August News

Hi to all the lovely reader of our blog!
Wow !!what a busy July is has been. We enjoyed great and interesting guests, who all seemed to love their holiday up here in the Daintree and even though the weather was not 100%,  but what is a little rain in this rainforest?
I attach a photo one of our guests took, who said the website photos are not as good as what he found. Thank you for the great photo and I hope it will show what it is like in our house.
One problem having nice photos is: the house and gardens change all the time. Not just by myself rearranging furniture but also outside with bushes growing, flowering and new plants going in.
Here is a funny one:
Sitting on the back steps this morning chatting to a friend on the tablelands, a Kookabarra flew right over from the poinciana tree. sailed past my knee !!, seem to hit the lower part of the mandarin tree, dropped to the ground and took off back to the poinciana tree. This is all flying less than 500mm off the ground! And what eye sight!!!.
It was really good though to sit there with him sailing past ;I could have touched his wings.
Well, that is it for now, very briefly.

Have to plant all the vegetable seedlings, which did take despite the overcast weather.Looking forward to tomatoes, cucumber, melons and pumpkin, also bok choy and rocket.
Have a great day, where ever you read this.
Marion

Back Home in Cow Bay

HI everyone!
 Well it has been a 'bit' busy here after my return from Germany. I sort of just coming up for air after doing a lot of cleaning, gardening and painting. We had some great help from WWOOFers of different nationalities. We also had the first guests for the season and I feel we sort of test driven the new arrangements. We pruned back all the gardens around the house and fertilised and mulched, so the winter flowers should do their thing in due course. Initially we still had some rain and the ground was still very soft, but accept for a little rain the other day it is DRY. We even had some great sunny days, but I still haven't been to the beach for some serious sunbathing. Now that things are a bit more sorted and the big jobs are out of the way, I hope to catch up on that soon. A real great event happed though, Rolli a local painter in Cow Bay has given us some of his paintings to hang in the guest rooms, which can be bought by anyone interested. I am very excited about this and hope he will attract some buyers this way. I have a day off paid work today and better get going. Wishing all a great winter/summer- the Europeans certainly have earned their share of sunshine-

Marion

Flying back

Guten Morgen !!!!
On my last Sunday morning here in Brackel, the sun is out, the sky is deep blue and another cold night will turn into a sunny day. Still, I can do without the really cold nights. Thanks to friends and family I enjoyed lots of outings and sight seeing, walks in forrests and parks. All very different from Cow Bay, and great fun.
This is a small area in Westfalen Park with great sculptues and plants to match.

I think I put on a bit of weight and blame it all on the pastries, cakes and sitting around having great chats and soaking up the sun. I may be able to just get the smell of elder in my nose today; the flowering is a bit patchy still, depending on protection from the wind.
Now I am looking forward to going home to Cow Bay!
We were very fortunate to have two articles in the Dortmund news papers.
http://www.westline.de/lokales/dortmund/nachrichten/ln/Marion-Esser-lebt-in-Australien;art1787,117040
http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/dortmund/Leben-am-anderen-Ende-der-Welt-id2871207.html

Photos from Germany

Hi there,

 Cow Bay has been practically under water after very steady rains since my departure to Germany last month, Brian has experienced unwanted cassowary visits on our veranda and he had plenty of other excitements. Meanhwile I had a bit of a time getting used to rather chilly weather, have lots of fun wearing layers upon layers of clothes, called the 'onion look", and have enjoyed lots of visits from and with  friends and relatives. Here are a couple of photos. The best thing are the daily baked pastries....YUM
Enjoy
Marion

3.time lucky?

Hi there,
 after more than a week of sunny but hot days we are having another non stop rain day today, good for the garden I say, as it did get a bit dry. It is like that here, the soil does not hold the moisture well, lots of mulching is a good way to protect plants from drying out too quickly.
3. time lucky? Yes, well, this is my 3. attempt to write and especially have the picture of our new comfy chairs on record.

Hoorya it worked.

I am busy now preparing for my trip to Germany in less than 2 weeks an hope it will be interesting catching up with a number of travel agents, all aussie specialists, to find out more on the current trends for the next year or so. I sure hope the german broshure will help to show them where Cow Bay Hoemstay is and what we have on offer. Well that's it for now. Have a great day. Marion                                                                  

Solar Eclipse 2012

Hello!
 enquiries are coming in for this very special event on 13th November 2012.  Cow Bay Homestay B&B is apparently a very good venue to see this total solar eclipse. Here are links to some sites, which give good information and tips.
Don't hesitate to book soon. Hopefully we will have good weather, which is usually the case that time of the year. Plus there is the Marathon!!

http://www.tourismportdouglas.com.au/Solar-Eclipse-Marathon-Port-Douglas-20.3299.0.htm
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~jander/tot2012/tse12intro.htm

Hot& sticky, the Wet is here!!

