Nimbin's own Mardi Grass

- a few snap-shots from the annual Nimbin cannabis reform rally, first weekend in May. Don't touch the stuff myself, but - like it or loath it - its part of the local culture and brings a lot of tourists to Nimbin.

A nice bit of pot art!

Above: Inflatable spliffs, whatever next!

Below: The Parade, lead by local Bundjalung people

The fabulous Ganja Faeries, shaking their groove thang!

Jake & Charlie in Aus: Part I

Jake & Charlie in the view from Mt Nardi look-out overlooking the Nimbin Valley. The big hill/mountain in the background is Blue Knob and we live just on the other side of the left slope.

The view from Calurla, with Mt Warning just visible in the haze. Jake, Charlie, Tam, Jen & Milly all stayed here last weekend, looking after Andrea & Bob's three beautiful dogs and taking care of their guest chalets - it was hard, but someone had to do it!

Above, Andrea & Bob's gorgeous house that Jake & Charlie resided (Tam, Milly & I had our own cottage with huge veranda). Below, the rather large garden at Calurla, and I'm VERY happy to be with my boy!













As many of you will of course know, Jake is at his happiest when there's food involved (or when he's drumming - hmmm could he indulge in both at the same time!?). Here he is, cooking a lovely dinner for us at Calurla - note the classic heritage Aussie stove area!

Keeping the dogs and the boy exercised!

Charlie meets a Wallaby - this a Peggy who was rescued (probably after being hit by a car), nurtured back to health and released back into the wild at our friends Tony & Lesley's place. She is utterly tame, has reared her own young since being released and Charlie & Jake met her the other day. What a beautiful moment.

Below: what a lovely fella and a great gob cut, if a little on the generous size! Given the shirt, it was essential that Jake should fell a tree, and so the sickly palm which was getting in the way of the view of Nimbin Rocks simply had to go!































Jake is no longer a felling virgin!

Charlie & Jake have also spent a week in Sydney in a swanky hotel seeing all the sites; spent 11 hours on a train travelling up the East Coast of Australia; experienced the unique Nimbin Mardi Grass; hung out in Byron where they met up with EJ & caught a fair number of Pacific Ocean waves, got a bit of a tan going, drank strangely named cocktails and stayed at the Arts Factory. Yesterday they visited Currumbin wild-life sanctuary, held a koala (with photos to prove it), became entirely drenched in quite heavy rain, got marooned in Murwullumbah, stayed in a cheap hotel, bought cheap pyjamas from Crazy Clerks, splattered ketchup all over the hotel ceiling and returned this morning entirely unscathed to find Pythagorus the Python (named by Tab) lurking on the veranda, much to Jake's delight and EJ's utter horror.

A random shot taken when Jake & Charlie treated me to a coffee in Nimbin the other day. I love the women in the background striking that classic 'having a good gossip' pose! I also love the beautiful Charlie aka Ms Bananas, especially when she's havin' a good laugh!

Carpet Python hangs out!

This fella is a carpet python, approximately 7' long, physically harmless to humans (possibly psychologically harmful to EJ!), but lethal to chickens, small mammals and marsupials, etc. He/She will bite, constrict & crush their prey. They will then dislocate their own jaws & slowly consume their victim. After which they find a cosy safe spot to sleep it off for a few weeks, with the tell tale compacted lump gradually reducing in size as digested.

Hmmmm? Good dinner party talk!

And this fella is currently lazing on our veranda directly above the dining table.

























Beautiful patterns, handy zoom on camera!




Hurrah - Jake & Charlie are here with us in Australia, as are Auntie EJ and Auntie Kerry (Tab's sister and my sister respectively). Here we are enjoying a happy Sunday morning photo opportunity after a rather large brunch on the veranda.

My how Jake's grown! As have my hips, clearly.











And here's the same spot on the veranda two days later with resident python and Milly (helpfully posing in the shot for scale! Watch out Milly!).









Hmmm?
I wonder how EJ will feel about the veranda now.... it WAS her safe haven from all things creepy and scary.... ('scarey' corrected following Tab's helpful comment)