Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Whilst we’re still cut off by road and rail, at least supplies are getting through. The charted ship from Townsville arrived overnight with 40 sea containers of stock. Supermarket shelves  were being restocked as I was raiding the Chemist’s Darral Lea chocolate stand. Emergency Managment Queensland (who look after disaster management arrangements) have chartered a Qantas 747 full of goodies from Brisbane to arrive in Cairns shortly. Not sure how long the petrol will last though….

Local producers have enjoyed the extra customers.  I should be buying direct from the farmer more often, even if it means going a little out of my way. Things are so much fresher and juicier. Today we bought some dragonfruit and red mangoes for lunch. Everyone’s seen mangoes, so I’ll just show you the luscious dragonfruit:

         

The colours were amazing, even more so when the last of their insides were scooped out:

     

    

    Such hot pinks I’ve never seen in fruit before.

 

We were even given samples of the fruit dried - just like crunchy cotton candy/fairy floss. I’ll be back for more next weekend for sure!

Another surprise was what was in today’s paper - another of my “Python eating a cockatoo”  shots. It seems to go on and on and on….

Here’s the better quality original:

The constant rain is sending us gifts of frogs and tadpoles everywhere. I had a big tub out the back which filled with water last week. This week it is full of tadpoles (not toadpoles thankfully). I’m pretty sure they are green tree frog tadpoles, although accurate tadpole identification is not one of my strong suits. They are happily munching away on lettuce and other goodies now.

Another froggie (2-D) has surfaced this week also. Whilst cleaning out my portfolio, quite a few illustrations from years ago surfaced (for an school educational DVD). When I painted this little guy, I had never seen a real Green Tree Frog, and thought it was unlikely I ever would. Just goes to show you should never say never!

      

I knew it was a bad sign when all the Arnott’s Milk Arrowroot biscuits had sold out from two stores on the weekend.

We are cut off in the Far North up here. Roads and rail are impassable with rivers that have burst their banks. Poor Ingham is still under water (The water peaked at over 12 metres). Even the Internet was cut off in Cairns yesterday due to flooding.

The supermarkets are in dire straits. A ship has been chartered to bring containers of groceries up from Townsville.

This was my local supermarket today.

How lonely does this eggplant / aubergine look?

This was the fresh produce section, but the empty shelves were repeated in almost every aisle.

Most alarming of all was the rapidly thinning chocolate aisle. If it keeps going at this rate, I’ll have to break into and, heaven forbid, share my Secret Stash soon. And to top it all off? There could be a chance of not 1, but 2 more cyclones by the weekend.

Still, there might be a market for scalping chocolate and milk arrowroot biscuits!

Listening to: The Acorn, Flood Pt 1 

“Phasmids” - sounds exotic doesn’t it? It harks back to the Greek word meaning apparition or ghost. Pretty accurate for these critters, commonly known as Stick Insects. These guys can sway in the breeze like a twig, brilliantly disguised so that they are virtually invisible. It’s only when they venture onto man-made territority that they magically appear.

Well, until our move to the Tropics, I never realised they existed in such sizes or quantities. See if you can spot a couple of the smaller ones in the photo below:

                                     

                        Here’s a closer shot:

                                     

                              Then there was Big Mama…

                                 

                    …who happily wandered around my desk…

                            

                                            …over my materials….

                         

         …over my painting (that’s one of her many eggs that she laid)…

                

…making acquaintances along the way.

Time to spread her wings, although she can’t fly with those (which were very impressive when fully spread).

                      

         To finally find a place where she can hang upside down in comfort.

                 

                                A perfect place for me to sketch her!

              Future Phasmids below:

All these guys appeared at our windows in the evening, trying to get inside. I knew our early morning visitor (below) would like a tasty brekkies of Phasmid, so I brought them in for a resort break overnight. All the Eucalyptus they could ”poke a stick at” was supplied.

Poor Kookie waits outside my kitchen window until treats magically appear. She thanked me by shaking off all that water over my face.

This was Jez earlier with another Phasmid friend (from the same house that brought you the enormous Golden Orb Weaver Spider from a couple of posts back - they breed ‘em big in the rainforest).

It’s raining raining raining still. We’re cut off now (at Cardwell), with the rivers bursting their banks and flooding towns like Ingham. Townsville has copped a hammering as well. On the 6 o’clock news tonight they showed a crocodile that had been run over on one of Townsville’s main roads:

Run over croc recovers in Townsville bathroom

A wildlife carer in north Queensland is sharing her bathroom with a 1.6 metre crocodile run over by a car in Townsville early this morning.

Lana Allcroft from North Queensland Wildlife Care says the reptile has a sore eye, some gravel rash and is missing a couple of teeth.

She says the injured croc has not been as snappy as most people would expect.

“We keep a towel over his head to keep the stress level down for him,” she said.

“We had to move him out of the bathroom this morning so we could have a shower and he wasn’t real impressed with that, got a bit feisty.

