The new security guard

Last weekend we found a novel way to protect the garden from possum attack...install a two-metre long carpet python!

We came across this guy wrapped around some timber framing built to keep the possums off my passionfruit vine. Only problem, the snake had also wrapped itself up in the bird netting.

The OE is very phobic of snakes (understandably, after a snake bite once left him hospitalised for three days), so he wasn’t keen to get too close. Unfortunately, after several phone calls to the vet and RSPCA, no one was available for a snake rescue. So our brave neighbours stepped in, and with welding gloves and a pair of scissors, cut the snake free. The lovely lady from the RSPCA recommended that we take our visitor to the vet for a check up... so the snake went into a bag, then into a box, then into the car and was delivered to our local vet.

Thinking we’d done our good deed for the day, plus rid ourselves of the reptile, we were somewhat surprised to get a phone call 15 minutes later from the vet, “the wounds are superficial, so you can come and collect your snake”.

Ummmm...we didn’t actually want it back.

It turns out that carpet snakes are territorial and need to be returned close to where they were found, so we went back to the vet, snake in the bag, bag in the box, box in the car, and drove back home.

We now have a carpet snake living somewhere down the back of our house. Only hope it does some good and scares those rotten possums away.

New Year's Eve Bush Formal

One of the best projects we've completed in 2010 is our fire pit, so it was most fitting to celebrate New Year's Eve in this beautiful little spot at the bottom of our property.


Our fire pit, commonly referred to as The Pit, came about when our neighbour suggested that it would be great to have a spot in the bush that we could meet for social occasions. So we cleared an area, built a 2-metre diameter fire pit out of retaining wall bricks, and placed some logs around the edge to provide seating. We've had some great gatherings here throughout the year, sitting around the fire, toasting marshmallows and cooking dinner on camp ovens.


Our NYE bash at The Pit was themed "bush formal". To add that touch of elegance, we put dozens of candles in and around the fire pit (we decided not to light the fire this time - Queensland summers are a tad warm to be sitting by a blazing fire), lit up the surrounding gum trees with flood lights, set the table with white linen and dined on a three course meal.

So here's to a great 2010 and many more fantastic garden projects in 2011!