The scenery and animals definitely add much to the enjoyment. Although, for some sad reason I have given in to the stereotype that everything in those countries will try to kill me. I haven't recovered from that yet.

Oh groan, I knew someone would bring that up. Honestly, I've lived in Australia most of my life — well, the first 30 years of it anyway — and I can assure you, that stereotype is heavily, heavily exaggerated. Unless you're way out in the bush or the outback somewhere, you have almost zero chance of even seeing, let alone getting attacked by, most of our "deadly dangerous" creatures. I think we just make a big deal of them to scare off all the tourists.

If you ever do come to Australia, I'm sure you'll love it. Melbourne and many of the surrounding areas (especially along the coast) are particularly beautiful, not that I'm at all biased, of course.

Back to the weather, it's been lovely and mild and warm and sunny all Easter weekend here in the UK, but it's supposed to turn quite cold again tomorrow. Probably typical for April, I suppose.

After a late breakfast and egg hunt with the kids this morning, I happened to notice that our forecasted cold front was between where I live (60F) and where my parents live an hour away (39F). My husband and I scrambled to get outside and throw everything warm we could find over our plants. Everything has buds on it and it's supposed to get down into the 20Fs overnight tonight...well below freezing. It's funny, I don't think of having very many plants until I have to cover them all. We even attempted to cover our cherry tree, which was...interesting.

Hoping this will be the last blast of winter until next Fall.

Honestly, I've lived in Australia most of my life — well, the first 30 years of it anyway — and I can assure you, that stereotype is heavily, heavily exaggerated. Unless you're way out in the bush or the outback somewhere, you have almost zero chance of even seeing, let alone getting attacked by, most of our "deadly dangerous" creatures.

This sounds like Kansas and tornadoes.

Honestly, I've lived in Australia most of my life — well, the first 30 years of it anyway — and I can assure you, that stereotype is heavily, heavily exaggerated. Unless you're way out in the bush or the outback somewhere, you have almost zero chance of even seeing, let alone getting attacked by, most of our "deadly dangerous" creatures.

This sounds like Kansas and tornadoes.

Well, they do have something of a reputation down your way...

But seriously, I never hear anyone wailing that they're terrified of visiting the US because of all the scary deadly dangerous creatures there. Yet you have rattlesnakes, bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, alligators... obviously not all in the same place (any more than Australia's "deadly" creatures are all found in one place), but you probably have just about as many potentially dangerous animals in America as we do in Australia. But most of us from outside realise that attacks from them are quite rare and you're not likely to get into trouble with any of those critters unless you go wandering in fairly wild areas without knowing what you're doing. Exactly the same with Australian wildlife, and yet ours has this insane reputation. I don't quite understand that.

Hope your plants all survive the cold snap and it's the last you have to worry about for a while!

Oh groan, I knew someone would bring that up. Honestly, I've lived in Australia most of my life — well, the first 30 years of it anyway — and I can assure you, that stereotype is heavily, heavily exaggerated. Unless you're way out in the bush or the outback somewhere, you have almost zero chance of even seeing, let alone getting attacked by, most of our "deadly dangerous" creatures. I think we just make a big deal of them to scare off all the tourists.

I'm so sorry. I know it's horrible I have let myself be influenced by such bad illustrations

I believe you when you say I will probably love spending time in various parts of Australia. It's not very high on my list right now, and I don't have the financial backing, but I will definitely not rule it out!

And fair point about the North American wildlife. I visited Canada when I was younger. Even though I stayed in Ontario, close to Niagara Falls, I was mesmerised by the amount of wildlife I could find nearby. I can imagine having to look out for much more when you actually head into some more foresty parts in either Canada or USA.

After a late breakfast and egg hunt with the kids this morning, I happened to notice that our forecasted cold front was between where I live (60F) and where my parents live an hour away (39F). My husband and I scrambled to get outside and throw everything warm we could find over our plants. Everything has buds on it and it's supposed to get down into the 20Fs overnight tonight...well below freezing. It's funny, I don't think of having very many plants until I have to cover them all. We even attempted to cover our cherry tree, which was...interesting.

That must've been quite a special Easter for your family. I hope it was a happy one, nonetheless

so hopefully I didn't lose anything in my Fairy Garden because I didn't cover anything.

Is it too early to know if you lost anything there, fk? Hope those sweet wee plants survived.

Good to see you on the Weather thread, Justin.