“Also when we had him in the car bringing him home last night he was a bit upset, but once he’s in a place and his head’s covered he’s fine and he’s nice and calm and quiet.”

The croc will be collected by rangers later today.

Flooding and torrential rain in the north is creating hazards for other wildlife too.

Eleanor Pollock has an injured turtle in her laundry tub.

“He was run over going from one puddle to the other on the side of the road,” she said.

Mrs Pollock says carers are also looking after sodden baby possums separated from their mothers, and tiny birds whose nests have been washed away by the rain.

story courtesy ABC news.

There’s plenty of rain to come yet, and even the return of the cyclone of Thursday.

This was my mountain this morning. Still visible, with low clouds sliding down it’s sides.

The same mountain this evening, obscured by thick curtains of water soaking everything to the core.

The frogs have never been happier!

If you were in Mission Beach in the last 24 hours, you’d be exceedingly damp. Cyclone Ellie dumped over 400mm (that’s 16 inches) in parts of the Tropics up here. Thankfully in Cairns we only got a bit of puff, with just mess, not damage. Children everywhere were bitterly disappointed, with school back on the agenda!

Ellie is now just a Tropical Low, heading west towards Ingham, but there is talk of her reforming. Sounds like a delinquent cyclone!

Lots of new things that are fond of the damp are springing up everywhere. Besides the mushrooms, we have been inundated tonight with not 1, but 3 phasmids trying to get in our windows. The dog has taken to herding them like sheep. Details tomorrow!

For those that read the this post earlier, I’ve added an update below the 2nd image.

I was up through the night, and as the rain and wind was so consistent, I kept checking the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology website radar (love those guys!).

There was a HUGE swirling mass of rainclouds that just kept circling the Cairns region. It never seemed to move offshore/inshore, just around and around. I checked at 2am, 4am, 5am and throughout the early morning (I’m a weather obessive!). It was described as a “vigourous monsoonal tough with a tropical low”. Then right before my eyes, it changed from a low into Cylone Ellie just before 10am.

Images courtesy of the Australian Government Bureau Meterology website.

Looks like she’ll be here soon…

Never a dull moment up here in the VERY wet Tropics!

EVENING UPDATE:

Throughout the day the rain has been falling steadily, but not heavily - yet they are big fat drops that soak you through. It has been so dark today - like Twilight all day. BIG low clouds are forming a dense covering of the sky, obscuring mountains and even the normally very visible plane take offs and landings.

Around 6pm this evening we went to see what the winds had brought down so far. It’s sure going to be one helluva mess tomorrow if today was any indication.

All through the day cyclone warnings have been issued hourly on the telly. Quite a novelty for us first timers:

And with all the water comes the green tree frog that loves the heavy rain. At least this little guy isn’t waiting in ambush in the toilet bowl!

Can you guess what this is?

Clue: it’s in a bucket as it’s not too friendly. And it can kill you.

Yes, it’s a Northern Death Adder for those of you that know your snakes. Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, but as I put my camera (and hand!) into the bucket, it showed me an unhappy glare of it’s eye (that black dot in the middle) and I went a bit wobbly.

Happily sunning himself in a spot with lots of people was not a good situation for anyone, so the Relocation Bucket was called in to assist with a move to a less populated area.

Continuing with the reptilian theme, the cheeky (but lazy) Lace Monitor half heartedly climbed a gum when it saw me. It is easily my height from snout to tail tip, but is a scaredy cat at heart. I walked right up to him, and he flattened his face against the trunk as if to say “I’m invisible now, so you’ll forget you ever saw me and go away”.

He has his lovely new skin now, after leaving shreds and tatters of the old one everywhere. I’ve kept some of it ( think Goldmember peeling his skin in Austin Powers - “That’s a keeper!”), and it’s just like pieces of elastic bubblewrap.

Anyway, enough of the Animal Antics for a while (even though I have so many more photos and tales of them!). New subject matter for tomorrow!

As mentioned in my previous post, Australia Day was spent deep in the Rainforest, in the shadow of beautiful Red Peak Mountain. Our gorgeous hosts Sylvia and Pete host an all-out BBQ brekkie on the deck of their rainforest home, overlooking the crystal clear Stony Creek. With toes dipped in the gurgling waters, you imagine you are lost in the wilderness, far far from anywhere civilised.

The whole rainforest feels old, and you almost want to whisper your conversations.

 

It was such a simple pleasure, sitting atop a rock, letting feet drift in the cool current.

Curious visitors attracted by the intrusion of feet appeared. See how many you can spot in the next photo.

These are Flag Tailed Grunters, apparently quite a pugnacious fish. They were perfectly genteel on this occasion.

 Even Jez (who’s not a fan of fish near his feet) felt relaxed in the “pirahna” infested waters.

I really loved the tangledness of everything. Roots and branches everywhere seemed entwined with each other.

Although with rainforest comes the inhabitants. You may have heard the story in the media recently of the Golden Orb Spider than caught a bird in it’s web and devoured it up here. Our hosts have one happily living next to their back deck.

