A Grand Day Out!

On Sunday, we had a nice little outing when we travelled up the Blackall range to the township of Maleny. There was a poultry show on up there, which I had entered my little black pullet into, but then I had to withdraw her when she prolapsed. We still stopped in to view the other birds in the show as well, and that was well worth the trip to see some beautiful poultry. I didn't think to take any photos of the poultry while I was there even though I had my iPhone with me and could easily have done so. It was quite crowded in the sheds and I didn't want to be in anyone's way. You can see pictures of some of the winners at the Poultry Matters Forum.

After looking around at the poultry show, we went into the township of Maleny to take a look at the Sunday Markets and to have some lunch. I got my camera out at the markets to snap photos of the beautiful cupcakes one of the stallholders had on offer.

Maleny township is a very pretty place and has some unique sculptures in the main street. The town is in the middle of a thriving dairy district, so these sculptures are quite appropriate.

I don't know what the sculpture is called, but I called it Metallicows.

We ended our trip with a delicious seafood lunch at Captain Merv's Seafood Cafe 

Related articles

• Showing Poultry (myfanwe.wordpress.com)
• Not So Good Friday (myfanwe.wordpress.com)

Spring Approaches

There are lots of signs in the garden at the moment that spring is on its way. I was delighted this morning when I went outside and took a deep breath, smelling the apple and plum blossoms on the air. It is so wonderful to see the plum tree which had done a convincing impersonation of death all winter, bursting into bud a few days ago, and then, today...

Another sure sign of spring in our garden is when the Pheasant Coucal returns. Although it looks like a pheasant, it is actually a variety of Cuckoo which nests in our yard each year. We really know spring is approaching when this bird shows up.

These birds have a soft, haunting call which carries a long distance. You can hear samples of the calls at the link above. I feel very privileged to have got these photos as this bird is extremely shy and we only see it very occasionally.

And of course, spring/summer would just not be complete without dear little Willie Wagtail!