Magic May

Hi,
 May is here, the weater has been fantastically magic, cool, sun,wind, stars and the doonas are aired and fluffed up on the beds.  We are painting the laundry before the new floor covering is installed and Brian does the veranda deck. Today a little drizzle of rain but still low humidity, so paint dries nicely.
Mothers day today and someone' birthday yesterday, and lots of lovely greetings to everyone reading this blog from Cow Bay Homestay B&Bright in the Daintree Rainforest and up the road from the Great Barrier Reef.
This is the place to be; come to see for yourself.
Next week is the big official openeing of Cooper Creek Crossing
this is the link to its face book page, check out all the outrages photos
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_216957021650816&id=217363478276837
Marion

Green Guest!!!!!

Hi,
 wow what fabulous weather we have had over Easter. Cow Bay Beach was practically crowded. A bit of a shock to us locals to see so many people at once....
Here is a new guest at Cow Bay Homestay B&B:

a white lipped green tree frog.

He appeared yesterday under the breakfast table. he seems to be there all day and guests spotted him going out last  night. Back this morning.

We also see a pair of Cassowaries in the afternoon strolling through the garden. The big female may be Brian's 'friend' from last year.

Butterflies are still everywhere and busy.

To the weather:

it is perfect: sunny- windy- dry- pleasant

Well.....you all have a fantastic day

Marion

Easter Surprise

Hi and Happy Easter to all!!!.
 here in the Daintree we had a big surprise: no fees on the Daintree River Ferry until 2.May YEah!!!!!
This may bring lots more day trippers over the river from Cainrs and surrounding areas and we'll see how busy our roads will be.
For us here at the B&B it won't make such a difference, as our guests  have booked before they get into the area.
Lovely guests we have had last week who all had the best weather, sometimes I think our B&B guests do provide is with a break, even during this WET wet season, whenever we had guests the weather actually was good. So, thank you!!
Apparently the reef is fantastic right now, with good visibilty and 4 different typs of turtles being spotted. How good is that?
Cairns Birdwing butterflies are the hit this season. They quiet often have one female with a following of up to six males making the rounds of the pagoda plants and bangkok roses. Is that called a 'flock' of butterflies then??They seem a bit smaller this year, but they make up in numbers.
Right now the pool in our creek flows just enough so one can swim on the spot for hours. It is really good fun, and I do practice my breast stroke.
And how are all the sightings of Cassowaries recently? We had two big birds strolling around next to the Garden House 2 weeks ago. Impressive!!!
Right...things to do and a Sunday to enjoy.
Thinking about my time in Germay last year. We had a great party in Brackel with friends and family and an Easter egg hunt in the garden. Remember, Maria?
Have a wonderful Easter
Marion

Sun and Fun

Hello there.
 Sun-- blue sky --and a fun --watch this 'you tube' video
http://www.youtube.com/user/CairnsGBR#p/u/6/S4edClDnWos
Marion

The Daintree RAIN Forest

Good afternoon,
last night I wrote down some points to write in this blog: all about RAIN !!!!!
It rains, there are buckets of rain , big buckets, making a pelting noise on the roof. Can't talk,can't  listen to radio or watch TV. Sitting on the veranda I see glistening strings of water falling off the roof; one hour later it eases for 30 seconds; can it go any heavier? and then it does. Frog and insect noises are very sharp in between the noise of the downpour. Going to turn off the generator with the big umbrella and torch, the ground is flooded, small streams where garden paths are; the creek will be up, it came up to the first step yesterday. We had ca 170mm of rain yesterday, not that much by comparison, but enough. The ground is saturated. During the breaks all the water drains away, making everything look swept clean.
Planted some bamboo 3 days ago, this is perfect weather for it to settle in.
The most recent guest here at Cow Bay Homestay B&B had 4 days of perfect weather. It changes that quickly.
Plan to go to the beach later on, with the umbrella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marion

Cyclone Yasi

Hi,
 after an anxious night, lots of preparation work 2 days before I am VERY HAPPY to report that Cairns and north to Daintree and Cape Tribualtion has been spared any damage from this very big Cyclone Yaris.
All our best wishes to all the areas affected, I hope you will stay safe and dry and receive lots of help cleaning up and rebuilding.
Marion

Queensland on You Tube

Good afternoon,
 here is a treat
http://www.youtube.com/Queensland
This is one very action packed link with great shots and all on Queensland.
Make sure you look at the Far North Queensland videos, either to confirm that your booking here at Cow Bay Homestay B&B is a great choice or to have a little holiday at your desk.
Just keep in mind, the real thing is far better.
Enjoy.
Marion

Happy 2011

Happy New Year to all readers!
 Here at Cow Bay Homestay B&B we were a bit busy, hot and merry over November and December and had lots of rain and sunshine. We enjoyed guests from different corners of the country and the world.
Most importantly we didn't get flooded like lots of areas of South Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and even Tasmania. We do have a lot of rather heavy storms this year with bif lightning and thunders and heavy rain, but the country here can handle the amounts without flooding.
Big local news is the upgrade of Cooper Creek causeway, which took some time to complete as we had lots of rain during the last winter; but now everyone can safely drive north to Cape Tribulation in any 'normal' car. This is really a big improvement to travellers and locals. Our Daintree Marketing Cooperative is planning a big 'Causeway Opening Party' this year; to join the party: stay tuned to this Blog or check the website
http://www.destinationdaintree.com/
We had the photographer in and you can have a sneak look at the new photos for the website.
Well...........stay dry, warm and happy and enjoy what ever you are doing.
Marion

Nearly November

Good Morning to all the readers!
  Well. we have a lovely Sunday morning here in Cow Bay today: it is cool, sunny and breezy. My plan is to finish the mowing today. We do have a bit of a bigger lawn than the usual house and I like to collect the clippings for mulch, that is my excuse not buying a ride- on- mower. But it takes time. Cow Bay Homestay B&B has been busy again with lovely and interesting guests, who all seem to have liked their stay with us and the Daintree experience. There have been very VERY rainy days during the last 3 months, but right now we have great weather and I will go to the beach today! In the last blog entry I was expecting vegetables crops; cucumbers were good, but the tomatoes do ---nothing much. Is it too wet, not sunny enough? Maybe the seeds were no good. Hm.On the other hand the basil bushes are rather frightening in their growth...
With the sunny weather we also see more lace monitors or goannas and a skink has taken up residence under the big tree at the front steps, making quiet a bit of noise in the dry leaf litter. As usual the air is full of bird and insect noises ans it is very relaxing just listening to it all.
Got to do the jobs though...
A great to everyone reading this.
http://www.cowbayhomestay.com/

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.