Where are we?

Is this a colder than usual winter? I don’t recall feeling so cold before, admittedly we’re in a caravan away from our cozy Southbank pad. I just realised that we haven’t had an entire winter in Victoria since 2014 but we have had a couple of months in both polar regions where temperatures are colder than we’ve been having. Go figure - maybe I’m getting old. Well I am so thank goodness!

When I lasted posted to this blog we were geared up ready for high adventure across Australia but that’s not looking promising. We got away just in time it seems (depends how you look at it), we headed off when the first hotspot lockdown hit. Our plan was to catch up with family in Victoria first as we had a fair bit of time before we were due in Lightning Ridge for the fossil dig - so we headed for Gippsland. And here we remain but it could be worse.  If we could have predicted the current explosion of stupidity, restrictions and scare, we would have headed out of the State straight from home - but then so would many of you I imagine. We’re in Warragul and there’s lots to see so we are making the best of things. 

Our caravan backs into a stream and a reserve with lots of interesting things to discover. 

Like this wee fruit tree (plum?) growing out from the base of a towering eucalyptus. The reserve has a plantation of mountain ash and grey gum and a number of other species. Every night a huge flock of little corellas fly in and roost in the trees right behind us; we think they are responsible for the little fruit tree.  We love the sound of them waking in the morning grumbling and chattering before they take off for the day. At night you can imagine them sharing news of the day - as well as squabbling over who gets which spot. 

The floor of the reserve is littered with discarded leaf and bark. Lift a corner and you find a power house of activity underneath breaking down the litter into essential nutrients for other organisms. That's what this beautiful white patterning is - mycelium of a fungus  Quite fascinating. 

And on the tail end of autumn glorious leaves discarded  like scraps of coloured paper tossed to the wind. I love seeing the once life-giving scaffolding. 

We are in freshwater crayfish territory and our reserve is no different with huge clusters of mud chimneys marking the burrows of what could be the Gippsland Burrowing crayfish, or some other species.