Anodyne Posted May 14, 2017 (edited) Greetings folks! Hang on, before we get started I think we need a soundtrack: That's better. I started writing about this in the Cabin Porn thread (here), but decided to finally create a thread of its very own. This is the shack I bought up in the Macleay Valley area a couple years back. It's on a 30-acre block, only a few acres are cleared and the rest is dense bush, ranging from dry eucalypt to subtropical. It is not much like the surrounding bushland (open dry eucalypt), it has some weird microclimate thing going on with lots of diversity, which is great. And lots of lantana, which is less so. I think I'm going to spend the next decade or so warring that stuff - it seems to be choking about 20 of the 30 acres - but if that's the worst invasive species I have to deal with I'll consider myself very lucky. For the area this block is shockingly free from privet & camphor laurel, which is a minor miracle. There's some bamboo (mostly not the good building sort) and enough black wattles falling down to keep me in firewood for the next century or two. Pics are shack front/back/inside, best bathroom ever, separate bedroom (looks like they originally intended to build another room joining the shack/kitchen to the bedroom, but never finished), top of the garden (you can see some of the terraced vege beds in the "view" shots below next to the bananas), gazebo/outdoor kitchen, year-round creek. I've spent a good chunk of the last 2 years not being able to walk, so not much has changed since then - but at least this year I managed to get out there to explore/recon a little and take a few more pics. And if you've gotta convalesce, you could do worse than this view: Edited May 14, 2017 by Anodyne 17 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted May 14, 2017 That's awesome Ano. Looks like a pretty special spot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Presidente Hillbillios Posted May 14, 2017 looks awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MoonUnitBotanica Posted May 14, 2017 Looks mint mate, lovely retreat! one plus side to privet is that it creates lovely soil underneath it. Once you clear it you will have some fertile soil to plant into! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted May 14, 2017 I was just thinking about this the other day and was going to find the post you first mentioned your piece of paradise. . I hope you'll let me come visit one day. Wishing you all the best with it all Anodyne . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
etherealdrifter Posted May 14, 2017 all the best with your life there mate so much land to play with.......(the bath still kills me) - i can see a gathering there at some point in the the years to come. ....bloody tiny houses haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anodyne Posted May 14, 2017 For sure we will have some camps up there soon, if only so I can press-gang the lot of youse into fixing my roof and planting out trees Perhaps a nice spring meet to counterbalance these extreme-weather SubZero & Summer-Heatstroke camps? 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anodyne Posted June 16, 2017 So many wildlife to keep me company in my hermitage - wallabies, scrub turkeys, black cockatoos, king parrots... every one of them a more competent forager than I am - if the competition becomes too fierce I may end up abandoning my vego ways and just eating them instead, but in the meantime I'll just admire them. Here are a couple of the regulars - I saw quite a few carpet pythons around, which made me happy. This is one of the smaller ones who hunts up around the cabin at night, resting at the bottom of the garden. And the resident goanna, who judging by her attitude is the true owner of the place: I got woken up every morning by tapping at the window, which went on for an hour or so. A little golden whistler would fly down, crash into the window, then fly back up to a nearby tree & warble awhile. I thought he was just a slow learner, and scolding me for my weird transparent walls, but after watching him for a while I realised what was going on: he wasn't flying into the windows by mistake - he was fighting his reflection in the glass, then swooping back up to his branch to sing a little victory song. I confused him terribly by waking early one day and opening some windows to air the room - he flew straight through his normal battleground and couldn't find the way back out! After trying to chase him out for ages, I got frustrated and just tried to grab him, and amazingly this worked. He wasn't scared at all, no doubt because of his extensive battle prowess! It rained almost the whole trip - in the end I only narrowly escaped being flooded in, but there were a few clear hours when I managed to get a couple of plants in. I set them up as best I could but hopefully they are tough specimens who can fend for themselves. There is one baby caapi, care of @Change - I hope it likes its new home! Near an old gate with a good stretch of fence to grow along - if that survives it can be the standard bearer for the rest of the ethnobotanical garden to come. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Posted June 16, 2017 what a beautiful slice of heaven mate!!!! , how did I miss this thread? *shakes fist at tidal wave of life* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites