DAM, IT WAS GOOD...

 Recently, I stopped by Ewen Maddock Dam to visit the bush track to the dam near Landsborough.  It was very peaceful but we hadn't had much rain at the time and most of the area was very dry with water holes dried up, although the dam itself still had plenty of water.  Since then, it's rained a fair bit so I might revisit shortly to see if there's much difference.   I was gob-smacked by the beautiful young banksia I found (above) mainly because most of the banksia there was those horrible "bad banksia men" type of plant; all dried and ugly. I've always loathed them thanks to May Gibbs and her otherwise delightful stories. But this one, growing out of its crown of furry, red fingers, was startling in such company.  I'm using it as my facebook profile pic at the moment and it has caused some rude comments about its shape.  Honestly, some people can see lewdness all around them.

 I was felt a bit trepidatious as I set forth alone; not because of any worry about lurking muggers, but snakes! The walkway is quite wide and parts of it are boarded. When I heard a loud rustle in the long grass I braced myself to run but then saw that it was no snake but this goanna.  I had apparently interrupted his sunbaking on the path and he had seen/heard me before I saw him and beat it into the scrub.  

Then he climbed a tree and played hide and seek with me so that I couldn't get a good snap, keeping the trunk of the tree between me and him as I moved. 

The next reptile I saw was not threatening at all and very cute; he bravely stood his ground while I sneaked closer to get a better shot.

There were tiny little birds everywhere, flitting around, singing sweetly; but very difficult to see amongst the foliage.  I managed a few shots of these two birds but, typically, only managed the backs of their heads in focus.  

I include the out-of-focus shot just to show his face. [edit: 7 years on, I can tell you this one is an eastern yellow robin and the black and white bird below is a leaden flycatcher]

This guy kept the trees between me and him at all times as well.

The dam is quite shallow and marshy with all the reeds, weeds and water lillies there; perhaps next time I'll take some galoshes. 

 I was puzzled by the bands of "something" I could see 
on the dam until I cropped the large photo I had, to 
discover they were groups of tiny white water lillies.

 Perhaps I should have kept this fellow for my "What's This?" posts because I have no idea what it is. I thought it was a type of grass tree but can't find anything that looks like this.  The stem is about 6ft high and grows from a grassy knob like lomandra. 

Another candidate for the "What's This?" is this lovely yellow reed-like plant which was growing on the edge of the dam.

 Lots of dragon flies around, of course, and this fellow was very cooperative, sitting still for a few minutes, although he was quite a long away from me.

And finally, what could be more Australian than some scribbly gum? Although, it may not actually be scribbly gum.  Just a eucalyptus that an insect or slug is trying to consume.  Not sure that they're all the same as mentioned here. I have posted about the red triangle slug which also makes scribbly trails on trees.