Pete (in respendent Green & Gold), stands in front of his friend. If he stood behind it, it would easily be the size of his face.

Sorry for the blurriness of this photo - I wasn’t too keen to get really close. You will notice the LONG red fangs, and the beautiful golden colour of it’s web.

As I type this a gentle rain is falling. Not the pounding, drenching monsoon rain, but something soft and sleep inducing. I hope all of you in the south are faring well in the heat wave. 45.7C in Adelaide today. That’s 114F+. Think cool thoughts everyone.

Some of you may remember last Wet Season we had an alarming visitor to our new home in the Tropics (details over at the “old Blog”). He would arrive stealthily in the dead of night, when at your most vulnerable with your ”delicate” bits exposed.

Well, he’s back, and once again I leapt when I turned on the light, ”just in case”, before I sat down.

Yes, the Green Tree/Toilet Frog hath returned.

I didn’t want to startle him (like he did me!) by using the camera flash in the above shot. But when waving my arms and threatening him with a big spoon didn’t phase him, I did try the flash.

Still didn’t budge.

Memories of our last adventure together were not fond. I didn’t check beforehand, and so when I flushed, there he was, hanging on grimly as the whirlpool tried to suck him off the loo wall.

But back to my current dilema. By now the “situation” was getting rather desperate. I didn’t fancy an unlady like squat in the garden, so went off to get the big spoon to scoop him out. By the time I returned, he’d scarpered up the S bend.

I’m sure it won’t be the last I see of him….

The next bit is in response to the lovely Tazar, purveyor of Fine Fish Ear Bones (thanks!) and Thrilling Tabloids.

Australia Day must invoke some strange feline behaviour.

Last night this from the Cat-that-barely-tolerates-canines:

Wot the???

That’s Jez’s feet, oblivious to the newest Dog Groomer in town.

And yes, that is the better part of the dog’s lower back sopping wet with cat saliva.

This went on for a loooong time, with the cat’s eyes closed in bliss, and the dog not unhappy with it either.

Ewwww.

I hope everyone’s Australia Day was a happy one. It was lovely for us, spent in a rainforest house for a sumptuous brekkie, and afterwards our feet in the crystal clear creek below. Photos tomorrow.

Officially.

Today it was announced that the Type 3 Dengue Fever has now reached epidemic proportions in Cairns, with over 160 cases reported. The worst outbreak since before WWII. This mosquito-borne disease has put people in hospital and can even be fatal.

Fantastic. Yet another thing that can kill you here in this Tropical Paradise. And wouldn’t you know it, our suburb has been named as one of the Hot Spots.

Loads more rain in the past 24 hours. Enough to erode away a rather large puddle straight outside my studio door. A Cane Toad has taken up residence in it and is refusing to budge.

 

The puddle was caused by a hole in the guttering. Upon closer inspection, this is what I discovered:

Amethystine Python’s change room. The other half of the shed skin was stuck in the downpipe.

Just delightful.

The power of water is unimaginable and unstoppable.

Even though cyclone Charlotte never quite reached us here in Cairns, her far reaching effects were certainly felt.

The beaches were hit really hard, with the beach itself pretty much dragged away. Where once there was wide expanses of  golden sand, there are now steep drops and exposed roots. Below is my own beach, Clifton, that I visited on my way to the Post Office this arvo.

“Just a few shots” I said to myself as I stood at the water’s edge. BUT,  whilst taking this photo, a big wave washed over me, my handbag and my dress. Drowned rats have looked more elegant. However, the water was bubblebath warm, so it wasn’t unpleasant, until I remembered the irukandji about….

A quick trip back home, and a change into another dress, handbag and out the door again BUT the Spray truck got me! Wet again in the space of 10 mins.

With the overflow of Dead Man’s Gully, huge deposits of mud and silt clog our gutters and street. The Vacuum Truck tried this morning in vain to take it away:

After 40 mins of sucking and blowing clouds of dust, it was time for the reinforcements:

 

Filling the tank from the neighbour’s lawn manhole.

Then it’s time to play with a gigantic waterpistol!

He spent a lot of time on our section of driveway, and about 1.5 hours just in our end of the street.

He even gave our driveway the “extra cannons”, which squirt out sideways.

He was a lovely fellow and thoroughly deserved ” Tradie’s Afternoon Tea” (Beer). He diligently said he’d drink it after work though!

I finally made it to the Post Office, sans sea water, beachsand, tank water and mud.

Upon my return I saw that the Vacuum truck had returned, and this time managed to make beautifully swirly patterns in our gutter mud. At least it’s only 4 inches thick now…

And for details of the final withdrawal, we took a look at Trinity Beach this afternoon. It was very heavily damaged by the king tides, with the concrete foundations for not only the swimming nets, but the Life Savers Hut, being washed away. They managed to salvage the Hut with a quick thinking crane operator.

The steps end very abruptly now.

Where the Life Savers hut and the swimming net reels used to be.

The boys, with Yorkey’s Knob in the background on the left. Delightful name for a suburb don’t you think?