Springtime at Dalveen 2011

 

Haven't been back for a few days - it's time to put up some more pictures of Dalveen.  Springtime in Dalveen - September, October 2010.  The wisteria was in bloom on the chook shed, the tea roses were sublime, and the cottoneaster was attracting all sorts of bird life.  Hope you enjoy.

Some pics of the house and land at Dalveen might be called for I think.  That way you can see why I love it so much, although it is getting to be a bit of a handful these days.  When we were looking for a little house near Stanthorpe almost 10 years ago, I fell in love with this one at first sight.  Stanthorpe and vicinity were suffering from a drought at the time, and this house had been on the market for a couple of years with subsequent price drops.  Built around 1916 by an ex Brickee from Sydney it is unusual for the area - a cavity brick - usually you'll find timber houses from this era in Queensland.  The house and land were bought and built for Mr and Mrs Coomber's retirement - to be a Fruit Orchard - stone fruit in particular.  However, the fruit trees would not mature for a few years and the Coombers took in boarders while they waited for an income from fruit.  At the beginning the boarders were returned soldiers from World War 1 who had been gassed and came to the mountains for the fresh air for their damaged lungs.  Consequently the house became known in the area as a bit of a convalescent home for these returned diggers.

Last time we were at Dalveen we had a few visits from a very friendly King Parrot.  I'm not sure if he has been hand reared, but he was definitely the most inquisitive King Parrot I've ever had the good fortune to come in contact with.  As I talked to him, he came closer and closer and in fact at one stage I thought he was going to land on my head or my shoulder.  He was very beautiful and seemed to be accompanied by a juvenile King Parrot who was much more cautious of the humankind and stayed well and truly out of range in the nearest gum while his friend came in to have a chat.

Just back from Dalveen - unfortunately the grass was as high as an elephant's eye up there.  Spent about 10 hours all up on the ride on, mowing in and around the house, sheds and dam.  It all looked perfectly coiffed as we left for Brisbane yesterday.  When will the warm weather leave and the autumn chill arrive.  Once that happens I can finally forget about mowing and get stuck into some other chores around the place.  There's a lot of brush cutting to be done, the blackberry bushes need to be dealt with, and the chain saw needs a long workout in order to store in some wood for the fireplaces which will be very necessary once winter sets in.

On a brighter note, our Satin Bowerbird has returned for the 5th year in a row and rebuilt his bower.  Actually, I can't know that he's the same Bowerbird, but I like to think he is.  For the first time this year I actually saw a female near his bower.  I wasn't lucky enough to capture a photograph of her, but I did get a couple of the male when he came closer to the house to feast on a fallen persimmon.  I went down to take a couple of photographs of his bower and he was most put out, emitting a few harsh churrs to send me on my way.  I left him half a broken blue peg in payment for the photographs.  I placed it on the grass well away from his bower and when I peeked in the next morning I saw that he had placed it with his other blue treasures near the bower.  I often wonder if they collect these "blue" treasures because of their violet blue eyes.  Perhaps they see the colour blue as a stimulant for romance - a sort of "come hither and look into my eyes" but with the bowerbird it is a case of "come hither and look into my bower and see all my beautiful blue ornaments I have displayed for you."