Kidnapped

My friend Glenda rang me on Monday to say that her and Joan were going to kidnap me and take me to Atherton for the day.  I laughed. If that's kidnapping, bring it on!
So on Tuesday morning, nice and early, they picked me up and we made our way to the Atherton Tablelands.  I was told to make certain that I brought my camera because there would be plenty of photo opportunities.  These friends are lovely women and our love of photography has brought us together.  I am inspired when I am with them.  We chatted and laughed in the car on the drive and our first stop was to purchase red pawpaws from a roadside stall.  Then it was on to buy avocados and bananas from another roadside stall.  There is nothing like home grown produce.  It just tastes way better than anything you buy in a supermarket.
The next stop was for a photo shoot.  There were literally hundreds of magpie geese in a pond right beside the highway so we stopped and took some photos.  The reflections in the water at this time of day were lovely and of course being a cloudy day was also a photography bonus!

The main reason that we were heading to Atherton was to visit two photography exhibitions that were being displayed.  The first one was at the Tableland Regional Gallery and was an exhibition by Jane Hopkinson titled Wildlife of the Atherton Tablelands.  The photography was excellent and featured the elusive Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroos that live in the trees around Jane's home.
The next exhibition was at the Chinese Gardens but unfortunately we were told by a rather rude woman that the exhibition was not open yet.  Ah well.  As there was a nursery nearby we decided to go there instead.  I picked up a variety of bromeliads for $5 each and my friends purchased some orchids.
My belly was telling me it was time for lunch so we made our way back into Atherton to have lunch at our favourite place.  Glenda and I ordered BLT's and Joan ordered a vegetarian quiche.  They were all delicious and very filling.
After lunch we decided to head back to Mareeba with a quick stop at the Humpy to pick up our supply of Macadamia nuts.  I highly recommend the Sour Cream and Chives.  They are so moreish!
Back in the car we headed to Mareeba to visit the watercourse in the town centre.   What a surprise it was to see all the lotus flowers!  They are gorgeous and I really must get some for our pond at home.

We wandered around the lake and watched the ducks making their way across the water towards us.  They are quite obviously feed by people so whenever they see humans they think food.  We unfortunately did not have anything for them.

It was getting late in the day but we just had to stop at Lake Mitchell on our way home.  This is a beautiful spot that we visit quite often.  It has a huge amount of birdlife and we were lucky enough to see the beautiful black swans in the distance.  Unfortunately they were too far away for a good photograph but as the landscape here is simply magnificent I enjoyed taking some landscape photos.

Going going gone....

We had the tree loppers turn up this week and the big tree that had fallen across the cattle yards after the mini tornado is now a big pile of smoking mulch.  We won't be able to use the mulch for many months until it breaks down but won't the garden love it!

You can see the damage to the shed over the cattle race.  Philip has some work in front of him!

I was talking to a friend who lives about a kilometre from our house and she was saying that they really copped the brunt of the storm.  They had a direct lightening strike on their house and lost all communication for many days.  She was saying that the sky turned a very ugly green and she knew that they were going to cop it.  She said they had thunder, lightening, rain and then hail but the whole thing only lasted twenty minutes.  I am so glad we weren't at home.  It must have been terrifying.

Ulysses Butterfly

Everyone who reads my blog knows how much I love butterflies.

"The Butterfly lives moments not months

and has time enough....."

Such beautiful words and a timely reminder to live for the moment.

The Ulysses Butterflies have been in abundance in the garden in the last few weeks.  There was talk that the numbers of these gorgeous butterflies had been decreasing but I am finding the opposite at my place.  I have never seen so many at once.  I spotted three on one bush!

They are extremely hard to photograph as they never stop moving.  You have to guess where they are going to land and then set your camera on hi speed and hope for the best.  I got quite a few photos yesterday and although they are not great they show the beautiful colour of these magnificent butterflies.