Mystery Insect Identified

We survived the night with our strange insect and woke up to discover we have some very smart friends! Ronald, Jeff and Janet all told us the mystery furry cocoon with the alien guest is a BAGWORM, a caterpillar that will grow into a type of MOTH, known as Metura elongatus (see photo above and video below). Elongatus is right! Our caterpillar seems to be about twice the average size -- the moth is gonna be HUGE!

Janet has memories of seeing this moth in childhood schools in tropical Australia. So those of you who thought it was an alien, was too gross to look at, wondered if it came with batteries, and threatened to remove us as Facebook friends and not come for a visit, can now rest assured it will at least morph into something less ugly than it is now. Sort of like Ugly Betty. Maybe that's what we will name it.

Ronald sent a link that gives more details from someone else who is waiting for their moth to emerge: http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_moths/LargeBagworm.htm

We have decided we're going to "cage" our critter and watch it morph into the moth stage. Sorry, there will be more details forthcoming (unless for some reason it doesn't survive its captivity).

INTERNET FACTS

Large Bagworms actually are case moth caterpillars. The caterpillar lives in a case made of silk and plants materials. The adults are known as Saunders' Case Moths. A Large Bagworm is a large caterpillar, 10mm in cross diameter (NOTE: ours is more richly endowed, 2-3 mm!) It's body is orange-brown in colour with a black-eyes pattern on its thorax. The case moths pupate within their case. They hang their bag by the front to a twig and secure with silk.

Real Life is Stranger than Fiction! What the Hell is this?

I went down to help get the generator started and saw this writhing thing on the ground. I think it fell from a tree, so I eventually tied it up to a plant on our veranda so I could watch it more closely. So far, no one know what it is, nor have they seen one before. ANY IDEAS?? PLEASE SEND YOUR IDEAS. I will let you know if it changes. I am keeping all screen doors tightly closed for awhile.


I put it on a sheet and placed a close pin next to it for size reference.
Look at it's claws!

It keeps trying to come out of this coccon.




Then it climbs back inside.

Weekend in Brisbane

Di (Susan's best friend) celebrated her 40th birthday last Friday, so Susan and I made a weekend out of going to Brisbane. We stayed in a hotel that has a Korean bath house, very similar to the one in Lakewood, Washington, and yes, we did take advantage of it. It was heaven to soak in the tubs. We walked the city, took the water taxi and went to the Planetarium. Brisbane is a beautiful city, there are many small mammals (possums that are actually cute!) and tons of birds in the city. Most of the mammals are in the residential areas. If you look at the photos of Brisbane you will notice it looks like a city growing out of the middle of a jungle. There are trees everywhere. The Brisbane River runs through the city.

This photo is taken just to the right of the one above.

Mangroves grow within the city on the edges of the Brisbane River.

The city transportation is a combination of bus, train, and water transport. Traveling on the the Brisbane River through town via the “City Cat” is a wonderful way to get to where you want to go. The City Cat is a catamaran taxi that makes frequent stops on the river front. It runs from downtown, to the urban housing areas. Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia could certainly learn a lot from this system. (They are passenger-only taxis).

Brisbane River

City Cat on the river.

Melonie on the City Cat
Brisbane has a beach within the city too. As you can see from the photos, there are man-made sandy beaches (four different pool/beach areas) complete with lifeguards. This is built along the rivers edge, is used by many people and it is free! It was still open when we walked by it late in the evening. VERY cool!
The planetarium was great, a reminder to me of how tiny, tiny and insignificant we really are in the grand cosmos. Makes me think about “Horton hear a Who”. Is planet earth a similar speck of dust?

I am looking forward to exploring more of the city this next year. Oh! There is one intersection in downtown that is very odd. When the “walk” light comes on, people cross the street diagonally. I will video tape it next time. (I guess I am easily humored these days).
Susan and Melonie on top of Mount Coot-tha

IN the past nearly every city block had a similar pub located on the corner. This one was next to our hotel.

These ibis birds are not native, but are all over this part of the country. This one is downtown next to some outdoor restaurants.

Things that Make a Racket in the Night

Flying Fox images from the internet


In the evenings, we hear a lot of flapping of large wings and noises in the bloodwood eucalytpus trees nearby our veranda. The trees have been in full flowering. We discovered the noise and flapping is coming from flying foxes, a type of very large, fruit-eating bat.

