Catch Up Photos- Ziggy the Macawa and Luna at Floriade

Have been a bit slack with my blog lately here are some photos I meant to put up but never got around to.

 Who would have believed a year ago that Luna would allow this to happen without eating the birds!

 We discovered Ziggy loves mandarin- he is a bit messy though!

 Ziggy and his messy mandarins

  Strawberries are another favourite

  Amy and I went to dog day at Floriade with Luna- it was awfully hot so we didn't stay long but the  flowers were lovely.

 Amy and Luna

Mum's 80th Birthday

We traveled down to Melbourne for mum's 80th birthday. Amy ended up staying at home as her Eclectus Parrots had been sick and at the vet for about a week so she needed to stay home and care for them. Bill, Lachlan and I drove down Friday morning and with 3 drivers it wasn't too bad a trip!

We helped set up Friday night, we had the party at the retirement village where mum lives, they have a lovely communal area which had everything we needed, pool table, table tennis table, sound system and big screen for all those family photos and a baby grand piano which meant we could be serenaded by Joshua- it was a great venue. Mum had organised a spit roast company to cater so most of the work was done for us.

  Setting up the room the night before.

 Mum and a lovely bunch of flowers from the retirement village for her 80th 

 Mum and her flowers and her cake

 Josh played the piano and Natalie played the violin as part of the entertainment

 Mum with 11 of her 13 grand children

 Kim, Gary, Mum, Sue, Simon and Michael

 As above with Jeff and Fiona Goss who came over from Adelaide

 Filomena, Leeanne, Mum, Sue, Bindi and Arlene

Mum with her son in law - Bill and the daughter in laws

Apollo Bay, Daylesford Holiday With Mum

Bill and I were booked to go down to Lorne to do the Amy Gillet Great Ocean Road Ride but due to work commitments Bill couldn't come- I decided I wasn't going to miss it so ended up going down and taking mum- she hadn't been on a holiday for a while- poor thing! I drove down to Melbourne, stayed overnight with mum at Berwick then the next day we drove down to Sorrento and caught the ferry across to Queenscliffe-something I have always wanted to do.

 We stopped for a late lunch at Airies Inlet- this is the lighthouse they filmed the ABC show- 'Around the Twist'

 View of the Great Ocean Road from Lorne to Apollo Bay. I got to ride along this on a closed road- no cars- with 5,800 other riders- it was magic and the weather was superb! I was very lucky.

Saw quite a few waterfalls in the Otways- the one above and below are the Erskine Falls just out of Lorne.

 The photo above and below are of a Californian Redwood Plantation up in the Otway Ranges on our way up to the Otway Fly. It was such a peaceful place.

 Here is an Otway Black Snail

 Walking through the forest at the Otway Fly

View of Apollo Bay at Mariner's Look Out

 We went up to a Goat Farm just outside of Apollo Bay. It was a lovely sunny morning and when we arrived the owners where letting there 5 day old kids outside for the first time. The little kids were so cute, frolicking around in the sun. They were all having trouble working out who there mothers were!

 View of the beach from the end of our street at Apollo Bay

 We went for a walk in Melba Gully, mum remember stopping here on a family holiday when she was 12 years old.

 We drove from Apollo Bay to Warrnambool, We stopped off at the usual spots, 12 apostles, Londons Bridge, The Arch. Mum thinks it was about 35 years since she had been down this section of the Great Ocean Road.

After spending the night at Warnambool with friends, we drove across to Daylesford where we stayed for two nights. It was a pretty town nestled in the forest and valley had a lovely time exploring the area and even discovered a yummy chocolate factory out in the bush.

Had some lovely walks around Lake Daylesford and sampled some of the spring water - which I didn't like all that much!

 Town Hall at Daylesford

 Mount Franklin - an extinct volcano and just down the road from the Chocolate Mill. I suggested to Amy that she move here, they were advertising jobs at the chocolate factory, nearby was a Wildlife rescue centre she could work at as well, she could find a nice place to house all her birds and for her to live and I could come visit her for holidays!

Convent Gardens and Gallery above, an old Convent and boarding school converted to an Art Gallery- we really enjoyed wandering through here and the views from the windows.

On Friday we drove back to Melbourne via the St Erth Gardens and Blackwood, tucked away in the forest, we spent a lovely hour wandering through the gardens and got a few seeds and plants. Was fun exploring a new area and driving new roads. Was a wonderful holiday.

Meet Ziggy- Latest Member of the Frost Family

Meet Ziggy- Amy's blue and gold Macaw- that she got last weekend from Forbes. Ziggy is a 5 month old hand raised macaw and he is very cute and very friendly. He has settled in really well and Beau and Lyra the eclectus parrots seem to be getting used to him. Benji and Jack didn't react much, Luna the Malamute was very interested- more just wanting to play and has gotten used to having yet another bird to keep an eye on.

Here Bill is feeding both Beau and Ziggy sunflower seeds they were both happy to eat out of the same hand.

Ziggy on Amy's arm. He is a lot bigger than the the other birds, but is still a baby. He nods his head and lifts one wing all the time- means he wants attention or food according to Amy. He confidently flies around the house-still has a bit of fine tuning to do- a bit clumsy and awkward but he is only 5 months. He seems to have settled in very well and Amy loves that he is so cuddly and happy.

New Bird Perch and Crickets

 Here is Jack with Lyra and Beau sitting on him- it doesn't seem to phase him, he just keeps lying there!

 Amy found these Salt and Vinegar Crickets for sale down at the corner shop- I was not going to try them but she did!

  

Said they tasted like flavorless rice crackers- I still didn't bother trying them- she only had one, even the dogs didn't like them!

Operation Bird Aviary

Amy and Bill went halves in a bird aviary- it was a bit of an operation to get it here but Amy organised everyone, got the Little Green Truck with a driver and  and a few friends and picked up this bird aviary for the back yard. I think the plan is for her birds to got out there some of the time to get some fresh air and sunshine. She did well getting everything organised- I stayed out of the way and went for a ride. Stage 2 is to move the bird aviary the other side of the fence which will require Lachlan unbolting the panel from the fence, however he has been working 6 days a week for the last few weeks so we need to wait till he has a bit of time at home!