BAT!
January 19, 2008 on 1:50 am | In Travels | 3 CommentsHaving planted some ferns and other nice plants around the front of the house, we have been keeping them watered fairly regularly. We set up a sprinkler system that seems to work a little too well…
We came home from work one day to see one of our smaller trees bent right over. Wondering what had happened Anneliese tried to right the tree and noticed a Fruit Bat hanging on for dear life to the little tree, the weight of him was bending the tree right over.
After a bit of investigation we realised that the bat had got himself in the perfect position to enjoy the light rain of the sprinkler falling directly on him and keeping the little feller cool.
Once I turned off the sprinklers he disappeared, only to reappear the next day when the sprinklers went on again.
This time we paid close attention to him and when the sprinklers went off saw him crawl along the ground to the closest tree and climb up it until he was safe from us.
Unfortunately though, we obviously paid a bit too close attention to the little guy because he hasnt been back since…still, it was a nice experience and we hope he comes back soon to enjoy the cool rain (so that we can get more pictures, hehe).
A short drive in the country
January 19, 2008 on 1:44 am | In Travels | Comments OffSo, we decided we have been spending too much time around the house, time to get out once in a while.
Last weekend we went for a little drive, we noticed on the mapping program we use that there was meant to be a waterhole fairly close to Lajamanu just south of Hooker Creek. So we figured that we would give the whole mapping suite a bit of a run and see how we go.
We havent needed to use the whole navigation unit yet as we have so far managed quite well just using the GPS. But we have the ability to hook the GPS up to the laptop (all powered by the car) and then have the laptop guide us using comprehensive maps (NATMAP).
Once I figured out what I was doing it actually worked really well and was pretty seamless. Once we got to the waterhole I took a picture of the setup as we had just used it.
The GPS is on the dashboard and Anneliese held the laptop. The plan next is to either figure out a way to mount the laptop (which wont be easy as its fairly large) or, if we can find the money, but a small tablet PC that we can use instead and mount that above the glovebox.
The waterhole, was pretty much just a large puddle of mud, it looks like its regularly visited by horses and so it was pretty boggy around it, there was some really nice green watercrest or something growing around part of it and it looked quite nice. Probably wouldnt be a bad spot to go just on sunset and enjoy a cool can of coke (no beer, its inside the 10 mile limit).
Saw some of the horses on the way out. They seemed healthy enough.
As usual, check out the slideshows for more images of this little drive.
Christmas in Lajamanu
January 5, 2008 on 8:04 am | In Travels | Comments OffWe have now been here for over three months and have experienced our first Christmas here. Now the question is, is this our first of many or our only one. hehe ..time will tell i guess. Chistmas time is a busy time and its no different here in Laj. The community is mostly Christian so they celebrate christmas like we do. The store puts on a Christmas party for all the residents of Laj. Weeks b4 Christmas parents had been buying presents, placing the childrens names on the bags filled with toys. The store puts them away into a large container ready to be given out by Santa on the day. There ended up being three truck loads of presents and pushbikes. The store provided the food, drink and party bags . The kids had a wonderful time and were very excited. They were straining and looking through windows to get a glimpse of the food and father christmas.
Many uses for the rubbish bin lid
I think the photos here, and in the slide show tell the story quite well. We even had an Indiginous father christmas. His name is Teddy and is a real character. He really got into the spirit and was heard saying HoHoHo!! quite often.

It really is a bottle of lift. :-)

Jim our store manager with the light blue shirt and dark blue cap.
It was a very busy day for us but quite enjoyable. On the photo in the slide show, you will see some of the people we work with, both European and Aboriginal. Everyone had a great day although it was a bit stressful for Robin and Jim (the store managers) trying to get it all happening. Every year they say ” this is the last time we are doing this” they have been saying that for 11 years. hehe
We have had a bit of rain recently and the bush is starting to green up and come to life. What a fantastic sight. LOL the car could do with a bit of a wash :-)

One very dirty bonnet.
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