The Bush

Strange and beautiful…

February 24, 2009 / 16 Comments
We went for a drive last weekend.
To a ‘nearby’* town for a party.
(*Interpretation: only 2 1/2 hour drive away)
We do this in the country – drive for hours for some social action.
Actually, I would. Mr Incredible would be more than happy to stay put at Granite Glen 24/7. He is not a social animal at all. Luckily the party was for one of his relatives, so I didn’t have to twist his arm too hard!
…
It was a strangely beautiful trip.
We have been very lucky and received some nice rain in this corner of the world over the past week… and yes I am willing a little of it down towards the bushfire areas… so the grass is green around our ridges and the air washed clear and clean. The precipitation even washed most of the caked-on mud off our famously-filthy Prado…


Sadly the windscreen was still pretty smeared!
But stick with me, and try and look beyond it to the knoll ahead.
It’s covered in a native shrub – known as grass trees or as they are technically referred to ‘xanthorrhoea‘ … sorry, but that sounds more like a messy medical epidemic than flora to me!
*slaps own hand*

They are a wild and ancient-looking plant, even more so when they grow their long spear (which I guess is kinda like their flower) annually. They were once referred to as ‘blackboys‘ which is now considered completely politically incorrect. I can imagine though, at first glance, they must have appeared to early settlers a little like grass-skirted figures leaning on a spear, with one leg tucked up. In some areas, these plants are called Yakka and it is believed that some Aboriginal tribes actually used the long spikes as fishing spears. Whatever their name, I find them utterly fascinating. They seem like a landscape designer’s dream – simple and artistically crazy at the same time!
…
And speaking of crazy, here’s another thing that caught my eye on our journey.
I badgered Mr Incredible to STOP THE CAR immediately when we spotted these guys enjoying a bit of a kip under a stand of gum trees in a roadside paddock as we drove along the highway.
Now perhaps I am over-reacting, but to this little Aussie the very LAST thing I expect to see in a country paddock out here, are deer.
Cattle, absolutely.
Horses, of course.
Kangaroos, sometimes.
Emus, occasionally.
Rabbits, for sure.

But deer?
That’s just downright queer!
Where are we? Norway?

Yes Bambi & buddies…

I am looking at you!
…
Apparently someone once had a brain explosion (and a deer farm) somewhere in the area, and had a little, er, trouble keeping their charges inside the fences. And the ancestors of those original escapees still roam farmland just helping themselves to grass, shade and water.
And freaking the hell out of passers by.
And causing them to stop their vehicles suddenly to take photos.
“Sorry inspector, the accident wasn’t my fault, I saw a stray feral deer!”
Not really, but it’s only a matter of time!
This is the road leading back to Granite Glen.
I look at this view almost every time I come home from anywhere… and I love it.
It’s not bizarre and freaky.
It’s gentle and sweeping and familiar and reassuring.
It speaks to me.
(You can hum John Denver any time you like!)
Of course I didn’t ask Mr Incredible to stop the car for this photo.
He puts up with pausing a road trip for pics of deer, the occasional babbling brook and even grass-tree infested knolls. I assure him that he is definitely in the running for Husband of the Year. But expecting him to stop for me to shoot sweeping dirt roads that I see almost every day? If I even look sideways, he just shakes his head. So the photo above was actually taken today (on the way home from kindy). And my sleeping little passenger didn’t complain at all about the delay!
These are the faces we most often get greeted with as we cross the grid near the Granite Glen house… meet Cherokee and Sampson. Mr Incredible didn’t mind stopping for their portraits – they are in his team of steeds and therefore quite photo-worthy. Plus it’s not far to the house.
…
This pair are sticky-beaks and characters and like breaking into the house yard to leave piles of round green calling cards on my lawn… so I guess they don’t fit the ‘strange’ criteria in the heading for this post…
But then, just we crest the ridge as the house is about to come into view…

Roly-Poly Shorty-Naughty Rob Roy.

The strangest little animal of them all.

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16 Comments

  • Tami
    February 25, 2009 at 12:42 am Reply

    Love love love that pony. If I ever make it to Australia, I’ll give you a head up so you can put Rob Roy under high security. Cause I would be so very tempted to highjack him and smuggle him through customs.

    He is just so darn cute….I can hardly stand it. If he gets any rounder he will be giving the Thelwell pony a run for it’s money.

  • Andrea
    February 25, 2009 at 12:55 am Reply

    I am always amazed at how beautiful it is down there!! Those trees on the hillside. And your road leading back to your place. Sigh……..

    And Rob Roy…what a little stud muffin!! He is too cute!!

  • Mom L
    February 25, 2009 at 1:38 am Reply

    Well, I for one am GLAD you stopped for the winding road picture! I would love to see that every day on the way home instead of my small city neighborhood!!!
    Nancy in Atlanta (well, Marietta…)

  • Sabra
    February 25, 2009 at 2:41 am Reply

    BB, your photos are SO beautiful. That winding road picture is the epitome of peaceful green wandering. Isn’t it amazing how we look at what someone else sees everyday and think “Oh, how wonderful!” but only occasionally stop ourselves to really SEE what we see everyday. Luckily for me, here in Western North Carolina there are plenty of those moments.

  • Reddirt Woman
    February 25, 2009 at 5:39 am Reply

    How beautiful is the land you live in… down under on the other side of my world. Were there any deer originally, or were they imported and just got loose and spread? Excuse my ignorance, but even at my age I still try to learn about other things. But then I figure that’s part of why we blog and read blogs… to learn and to teach. You can post pics of those gorgeous horses any time, and RobRoy is working his way up to being a Thelwell pony. Oh, how I loved those stories and pictures.

    Thanks BB…

    Helen

  • Jayne
    February 25, 2009 at 8:45 am Reply

    Hmm, feral deer in Oz…!
    Tis a pain in the rear in Vic and NSW mountain ranges.
    Just remember – they make a lovely venison steak on the barbie when no ones looking lol.
    Love your photos, as always 🙂

  • Bush Babe
    February 25, 2009 at 8:46 am Reply

    Helen – no deer are not native to Australia. Indeed I have only ever seen one deer farm around rural Queensland and it’s nowhere near here. I believe these deer are wild – that’s the general consensus from those I have spoken to in the area I took the pics (about 80km from GG). I thought I was hallucinating (sp?) when I first saw them running along train tracks about six months ago. This was only the second time I have spotted them since we have been here.

    Glad y’all liked my sweeping road… makes me smile every time I see it!

    Everyone else – Rob Roy is not for sale. And good luck to anyone trying to steal him – he’ll eat you out of house and home!!!!

  • Pony Girl
    February 25, 2009 at 3:34 pm Reply

    I didn’t know that deer are not native to Australia, either! They are interesting looking deer too, they look like a reindeer cross or something! 😉
    That little Rob Roy is adorable! I’m thinking he looks a little unfed, though, LOL!
    You always take such great pics BB!

  • Kate
    February 26, 2009 at 2:38 am Reply

    Those grass trees are so cool! I’ve never seen anything like them before. You guys just have the coolest stuff there (i won’t mention the numerous poisonous critters…). And i gotta say that those deer are darn cute! They are much cuter and very different from the deer around here. Which i see everyday alive and dead on the road. It’s sad to see them dead but there are soooo many of them. Of course that is our fault because we killed all of the natural predators… but that is a different story 🙂

    Anyway very cool trees and very cute dear and very cute Rob Roy and Cherokee and Sampson are gorgeous horses! You should probably talk about them more 🙂

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