Looking out of my eastern window, I was struck by how perfectly the colours of the fur of the Eastern Red-necked Wallaby match those of the local rocks, here laid as a tank base. They really belong. Not three metres away I spotted an echidna; not so camouflaged in my yard, but good to see [...]
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I’m loving being home for a spell, especially as the weather is so beautifully verging on Autumn. Here it’s green and fresh and clear and the wallabies and I are fully appreciating it! All the ‘garden’ trees, like the Chinese Tallow Tree, look happy. For some reason the Lemon Ti-Tree is only flowering on one of [...]
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Some mornings when we have been inside a cloud, as it rises it leaves us lightly damp and not yet sunlit, but the valleys below me are bright. I imagine the wallaby inhabitants down there looking up to see the cloud cap lifting off my mountain. I can also imagine that my tree-rimmed clearing is [...]
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In any given day here I can be offered small moments of splendour or surprise. One day last week I had three. It began with a shining morning, where the low early sun set the leaves on trees and shrubs and even the bracken ferns to sparkle and dazzle. A solitary wallaby sat amongst the [...]
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At present there are lots of wallaby joeys old enough to be out and about on their own. They’ve grown past the long-legged spindly stage into one of equally cute chubbiness, and are less nervy and jack-in-the-box bouncy than their toddler siblings. One sunny morning when the valley below was still filled with mist, there seemed [...]
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There seemed to be too many ears in the lolling wallaby silhouette I could see from the verandah. I couldn’t work it out, so I walked closer. Then I could see that it was two adults cuddled together and a joey in the pouch of one. Of course I went back for the camera. Coming [...]
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We all know how mothers have to be on the ball to keep an eye on the young. This was borne home to me afresh by my wallaby mates lately. After days of dreary chilly rain, the sun came out. The only wallabies that seemed even half-awake were the mums with toddlers. This one had [...]
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A wet, wet week — again! But as the rain eased, there were compensations, like the lowest rainbow I have ever seen. This was taken through my window, facing east, and the rainbow ended on my track, right where the gatepost used to be. No pot of gold appeared, but it was a treat to [...]
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With the rain holding off and a thin warmth coming through the uniformly grey cloud cover, my share tenants were making the most of it. The gypsy camper had its usual coterie of lollers and lazers, even though they hardly needed its shade this day. Habit, I suppose, or fear another might claim their spot if [...]
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The steps to my verandah gate also lead to a dry patch on the top step. This has been claimed by a wallaby who sits there and surveys the soggy world. Only when I appear does she skid off, leaving tail and claw marks and several fat leeches. Yesterday, as I approached the gate, I [...]
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My house yard fence, so painstakingly erected and heightened over the last 17 years, is slowly being dismantled. No easy task, as the tussocks have grown through the netting, but my helper is so much stronger than I am. As the four gates have been open to the wallabies and roos for nearly two years, [...]
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I have now completed a lattice gate to prevent the wallabies from coming onto the verandah and eating the plants from there. A few do still come up the steps and nibble what they can reach from there, so the summer vine cover is not as advanced as it should be. This one couldn’t [...]
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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.
