For the last three years, each November I have noted in my Gould League Banksias and Bilbies Seasons of Australia diary (a wonderful book, now sadly out of print) that a solo White-necked Heron has visited my little dam. This year it didn’t come in November. But in the first week of December, there it was. This [...]
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Much of this winter has been spent at the computer, writing more book talks. It’s cosy inside my cabin, with the slow combustion wood heater going all the time but fully banked down, as once the mud brick walls have heated up, they hold the warmth. No heat transfer at all. But I am also [...]
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After all the initial rushing about and media interviews for the new book — ongoing and more to come — I was glad to have a few relatively peaceful days at home with my fellow inhabitants. As I am still without 240v power until my solar system’s inverter is fixed, I am to-ing and fro-ing [...]
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Down here in my skybowl I have had isolated visits from birds I don’t usually see – just dropping in for a peek at how we poor groundhuggers live. But I have never had a Wedge-tailed Eagle come calling at the house. Last week this one flew into my yard and landed in a very [...]
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In November two years ago I’d been astonished to see a single White-necked Heron in my small dam down the front. A week ago I was delighted to see one (it?) again on the bank of that dam. I did a double-take at the flash of white through the netting of the fence. Grabbing the [...]
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Q. Could you get anything more iconically Australian than a kookaburra in a gum tree? A. Three kookaburras in a gum tree. These three attracted my attention with their chorus, and held it by remaining together for some time there, silently watching, turning this way and that. They were also showing me their full plumage, [...]
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Must be spring; the swallows are back. Several are squeaking and doing aerobatics out there in the yard’s airspace, but two have claimed that of the verandah. They’re doing low flying runs from one end to the other, looping out over the lattice gate or though the still un-vine-screened ‘windows.’ Over my computer I watch [...]
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The last days of July have been warm and calm. With a month of winter yet to come, it feels like Spring. The ground is still very damp, but the locals don’t seem to mind. This wallaby mum lazed in the sun for hours until the treeline shade caught up with her, while her joey [...]
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I was thrilled as the lone White-headed Pigeon became three; and then five. And some kept revisiting, to peck/sip the water from the concave top of my cabin water tank. But this week, the number of tapping pecks and the flurries of wings seemed more than even five could make. I looked out through the [...]
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Kids on boring car trips used to play a game of looking out for a designated and usually uncommon item — like a purple car, or a Palomino horse — and ‘Spotto!’ you’d yell if you spotted one. If you read my excited posts about my several sightings of a lone White-headed Pigeon, you can [...]
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A few weeks after I had discovered the solitary White-headed Pigeon sipping — or pecking at — water on top of my tank, I heard the odd tapping again. It took a few moments for the sound to penetrate my early morning daze and register as unusual. I only had to look past the kettle, [...]
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A day that began like this could have rested on its laurels, but it went on to offer me a range of unexpected treats. With my current intense writing regime, I only look outside when I am distracted by an odd sound or peripheral sight. This day I heard a thump, and then rustlings from [...]
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Here's the cover of my new book — Rich Land, Wasteland — How coal is killing Australia — which is now in bookshops.
A candid meander through my life up here on my remote mountain wildlife refuge, answering the oft-asked question 'Why do you live way out there?'
Stories about the wild things who allow me to share their living space — and a plea to look after them before it's too late.
