Spitfire sawfly larvae moving en-masse along the road on a cool autumn morning.

“Will you walk into my parlour?” said a spider to a fly …”

We’ve had above average rain since the end of the 2019 drought such that the soil is quite saturated. Thanks to La Niña the lower than average summer temperatures weren’t enough to dry the ground up very much so we’ve seen a handful of trees just fall over. Their root systems weren’t stable enough in the weaker soil to support the trees weight/height.

This bee hive would have been about 15 metres (50 feet) above ground level before the tree fell over (and no doubt gave the bees a good bump when it landed).

A cold start to winter with hoar frost growing on dead grass stalk.

The Golden Hour is a special time for photographers. An otherwise potentially-bland scene can become much more vibrant. This is a #shotOniPhone image taken on my morning walk with the dogs.

A casualty of the drought that we suffered in 2018/2019. While this tree didn’t survive many of its neighbours did.

Tens of Dipodium sp. orchids are, or have been, in flower around the property in the past few weeks.

The old swamp wallaby who lives around the property went to the back of the house to sample the green grass next to the water tanks. Fearless as always.

Update: I’m told that there are ruins to be seen – they’re on private property and not visible from the road.

Armed with a GPSr I located the Kookabookra Cemetery and found a lone gravestone. Presumably other grave markers were made of wood and have long since rotted away.

Ellen Meehan (née Pearce) died on June 16, 1898 as a result of “inflammation of the lungs”. She was 33 years old and had already had 9 children.

Death at Kookabookra.—Mrs.
Meehan, wife of Mr. R. Meehan, of
this township, died on Wednesday
last (15th inst.) about midnight from
inflammation of the lungs, and was in-
terred in the local cemetery on Friday
(17th.) The deceased lady was uni-
versally respected, and it is computed
that over 80 persons assembled to
husband and nine small children are
left behind to mourn an irreparable
loss. Mr. Boyne read the Catholic
service over the grave.

The above text appeared in “The Armidale Chronicle”, June 22, 1898.

Our property is not all undulating grass- and woodland. It transforms to become a mini-gorge with a small creek flowing through it. There’s hardly any flow in the creek at the moment given the drought of the past few years.