01/06/2026
Welcome to a not so windy Monday Night Post!
Well that was fun, not! Winds in excess of 110kmph and sustained winds for about 24 hours over or around 80kmph. Plenty of rain but not as much as I thought. I think it was blowing sideways and didn't hit the ground here. Lots of branches, leaf litter and sticks on the ground over the roads. Coastal areas eroded pretty badly in some local areas. Boats washed up which is no real surprise in Rockingham area. We were lucky with no really damage at all. A couple of pot plants fell over, my granny smith apple tree fell over and that was it. It did push my pizza oven about 3 metres across the decking though. Which is kinda crazy with that weighing about 30+ kilos. I spent all day Saturday cleaning up and moving stuff around the other side of the house in preparation. And tying things down. Glad I did.
Today though it was quite nice. Much lighter winds, big periods of sunshine and a few light sprinkles. SO after I spent all mornign cutting back the apple tree and relocating it AND cleanign up a heap of leaf litter, I headed ot the beach in search of the elusive Blue Dragons. Sad to say, still havent foudn them, yet. I did end up int e carpark looking on the eucalyptus trees and spotted some ants and tiny flies on some scale insect activity. Then I saw a tiny, little, speck moving and hiding, moving and hiding. It was a teeny, tiny Cymbacha ocellata. A small species of crab spider that are really quite ornate. They do come in a fair range of colour morphs but this one was a little ripper blending in with her surroundings. Pic tonight is one of her in a hiding spot on a small stem of a branch looking directly at the flies and ants.
I hope the Sandgropers in the group are all ok and got through unscathed or relatively so. It's been a while since we have had a good one like that and I am not keen for the next. Anyways, back to work tomorrow after this windy long weekend. I will be back Wednesday with a Mid Week post. Until then, Happy Snapping! :-)