Friday 30 December 2011

Jottings from the Tropics: 30 Dec 2011


The monsoon low formerly known as Tropical Cyclone Grant has cleared Cape York Peninsula and is now over the Coral Sea. There is a vague possibility that the system will reintensify during the weekend, but whatever it does, it will continue to track east and become Somebody Else’s Problem. 

Given the frequency with which cyclones form in Australian waters, the meteorologists at the cyclone centre must have an interesting time coming up with names. Doubly so for those who are new parents. The next name on the list is Heidi. After that, Iggy. Will we get as far as Tropical Cyclone Narelle this season?

-  o O o  -

Brisk south-easterlies are knocking down branches. The blue quandongs are particularly susceptible. They shed limbs under such mild conditions that it is surprising they manage to spread out at all.  One flatulent possum could take out half the canopy.

A branch dropped near me during my morning stroll down the driveway. When I picked it up, I noticed that yet another stinging tree had sprouted through the leaf litter and would have to be removed. I am designing a stinging tree extractor modelled on the army bomb disposal robot. 

-  o O o  -

Before returning to the garden, I donned a safety helmet. It is bright yellow — safety yellow — to make it easier for ambulance officers to find me under a pile of quandong branches dislodged by a dyspeptic ringtail.

Since I’ve been wearing this helmet, the brush turkeys have treating me with what I can only describe as diffidence. I believe the expanse of yellowness — of a similar shade to the male turkey’s wattle — has them cowed. When the weather gets cooler, I wil test this hypothesis by wearing a red balaclava and a yellow cravat and recording the outcome.