An afternoon in the sun, a picnic in the cubby cave

Today I went for a short walk around Sunshine Valley Hut.
I snapped a few pics of the sandstone and the wildflowers.
The Mountain Devils (Lambertia formosa) and Banksias (Banksia spinulosa ?) give welcome colour against the green backdrop.



After the rain and the lingering fog that has dominated for the past few weeks, today was just magical. There was however that unmistakable bite to the air. Especially when you are in the shade announcing to all that summer has gone and winter is on the way.


The kids decided it was a great day to have a picnic in their cubby cave. We gathered some chips and a bottle of carbonated apple juice and we all soaked up the western sun in their special spot.


On the way back to the hut we discovered a sandstone bolder with a section missing out of it which makes a great place to sit.


We then harvested the last years kale plants from the garden. We set to work reproducing Kel's "Kale Chips" from the Taurus Rising blog. The chips are slowly dehydrating as I type this on the slow combustion fire. I have tasted a few and think that we have failed. They seem way to salty.
I guess we need to try again. We need quantities Kel please help!

Damp days

The blog has been a bit quite as I have had my Parents visit over Easter and we spent the time doing some improvements to the Hut. We enclosed one third of the veranda making another small room. The room still has to be insulated and clad inside hopefully I will get some more of that done this weekend.
Dad and I also put up a wall on the end of the veranda which will stop the weather wetting the day bed. The wall also reduces the impact of the hot strong western sun this makes the veranda much more comfortable.
We also enclosed one of the veggie garden beds. This bed had a potato crop in which the DW got a yield of 18kgs of potatoes from 2 kg of seed spuds. I think that was a great result.
The chooks have had fun cleaning up the bed and now it is cooler it is time to plant the bed out with peas and garlic however the chooks are reluctant to leave the bed alone.
The bed was enclosed with fine netting wire using star pickets and poly pipe.




Boy3 managed to plant a row of sweet peas in the bed and is looking forward to seeing the flowers. We have planted a couple of rows of sugar snap peas, and a few rows of garlic. The peas are just starting to pop up through the soil.
The DW has another one of the veggie garden bed absolutely jammed packed full of Asian veggies and we have been picking constantly from it.



Boy5 is really enjoying the school holidays. He has this week been at Grandma's. Each day he has a swimming lesson and he is really doing well.


The weather has been damp and I have snapped some shots of damp spider webs.

Garden Update II

The Choko vines (Sechium edule) that we are establishing over the temporary chook house are now really growing well. (See Garden Update Jan09 post for a comparison)


The vines did suffer from the intense heat from the Sun at the peak of summer but they limped through to autumn and now they have really taken off. The vines are covered in baby fruit and a mass of flowers.


Hopefully we will get to enjoy a good harvest before the first winter frosts take their toll.


A pumpkin vine sprouted from some of the chickens scraps and has grown over the Hen house and is competing with the Choko vine.


The vine is producing some great fruit and we will be harvesting the first one soon.


The Hens seem to like the new shady environment created by all these vines.
In the other garden beds the broad beans have just poked their heads through the soil.

Cave dwellings

The beautiful sandstone that is everywhere at Sunshine Valley Hut often breaks through the surface of the ground. There are many outcrops and shelves that make fantastic places to stop, sit and view the valley below or distant horizons.
This sandstone comes in an amazing range of colours, often forming in tight bands.




As the outcrops weather the erosion forms little holes which, when given enough time, form caves. Many caves are sprinkled throughout our land. Often they are high up cliff faces probably only visited by lucky Birds, Bats and Insects, they must have amazing views. I am limited to seeing these from afar.



The Boys have one cave which is very close to our shack. It has formed in the edge of the sandstone plate that we live on.
This cave is very special to the Boys and it has become their cubby house.
The views of the valley below are great and the cave is surrounded by beautiful Australian bush.



The Boys love spending time there and have even had Picnics in the cave which was catered for by Granddad Doug. He scrambled up and down the rocky slope bringing them chairs and all manner of food. It was a very special time for them.

There is another group of caves in a different section of the land, some of the caves are accessible and we infrequently visit them on special walks.




The Boys have been told that Dinosaurs live in them and we have named these imaginary Dinosaurs using each of the boys first names with ...asaurious added to the end of their names. Apparently one of the Dinosaurs has two tails!

The roof of some of the caves is amazing with incredible colours and swirls. In some of the pics you can see paper wasps nests. The Wasps, perhaps inspired by the lines in the sandstone build their nests in squiggles as well....Harmony in nature?