I want to introduce you to a few new friends I’ve made recently.

The first day we met I woke up early in the morning to the sound of tapping. In my sleepy haze I had a moment of panic, leaning of the side of the platform to peer down below… was someone trying to climb up? No. I settled back into the swag and there it was again, a tapping sound. I looked around, couldn’t see anything, looked under the platform again… nothing. Then I saw her, peek out from behind my solar panel. Carra the Carrawong. I tried ever so quietly to reach for my camera, but she wasn’t fooled. She noticed the movement and off she went. The next morning, she was there again. And once again avoided any photography. On the third morning, she was a bit more curious and a little less timid of me. I managed to capture a few pics of her as she made her way closer and closer into my house.

This is Lizzie. We met on my very first day up here. And like Carra, Lizzie was camera shy to start with. She liked to hang out on the trunk of the tree just where the platform is. But whenever I got out my camera she’d scuttle away. Lizzie became more and more confident with me over time. And it wasn’t long before my tree sit became part of her home too. She enjoyed exploring all around my sit. Sometimes she would see me watching her and sit and watch me for awhile too. Eventually, she seemed content that I was safe and started hanging out with me more often. Then one day I had a realisation – Lizzie wasn’t always the same Lizzie! I noticed one time that her colour was a different shade to the rest of her, like she has lost her tail and it has grown back. The next time I said hello to Lizzie I saw a tail unmarked. So that is how I met Lizzie number 2. Now called Dizzie. And then, not long after I noticed another lizard, slightly smaller than Dizzie, and that is how I met Skinks. Prehaps there are actually hundreds of different lizards? I don’t know, but as time goes on I guess I begin to notice their subtle differences.

This morning Dizzie came running wildly along the inside of the gutter, hurtling towards the end…. Oh no! I cried out. But it was too late. I couldn’t believe it. I sat sitting watching the space where I had seen him plummeting to the ground… it is a very long way down for a little lizard. Not a fall he would be likely to survive. I sat there in shock and devastation. And then suddenly…. Dizzie pops his little face up from the side of the gutter!!! I have never been so happy to see a pair of little lizard eyes! I realised that he must have skidded at the end and pushed the dead leaves out from the gutter… fluttering to the ground. Ah…. I sighed with relief.

Ok, well, I’m not sure if I’d actually say we friends. I guess I’m not the best friend to these guys, because I never really want to hang out! But I feel like if I make an effort to be friendly and give them names I’ll feel a little less intimidated by them. Well, really they don’t all have names. There are far too many. Mostly I just call them all Spidey. Though there is one particular one that as his own name. Mr Scarry Legs. He lives in a little hole in the side of the tree, beside the platform. I think he really should have chosen a bigger house, to be honest, because his little legs are always sticking out! That’s all I ever see of him, these black legs poking out of the hole. He must be off on adventures during the day because his legs only appear as the sun begins to set. (I haven’t managed to get a good photo of him yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know).

Hope you enjoyed meeting some of my Observer Tree friends!

In other exciting news… my tree is beginning to flower! I took a photo the other day of the very first flower to appear on my tree.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Miranda