Neighbours go Wild!

Damn, there is wildlife everywhere here! Neighbour gave a frightened yelp today when he discovered my friendly common tree snake in his outside toilet (cistern). I reffered him to my last blog post about identifying snakes and he eventually calmed down. ;)

Meanwhile on the other side, my neighbours found a possum that had trapped itself under the bird bath it had disloged, and was near death with a baby in its pouch. We rushed her to the possum doctor up the road (Shazza) and are waiting for results...

UPDATE: Poor baby died but Mummy Ring Tail was returned safely to the bush after spending a night at Hotel le Shaz. I was quick with the camera (in the dark!) and got her parting goodbye.

There were some surfing animals out at the reef this morning too - native surfers of the MOB variety. A couple of surflings were finding their surfing feet too - watched carefully by their Mothers On Boards. Had a moment of panic when I couldn't see my youngest on the sand though - turned out she was having a rest, poor thing. I know what its like to be whacked out from all that fun at the beach!

Good to see a couple of husband-wife combinations mooching around the rock this morning too. Some of these delightful parents were looking after/surfing with other people's children which I think is commendable, altruistic and damn handy when I'm trying to get a surf in and look after three kids at the same time! They say it takes a village to raise a child (Thanks L+W, F+M).

Warm water, sou'west wind and good friends to catch a wave with...Today was a gift. A Monday gift given to us by the ANZACS. We humbly thank all those men who fought and died for our country. And we remember those families who lost their fathers, sons and brothers. Lest we forget.
SM

Snake strikes fear into suburban couple

Husband gave a frightened yelp this afternoon and called out for me to come and help. I raced up the stairs to find a brown snake on the windowsill!

"Its alright, darling" I said, "its on the outside of the window!"

Ok, maybe it wasn't a yelp, and yes, he knew it was outside of the house, but I swear he looked a bit peaky when I found the two of them eyeballing each other through the glass. We bravely watched as the beautiful creature wound its way downstairs and eventually out into a tree. On the way it weaved through my boardies hanging out to dry. Thats the biggest snake I have had in my pants for ages! (boom, boom, tish!)

Oh, and when I said it was a brown snake - it was brown and it was a snake, but when I looked closely, it was actually a lovely yellow colour underneath and it had faint green flecks on its back -plus it climbed a tree, so the verdict is that is was a common tree snake.

Now heres a tip for all you Surfermums who need to know a snake from a snake: if its on the ground, RUN! (its most likely a dangerous brown snake, blake snake etc). If its up a tree/deck/pole, etc, its probably harmless (a climbing python, green tree snake etc)...Thank you FAWNA training.

My other tip for the week is: surf in cossies if there is no wind - its AWESOME! The water is so warm right now, lets enjoy it while we can. Thats what the surfermums were doing in the main photo Monday at the rock at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon - enjoying it very much! Check out the ear to ear grin on the right! That surfermum was loving it, and, yes - she did stand up, and the pair of them surfed all the way into shore and into their dreams that night...
SM

Sweet and Sucky

What a great Easter we have had at the rock - smooth and sucky, just how we like it. The MOB were out there Easter Monday carving their magic and weaving their way between rocks, children and the odd lump of testosterone. Speaking of such; Husband and I had a late surf yesterday - no wettie, no sunscreen, no hat - cossies only! It was brilliant, (although might need a new cossie...everytime I punched through a wave my top went sideways and bottoms went south!)

Keep your eye out for Batgirl in Pacific Longboarder magazine sometime soon. That kinda style just cannot be contained to this amazing blog alone. Much like the photo above - that girl's got talent, huh? ;)

This wacky guy I know put together this amazing marble run on youtube. I know you sensible people would never have bothered to look at any of the complicated marble runs out there on the net. I know you will find it hard to believe that people actually have the time to create a convoluted path for a lone marble to travel and then watch it over and over again, but they do. To get into the mood, have a look at this hopeless one.

Now take a post modern look at this work of art - it'll give him a thrill :

SM

Superhero spotted at Celito

I paddled out behind Batgirl in the surf on the weekend. It was so funny I nearly fell off my board and drowned laughing. There she was, calm as day stroking out to the break like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her black cape flapped out behind her and her bat ears were pricked alert. Her sleek black bodysuit shone with the slippery sheen of a surfer. Board riders parted as she paddled up between them like the Red Sea parted for Moses. Kids looked confused, dads were speechless...and I was having a hiccuping, laughing fit face down on my board, arms flailing uselessly. All you could hear for miles around was the crash of the ocean as it peaked nearby, and my hysterical giggling.