I visited Canada when I was younger. Even though I stayed in Ontario, close to Niagara Falls, ...

I am from Canada. A more rural part of Ontario, no less, and only a couple of hours from Niagara Falls.

We are having some great spring temperatures here. For example, it was -10C / 14F just before dawn this morning (my walking time, gorgeous!), and today is only going up to 3C / 37F. Later in the week we are warming up in the day to 10C / 50F, with rain.

We have had enough periodic rain over the past few weeks to ensure the grass is greening up really nicely. And the trees are just barely beginning to show their leaf buds. Planting the gardens will be starting near the end of May. Before that, we still have a chance of frost.

Last evening we had some lovely snow—at times quite heavy. There was a slight accumulation on the ground, which is now disappearing with the sun shining on it.

I've also heard that "everything in Australia is trying to kill you" but figured (just as in North America) the typical person (who probably lives in an urban area) was unlikely to see many of these dangerous things. It's great to hear a local person's perspective on the subject.

North America does have its share of dangerous animals, though I live too far north for some of them (notably poisonous snakes, though a few rattlesnakes have been seen in southern Minnesota). Even while camping or hiking in national or state parks, I've only seen a grizzly once (from a safe distance), other bears only a handful of times, and never seen a wolf (though I've heard them).

We had 7 inches (178mm) of snow Sunday, setting a local record for Easter snowfall; we also had snow squalls Monday and Tuesday that at times made visibility zero. Record low temperatures (around 10F/-12C) were set south of here, where they had more snow.

Fortunately the skies cleared last night so I could view the beautiful gathering of the Moon near Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn this morning.

Good to see you on the Weather thread, Justin.

Thank you!

I am from Canada. A more rural part of Ontario, no less, and only a couple of hours from Niagara Falls.

Cool! From which city/town are you? I spent two weeks in Jordan, back in 2011. I must say, I've been in love with the country ever since

Sounds like you've had quite the weather lately. I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.

North America does have its share of dangerous animals, though I live too far north for some of them (notably poisonous snakes, though a few rattlesnakes have been seen in southern Minnesota). Even while camping or hiking in national or state parks, I've only seen a grizzly once (from a safe distance), other bears only a handful of times, and never seen a wolf (though I've heard them).

Hmmm, that's doesn't sound too dangerous after all. Like I said, I know I have given in to the stereotypes of such places. Being from the Netherlands, I have no experience with lethal animals whatsoever

I also enjoy the Aussie stories. I'd love to go there (and New Zealand) not only for the night skies but for the scenery and unusual animals.

The scenery and animals definitely add much to the enjoyment. Although, for some sad reason I have given in to the stereotype that everything in those countries will try to kill me. I haven't recovered from that yet.

Sounds like you and coracle have already had your fine share of weather changes this year. It makes for a jealous Dutchie here.

Sadly, the recent bushfires from Queensland down to Victoria have reduced our wildlife somewhat, not only the allegedly deadly creatures but also kangaroos, koalas & sleepy, slow moving wombats. It would be nice to see them again, roaming freely.

Justin of Archenland, it is really nice to meet you. I don't think now I will ever go anywhere outside Australia, myself, especially these days. However, it would have been most interesting to go to the Rijksmuseum, in the Netherlands, had I ever got there, to see the original pewter plate Dirk Hartog left on the island named after him at Australia's most western point. The Dutch did do much of the early exploration of the Australian coastline, much more than a century before the First Fleet landed in 1788, to found present day Sydney, near where I live, & perhaps you would find these stories most interesting to read about.

If you ever get to Australia to visit, yourself, you might like to visit cute little Quokkas, native to Rottnest Island, just off Freemantle, the port at the mouth of Perth's Swan River. Freemantle is the home of the National Maritime Museum, which holds not only the second pewter plate which Willem de Vlamingh left to replace the one in the Netherlands, but also the salvaged wreck of the Batavia, a Dutch East Indies ship, the ghastly mutinous history of which reminds me that the most dangerous creatures to be met on this earth can very often be mankind, itself.

Well might we celebrate Easter. We had a lovely televised service, very well done, with socially distanced choirboys, each of the clergy doing bits of it, hymns with the words displayed, plus plenty of natural scenery to replace the lack of congregations in their homes, watching the service. But the broadcast was interrupted too much by commercials.

