February was either wet or hot and humid. The wet has been good for the garden as well as for easy weed removal that have been growing like crazy because the weather is good for the garden. A lot of the days was out in the cool of the morning, hibernate in the heat of the day into the air-con and back out before the mozzies come out in numbers. Even have to change out of a sweaty shirt doing housework, it’s very humid.

I went to Old Bar, a small town down the coast to visit a very good friend, his wife and spend some time at the beach. Holiday snaps at the start.

Here is your scrolling song, February by Getaway Plan. An Aussie band, that has been around since 2004. This is a track on Requiem from 2011

As always, have to start at sunrise. Luckily to be at the beach with my oldest friend, who likes to surf, and gets down there at sunrise to either have chats with the other blokes, in or out of the water. As you can see at wasn’t worth getting in or is that going out.

Anyway you have to navigate the kelp and Seagulls to get to the water.
I have never seen so many Silver Gulls flying in one large flock at the beach. Instead of chips they were eating maggots that was in the rotting kelp, as well as probing the sand as the water receded to get sand crabs or other sand living organisms.

The beach looked crowded. There was a rush back to your spot on the kelp when the water went out

Sometimes a bonus among the kelp. A Stick Insect I think

The next morning there wasn’t a cloud and just a ball came over the horizon

Making the sands golden

Giving a wonderful background for the seagulls flying off the beach. When this happened the day before, I missed the big flight as I was looking in the other direction. This day I was ready after already seeing the Osprey pair cruising past

The Osprey didn’t care at all about the seagulls and just kept flying towards the river mouth

Later that day while out on a walk, a White-bellied Sea Eagle floated overhead

I spotted a Heron in the early morning sunrise. I hadn’t seen a Heron of that colour before. The sun has coloured a Pacific Heron that has a white head, throat and chest.

We went to Crowdy Head so had to visit the cutest lighthouse ever. Aren’t the clouds cool too.

All that is left of some historical pier or jetty, a few pieces of wood sticking out of the water. It has character I thought.

We had lunch at the Harrington Pub. Looks like we were early and had to line up

Might as well get a standard Pelican on a post photo while I wait

I love coming across a few Galahs feeding on grass seed. The bloke at the back is giving me the stink eye – that’s my girlfriend buddy

I like seeing what ships are on the horizon.

The road works continued while I was away. Not only on the highway but on my gravel roads too. They didn’t do anything about the drainage problem, if anything made it worse in places

Enough whinging. My friend has these huge Hibiscus flowers. The first time seeing a flower sitting up like this. It was almost on the top of the bush.

The startled look of a Bougainvillea

The miniature red Hibiscus bud after the rain

The Cape Water Lilies started to flower

They are an amazing flower to photograph

The Blue Gingers are all having a bit of a flower, some more advanced than others

The Lilli Pilli is having another go at flowering but there’s not many flowers as this gold bum ant seems to grumble as he heads off for another place to find a snack for the nest.

One of my all time favourite flower, Cats Whiskers, is having the best flowering ever. The Possum proof fence works

Remember in the 70’s, probably, when having a Happy Plant in your house bought you luck? Somehow one was acquired from a well meaning person, maybe as a house-warming present. That had been divided put into a few pot and some were just planted in the garden.
Their name is Golden Corn. Now you’ve seen the picture, you know.

Here is one planted in the garden. That growth is about third of the way up. It is almost higher than the house

Most morning this little Red-necked Wallaby comes into the garden for breakfast like it did with mum. I last saw mum actively discouraging it from hanging around her. She has another Joey in her pouch
Still very shy about sounds of me moving around. Mum never used to care much.

I like seeing Brown Pigeons in the garden. They are large beautiful brown birds.

The Bananas open and wait for the flowers to appear.

This fellow is waiting for the bananas probably.

You have to beware in the garden. There is life every where even under a leaf. This Praying Mantis froze, looked at me and ran around the other side of the leaf. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I could still see his shadow through the leaf.

OK SPIDER COMING UP

A beautiful Golden Orb Weaver

A beautiful Golden Orb Weaver with a March Fly

A beautiful Golden Orb Weaver with a March Fly that won’t have a chance to bit me when I am in the garden. See that big proboscis on the fly. That is what she uses to drill into you to have a drink of blood. They can also be called Horse Flies. About 25mm – 1 inch in length. The downside is that she built this huge golden web across one of the garden paths. Luckily there is more than one pathway through the garden.

For being good and seeing the Golden Orb Weaver, here’s an Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly. She has found somewhere there is a lot of pollen, maybe the Ivory Curl Tree.

Time for the usual finish.
It is so good to look up and see Our Moon during the day in a pale blue sky

Most nights there has been cloud and one night when I was about to go to bed I noticed it seemed rather bright outside. The clouds had gone for a while and it was clear. Being tired I just took a few hand held photos. I think I deleted ten or more white blobs.

I like it when a crater photo comes out ok

Thanks for sticking it out until the end. Maybe a favourite or two photos?

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently, though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

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