A Tale of Colors: Oh life, when did you get so good?

Kangaroo steak, homemade persimmon chutney, lemon butter, home grown grapefruit, mulberries, the Pacific Ocean, scenic nature walks, tree frogs, Skinks, King Parrots, both white and black Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Galahs, Bauer birds (thats 'Builder birds' for you non-German speakers), Wallabies, Kangaroos, Jumping Ants (yes, jumping), killer snakes, pythons, two-foot-wingspan Fruit Bats aka Flying Foxes, wild pigs, wild foxes, a dozen different palm trees, countless beautiful flowers and plants I've never seen before, wild cacti, breath taking views, thickets of bamboo, Silkwood trees aka Thorny Motherfuckers, Lithops aka Living Rocks, meat pies, Bundaberg rum, stunning starry night skies, four-wheel drive trips into town via fire trail, 'Mate', the friendliest people - phew! Let me inhale real quick...

And that's just in the first 5 weeks of being here. I still have 47 weeks to go! Needless to say, things are going pretty damn well. From the work I've been doing, I've gotten cuts, scrapes, blisters and aches, but all of that is effortlessly forgotten in the blink of an eye. I'm at my second temporary home now, third if you count my Aunt and Uncle's place. This one is in Bellingen, a half hour inland from Coffs Harbour, which is a coastal town in the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Bellingen is a beautiful, small, quiet, 'alternative' community, packed with artists, musicians and the like. My hosts, Kevin and Larry, are both great guys. They have generously welcomed me into their very nice, stylistic home. They both do/have traveled a lot, and there are souvenirs and decorations from all over the world. They have a 5 acre property with great eastern views, to see the sunrise every morning. They've got various fruit trees, a veggie garden, large sections of ornamental garden, and peaceful walk paths through the property, which is filled with all sorts of sub-tropical trees. The first three nights I stayed in a yurt about 30 meters from the main house. This the view from the yurt that I woke up to every morning. You can see the pond at the right. The walk paths stretch off to either side of the picture through the trees. I have since moved into the main house, since the other helpers have moved on to another host.

The previous owners of the property had really let it go, so there was tons of yard work to do when K+L moved in 3 years ago, and there still is. I have been doing plenty of yard work, as well as helping out in building a good size extension on their deck. While I was down in 'the rainforest', as they call it, doing yard work, I would take quick breaks and go snag a handful of Mulberries to munch on :) They're sweet, and reminiscent of blackberries, but no quite so full of flavor.

Forgive me, for I have no idea what most of these plants are called.

Larry's tree frogs, 5 total

One of their many travel souvenirs

A whole host of different birds visit this bath every night as the sun starts to set. Sadly, I have only managed to get a picture of a common pigeon.

Here is one of the seven holes I dug and poured with concrete. I also dug the trench for the new rain gutter routing. The deck will extend out to the post at the left, and forwards out to the other hole, you can kind of see to the right of the gutter pipe.

Here you can see the Bauerbird's nest, along with his collection. Each species of Bauerbird collects a different color of junk.

Silkwood, aka Thorny Motherfucker

Lithops, aka Living Rocks.

Today I had the day off, and Kevin dropped me in Coffs to explore for a while. I drifted around the mall and a few of the streets of Coffs, sent a package back to the homeland, then made my way to the beach. There were rocky hills off to the left of the beach, with a paved walk path going up and through them for a kilometer or two down to the next beach. Beaten down, and some not so beaten, dirt footpaths were scattered around off the main paved path. I decided to follow a few, and one ended up leading me to a small deserted peninsula above the ocean....