Wild Koala's

We now have three koala's who regularly rest in the trees on Honeydale.  We are hoping that a few more move in.  The only downside is that they grunt like pigs at night.

Two are female, Bella and Brownie, both tend to use home trees near our garden and shed.

Brownie trying to cool down

Bella

Bella has a mainly white behind and Brownie is predominantly brown.  The third koala's favoured home tree is near the main gate and we have not been able to get a good look to determine if it is male or female but it is a good sleeper.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt

Paddle to Logan Creek

Patrick Logan explored the area that is now known as Ipswich and Somerset.  Logan City, the Logan Motorway, the Logan River, Loganholme and Logan Creek are some of the other geographical features named after Patrick Logan.

The bridge near Cooracook station on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail crosses Logan Creek.  The creek continues to to the north and eventually flows into Whivenhoe dam.

Last Friday we decided to paddle from Logan's Landing to the mouth of Logan Creek.  It was a seven kilometre paddle but it was a cool morning with hardly a breath of wind.

Along the way we saw many pelicans and other wild life taking advantage of the cool conditions.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt

The garden is productive

It has been a very dry spring at Honeydale as we have had less than half of the average rainfall for November leaving the bush dry and distressed, even the lantana is starting to dry out.

We have rainwater tanks to catch and store water for drinking and cooking but not enough to keep the garden alive.  Fortunately we have a bore that provides good water for our garden and orchard so we have an abundance of vegetables.

We have been harvesting and eating silver beet, strawberries, peas, lettuce and rocket for some weeks now.  We have also been picking and pickling cornichons for a month now and have several bottles aging for the Christmas pate'.

This morning we picked lettuce, radishes, crystal apple cucumbers, beans, dutch carrots, zucchini (including some with flowers) a few tomatoes and chillies to tide us over in Brisbane.  Some of the vegetables we will give to our friends and neighbours.

We are keeping the zucchini with flowers to make zucchini flower pasta for our dinner tonight.

We have several varieties of tomatoes and pumpkins that are almost ready for harvest along with sweet corn.  Hopefully we will soon have steady supply of vegetables to be self sufficient wiht the exception of potatoes and onions.  

In the next few weeks we start preparing a new garden where we plan to plant potatoes, onions and winter vegetables in the new year.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt

A Sunday Ride to Esk and Return

We got out of bed just after 5:00 am and had a strong cup of tea before filling our camelbacks with water and checking we had food and gels in our jersey pockets.  As usual, the single track from the house to the rail trail was the first challenge.  The single track gets a little easier each time we ride it, our skills are improving and the track is becoming more defined.

We have ridden to the Logan Creek or Cooracook Bridge several times so we made good progress to this deep and steep sided creek crossing. We then continued on to the old Cooracook Station just a few hundred meters past the bridge.  Maintaining a steady climb, we continued on in the shade of Mount Hallen.  Just before the Rail Trail crosses the Gatton - Esk Road, we arrived at the abandoned Mount Hallen station.  This being the high point of the sector between Honeydale and Esk it was a 10 km downhill to Esk.

While it was a net downhill it was not downhill all the way.  We had to stop several times to open and close gates which got more frequent as we approached the outskirts of Esk.  We also had some creek crossings.  While not as deep or steep as Lockyer Creek (between Coominya and Lowood) or the Cooracook Bridge we had to stop and push our unsuspended single speed bikes up the track.  These are the times when you appreciate riding a hardtail with 2 x 11 gearing.

About five kilometres from Esk we encountered a solo rider heading to Coominya and soon after we meet several groups of riders also heading towards Coominya.  It was a very busy morning on the rail trail.

We continued to make good progress and we arrived in Esk taking one hour and sixteen minutes to ride the eighteen kilometres from Honeydale.  The bakery and one café was open so we brought some coffee and pastries from the bakery to consume before commencing the return journey.

