The Eagles Lair

Last week at work we had an overnight field training trip. We were split into two trips so that there were enough people not away to look after all the devils. I was on the second one and it was awesome. The trip was led by Nick Mooney, who has been a hero of mine since I was a teenager, and he was an absolute legend, happily sharing his incredible wealth of field skills and knowlegde of wildlife with us all. We focused mostly of devils, of course, but the most memorable bit for me was the detour hiking up the side of a mountain to observe a wedge-tailed eagle nest.







The only bad part of the trip was catching my workmate's cold which was pretty unavoidable as we were all confined in a car for several hours each day, but now the cold has really set off my asthma and I've had to take a day off work.

The Owl and the Pussycat...

I'm not as obsessed with owls as this guy is...

Port Macquarie summed up in photos.

The resort where we stayed...

The wildlife...

Butterflies

Fruit bats

and Pelicans

The koala hospital...

Me pretending to be a koala...
The scenery...

My job...

On a bad day, my work looks like this...

Fog...

Ice...

and Frost.

But on a good day, my work looks like this...

Thursday was a good day (I went to Cradle Mountain). Today wasn't so great.

Dr Who craftiness...

I completed these couple of tardis themed items for Rob's birthday. It kept me occupied for a couple of crafternoons (Christie, my workmate,'s word) and I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. The book (based on River Song's journal) is a blank notebook on the inside.

My new chookies...

Well, for quite some time I have wanted chooks and to that end (and also as a way to learn building skills from Dad) I have been hasseling Dad into helping me ( = doing all the hard bits) convert our old play house into a super mansion of a chook house. The chook house itself has been completed for weeks now, but the pen was only erected a couple of Saturdays ago. We used only recycled wood and constuction supplies so the project cost us basically nothing and we used as many power tools and building methods as we could so that I would get some experience in all of them.

The awesomest chookhouse ever (formally the awesomest playhouse ever)

The nest box made out of wood recycled from old pallets.

So on Saturday, we checked out the newspaper for chook ads. We found an ad for Isa Browns and headed out to somewhere near Pipers River to go and get 4 chookies. Meet Sophie, Ruby, Sally, and Penny.

Left to Right: Penny, Sophie, Sally, and Ruby

They are only 22 weeks old so they havent started laying yet and they might not lay until spring. I dont really mind if they never start laying - I'm just loving having them around.

So, two projects officially completed: the frog pond and the chook shed.