Mellow out in Mullumbimby

My folks who live in Perth saw this article (link below) in their local paper...imagine, an article about Mullum! Uh oh, does this mean the secret is out about our gorgeous laid back little town? http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23271800-5005040,00.html
The sun came out on my day off...so I dragged the banana chair out under the jaccaranda tree and spent an afternoon reading a wonderful new book by Hadar Jacobson on metal claying.

More clearing...and movie night

Ok, so it's not my best look! But this is what I look like when I see the graze on Curts leg caused by the chainsaw and a second of distraction! I was about to do a 'mum' on him, you know, all about chainsaw safety, but stopped myself. He knows. At any rate, he's ok. Just a graze. And what a pile of work he's getting done! He's had the help of a backpacker who's hanging out next door and needs some spare cash. It's great cos Curts much more motivated when he's working alongside somebody...they've had multiple trips to the tip, still getting rid of piled up crap lying around...a dozen old batteries, washing machines, old bikes, just tons of rubbish that was all piled up near the orchard., probably been there for a decade. They've also cleared all that elephant grass from around the orchard area. Amazing how much space there is now! The next photo is a pic of Pablo, our Columbian traveller come work buddy. He's also in the top photo, with some of the crew staying with Sage right now, it's movie night at out place...just a gorgeous bunch of girls...very firey too . The other pic is of our driveway now the elephant grass, barbed wire, old star pickets, you name it... is gone...this is the same spot where Curt was coaxing the car back on four wheels in an earlier post. Big diff eh!

Mt Chincogan and our friendly python

Did I tell you we had a lot of rain? Well, it's still raining...and with the rain come the creatures, seeking shelter. Here's our friend making his way to his usual hidey hole in the ceiling of our tool shed off the verandah.
And a spectacular shot of Mt Chincogan from the road leading into Mullumbimby. I love that drive back from Byron Bay into Mullum, something about those mountains that touch something inside me. A sense of peace. A coming home...

Party at Sage's

Party time next door at Sages. Sorry about the dark pics. He's on solar power so it's very dimly lit. But check out the gorgeous 'organic' house will ya. Lovely space. Lovely vibe. Great crew of people there too. Kinda wild and tribal. Very hearty. The drumming went on for hours. You can see Curt in two of the pics, one with him grooving on his Kamali drum and the other dancing...

Ready for action!

Curt's all decked out in his new slashing gear. We finally bought the 'kick-ass' whipper snipper with all the 'fruit'...all kinds of blades, even a chainsaw blade for slashing down saplings. You wouldn't believe how everythings grown with all this rain we've had...it was becoming quite clear that something radical needed to be used to keep the rainforest from reclaiming itself all over our house!

Oops

We've had weeks and weeks of rain, major flooding in the lower regions. It's starting to ease off now but still every day, rain. I love it because it keeps things cool in this summer heat. It wasn't like this last year though, or by all accounts, for the past ten years.
Anyhow, we were pretty stocked up avoiding having to go into town via the flooded areas on the really torrential rain days. But a couple of days ago, I almost drove the car off the edge of our long hillside driveway trying to avoid some vegetation that had fallen across the road, heavy with water. Two wheels were off the road! Curt came to the rescue thank heavens and mananaged to save the day, after a couple of hours of very gradual maneuvers using the jack. Phew! Three weeks to go and the men come to seal the road. That will be pure luxury!

Nine footer!

Look what our nine foot resident python dropped yesterday! He's not really 'resident', he just likes to crawl into the ceiling to get out of the rain. Then when the weather fines up, he wanders off again...leaving his skin behind him.