Hello,
yep, the wet is here! It doesn't rain so much but the humidity is enough to feel hot and sticky all day long, even just sitting at my desk here. Good thing I can jump into the swimming hole in the creek any time, and ...I do. Just Bliss!! SO cold!! We had some great thunder storms recently, and on Friday night lightning damaged the telephon exchange, with the result that we still don't have a phone right now. Not to worry, I still have the internet and life up here in the Daintree Rainforest is slow this time of the year anyway. We still have some lovely guest arriving though, but even they take it easy. And that is all one can do really.

I am looking forward to my trip to Germany at the end of March; I just hope the weather there is a little milder than it is now!!!
AND: It is now official we have a new decor in the 2. bedroom, called Queen Room ( sleeps 2), when you book. Hope you enjoy the photo and even get to stay in it.
Have a great February.
Marion

Rain, cyclones, discovery

Hi in January,
 well, we have had enough rainy days by now and more to come. Things are growing rapidly inside and outside , and I think everyone would like to see the sun again for a little while.
We had 2 cyclones so far, Neville and Olga, but fortunately both brought just a bit of wind and rain, nothing too scary.
I made a little discovery the other day, under the mango trees, while checking the water level in the new bridge, and found a Scarlet Vine. This is on a very skinny tree, which has just a little top of leaves and the vine spirals nicely with very fluffy flowers from the ground right into the top of the tree. Beautiful and very fragile.
I am busy planning my trip to Germany at the end of March, and hope the german broshure for this will be great, still at the printer right now. The news is that the Queen Room ( sleeps 2 ) is now ready online for bookings starting in June.

Scarlet Vine

Well that's it, best start the generator, there won't be much power coming from the soalr panels today.
Enjoy, what ever you are doing.
Marion

more visitors

Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year for 2010!
We had more visits from the Cassowary and his chick, -here he walks across the front path of the house-much to the delight of our B&B guests and ours as well. The mangoes are nearly finished and we probably won't see him then for a while. We also had an inflight accident by a beautiful white tailed kingfisher. Birds can crash into our high windows,-a good reason not to clean them too well-, that is when Marion springs into action with Bachs rescue remedy and the birds, which are stunned and groggy respond very well to this. This little fellow took a bit more time, enough to have a photo taken. Then he took off into the forrest again.
 I wish everyone a great new year, where all the dreams and wishes come

Best wishes from Marion

Cow Bay Cassowary and chick

Hello,

 well, with all the mangoes we had off our old trees at the creek bank this year,we found ourselves close up and personal with a cassowary and his chick for most of this week. He arrives midmorning, always very sudden and feeds on mangos, which have fallen in the last 24 hours, with the little chick, stripes and all ,running around him. When we don't watch him he is very relaxed, but seems to notice 4 humans staring at him in amazement. The photos are courtesy of http://www.danielchinphotography.com/. Daniel and his lovely wife Jeannie stayed at the B&B and Daniel took the photos. What thrill for all of us.

New Bridge

Hello,

yes!!!!!!!!!! it finally all happened, and on the 30th of October the last lot of concrete was poured to finish the bridge repair.We will be able to listen to rain now without worry and even though we have repaired it, it is a lot more solid than the old bridge, which was 20 years old and had mainly dirt and tree trunks in it. All we need now is some heavy rain to clean it all up and refresh the pools. Can't wait. The Mango trees along the creek have a great lot of Mangoes on it, which we collect, but a drop from 40 meters is a bit hard on the ripe fruit. Durian is the other fruit we are eating a lot of now, thanks to donations from 2 friends in the area. And Mangosteen our other favourite is just perfect this year. The fruit salads are just heaven right now. We finally had a bit of rain and 'schwuppdiwupp'.. all the brown lawn and tired plants are back! It is very beautiful right now and still not too humid.

Spring!!!!!

Hi to Spring!!
Yes, here we are in Cow Bay with more glorious weather, the best winter weather we have had here for years. With lots of great, interesting and fantastic guests during August, who all had perfect conditions to enjoy their numerous activities. Sitting in my lovely office listening to the birds chortling away outside, I had better get out there and enjoy it myself. So, any one reading this,who still has any doubts about coming to the Daintree Coast? just get your booking in, bags packed and get here! It is just perfect. Happy Spring to you all. Marion

Nearly there

Hi everyone reading these stories from Cow Bay!
Nearly there, I think, nearly where????? Nearly at Christmas, I know !!! it is early but it seems nearly there. The repairs of our bridge are not done yet either, but we are nearly there!!. Guests are arriving next week and I am nearly there to welcome them. Meanwhile we have to driest June and July in years, and it is just picture book stuff out there in the Daintree Rainforest and on the Great Barrier Reef ...THERE!!! So, if you are on the way here, you MUST be nearly there!!!
Just in a jolly mood, and who wouldn't be looking out of my office window.
Have a great day......Marion

May Rain

G'day!
Nearly half way through May, which means the wet season is finished, and now it doesn't stop raining. However, the wish for cooler weather has been granted and now we are in the woolen socks and cardigan time of the year. Hm, very cozy!! Good news: the middle section of the house has been sanded and recoated and looks fabulous. I love the colour and marking of the Turpentine Pine floors. Beautiful. Work is progressing in other area except the bridge.
Don't get me started, maddening business for a B&B.
Well, we can only hope that the repairs are done sooooooonest, and make more phone calls....
Until next time.

