On a sunny day, that rust-coloured casuarina, beyond the orchard, would be humming with bees - now it is silent but for the steady drip of rain sliding down its needles to the creek below. The garden itself is in transition; autumn sowings of peas and brassicas and onions are beginning to sprout, while the corn and pumpkins continue to ripen.
The pumpkins seem to have enjoyed the long hot summer - all self sown, and turning up all over the garden.
The garden is thick with all the usual birds, feasting on the bounty that warm weather brings, and the migrants are wandering through as well - the grey fantails have been dancing about in the bushes and along the vegie beds.
The Grey Fantail, subtle cousin to the exuberant Willy Wagtail
In this part of Australia, Autumn is probably the finest season - it is abundant, beautiful, and comfortable. The soil is still warm, the work of Spring and Summer is coming to fruition as the pumpkins and corn cobs swell, and the apples attain their perfect colours.
A leaf curling spider has found a perfect place amid the corn.
Beans, tomatoes, and zucchinis lurk in every corner of the vegetable beds and the trees, even as they prepare for Winter, are putting out one last spurt of growth. Every season has its own beauty, but Autumn, after the searing heat and dry wind of Summer, though anticipating the frost and the snow to come, is the happiest of times.
As the weather eases, and moisture returns to the bush and the gardens, we can again indulge in the luxury of a campfire in the backyard, without fear of alarming the neighbours or the local fire brigade.
Even a soggy King Parrot makes a great addition to an Oak Tree in Autumn
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