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Pneumonia

I guess being a serial offender of not going to the doctor’s when ill has its downside – you sometimes develop pneumonia. I currently have pneumonia and have been quite ill. I spent a small amount of time in hospital hooked up to a drip and I now am spending a lot of time at home doing very little in an effort to shake it.

Perhaps I’ll go see a doctor before getting pneumonia next time – worth a thought.

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Jessica Watson’s Blog

Jessica Watson is heading for home in her solo sailing navigation of the world – the youngest ever. She is currently below the Australian mainland and closing on Tasmania. All the news and information on Jessica can be found below, at her Blog:

http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Amigo’s Castle – Lightning Ridge

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There are quite a number of strange sights at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, Australia. The photo at left is one of them. The building is known as ‘Amigo’s Castle,’ which is a private home with construction begun back in 1981.

The building was inspired by Roman ruins located near Amigo’s birthplace in his homeland – Italy. It has all the trappings including, dungeons and tunnels – that form part of the owner’s opal mine.

Amigo’s Castle can be seen while taking the self-drive ‘Red Car Door Tour’ in Lightning Ridge (visit the Visitor’s Centre in Lightning Ridge for a brochure).

SWOOPING BIRDS

 

It was the official first day of Spring here in Australia. However, Spring has really been with us here for quite some weeks now, given the very warm days and bushfires we have already experienced. In fact August 2009 was the hottest on record.

plovers and chicks Given that it is Spring it is time for a new season of new growth in the gardens and of new birth in the surrounding wildlife here in Tea Gardens (though it isn’t that clear cut obviously) and there is plenty of wildlife here.

On the way home from work today I was swooped by a Magpie – several times. The Magpie does this in its breeding season to drive off potential threats to its nest and young. Recently I have also been savagely swooped by the local plovers, which attack with even more ferocity than the Magpie.

The plovers had been defending their nest for some weeks prior to their eggs hatching. Their nest was beside the artificial lake in the centre of the village where I work at Tea Gardens Grange. The nest is just a small spot on the ground on which the eggs are laid. In this case their were four. They seemed to sit on the eggs for between 4 and 6 weeks before the young were hatched – swooping the entire time if you ventured too close, as well as making plenty of noise. One of the adults sometimes seemed to pretend to have a bad leg as it hobbled away from the nest in an attempt to get any threats to follow it.

At the moment there are two remaining chicks that are growing fairly rapidly now. The parents are still defending their young with menace.