Hello again everyone
I cannot believe how quickly time is flying at the moment. It feels like we moved just yesterday, yet we've been here for half a month. I am absolutely loving every day!
The atmosphere here is completely different to the city. Where we stayed previously there was a constant sound of traffic, especially in the mornings. Here the loudest sound in the evenings is the singing of crickets and bird song in the morning. Mornings that greet you with vivid sunrises.
Apart from the odd dog barking, it is deafeningly quiet. The kind of quiet that allows you to hear your own pulse. It is quite astonishing to realize just how much noise pollution there is in general when living in a densely populated area.
We are still unpacking our belongings and finding places for everything, but in-between I am seeking each opportunity to capture the diversity and beauty of this place. There are numerous critters in our garden that intrigue me. This spider-hunting wasp was an interesting find while I was watering our mint plant. It had already paralyzed it's prey and was struggling somewhat to get airborne. These wasps lay their eggs on these paralyzed (but still alive) spiders and then the larvae eat the spider when they hatch. It's a rather brutal part of the ecosystem in my opinion, but fascinating to see a wasp with it's prey.
I was quite happy to capture these photos with a zoom lens because I didn't want to disturb the wasp and make it loose it's prey but I also didn't really want to get too close to a territorial wasp. My daughter on the other hand is rather fearless and wanted to see it up close, needless to say some re-direction was required to distract her so that the wasp could go about it's business.
We've been having some cooler weather after a whopping 38 degrees C, followed by two days of thunderstorms and rain.
The garden really enjoyed that and soaked it up into the clay like earth in what seemed like a matter of minutes.
Being a semi-arid region, you start to become very water conscious and recycle water wherever possible. Due to the plumbing arrangement in the garage, we weren't able to hook up our washing machine and I've decided to handwash our laundry in the bath as the water then runs off onto the back lawn. This has saved us water as we are using less to water the grass as well as electricity as we aren't running the machine, so I feel that the time spent handwashing is worth the saving.
It's quite amazing what a little bit of water can do here. As soon as we were watering the plants regularly, we were gifted with the most beautiful arrays of flowers within days, and this in turn brought in some honey and carpenter bees eager to collect pollen.
We even had a visit from a dragonfly, the first one I've been able to get a good shot of. I'll definitely be looking this one up to identify the species.
The day geckos are still extremely skittish but I've persevered in trying to capture their rather comical expressions and peek-a-boo type antics. They really don't seem to like the sound of the camera shutter.
On the other hand, their lazier cousin - the skink - was quite happy to flatten itself out in the lavender bush to soak up some sunlight without worrying much about me at all.
Of course they disappear very quickly when my daughter recognizes that I might be photographing a creature she likes. She is exceptionally gentle with the creatures that she finds so I never really worry about her looking for critters with me, although she wants to make friends with all of them which often leads to her great disappointment when they scurry away.
A few days ago we ventured out to a close by plant nursery called KarooTuin and even though it is a very small establishment, we were overwhelmed by the variety of plants they had.
Photo credit: R van der Sandt (my husband)
Fruit trees of all kinds, ornamentals, succulents, creepers, even water plants. The plants were exceptionally well cared for and the staff were friendly and approachable. Our daughter found some interesting worms, one of which she insisted had to come home with us - she asked permission from the nursery assistant and was delighted when she got the go-ahead to rehome it. I still want to look this one up as it has an interesting defense mechanism, extruding two long, bright red feelers when alarmed. I unfortunately was not able to capture the behavior with my camera.
With the second week coming to a close, I sat in the garden reflecting on the value in simplicity. Being able to appreciate the small things around me that most people probably take for granted or don't even notice. It was in this moment that while looking around, I spotted a very well-camouflaged nesting site of a mousebird. She was quietly eyeing me and keeping a very low profile. I had not noticed her or this nest previously, but I'll be keeping an eye on it from now on. It's about 5meters up in the middle of a massive palm tree.
Living here has had a large impact in a very short space of time on our entire family, but for me personally, I could not have wished for a better space to find some solitude, some breathing space and a reset for my soul.
I hope that you all enjoy following some of the highlights of this journey with me. More adventures await :)