Cape York paradise at Portland Roads
Rainbow at Portland Roads
Very cold today – had to put a long-sleeved shirt on when it got down to 25 degrees! Also rained most of the day and when it didn’t we had a beautiful rainbow.
I had 3 young men from Weipa staying (trying to fish but unable to stay out long in their boat because of the wind and waves)
They came back disappointed, and sat in the warm water of the bay, drinking and looking out at the rain
Boys from Weipa sitting in the rain
The latest guests (Sharna and co from Weipa) left today, so it was washing, cleaning and bedmaking work for the morning. Sharna had washed the dishes which was great and Boomer helped me wash the deck. I hosed the deck down then gave it a scrubbing with a stiff broom – Boomer thought this was a fantastic game – he reduced me to tears of helpless laughter several times with his frenzies of absolute joy.
I have been watching, for a couple of mornings, some little sunbirds build a nest on the clothes line just outside the toilet.
About day 3 of the build (3rd Nov)
Alan has said it is sunbird’s nest but I’m not sure which brand of sunbird. The two little birds do not look like Yellow-bellied Sunbirds which are gloriously yellow and quite common in the garden. I took a photo today and intend taking one each morning til they have finished. It is fascinating to watch how quickly they build this nest.
They also will land on the clothesline, then swing backwards, upside down and open their wings and flutter them briefly – most amusing to watch.
I’ll probably do a slideshow when the nest is finished.
Mid afternoon I drove into Lockhart to get some fresh vegies – on the way home a huge smoky grey palm cockatoo swooped down ahead of me and almost level with the height of the top of the OKA. I watched for a short time then screeched to a halt, jumped out of the vehicle to try and see more of him; but he had disappeared. He was huge (they grow to between 55–60 cm in length)
The batteries were a bit low so after dinner I went up to the top generator to charge the batteries.
tiny bit of tiny python at top left corner
I was nearly at the gen shed when I gave a very ladylike yelp and levitated for a few seconds. I nearly trod on an extremely beautiful carpet python (Morelia spilota I think). It was only about 40 cms long and not much thicker than my middle finger. I sternly sent Boomer back to the house (he of course wanted to see what I wasn’t letting him see), then I followed him back to get the camera and get a photo. It was very pretty and just ambling along (the snake not the camera). Anyway I got back with the camera, turned my torch off and took several photos. None of them came out well.