Gidday Mazy
, @Mazarita🙂
Feel like telling a bit of a yarn, first off I didn’t tell a little story that went along with the free cut wood I found in the forest the other day. I forgot to mention something a little exciting. Seeing as I’d driven up the track, over a couple of potential sand-bogs, to get to this freebie cut wood; I decided I’d pick up a few bits that Mother Nature had broken in just the right size pieces for my fire-box. I always tap the wood I pick up onto another larger, hard piece of wood, to knock off a bit of the dirt and bugs. One piece I did this to I immediately dropped, as I thought it had a worm in it; . . . it wasn’t a worm, I couldn’t help myself, I had to pick it up again and have a look – it was a little snake! Kinda cute actually, with, not a band, more like a smudge of blue below its head and pink blobs on its underbelly, it had a kind of metallic shine to it – kinda pretty too. Maybe that’s what motivated me to mow the last patch of long grass in my yard. I felt sorry for the poor little thing, what a rude awakening! I placed it gently back where I’d found it. Another spring-is-coming bit of news is I got my first tick for the season. The buggers burrow in right in the middle of my back, below my shoulder blades . . . and I can’t reach there! I don’t get paralyses ticks here {thank goodness}, I think it’s a nick-name, but I call them Nymph ticks – they make me itch like crazy; but they start so small I can’t see them. I’ve had enough of them now though, after nearly 20 years here, that I’m learning that particular itch. All I can do about them is spray some personal insect repellent down my back in the hope it will dribble over the nasty little sucker and terminate it. It usually works, even if I have to do it a few days in a row – I think I’ve gotten this one now.
Now for today’s tale. I went into town today to swap over my DVD’s, I took the dogs with me intending to take them for a walk in the forest on the way home. But as I drove in I noticed one of those dog baiting signs, I’m not sure if it was a new one, just for that area, or an older one that hadn’t been taken down, as I didn’t see any others – but it turned me off the idea of the forest walk. I decided to go to a local reserve area instead, being sure I’d check for any signs along the way. I can’t go anywhere without the guidance of my trusty GPS – I just get hopelessly lost {I can even get lost with the GPS!!}; but for some reason the signal wasn’t very good and I missed the first turn it told me to take. It immediately re-calculated the route and told me to drive on another 10kms, so I did; figuring I’d probably be going a little further and be coming in to the reserve from the other end of the road. I found myself travelling in an area I’d never been to, frightening but exciting at the same time. The road I was on turned to dirt and I didn’t remember the reserve I was going to being on a dirt road {probably because it wasn’t – I checked on the way back}; but I decided to just see it as a nice drive in the country (it was/is a beautiful area) and continue along, trusting my GPS. I don’t know how I noticed it, as the sign was in from the road, but I found another State forest! So exciting!!! It was wonderful, very tall, established trees, no signs of tyre tracks or people of any kind. It was gated off so I couldn’t drive in, even if I could of I wouldn’t have gotten far, the track had some major erosion in many parts – probably another reason it was so peaceful. Though the peace was broken pretty early in the walk, I hadn’t gone far down the track when I noticed the young fella was gone. I stopped and called, and whistled and called some more. Being a brand new spot, I didn’t want to just keep walking, in case he came back to where he’d left and I wasn’t there. I started noticing a weird noise, at first I thought it was music, like the distant drum beat of a pop song being played too loud. I found that rather off-putting, but it started getting louder and seemed more like a pumps regular thumping – I was still calling and whistling . . . and getting a bit worried. I even headed off the track a little towards this sound, and then all of a sudden it sounded quite close and more like grunts and snorts!! The young fella came back, all sloppy tonged and panting – I’m 99% sure it was a pig! There were plenty of track marks, once I started looking. Part of me was scared and wanted to just leave, the other part was mesmerized by this enchanting new forest. It was like walking into another country or World, completely different to around my home, probably because it hadn’t been cleared and was actually what the area was like before farms and settlement. I decided to go on, hoping the pigs would be more afraid of Humans than I was of them. I found beautiful sparkling conglomerate rock slabs (black and white speckles that glittered) and stunning pure white rocks as well. The track didn’t really go too far, it seemed to end in a natural sandy clearing. There were hundreds of little Sun Dews! I’ve never come across them anywhere else near where I live. There was also a trickle of water that seemed to come out of the ground a little way up the hill, though it had a strange colour, that I hope wasn’t a sign of toxic pollution, but was pink, blue and green oily looking and seemed to float on top of the water. It was all absolutely fascinating and definitely made for a very enjoyable adventure! The walk back to the car was uneventful but peaceful, beautiful and naturally magical. There were a couple of side-tracks that I’ll go back to one day and check out.
When we got back in the car I continued to follow the GPS to the reserve I’d set it for, just for the drive of it; when I got there I re-set it for home. It took me back along roads I didn’t even know existed, through rolling hills that I didn’t know where even there. Quite a beautiful drive, and shorter than going back through town. All in all, it made for a great afternoon.
Phew! What a yarn!
Hope you’re having a crazy day
Niqua
