Down to the Tweed this weekend where I viewed this property http://www.realestate.com.au/property-acreage+semi-rural-nsw-nobbys+creek-120871409 at Nobbys Creek.  The house is perfect.  Lots of light, lots of wood, smells good, new, clean and an easy keeper - great kitchen with a walk in pantry and gas stove, high ceilings, generously wide hallways.  Lovely.  The land needs tweaking.  Very steep, have to move fences and make some kind of arrangement for feed and tack a there are no suitable buildings.  Also need to find way to separate Dakota to keep him from eating too much.

But as we've not even had a nibble since dropping the house price, all the above is a moot point.  Suspect the house will sell long before we would be in a position to buy it.  No matter.

As always, as soon as I left the M1 and drove towards Murwillumbah and the mountains came into view, my heart lifted.  Actually my heart lifted before, as soon as I passed the exit to Tallebudgera Valley but as traffic was heavy and I needed to concentrate I couldn't really give in to it until I'd exited the motorway.  I did sing along with Paul Simon at full volume however.  Joy cannot be contained.

The contrast with the Lockyer is profound.  The Tweed is lush, green, criss crossed and dotted with water (and of course has the sea as a lace fringed blue border) whereas the Lockyer, because we're experiencing an El Nino drought, is again turning brown despite it being January, normally our wettest month.  The gums are skeletal and what water there is is mud brown, not clear and flowing like the creeks and rivers of the Tweed. 

This confirms my already ardent desire to move.  Surely, SURELY, the house will sell and we can move on. 

When I left the house, following the real estate agent down the road, I gave it up to the Universe.  The house, although beautiful, isn't perfect.  It's 30 minutes from the sea, there is less bush around so birdlife won't be as abundant as it could be and the horse accomodation is problematic.  The property is desirable and I very much doubt it will be on the market when we are in a position to buy.  So be it.

But I wanted to blog today not because of house hunting and property buying but because of a tiny soft-bodied insect. 

One mosquito can make sleeping a sleepless itchy hell.  Woke up with bites on both legs, my back and my shoulder.  Then heard the culprit buzzing around my face.  The only way to combat a mosquito is to turn on the fan, unless poison is used which I don't like.  So I got up to turn on the fan, thought I'd go to the loo at the same time.  Fumbled around for the torch and couldn't find it.  Decided I knew the way and if I walked slowly I'd get to the toilet without mishap.  Got to the living room and saw a small green flash near the floor.  It looked like the regular strobing of a In Sleep Mode bit of hardware.   Except there is no bit of hardware at the base of a wooden plinth near the bookcase.  I knelt down and swept my hands slowly over the light and felt nothing.  Tried again, still nothing.  I turned on a light and there on the floor was a small black bug.  A firefly!

I've lived in Australia for 34 years and I've never seen a firefly.  Tried to catch him to put him outside, after turning off the light to again enjoy his mating call, but he dropped down and out of sight in a floor crack.  Maybe he was the only firefly around and now he's dead.  Feel a bit sad about that but oh so chuffed that I saw him.  Hadn't realized I missed them until seeing him.