The other creatures making noise on the roof are the goannas. These are large lizards and we have two of them living in our roof (and shitting on our railings!). The smallest one is about two feet long. I am not sure how they live with the snake, but they must have made a deal for their own territory. The goannas movement sounds a lot like the snake on the metal roof, except you can clearly hear the scratching of their long toenails (claws?).

Goanna peaking from the post he uses to climb up and down from the roof.

Goanna climbing back up to the roof. This one is about a meter (3 feet!) long. Check out those claws!

Woodstock Clean Up Day

Ready to work -- Tony, Frank, Melonie and Susan. (Carolyn was taking the photo!)

Tony, Frank and Susan at work!

Every couple of weeks in the summer it's time to mow and trim the grounds at Woodstock. The job typically takes two people two days, involving lots and lots of weed-wacking -- called "whipper-snippering" or "brushcutting" here.

HOWEVER, lucky for us, three wonderful friends routinely volunteer to come over for a work party in exchange for a good BBQ. Tony, Frank and Carolyn live on the Gold Coast and bring their whipper-snippers and work gloves.

Today was an extra-special day as we got to christen Woody’s brand new, self-propelled lawn mower! It was an exciting event out here in the bush! A lot of the land is on a slope, so this new piece of equipment made it a breeze. Well, what really made it a breeze was Tony mowing the lawn! The rest of us trimmed, brush cut, pruned trees and drank beer. The place looks fabulous again.

One downside to working in the grass and brush in this kind of jungle humidity are the leeches. Everyone but me and Susan got a leech or two on them today. I am including several photos of the leeches on Carolyn’s toe. She usually pours salt on her’s and they just drop off.

Speaking of salt, the BBQ was delicious! Savory, to say the very least. Susan put on steaks and veggie patties, potatoes and green onion and made a big salad (see photo below!). I made a “bush” version of a banana cream pie. We didn't have some of the ingredients, like vanilla, so I substituted with rum and made a no-bake crust out of what ever “biscuits” (cookies) I could find, which happened to be ginger snaps. I was able to use up many of our ripe bananas and we had a tasty dessert as well.

Fixing the Woodstock gate.

Frank, Tony, Carolyn and Susan at the creek cooling their feet after a good day of hard work.

Carolyn, Susan and Melonie resting at the creek.


Carolyn in fine form with a leech attached to her toe.


A closer look at the leech.


BBQ food. Yummy!

Driving mantra...”stay left, stay left, stay left......”

As I pull out with Woody’s car on my first solo auto adventure to the local market (about 15 minutes away), I repeat to myself, “stay left, stay left, stay left”. After awhile I find I feel comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road, even passing cars going the other direction. I make the first major turn off the country road on my way to Chillingham, and repeat again, “stay left” and find that I am able to stay on the left-hand side of the road while making the right-hand turn without too much effort. I make it to Chillingham feeling like I have just accomplished a major acclimation to the Land of Oz. I am independent in a car! Last time I felt this way I was 18 years old getting my Washington state driver’s license. I go into the market and buy the veges for our cold tomato soup for dinner. I easily negotiate the financial transaction and cannot wait to get home to get our meal started. I get into the car and start to drive, only to notice that something does not feel right -- why is the shoulder of the road just outside my door? In a flash it hits me. Holy shit! What am I doing??? I’m driving on auto pilot on the right side of the road, which is the wrong side of the road when your steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car! STAY LEFT!!!!! STAY LEFT!!!! (OK, Susan, you can make me the “stay left” sign for inside the car.)  

Anyone reading this who talks to Woody, PLEASE don't talk about this part of the blog.  :) thanks

How can you wake up in a bad mood when...

How can you wake up in a bad mood when the sounds that wake you up are the calls of the Laughing Kookaburra? At the first hint of daylight, before the sunrise, they begin their calls. I find myself laughing out loud in bed when I hear them when I should still be fast asleep. This movie clip is short (11 seconds) and features the Kookaburra in the tree in front of our veranda. You cannot see the bird very well, but you can hear it.

The photo gives you a much better view of what a Kookaburra looks like.