Spring

We've been enjoying spring weather for pretty much the past six weeks and while the warm to even hot temperatures have been very pleasant, we haven't had any rain for six weeks. The ground is dry and the grass is starting to die off in patches. Baxter and Dexter are now starting to lose a bit of condition so we might need to buy in a big round 'bale' of rye grass to supplement their already supplemented diet of grass and lucerne. Although we are supposed to get a bit of rain this week, it is normally not until October with the start of thunder storm season, that we start getting enough rain to kick start the grass.
Lots of plants are out in flower at the moment. Our rock orchids in the jacaranda trees are splendid in pink and mauves, while all our citrus are covered in creamy white flowers and the air around them is sweet with their fragrance. In the gardens, there are the mauves and reds and creams and oranges of grevillea and bottlebrush, and our purple flowering mint bush is covered in beautiful purple flowers. Splashes of brilliant, deep reds and purples and yellows betray the bromeliads flowering in their pots beneath one of the mango trees. Both of which are also in flower.
We haven't yet heard or seen the visitors from PNG, the channel billed cuckoo or the koel cuckoo, but no doubt we shall soon. Nor have I seen any dollar birds, another of the migrants from the north. But, the fairy martins have successfully reared another couple of babies, which have begun taking their first flights from the mud nest, carefully built underneath the eaves alongside our middle deck. The young birds can often be seen resting on the floor of the deck, something the parents never do.
I've seen a few dead snakes on the Rock Valley Road, a brown and a couple of green tree snakes, but haven't yet seen a snake on our place. We saw a goanna a few weeks ago, but no snakes as yet.