Back yard adventures

[dreamer_easy]

The St Andrew's Cross spider (Argiope keyserlingi), named for the white X in its web. This is one of the many females living in our back yard. They're spectacular, but harmless... unless you happen to be a male St Andrew's Cross spider. According to Australian Geographic, they're found right around Australia's east coast, in gardens and the bush. The exact purpose of the cross is still debated; it might attract prey.


This dude lives in our kitchen, and might be a male, or a juvenile.


Our back yard is huge and largely useless, due to its extraordinary shape - it tilts in multiple directions. This shot shows the orange tree and smaller mandarin tree, as well as the results of mowing some months' worth of grass.


Mandarins!


Lieutenant Bush, aka the morning glory vine. To give you an idea of scale, that fence is on top of a brick wall; it must be seven or eight feet high. You can see the privet bushes, also weeds, peeking out from underneath. I gave up trying to fight them both and have let them grow all over; now I'm trying to poison the bastards, since the vines get tangled in the lawnmower.