The moon really has been spectacular the past few days. wagga, the term pink moon doesn't refer to its color but is instead an old folklore reference to moss pink, or wild ground phlox, whose pinkish flowers are among spring's earliest flowers in the eastern United States. April's full moon is also called the sprouting grass moon, egg moon, or fish moon.

Thank you. Hopefully it is a nice good luck moon for all of us, & the Coronavirus will go away. I did see a bit of it, but well past the full moon. The clouds did clear up after a spot of rain. The Darling has now finally met up with the Murray River, for the first time in two years, but the rather hot day we had yesterday has given way to more cloudiness. So far, temperatures have been quite mild with minimums as little as 9C.

Sadly, the recent bushfires from Queensland down to Victoria have reduced our wildlife somewhat, not only the allegedly deadly creatures but also kangaroos, koalas & sleepy, slow moving wombats. It would be nice to see them again, roaming freely.

Oh man, I totally forgot about that.. Combined with Corona, I can imagine Australia being in quite the disarray still

The Dutch did do much of the early exploration of the Australian coastline, much more than a century before the First Fleet landed in 1788, to found present day Sydney, near where I live, & perhaps you would find these stories most interesting to read about.

I find these stories very interesting! I actually remember a history class in which my teacher proudly told the tales of the Dutch reaching Australia and being responsible for the names of Tasmania (after Abel Tasman) and New-Zealand (Zeeland is a Dutch province).

I didn't know of the pewter plates though. I live in the north of the Netherlands, so I don't get to visit Amsterdam that often. I'll be sure to look out for the plate when I visit the Rijksmuseum again sometime!

And may I say you make quite a convincing case for visiting Australia. I know flying there won't be anytime soon, since it's not low-cost, but I'm glad to already have some spots to visit when I do. Thanks a lot!

Oh man, I totally forgot about that.. Combined with Corona, I can imagine Australia being in quite the disarray still

I agree that it was quite a blow to a country which has endured at least two years of ever deepening drought, which made the bushfires so much worse than usual last summer. That very sharp drought was mainly due to an Indian Ocean Dipole which had also reduced Cape Town's water supply so very drastically that they were really suffering a year or so ago. That very powerful Indian Ocean Dipole was also delaying the monsoon cycle between the Northern & Southern Hemispheres. On the Pacific Ocean side of the country we had an El Nino effect as well, which finished in August last year.

The bushfires were really horrible, & we were really very grateful not only for the eventual rain which finally put them out, but also for the assistance other countries sent us, not only New Zealand, but also Papua Niugini, Singapore, Japan, Canada & USA, all fellow Pacific Ocean nations. But Australia for a long time has been known for "droughts and flooding rains". An enquiry has been launched to see how we could have managed better, at both State & Federal level, & to decide how we could avoid something similar or worse happening again next summer. Though the underlying drought has eased somewhat, since January, we still need more rain inland before our inland areas recover completely to what they were in 2016. Our longest river is the Darling (named after a New South Wales governor, Ralph Darling), & it has only just recommenced its flow, completely down to its confluence with the Murray River, which defines the New South Wales border with Victoria.

I find these stories very interesting! I actually remember a history class in which my teacher proudly told the tales of the Dutch reaching Australia and being responsible for the names of Tasmania (after Abel Tasman) and New-Zealand (Zeeland is a Dutch province).

Yes Abel Tasman was a very important explorer down here. There is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, called Zeehan, after the name of Tasman's ship. But he originally called the island of Tasmania, Van Dieman's Land, after the then Dutch governor of Batavia (Jakarta, now), who commissioned his explorations. Before Australia's Federation, in 1901, it was the Tasmanians, themselves, who, on becoming a state, in itself, wanted a change of name, to separate themselves from a rather grim past as a convict settlement. One of my own British ancestors helped found Hobart, Tasmania's State capital, in 1804, the same year Matthew Flinders circumnavigated & christened the mainland of Australia.

That Marine, serving with the then Lieutenant Governor, David Collins, bore the distinction of being the groom in the colony's first official marriage on the 16th March, 1804. Having been widowed at the end of 1816, about the time an Indonesian volcano, Tambora, erupted, disrupting world weather, he was able to remarry a Scottish-born convict woman, sent to what would be later remembered as the harshest of Australian convict settlements, for the term of her natural life, for the "horribly dastardly crime" of stealing as many as six handkerchiefs, in collusion with another woman.