The MOB had a weekend gathering (two nights - count 'em!) of surfing and laughing unemcumbered by children and husbands. On these 'girls weekends' we could recharge our batteries with laughter alone (its been done before), but on this occasion Celito treated us with exceptional MOB conditions and we surfed all weekend long.

On friday ChampagneKate and I had 2 surfs!! She spent most of the time smacking the lip (literally) and carving up a storm on beautiful turquoise A-frames while I just watched in awe. Saturday we took a packed lunch and settled in for the long haul with 5 of our buddies. The Surferwitch scooped some gnarly waves, blue hair hangdoggin' in the breeze! By early afternoon we had worn down all the recreational surfers -they had packed it in and gone home! Only the hard core surfers were left in the water... We had it all to ourselves. ;)

Beebee, Franbaby, Cat, Lor and Jules were all out there pumping the big ones, skimming round the inside of barrels and flying off the lip before paddling over to the peak and doing it all again.

Aah, there ain't nothin like having a laugh with the girls. They will do anything for a giggle.

Surfermums help get the dragon past the line

Surfing seems to have gone temporarily out the window. Today, some surfermums and I were involved in Dragon Boat racing! The beautiful Manning River was host to what looked like an interesting array of water dragons and also some lazy caterpillas demonstrating how ridiculous 20 adults can look when they don't follow the 'Stroke'! Fortunately, we were more of the dragon kind and managed to bring home the dragon sized trophy. Yes, Redhead Roar (once referred to over the PA system as Red whore in a Freudian slip) were the victors on the day just edging out MCW (sorry Jules) in a photo finish. Aah the sweet smell of success... our victory will be one for the ages. For tonight anyway.

Many thanks to Petr, our spunky Czech drummer at the front of the boat who kept our eyes up and our minds wandering... oh yes, and to all those other chaps that helped us out. Good job.

Apparently we missed some nice waves while we were inland. I hate when that happens.

Nevertheless, local surfermums will be looking forward to the coming weekend where we will be letting our hair down and escaping the family for two whole nights! Wine, cheese, chocolate and plenty of laughs are the usual order of proceedings, followed by more of the laughing the next morning when we realise we have been so long out of the water, we have forgotten how to surf. One poor wreck of a surfermum informed me recently she had not had a surf since Australia Day!! Nevermind. Not being very good at surfing has never stopped us from having a damn good (if funny looking) try. We have no shame. Its the only way to live.

SM

P.S. Good on my lovely neighbours for having the vision to assemble the splendid and victorious dragon boat crew. Go the ROAR!

Surfermum gets a dose of culture (dahling!)

Glad to be back on the coast after our kid-free, whirlwind tour to Canberra. Lined up for an hour just to get in the door at the National Art Gallery and see the Masterpieces of Paris but it was well worth it. (Two days later the line up was 3 hours!) "Starry Night" is so much better in real life than on paper. If you have seen it you will know what I am talking about. How did Vincent make it twinkle like that over a hundred years later? That is the question!


Canberra is a strange place - lots of square office buildings but without the shops and the hustle and bustle going on beneath them. Just the odd suited public servant scampering about. Very easy to get lost (as Husband demonstrated), but managed to find a decent pub and Indian restaurant in which to settle down. Live music leaves a bit to be desired though. The same guy and his guitar played at the Irish pub (where the beer was hideously expensive) and then at the cheapskates pub (where we settled in later). There's an opening for anyone who can twang an instrument and take that guy on!


Back on home turf, the girls are getting pumped for the big, surfing, mums only, weekend away. Only 11 sleeps to go surfermums! Watch this space...

SM

Welcome to Autumn

You ain't missing nothing folks! What a miserable day - onshore winds, grey chopped up ocean and suddenly I'm wearing a cardi! My foot is functioning again and I am ready and rearing to go surfing... if only the weather would co-operate. :(

Husband is on holidays for a month and is starting to get underfoot. If the surf dont pick up the garden will be hacked to within an inch of its life and I may find myself being driven up the wall...

Luckily, we are off to Canberra on Thursday to see the 'Masterpieces from Paris' exhibition. (That should keep him occupied for a few days.) Its a long way to go to see some paintings hanging on a wall but apparently these artworks by van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne etc haven't left France before, so since they have come all this way, we thought we'd make the effort and go see them. Plus, its mighty far away from the kids, I don't think we will hear them fighting from Canberra...but you never know.

In the mean time, I hope the weather does the right thing and delivers on the weekend.