Southern Cross Creations
An Australian Woman's Journal
about life in remote, rural
Far North Queensland
27 January 2003
We got 75mm rain over the last two days in steady, gentle rain that caused no
run-off or erosion. What a blessing! 
We're
seeing caterpillars and flowers. The sound of a running creek is heavenly.
Australia is a land of fire and flood. More than 350 homes have been lost in recent bushfires in the A.C.T., the nation's capital. Fires continue to burn in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Drought conditions have worsened the fire hazards.
I belong to an online spinners and weavers list for Australia and New Zealand.and the effects of ACT fires were brought home to me by hearing of two Guild members losing their homes, including a Swedish damask loom. We squeeked through our region's fire season with no fires very near, but lots of smoke for days on end. The recent rain is good protection now.
Jerry and I finally got our own craft page up, featuring our handspun, handwoven, handprinted goodies.
20 January 2003
Capricorn Party last weekend! We helped prepare food and ferry guests to the
party upriver. I wonder how many kebabs I helped Sheilah skewer? Before dark,
guests sussed out flat places for their tents. At dusk Jerry threw the prepared
kebabs on the barbie, in front of a hungry crowd who didn't mind that the flames
were a little high. Luckily the bamboo skewers didn't all catch on fire....
Newcomers from Sydney won our admiration for their courage and spontaneity,
having left Sydney that morning and finding their way to Camp Kilojoule for
the first time ever. Old friends caught up on what's new. Weather stayed mild
with only the faintest hint of mist. By 9 p.m. live music drew enthusiastic
dancers to the gym where musicians alternately crooned into the mikes or growled
and complained as Bear played and prodded the new sound system. Like the hungry
crowd mentioned earlier, the audience was ready and eager for music. Children
romped and fell into fits of giggles as they headed for the lounge to select
and watch a DVD. Jerry and I eventually slipped away and headed home. The music
played on and party ran 'til dawn.
Besides party-time, we ran into unexpected chores. Jerry headed out bright and early to repair the front fence which got knocked down by an old dead tree falling over. The dog loves these interruptions to our routine.
Jerry mastered the good trick of tying two lengths of barbwire together with
a knot! Fencing magic!
7 January 2003
I trust you forgive my lapse in writing these past weeks as we've been immersed
in Christmas, New Year's, our wedding anniversary and a heap of birthdays, ie,
party-time! Perhaps too immersed, I woke up on January 1 feeling a bit under
the weather. Not the ideal way to start the year. A bit of rest and recovery
are in order.
Redbird
hosted this year's Christmas get-together in Cairns. We took dips in the salt
water pool to keep cool yet protected from the sun by the shade of a temporary
tarp overhead. Everyone brought plates of food, what a feast: homegrown and
roasted turkey and duck, salads galore, cheese balls, eggnog and plum pudding
with brandy sauce. The dog found the last half of the unguarded plum pudding
as well as the dish of brandy sauce and left only tongue prints on empty bowls.
Evenings are so warm, we keep our
home wide open to catch any breeze as we eat dinner and relax. The light attracts
flying ants if there's been a recent rain. Thousands of flying ants. A frenzy
of flying ants. A geckoe's feast of flying ants. We turn off the light and use
a single candle. Now a pile of singed flying ants grows around the candle. Best
to give up and go to bed.
On
a recent evening a new insect came to our light. The new visitor was the size
of a big hawk moth and had the same configuration. But his transparent wings
are unusual and his fluffy yellow tail quite handsome. Jerry photographed him
before capture and release, then closed the doors to discourage a return visit
to the light.
After no luck on searching through our reference book on native fauna, Jerry did an internet search and discovered it was a bee hawk, Cephanodes picus, a relative of the hawk moths. Isn't he gorgeous?