Now, if it was as many as six boxes of paper tissues, today, would she still be sentenced to hanging, commuted to transportation for life, I wonder? These lockdown days we are rationed to two boxes of tissues per person plus one packet of toilet rolls per purchase. It is quite a bargain when sometimes what is on the shelves to be sold are boxes of tissues, in packets of 3 boxes. It is something amusing to ponder these lockdown days whilst awaiting my turn to be served on the self distanced queue (don't forget to stand on the x marked spot) to the checkout.

I agree with you, Justin; these stories are fascinating!

Having been widowed at the end of 1816, about the time an Indonesian volcano, Tambora, erupted, disrupting world weather, he was able to remarry a Scottish-born convict woman, sent to what would be later remembered as the harshest of Australian convict settlements, for the term of her natural life, for the "horribly dastardly crime" of stealing as many as six handkerchiefs, in collusion with another woman.

Now, if it was as many as six boxes of paper tissues, today, would she still be sentenced to hanging, commuted to transportation for life, I wonder?

Haha, I've never heard that story before. Those must have been some valuable handkerchieves! Stealing six of them! What nerve, what gall! .

I hate to admit it, but I must confess that I too have fallen victim to the "everything in Australia can kill you" cliche. However, I will echo other NarniaWebbers when I say I would love to travel there some day! I find the biodiversity and variety in the landscape alluring, and all the people that I have seen/met from Australia have been very nice. A group at my school was actually planning to take a trip to Australia and New Zealand this summer (I was not able to go in the first place), but now that has been cancelled.

Here in Tennessee, the weather has fluctuated from 32 degrees Farenheit on one night to 70 degrees Farenheit the next day. 32 degrees Farenheit is not what I would call spring weather! But then again, Tennessee always seems to have strange weather anyway.

Just on the topic of Australian magpies again, here's a video that my family sent me today. Lots of fun and I love hearing their song!

"The best waterpark in Australia is my backyard."

They look similar to, but certainly sound different from, the magpies in North America. (Incidentally, I live too far east to be in their usual range, so I'd never seen or heard one before a camping trip to Badlands National Park about 25 years ago).

The trees seem to be taking their own sweet time leafing out this spring, unlike other years where it seems everything becomes green overnight. Our weather remains variable, with it trying to snow one day and temperatures around 60F/16C the next. No mosquitoes yet at least.

They look similar to, but certainly sound different from, the magpies in North America. (Incidentally, I live too far east to be in their usual range, so I'd never seen or heard one before a camping trip to Badlands National Park about 25 years ago).

Ah, your magpies are almost identical to the European magpies that we have here in the UK. All-black head and a tail that looks far too long for their body! They're interesting to watch (not to listen to, though ), but they're in a completely different family from Australian magpies, which got the name from unimaginative colonials who (understandably) couldn't think of anything else to call a large black-and-white bird.

No mosquitoes yet at least.

Now there's one thing about Australia I DON'T miss!!

Welcome to NarniaWeb, Wanderer Between Worlds. It is nice to meet you.

I agree with you, Justin; these stories are fascinating! Haha, I've never heard that sttory before. Those must have been some valuable handkerchieves! Stealing six of them! What nerve, what gall! .

When I looked up this family history record, I found out the handkerchiefs were made of silk. So it might be the material rather than the object that caused such a drastic sentence. I'm still rather surprised that I found out that anyone had written such an informative article about my great great great grandmother.

There was an article I read three weeks ago that said we are indebted to a 19th Century American for the original manufacture & use of such paper sanitary products, but it wasn't until about the 1960's that we got to use disposable paper tissue hankies routinely. We used to have cotton hankies, sometimes impractically dainty for women & larger, plainer ones for men, which we could boil up in a gas-filled copper installed in laundries, for hygienic reasons, hung out in the sun to dry, then ironed, for use during the next week. One economist has said that the 20th century invention which had the most impact on the the world was actually the washing machine.

The trees seem to be taking their own sweet time leafing out this spring, unlike other years where it seems everything becomes green overnight. Our weather remains variable, with it trying to snow one day and temperatures around 60F/16C the next. No mosquitoes yet at least.

It might end up being considerably cooler this year than it was last year, perhaps, despite its fiery beginning down here. Autumn so far is also cooler than it was a year ago, even though May has not arrived yet. Daytime maximum yesterday was as low as 21C.

Courtenay, that was a really nice video snip for the magpies. I loved the birdbath, with all those shells on it, also.