing the place in the wet walking along to the sound of frogs instead of the usual buzzing insects. The day was rounded off with the traditional sausage sizzle and everyone had a good time. 

Flannel flower

Pigface

We had half expected the event to be called off but when you live in a warm climate you learn very quickly to view rain as your friend, not only from a life sustaining resource point of view but you also know that if you get wet you are unlikely to be cold and wet and the chances are you will be dry again pretty soon. I asked Ian recently what he liked most about Australia and he said, "not having to completely dry yourself when you come out of the shower," it's the same principle really. 

Iris

Kangaroo paw

The other reason I enjoy a bit of rain these days is because I am a gardener and the garden is starting to take shape. It is no longer just a grassy slope and the things I have planted over the last 18 months are beginning to look established.

Bromeliad

 It is a strange experience having to re-learn everything I thought I knew about gardening. As you can see I am gardening on sand so most of my time is spent finding ways to get some sort of moisture retention going on. And then the plants themselves are mostly unfamiliar, even when I find one I recognise it often goes under a different name here, for example the Amaryllis in the picture would be called a Hippeastrum here. So I watch Gardening Australia avidly each week and go to the monthly talks at the local hardware store. I am having some success as I hope can be seen from the pictures. 

Hibiscus

Amaryllis