God powered puter, how neat!! But we have to pay for ISDN access, no broadband is available here. Satellite is actually slow and expensive, so my husband says. If dear beloved husband could get the ladder and realign the antenna, we would have full colour TV on all channels, but he is lazy, so our best documentary channels are black and white. The nearest shopping mall is 20 mins drive away, not too bad, and if I want to go to the big city it is an hour each way. There are little country shops within 10 mins drive, but they are way more expensive than the supermarkets. As for new plants, well I've made a deal with the local organic veggie seedling + herb salesman, and I get what I want very cheaply. My whole herb business is designed to be self sufficient, so I never pay more than wholesale price, and I frequently get lotsa cuttings for free.. Without boasting, I could say I'm a smart lady

Gee thanks everyone for your efforts in identifying my tree snake. And yep! - that's him alright - so he's the Green Tree Snake. Was a bit worried about the rear-fanged warning Bambi John, as I'd always thought him harmless - but I did suspect he was after the frogs in my broms, the greedy thing. Leave my frogs alone! However, sorry frogs, I'd rather he bite the frogs than me, so I'll be wary with my close-up photography in future John. Tomas, I'd swap your pidgeons for our crows (and lethal brown snakes and funnelweb spiders) any day! Geckos are dear creatures. Sander - you win the bet, we don't have 150 buses going past each day LOL Hope you do really like them! Actually we do have 1 school bus go by each week day (with about 5 kids on it), and about once a week we get a small busload of tourists, mostly Japanese, or European hippies, go by on their way to a nearby waterfall and rainforest national park. Our joke on them is a life-like-but-concrete kangaroo, complete with joey in pouch, positioned on a grassy hill in our front paddock. The tourist bus driver enjoys and shares the joke, so when a passenger calls out "There's a kangaroo!!!", he squeals on the brakes, they all pile out, and snap away with their cameras, then excitedly pile back into the bus, and off they go again. We watch this from our front verandah with great amusement. To this day, our concrete kangaroo probably features in many photo albums, believed to be the real thing! LOL Bambi John, that's certainly an interesting passion and job you have with all those birds, animals, and reptiles. Thanks for sharing that with us. I really enjoyed reading about it. And lovely to hear of such a happy long-term union with your understanding wife. Most people remember the length of their marriage by the age of their kids, not their Amazonian parrots! The platypus is not as timid as generally believed, and I'm sure they are of no threat to humans. But sadly the occasional fox is a threat to the platypus. And no blue-ringed octopus here either as you'd realise. We are inland, and our creek is fresh water. I hope your dream comes true one day of coming to our huge and diverse land - there is always a bed here for any gardenwebbers. And Gonzer, yes our land (and sea) is full of deadly creatures, so gardening is certainly an adventure - especially here in "the bush". But I reckon there are heaps more deaths and injuries from traffic accidents in the urban-jungle, don't you? Cheers, Kerry

Hi everybody! I didn't realize this forum (Cacti in Oz) existed I'd like to take a moment to invite you all to visit the Cacti and Succulents forum. I don't see any names here that I recognize so I think many of you have not tried us out. We have people from all over the world, including South Africa, giving advice and ID's, sharing unique species. Myself, I'm a bit of a Mesemb nut. There are many very knowledgeable people and we would welcome the new voices. I'd be very interested to see if any of you have native Australian succulents. Nobody else has shared them but I know they exist. I don't see why we should be separate. Please come check us out and tell them hanz sent you.

Thanks chas Grevillea have beautiful flowers that one is endemic to our area I grow more plants from the seeds. I was given some seeds of the white Grevillea banksii two years ago and I am hoping that it will flower this year as I have never seen it in real life.. Inga Thank you once again.. I used to post photos a lot once but no one replied so I joined another Australian Forum I often post on GW US site I put Orchids on this week for ID. My roses are blooming at present as I grow them in our Winter, and let them go into dormancy in the Summer when it is too hot.. I will post some tomorrow for you promise.. Here is one I took this during the week *Renae and Friends * I love bees.. You have a wonderful day too Cheers...Misty