We got to Mount Hallen station in good time and we paused to have some gels before progressing on.  A few hundred meters on I felt the rear rim running on a flat tyre so we had no option but to stop and change out the tube.  It was starting to get hot but this made the tyre softer and easier to handle.  The replacement tube fitted, inflated and we were soon on our way.  Including the tube replacement, we were back at Honeydale one hour and twenty-eight minutes after leaving Esk.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt

New Additions

The new kids on the block at HoneyDale, is a pair of Tawny Frogmouths. More frogmouths will be with us soon, as these pair have nested.

During the day, the male bird sits on the nest, whilst the female roosts nearby on a sheltered branch. At night both birds share the sitting. The nest is a loose platform of sticks, perched in the fork of an old gum tree.

These birds have amazing camouflage, remaining motionless and appearing to be part of the tree. At a hint of disturbance they freeze, compact their plumage, close their eyes and look just like a broken branch.

 

Frogmouths are active at night, mainly just after dusk and before dawn. Gliding dives from their perch, they prey on nocturnal insects and spiders.

These birds will be regular visitors to HoneyDale, as Frogmouths pair permanently, returning to the same tree or area to nest each year.

Spot the Wildlife

This is a picture of the latest wildlife to join us at HoneyDale.  Can you spot it?

Reticulation and Veggies

It has been a big weekend in the orchard.  We ripped over 75 m of  trenches with the tractor  then opened them up, by hand, with a trenching shovel and installed irrigation pipe.   Then the trenches were hand backfilled.  In the 37 deg C heat it was hard work but at least the pipes were easy to manage.  The piping network runs past every tree in our 25 tree orchard.  We fitted irrigation drippers, and we will install solenoid valves and a controller so the orchard will be watered automatically.

All the pipes are buried, so once the grass grows back it will look very neat.  Until then, we have to put up with the scars in the grass.

Having plenty of water has allowed our vegetable garden flourish.  We have had a modest number of raspberries ripen but soon we will be having strawberries as the plants have lots of flowers and fruit buds.

Lost night picked a couple of zucchinis for inclusion in our salad.  They were full of flavour and more are on the way.

The first tomatoes are starting to fruit, and we have two other varieties in the garden both of which are going well but have yet  to flower.

Being Queensland we have to plant pumpkins and the butternuts, our favourite variety, have flowered and fruit has set.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

A Koala Update

It is starting to warm up and on Friday our resident koala spent the day alternating between hugging the shady side of her tree.  We learnt that koalas' cool off by hugging the shady side of trees.

On Saturday we could not find the koala, but she is a wild koala and we assumed that she had moved on.  At mid afternoon I went to check on our bore water tank and came nose to nose with the koala.  She was hugging the base of a tree between the bore water tanks.  It is a small but relatively cool space.  She did not look very happy she simply blinked at me and we agreed to ignore each other.

I returned soon after with a small vessel filled with drinking water which I left and she seemed to ignore it.  Normally koalas' get sufficient water from gum leafs unless they are very stressed.  When I checked on Sunday most of the water had gone but it could have been drunk by something else.

Today, Sunday, we spotted her sitting on the shady side of one of her favoured trees and looking a lot happier.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

A Sporting Weekend

This has been a good sporting weekend for us.  

On Friday morning we took the kayaks to Wivenhoe and had a very pleasant five-kilometre paddle.  We saw lots of pelicans and cormorants resting on the banks.

On Sunday we got an early start and rode to Lowood on the rail trial.  It was a fairly uneventful ride apart from a magpie attack just south of the Mahons Road Bridge, both directions.  We got to Lowood just after 7:15 am and had a pleasant breakfast of pancakes and coffee; Jenny showed great restraint and bypassed the cream and ice-cream.

We then returned to Honeydale, stopping to chat to the only others persons we saw on the rail trail.  They were walking from Coominya to Esk as training for the Camino del Santiago.  We chatted about the Camino as they had walked several versions of the Camino and we have also walked or ridden several different versions as well.   We continued on to Honeydale after making sure they had plenty of water.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com