Cow Bay --The Name

G'day !!
Right we are in April and seeing the weather is always topical, we did have cool days and nights before Easter, and since then it is very HOT and HUMID, and we are all waiting for the cooler days to come.
In the Mossman library the other day, looking for suitable books to read in the heat of the day,I came across a reference book, " Behind the name" by John Walters, 3/ 2006.
Mr Walters has researched numerous place names of the region and put it together very clearly and concise. On page 14, I found Cow Bay:
" Cow Bay is so named because William ( Bill) Smith, ( incididentally after whom Smithfield was named), pastured some cattle near there, whilst he was a Hotelkeeper and Packer in Cooktown around 1874. His cattle were known to wander down to the Bay and were often spotted by passing Mariners, who gave the area its unusual name."

March ? 2009

Good Day!
i wish it is March!!!! Not long to go, and hopefully the sweaty/ wet season is over. As much as the vibrancy of a good wet is just amazing, it is also quiet enough sweating by now!!
And what a wet we have had! 4 weeks ago it rained rather hard, long and heavy and the result was a big wash out on our bridge, which is the only access to the property. Scary!! The creek actually rose so high that it went over the bridge and the force of all that water washed nearly 1 meter of the bridge surface away and exposed the pipe underneath considerably. We can still drive over it though, after some work to holes etc. However the repair has to be done and hopefully soon. We were not the only people having flood damage after that night. Fortunately we did not have any more heavy rains after that night, however aeas south and west of us had lots of rain and much more flood damage for extended periods. Meanwhile the south of Australia, Victoria and New South Wales had devastating bush fires going on at the same time. This continent can be very extreme.
Now we are hoping for a drop in humidity and an increase in human activity as a result. All that rain, sun and heat make for a great recipe for explosive plant growth, in particular to lawns and weeds. I think some of the weeds grow more than 300mm in 2 weeks. Impressive.
Right. I had better get a plan of attack drawn up to get started on it or we will find ourselves in a wilderness of the kind we are not appreciating.
Hope all the readers will have a great 2009

Hot Hot Hot

Hello!

Yes, it is HOT HOT HOT!!!

But the creek is my retreat! Last week my friend and I cleaned some of the upstream pools of branches and leaves making it easier to sit on rock ledges with a cool drink and soak in clear pools with cold cold water. It bring the body temperature right down to the point of goose bumps-marvellous!!

We had a bit of wind the last two days and even rain and that brings a cool break.

Our guests are enjoying the hot steamy tropics, taking plenty of siestas and reading books and 'chilling' out.

The B&B is closed for Christmas and for any bookings just click on this link

http://www.cowbayhomestay.com/

Enjoy your December and Christmas break and celebrate the NEW YEAR!!

Marion

Cow Bay Oktober News

Good Day!!
and here we are at the end of October and things are going well! The garden is booming away, the latest guests were able to sample Mulberries and Jaboticaba, picked minutes before breakfast!! We had good rains and didn't have to water much and vegetables and flowers are doing very well. Even the pagoda plants are in flower and I am waiting for the Cairns Birdwing Butterflies to come around and sample. The sunbirds are very busy building nests all over.
Brian has been on his much anticipated 8 day gamefishing trip. The boats went right north to the Papuan Passage and then made their way down along the outer reef back to Cow Bay. They had good weather, loads of laughs and even some fish to keep. It seem Christmas is not far away, and I will plan a big dinner this year, making full use of our brand new oven. Hm... bring out the recipe books! Got to run.
Marion

Spring in Cow Bay

Good Day!
As usual it takes all of one day to go from winter to spring. The woolen jumpers stay in the boxes, the sarongs are out and I even had my Cow Bay Srub. This involves going to Cow Bay beach, with the sunscreen on, armed with the latest favourite book and some time. Warm up in the sun, then take some soft sand and go to the little creek, which runs into the sea. Rub dry and wet sand all over wintery body , especially feet and go into the sea to wash it all off. A little swim can be added. When back home wash off salt and lather with cold pressed almond oil. Wow, all that old skin is gone and spring is in my step and in the air. We have real great flowering plants right now, and all the birds are very busy mating and feeding and chirping. At work the other day, 3 orange footed jungle fowls had some fights, and two of them ended up in the pool. Very funny to watch. And the cassowaries are out and about again. Busy times

July update

Good July news!

Simon the local stone specialist designed and constructed this low rock wall to create a new entry to our house. Power - Phillip assisted by moving all the rocks into position and did part of the foundation work. All we need now is gravel and it will look very nice. This finishes the stone work session for this year, and I think it looks stunning. Meanwhile we have had rather chilly weather but now it is rather pleasant and beautiful. The gardens we put in last year are coming along nicely and I just 'discovered; the colour of the last hibiscus, which took all this time to flower. Well, until next time. Take care of yourselves. Bye from Marion